Sandstone and Kohlhurst Railroad

I was bitten by the “G” bug as a result of seeing a Christmas display at a garden centre in 1995 or 1996. So it started with the proverbial “train around the tree".

Over the years much was collected by way of locomotives, rolling stock, people, cars and accessories. More importantly a lot of material was collected for the contruction of the actual trackwork and layout. When new housing contruction occurred in the area I went and got permission to collect all the sandstone I could drag home in my minivan. (Now that I moved them in contruction using a two wheel cart, I have no idea now I managed to get them TO my minivan never mind INTO it.) Hence SANDSTONE as part of the name. It also happens to be the name of the community in the city in which we live.

An interest in a coal mine lead to KOHLHURST to match my middle initial. And RAILROAD is a natural but also matches my last name. So Sandstone & Kohlhurst Railroad = SKR - my initials.

The best way to overcome the inertia of collecting stuff and not building is to volunteer your layout as one of the feature layouts for your garden railroad club’s summer tour. Beginning in March 2007 with patio stone work to accommodate a greenhouse, then continuing down the sideyard with more stone work, raised flower beds and a 12 foot arched bridge to allow access across the track for wheelchairs, the project raced into the backyard.

Here the sandstone was put to use for a dry waterfall and silhouttes of mountains. Issuing from the base of the waterfall is a dry creekbed lined with stones collected by my father. (Suffering from Alzheimer’s, he has taken to collecting stones wherever he finds them by putting them in his pockets.) And so the project was “finished” the day before the tour.

In the weeks since then we have had “open house” a few times and dad proudly says he and mom purchased a train for me when I was a boy and I am still playing with trains.

Subsequent posts will chronicle the contruction process