PLAYTHINGS : Highballing Through the Hedgerows

In Southern California, there are more than 1,000 railroad barons--the garden variety, that is. Garden railways, oversized model trains set up and integrated into back-yard landscaping, are the latest playthings for many of our children within.

The trains can be anything from animated landscaping elements to historical and mechanical obsessions, according to Marc Horovitz, editor and publisher of Garden Railways magazine, which has a circulation of 14,000. “The layouts can range from a simple circle of track through a flower bed to elaborate replicas of real railroads that ran through the Rockies.”

For Horovitz, today’s garden railroads mark the hobby’s return to its roots. “Back in the early days,” he says, “model trains were quite large and, because of space, they were built outdoors. Only as the pieces grew smaller did model railroads start to come inside.”

Part of the attraction of outdoor sets is the ease with which they can be set up. “This larger scale is a lot better than the old HO trains because my old eyes have to do a lot less squinting when I’m working on them,” says Larry Rose, president of the San Diego Garden Railway Society.

A starter set with a simple circle track, a locomotive and a few cars goes for about $100, but garden railroading can get expensive. A top-of-the-line locomotive sells for as much as $1,000 and it’s not unusual for a hobbyist to spend $10,000 for a full railroad, says Rose, an architect who also designs garden railroads. “Right now, I’m designing layouts with tunnels, trestles, waterfalls, lakes and 2,000-plus feet of track for two individuals who will easily spend more than $100,000 each.” All that just to hear that lonesome whistle blow.