A long overdue update....

It's been waaaay too long since we've updated the blog site and a lot has happened! The 2009 WAGRS Open House was a success again! A big "Thanks!" goes to everyone who participated! On average, attendance was down from the 700+ of 2007 to a more workable 400-500 visitors each (which the hosts agree was easier on them!)
In addition, Claudia Rollstin, Jim and Suzie Carter and Steve, Patsy and Eric Stockham attended the 2009 Battery Steam-up at Marty Cozad's place in Neb. City. Once again, nearly 100 large scale enthusiasts met for a three day train fest complete with dealer's area, workshop/staging as well as the Fri. night BBQ and Sat. night banquet. This is quickly becoming the must attend event in the Midwest US!
On a personal note: The Stockham's were surprised and somewhat flabbergasted when we were approached by a couple of visitors from our July 4TH Open House who asked if we would have a problem with them submitting our Garden Railroad for consideration for inclusion on the Salina Area Master Gardener's tour for 2010! We chuckled, thanked them for the compliment and promptly forgot about the whole thing. Well, about 4 weeks later we got a call from the selection comittee wanting to know if we could arrange a time for them to come over and inspect our garden(!) Three ladies showed up on that next Saturday and we ran trains for them. They loved it! Apparently, having a train running through your garden is something out of the ordinary (imagine that!) Anyway, we are now scheduled to be included on their tour next Summer (which will include 800+ guests! What have we gotten ourselves into?)
The Mac's Trax Train Show in McPherson was held on Dec. 12 and 13 with Fred and Millie Hein's M&M Railway keeping the visitors enthralled. If you haven't had a chance to see this portable large scale layout you don't know what you are missing! As of the last time I talked the Fred, they were planning on setting the layout up at the Wichita Train Show at the Cessena Activity Center early in 2010. Details to follow as I get new information.

WAGRS Tour, September 19th!

The annual WAGRS tour is scheduled for September 19th throughout Wichita, Derby, Augusta, and Newton. Below is the list of the layouts and their address/

#2 Belmont in Augusta, Kansas. This layout has been featured in Garden Railways Magazine.

7145 Blueberry Lane, Derby.
1425 N. Broadway, Wichita
2434 N. Amidon, Wichita
200 S.W. 2nd, Newton
6356 N. Seneca, Wichita
2015 E. Blake, Wichita

There is no charge for the tours and all layouts will be open from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Many thanks to the WAGRS members opening their homes for the tour.

Headin' to Nebraska!

Several members of WAGRS will be heading to Nebraska the weekend of Sept. 25-27 for Marty's September Steam Up. Marty has a layout about the size of a football field at his country home in Nebraska City. Around 100 RCS runners show up from all over the country to descend on Marty and Carrie's home to run trains all weekend, and attend a dinner on Saturday night. This will be the 4th year we have attended this event. We have a great time every year. Along with the Steam Up, Nebraska City is the home of Arbor Day Farm and the Lied Lodge. It is the perfect season to head over to the Apple House and Orchard and hand pick apples from the trees. There is also an incredible nature trail and 50ft tree house at the Arbor Day Farm. I hear the Arbor Day Links is a nice golf course, but I haven't had the opportunity to play it. We also enjoyed the apple pie and wine tasting. For any question, call Jim or Steve who are for sure attending. It is a great event.

HAGRS show is next.

The summer is coming to a close, and the last major garden railway event for the mid-west is the Heart of America Garden Railway Show in Kansas City on August 14 & 15. This show is at the Overland Park International Trade Center. Many members of the WAGRS club are going to support and help Fred and Millie with their new portable layout. If you can make it to KC, please give Fred and Millie a call so they can let you know the times they really need the help.

On another note, some news from the northern branch of WAGRS. Our garden railroad was chosen this weekend to be included on the Salina Master Gardeners June tour next year. This is quite an honor for us. We may need some help that day from club members to be available to answer questions from the public about our hobby. We'll let you know closer to next summer.

