[dozer]

So today my wife surprised me with a trip to Deadwood Oregon, about 90 miles from our home in Albany Or. She didn't tell me what to expect and when we got there it was quite a surprise indeed. We arrived to Ray Robinsons home on 45 acres of state park land. It's flowing with mountains, and dense forrest and creeks all over.

Ray is a retired SP Engineer that decided to make his train hobby a whole lot bigger. He has mainline running all around his property including a hand built tunnel, hand built trussels and a pond full to the brim with cutthroat trout and just spilling over with newts. The rail I guess is built in Japan and is very expensive to buy and have shipped. All of his engines and rolling stock is hand built. The engine he used today is a replica GP-30 like he engineered with SP. The other is a fully functioning 4-6-2 steam engine that unfortunately is down for repairs right now so I didn't get to see it run. Unbelievably he takes people all around his property without cost. It was fun that he chose me to be his brakeman to run the switches and move some cars around. You can find alot of videos of him and his hobby on youtube. Just search for The Meadows & Lake Kathleen railroad.

Pics on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeyandroni/sets/72157624560259441/

http://members.peak.org/~kmr3/M&LKRailroad/htmls/viewpics.html



I'm sure I missed alot and I'll add it in as I remember lol....

Thanks Veronica!

 

[Reckers]

Very nice! There's a gentleman here in Louisville, about 1/4 mile from me, who built a G gauge in his front yard----a small town with church, ferris wheel, roads (real asphalt), tunnels, and so on. It takes up most of his yard, then runs down one side of his house. On that side, the train crosses a concrete lake and turns to run inside the house. Inside, he has the return loop to send it all back out again.

 

[tjcruiser]

Dozer,

I am so JEALOUS right now! That's an incredible layout ... no, scratch that ... "layout" is not the right word ... that's an incredible Personal Railroad Empire! Very creative to see so much of it all hand-made. I like the "golden spike" plaque, too!

Thanks for sharing ... looks like a blast for anyone who is fortunate enough to see/ride the trains in person.

TJ

 

[tjcruiser]

Hey Reck,

I've heard of creative ways to get one's daily newspaper from the front lawn to your den, but that one tops the cake!

TJ

 

[modeltrainhead]

those are what u call live steam locomotives

 

[dozer]

Oh, I did forget a couple of things. If you look at his homepage which I gave the hyper link too, you will see in one pic the steam engine on a lift about 50" off the ground. This is an automotive hydraulic lift out of a shop that he uses to lift and rotate the engines. Amazingly impressive. After being there I just can't get over the work it took to build this rail. I mean, he has over 103,000 pounds of rail laid down! All ballasted and each one spiked, with hand made spikes etc... crazy.

 

[tworail]

The amount of elevated trackage is impressive.. usually most guys are happy to have it running ON the ground

 

[Big Ed]

Excellent!

That's what I would build on my private island when I win the big one.:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Thanks for sharing.

They say the water tank is spring fed?
I guess they have a pump to fill it?

 

[MacDaddy55]

Very,very impressive there Dozer,
That is absolutely incredible and the vista breathtaking! Thank your wife from all of us Rail Heads...thanks again!:thumbsup:

 

[supermunk]

woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow!

amazing!