Train Gardens

By Mary Jo

Moving to a new area means discovering new things.  When I moved to Maryland, among the new things I discovered were sauerkraut for Thanksgiving, and train gardens. 

Train gardens, you ask? These are elaborate miniature landscapes with electric trains created at Christmastime, most often in firehouses. They are charming and great fun, and apparently, like sauerkraut, they have German ancestry.

The custom has been traced to 18th century Moravian settlers in the Lehigh Valley of Eastern Pennsylvania.  Christmas trees came from Germany, and apparently in some German areas it was customary to build a little village around the base of the tree.

 

Trains came later.  Baltimore is the cradle of American railroading  so trains are much loved here.  Toy trains came in the later 19th century and when electrified trains appeared, it was ALL ABOARD!

Firehouses are community centers and firefighters often have time on their hands while waiting for calls.  The custom of building little villages and electric trains came together to create train gardens.

This past weekend we visited family in Cambridge on Maryland's Eastern Shore, and after a lovely bistro dinner we visited the Rescue Fire Company train garden, which has been created every Christmas for the last 86 years, making it one of the oldest continuing train gardens.  Last year with the lockdown, they set the train garden outside under a canopy so people could enjoy it at a safe distance. I took some pictures of this year's garden; as befits a town on the Chesapeake Bay, there were boats.  <G>

Train gardens aren't static.  While the trains return from year to year, the environments and themes change to reflect current events.  The train garden I know best isn't in a fire station, but a small nearby mall called Kenilworth Bazaar. It takes up a large chunk of the central atrium/food court, and shoppers can admire the garden when it's under construction.

Creating a good train garden requires a HUGE amount of patient, detailed work, and from what I've observed, lot of the builders are retirees with time, patience, and skilled hands.  Usually the Kenilworth garden shows four seasons, a mountain, and multiple trains. Some of the miniature buildings sport the names of local businesses.  This year's edition honored first responders, our troops, and included several model hot air balloons.  (I particularly like those.)  

Train gardens are fun for all, and magnets for all Y chromosomes. <G>  The incredible detail calls out for multiple visits to take it all in.             

I don't know how widespread train gardens are.  I'm heard that Pittsburg has them, it being not far away and with a similar legacy of German settlers and trains.

Were you familiar with train gardens?  If so, where have you seen them?  I'd like to know how far those trains have run!

Mary Jo

Comments

[Binnie Syril Braunstein]

Mary Jo-I love train gardens! I've been to the one in Kenilworth Bazaar many times. However, there's another fabulous train garden which has just reopened this year. It's at the Glen Avenue Firehouse in Baltimore City. I haven't been in several years, but I seem to recall that they were thematic. Every year, in addition to being a celebration of railroading and the Christmas season, the train garden might also include representation/memorializing of some event that had taken place during the year. In any case, the Glen Avenue firehouse is definitely worth a visit.

[Mary M.]

I hadn't heard of train gardens, but I was fortunate to know a man whose whole huge basement was devoted to a replication of Tempe, AZ, in the 1950s when Tempe was a small town with a lot of railway service. He used old photographs to make it aithentic. Not Christmasy, but a lot of fun to peruse.

To throw in some Christmas, though, for their first married holidays my mother gave my father a really neat, detailed train set (because he'd never had one) that was my Christmas joy through my teen years. She saved it through fifty years of marriage and finally donated it to an Arizona model train club, where it's displayed now.

[Karin]

I love train gardens, although I haven't seen any of the big ones in person. There is a famous holiday train exhibit in the conservatory at the New York Botanical Gardens. It's a model of New York City, naturally. It includes nearly 200 city landmarks, and is made out of natural materials, like pine cones, acorns, etc.

[Pamela DG]

There is a train garden in the hospital in my county in Central Ohio. Children, and adults, who are ill can leave their illness behind while they watch the train.

[Nancy Mayer]

I lived in Havre de Grace, Aberdeen Proving Ground, and Baltimore,MD eons ago but never heard of Train Gardens. I would have loved to have seen one. I saw a fabulous display of trains in a toy store in London,once and once visited a man who had a village and trains around his Christmas tree and a large part of the living room. We never set up trains because the cats and dogs chased them and knocked them over.

[Lillian Marek]

Toy trains bring back such wonderful memories. When I was a child, my boy cousins has a toy train that was set up every year at Christmas time. We all lived in small apartments, so there was no room to have the trains set up permanently—it was a strictly seasonal treat. I looked forward to them every year.
The New York Botanical Garden has a spectacular train setup, with the trains weaving their way through various New York City landmarks. It's gorgeous, but nothing has ever had the magic of my cousins' little set making its way around the table.

[Annette N]

I am a fan of trains. And train gardens sound like a wonderful thing. What a brilliant idea. Thanks for the pictures and this post.

Hope everyone is well and safe and happy and will find all the joy.

[Kareni]

What a lovely post, Mary Jo! I'm not familiar with train gardens, but I have seen some train displays over time. I'm reminded of Madurodam which is a 1:25 reproduction of parts of the Netherlands; it has trains amongst other features. You can see a video here ~ https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1LOGBXFrIOU

[Mary Jo Putney]

Binnie, I've not seen the Glen Avenue Firehouse, but it doesn't surprise me that Baltimore has multiple fabulous train gardens!

[Mary Jo Putney]

Mary M, what lovely train memories you have! So nce that your family set is now part of an Arizona train club. The legacy lives on.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Oooh, Karin that NYC train exhibit sounds amazing! I'll google it later.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Pamela, whoever thought that up deserves major kudos! As you say, watching the trains and entering another world is very healing.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Nancy, I know what you mean about cats and dogs interfering with train displays! The London display was clearly memorable.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Lillian, what a wonderful piece of holiday nostalgia! And yours is the second call out for the NY Botanical display. I WILL look this up!

[Mary Jo Putney]

Thank you for the good wishes, Annette, and may you and yours also be well and safe and happy.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Wow, Kareni, the Madurodam is a real knock out! So nice to see so many people enjoying themselves as they explore that environment.

[Robin Rustad]

Mary Jo (and anyone else in the Baltimore-Washington region)
The B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore has the most amazing model train displays for the holiday season. I've missed it the past couple of years, but must have gone for 20 years straight when the kids were little and into trains and then because it was such a fun tradition.
Not far away is Historic Ellicott City, an old mill town in a valley. There the little B&O Train Station Museum and the Howard County Fire station up the road have great displays. The past two years, due to COVID, the fire station folks put their displays in windows along Old Ellicott City Main Street, Its like a set of little worlds strung like pearls along the street leading down to the museum.
My best friend's parents did model railroading in Cleveland, so when I moved to Baltimore in '88, I didn't realize just how special is this tradition of train gardens.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Robin, you recommendations for train gardens is dead on! I'm not seen the one at the B&N museum, though the museum itself is terrific. Maybe next Christmas...