NGRC 2009 is history

Nine total members of the Wichita Garden Railway Society attended the National Garden Railway Convention in Denver last week. Members toured Denver area layouts as well as took part in workshops, the trade show, and several met up at the BBQ at the Colorado Railroad Museum. I don't know about the other 8 members of the club, but I had a blast with what we took part in. Steve also enjoyed getting his Dad, Jim out to see several layouts and the show. With the National show in the books, we now look forward to helping Fred and Millie present their traveling layout at the Heart of America Show in Kansas City in August. Please note, that the HAGRS show is now August 14-15. It was moved back a week. Fred and Millie will be heading to KC on Thursday to set up the layout. Steve and Eric are heading up Friday morning to also help. Anyone who can come to KC would be greatly appreciated. Tear down will be Saturday after the show closes. Any and all help for the tear down is also greatly appreciated. There are lots of great priced motel rooms in the area as low at $50.00 Check the HAGRS website or your favorite travel web site for some great deals! See you in KC!

Godspeed as you travel to Denver!

Many of the WAGRS members are heading to Denver this week for the National Garden Railway Convention. As you embark on your travels, we wish everyone a safe and fun trip. We will look for everyone at the picnic, in the convention center, and maybe at some of the railroads on the tours. Just FYI, we will have our cell phone, it is 785-822-7322 if anyone has any questions while in Denver. Steve lived in Denver for 5 years, and know the town as well as his home town. If you have a GPS, TAKE IT, it is invaluable, especially for the tour! Be safe, and have a great time!

Wow, what an Open House!

As we relayed to the club earlier this week, Steve and Patsy had an Open House for the railroad in Salina for Independence Day. The Salina Journal ran a front page story on their railroad on Thursday, July 2nd and the result was over 300 people coming to see the railroad. Steve let the young kids have a chance at the controls. It was "priceless" to see the smiles on the faces of young and old as they watched two trains work their way through the garden for nearly 4 hours. This is why we love this hobby!

White Pass and Yukon Train ride.

Hey all. We got back the other day from Alaska. Our trip of the White Pass and Yukon was everything we'd dreamed and more. The weather was perfect, the train was in excellent shape, and the scenery was amazing. We even saw some incredible wildlife. I won't say much more since I hope everyone comes to Salina next month for the meeting. I am working on editing our video footage for a nice presentation. Everyone who comes to Salina will also get a neat gift from the WP&Y! See you in June!

We've been busy.

The Garden Railway season is going full steam. Last weekend, the club set up and ran trains at Wichita Cowtown as the opening event for the tourist season. We were the focus display at the entrance to Cowtown. Many club members were there and got to run alot of trains throughout the day. Thanks to everyone who participated. Here in Salina, we've been really busy in the garden when it isn't raining! Steve has been desperately trying to finish the new trestle/bridge he is installing were there used to just be a earth hill. He used the jig he displayed and lectured on at the GR Gizmos seminar in April. It turned out really nice. We are still trying to get it installed, but we will be gone the next 3 weekends for a family wedding and our trip to Alaska. If anyone else is working on modifications or improvements to their layouts, send me some pics. I'd love to post them.

Garden Railway Gizmo's GRR Seminar

Sorry for the late posting as it's been a crazy March! Claudia Rollstin at Garden Railway Gizmo's hosted the first Garden Railroad Seminar in Wichita. Keynote speaker for the event was none other than Marc Horovitz, editor of Garden Railways magazine. The event was well attended and enjoyed by all. Here are some pics courtesy of Jim Carter:

Snow in the forecast, are you kidding me?

Now that we are all getting our railroads ready to run for the Spring, we are forecast to get snow tomorrow and Friday. Are you kidding me? Only in Kansas!

Meeting tomorrow evening! 7:00 p.m.

Hey everyone! Our meeting is tomorrow evening at Fred and Millies. Steve and I won't make it as we are in Denver right now but hope to hear all about it. Have a great time!

Are you running yet?

Wow! Isn't this weather great? It got up to 80 today and may have set a new record high. Steve came home over his lunch hour, ate a flatbread sandwich and went out to the garden. He has been trimming down the perennials and we are starting to see little green sprouts coming up. "IT'S ALIVE!" We love this time of year. We are excited to see green anywhere we can see it. The sprinklers have been turned on and is watering the lawn. It's also starting to turn. Everything is coming back to life. I asked Steve if he was going to run something this weekend before I remembered we are heading to Denver on Friday. "Next weekend!" We have some new neighbors moving in across the street with two young kids. Drew is 5, and can't wait to see the trains. Sure, we all do this for our own reasons, but this is why I have gone along with it all these years. I love to see the smiles on the faces of these kids. I know some of you will look at that as secondary, but, I have to stick with that. Hopefully all of you are get out there and getting things going again. Send us pics if you have some.

