Large Scale Central

Tortoise and Lizard Bash Garden Railroad Open House

Tortoise and Lizard Bash Garden Railroad (T&LBRR) Open House

Saturday, June 17, 2017

1:00 P.M. – 5:00 P.M.

Santa Ana, CA (e-mail/PM for address)

Todd and Linda Brody are pleased to invite you, your family, and your guests to the 2017 running of the T&LB Garden Railroad. This marks our 20th year anniversary of operations. The railroad was the winner of the Garden Railways Magazine 2013 competition for garden railways and has been featured in numerous publications and videos. The landscape covers about 1,200 square feet with about 600 feet of track and six bridges, including a 14-foot long trestle. Using simple track power, the railroad can run itself fully automated with up to seven trains that slow and/or wait for each other as necessary to avoid collisions at crossing points. Additionally, the railroad incorporates a high degree of automation and special effects into the multitude of vignettes that adorn the landscape.

The layout is built around two volcanic areas that spew into various lakes through waterfalls. The volcanoes also result in geothermal activity and the Chameleon Caverns hot springs area lets the towns’ folk “take the waters” for both health and recreational activities. All vegetation is real and the miniature garden is completely to scale. The entire layout is detailed with dozens of structures, over 300 people and animals, cars, motorcycles, etc. all at a scale of ½ inch per foot.

There are always new things to see on the T&LB as well as old favorites to enjoy, much of which includes “tongue in cheek” humor. New are the fueling platform along Lizard Lane, the meteor strike just off Feather Mountain, the outdoor amphitheater at Gila Bend, and the Ernest and Julio Gallows. This latter structure allows/encourages the public to “take the law into their own hands” as they actively try to hang the outlaw by throwing balls at a target. Don’t forget to bring your camera!

Todd & Linda Brody

The following link will take you to our web site showing the railroad and its history.

http://tortoiseandlizardbash.com

This included video shows the railroad in operation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ6rcU1Vbwo

Can I come?

Of course, everyone is invited. Just show up.

Hi Todd,

Im going to try and organize a field trip of the Santa Clarita Garden Railroad Club to come visit

Bob

Thanks Bob, that would be great!

Hope to see everyone here.

Just a reminder that it is this coming Saturday! Garden looks better than it ever has in 20 years.

One of our members did a video last Sunday here at the Club meeting last Sunday. Enjoy.

https://animoto.com/play/pm2ozelwd40Aies7lXJNiw?autostart=1

Was a beautiful day sitting in the shade in the breeze and the trains ran well…, except when derailed and I would find large rocks under them. (Now how did those get on the track??? Roll Eyes (Sarcastic))

We probably had over 100 guests over 4 hours.

The AristoCraft streamliners got finicky in the afternoon and the Kadees started letting go in the “S-curve” under the waterfall so I “red tagged” them.

I spent this morning re-doing the couplers to get the best fit together. In this case, these three cars always run together in a certain order so it was more important that they properly aligned together rather than with the Kadee height gauge.

The problem with these car seems to be the way they are sprung. They would seem to have ligher springs toward the outside of the trucks and heavier springs toward the center. This then create a “teeter totter” effect that magnified any coupler inaccuracies. I’m thinking about trying to put the heavier springs to the outside to see if it helps if I still have uncoupling. This also makes these trucks very suseptable to cross grades in the track that can cause derailments.

Also, one of the female plugs on the panel for the power for one of the three Train Engineers seems to have gone “wonky.” It was working the other day and would work when I would “jiggle” the 1/4" plug, but would then go out. Didn’t seem to be the male on the cord, but that’s an easy first check. Anyway, that can’t be the problem because that would be the easy fix and I know I’ll need to open the panel.

Still, no problem running seven trains on just two 10 amp AristoCraft train Engineers. One handles the three trains that run P-T-P and the other for the four trains on the loops. No sweat!