The Tucson Garden Railway Society is back and it hosts the 18th annual “Rails In The Garden Tour” March 5th & 6th, 2022 from 10 am to 4 pm. This is fun for the whole family.

For 2022 there are 7 garden railways. This year’s layouts are spread out throughout Tucson and you can visit all venues as often as you wish. The self-guided tour is free but donations are welcome and go to the Community Food Bank and the Garden Railway Society’s community events.

IN 2013, I visited one of the venues at the home of John Carmichael. John has been a sculptor of sundials for over 20 years, but he was new to garden railroads. In his front yard was a labyrinth of rails, bridges, tunnels, depots and other features among a variety of cacti, primarily cholla and prickly pear. Laid end to end, John’s railroad was longer than a football field. His trains are “G” gauge, which is much larger than the more familiar “HO” scale. John explained that the model trains have to be larger for outdoor operations so that small objects, such as a leaf or pebble, won’t derail them.

From what I saw, there were two steam engines that each pull a variety of cars, and this little yellow trolley that provides local transportation for miniature passengers.

One has to be a serious railroad hobbyist to develop and operate one of these garden railways. I could not help asking John what I would have to budget to replicate something like his layout in my own gardens. He explained that the layout I was watching took him 14 months of near-full-time effort, including design time. He also told me that I should budget at least $10,000. WOW! Given the precision & complexity of this garden railway, I was surprised that it wasn’t more.
By the Way, we were at the Tucson Botanical Gardens this past weekend and there was one of the Garden Railways on exhibit.

The Tucson Garden Railway Society will be collecting donations (cash or check only) for the Community Food Bank of Tucson. Please be generous.

Click HERE for maps and directions to each garden railway on the tour.