The Train

When people think about Garden Railways they most likely associate them with grand displays of very expensive equipment and rightly so because that's almost always the case. The railway at Martini Junction is different in many ways. For one, being on public land, that expensive stuff would not be practical or really appropriate. So when we thought about a train set for the Junction it had to be inexpensive. My daughter showed me a set she'd bought for her Christmas Tree, which seemed perfect for my purpose and the track was in G Scale. 

The train operates on batteries and although the first edition was controlled by hand we soon found one with a remote control. That train was modeled after European-style rolling stock and we were able to convert the four-wheel undercarriage to North American-style trucks and the curved roof lines to the more familiar shed-like design. 

A magazine article showed how to cover plastic rolling stock with coffee stirrers and I was so stirred by it that I did the same thing and the results were pretty nice with a little weathering. 

And speaking of magazines, I once tried to submit an article about Martini Junction in response to a contest and my submission was rejected with thanks. I suspect that the reason for rejection centered on the lack of mechanical/engineering details. In fact, there's little of that going on here and I had to accept that my submission was more of a love story than anything else. Anyway, what's wrong with a little love story?