Garden Railway Workshop a Success!

Many, many, Thanks to Claudia and Garden Railway Gizmos for hosting the hopefully, 1st annual, "Garden Railway Workshop". Over 50 people from the Wichita area and beyond came out for the all day workshop with presentations on everything from "Getting Started in Garden Railroading", "Trestle Building and Balasting", "Building tunnels", "RCS controls", and "Powering your Railroad", "Plants and trees for your railroad". Special Guest Mark Horovitz from Garden Railway Magazine came from Denver to present and attend. There were many new folks from the area who have been thinking about starting a railroad, and hopefully we will see many of these new faces back at some of our meetings and events.

SPECIAL EVENT NEXT WEEKEND: The Wichita Flower and Garden Show at Century II. This is always spectacular. Hopefully, we'll see some members there.

Big Event at Claudia's tomorrow.

Hey everyone. Claudia is hosting an event tomorrow with information seminars from Wagrs members Jim S., and Steve S., as well as from Mark Horowitz of Garden Railways magazine. The fun starts at 9:00 a.m.

Also, just for fun. Go to www.ksn.com/news/kansasnews and click on the story Salina Theatre Gets Grant. WAGRS member Steve S. can be seen in several snipits from the "Sweeney Todd" production.

Debut of the M&M Railroad at Wichita Show

Manfred and Millie debuted their new portable layout with trestle at the Wichita Train show two weeks ago. It was a very popular layout and many of the WAGRS member got to run some of the RCS powered trains. Thanks Manfred and Millie for all your hard work on this layout. We hope we see it up again at future shows, including maybe the Heart of America show this summer.

The next big WAGRS event will be at Claudia's on the 28th when Mark Horowitz from Garden Railways magazine will be speaking and Jim C. and Steve S. will also be making presentations. We hope to see everyone there.

Pics wanted

Did anyone take any pics of the train show last weekend, especially of Fred and Millies new layout? I would love to post them on the blog. Let me know.

It seems the weather is turning cold again. We were just teased a little last weekend with weather warm enough for us to put the top down on the convertible and think spring just might be coming. Everyone should be getting ready to clean up their layouts and get ready for Spring and Summer. If you think about it, take some pics and let me know what you do to get ready for Spring and Summer. I'll do a post highlighting your thoughts, ideas, and suggestions.

email these to sstockham1@cox.net

Thanks

Train show this weekend.

Hey everyone! It was good seeing the group at Jim's this past Saturday. We enjoyed great food, awesome sweet tea, and a productive meeting. The most immediate item is this Saturday at the Cessna Center where Fred and Millie will be christening their new portable layout. This should be alot of fun. Claudia will also have a vendor booth set up. We hope to see everyone there.

Next Club meeting on Jan. 31st!

Hey WAGRS, just a reminder that there is a meeting on Saturday, Jan. 31st at Jim and Susie's. The meeting begins at 7:00, and there is a program planned. I will also be showing everyone around the new Blog and getting signed content releases from everyone. I have decided that I need to have signed forms from everyone in order to publish pics or any items pertaining to anyones layouts or activities. After these are signed, I would love to blog out items you e-mail to me. We will discuss this further.

Patsy S.

Checking out Big Boy!

Over the weekend, WAGRS member Steve S., his son, wife, and Dad got to go to the Forney Transportation Museum in Denver, Colorado to see "Big Boy" as well as other vintage transportation artifacts. "Grandpa, come see this!" was the phrase of the day.

How do you get your train fix in the winter?

My first weekly question for the WAGRS members.

Do you still run when its like 10 degrees, with below zero wind chill and so on?

What do you do during the winter months to satisfy your train fixes? Post your comments.

Welcome to WAGRS members Blog.

Hey all! I've been thinking about doing this for a long time now, and I finally sat down to do it. I would like to host this blog in lieu of a website. We tried that website thing to little effect. Blogging is really easy and best of all, FREE! Whenever you want things posted to the blog, just e-mail me. If you want pics though, I'll have to get those on CD or something. My e-mail program doesn't support transferring pics to this blog. Let me know what you think.

Everyone, please e-mail me your feedback. I really want to know what everyone thinks. We will further discuss this site at our Jan. 31 meeting.