Steam Whistle Music Tracks Ahead Brought to you by: Rancho de Tia Rosa, three unique Mexican restaurants serving culinary delights since 1990.

Music Hi, I'm Spencer Christian.

On this episode of Tracks Ahead, we'll visit one of the largest model railroad clubs in the country.

There is something for everyone - live steam, N, HO, and G gauge, all in one place.

We'll visit a mountain top in the Peach State where a husband and wife have built a dream house - and a dream layout.

We'll ride an Idaho rail line up the scenic gorge of the Payette River, and we'll look in at the largest 7 and a half inch gauge railroad operation we have ever seen.

It's billed as the largest model railroad park in the country.

And it's home to one of the largest model rail clubs in the U.S.

It's the Adobe Mountain Desert Railroad Park and it's our first stop.

Annc: It's Sunday afternoon in Maricopa County, Arizona and people have come from near and far to the Adobe Mountain Desert Railroad Park.

Located in Northwest Phoenix, the park is home to the Adobe Western Railroad, a large-scale model railroad run by members of the Maricopa Live Steamers.

Every Sunday, club members offer free train rides to the public and this is what has drawn these folks here today.

Bill: The Adobe Mountain Railroad is on 145 acres of land in Northwest Phoenix.

We're a 7 ½ inch gauge railroad and we have about 15 miles of track divided up into 5 branches.

Four of the five branches are a bi-directional running branch, point-to-point, and the fifth branch being just a super huge long, 2 ½ mile loop.

We've got bridges and we've got little towns and different structures and buildings that simulate what you would see along a railroad.

Annc: The Adobe Mountain Railroad is one of the biggest large-scale model railroads in the U.S. And with names like Fort Where Am I and Dinky Ditch , there's plenty of fun packed into this old West railroading adventure.

But the main attraction is the magnificent desert scenery.

Stephanie: It's a very natural habitat.

We try to move the railroad within the habitat so we can keep it.

So we have quite a few palo verde trees, we have mesquite trees, quite a bit of creosote, and a lot of natural vegetation typical for Arizona.

The wildlife is pretty incredible.

It's very friendly.

We have a lot of quail and doves.

The jackrabbits are out all season long.

Plus we have the ground squirrels coming out.

We have a family of coyotes that live here on the railroad so we get to see them quite frequently.

A lot of birds too, we have hawks, a couple of hawks.

And we even have an owl that lives here.

Annc: At any one time, 2 or 3 public trains are out on the tracks along with a freight train or two.

With all this rail traffic, safety is key.

Members of the Live Steamers use a similar signal system that standard gauge railroads use...Trains are operated by certified engineers who keep in radio contact with the stationmaster.

All these safeguards help keep the Adobe Mountain railroad running smoothly and safely.

When visitors need a break from the hot desert sun, they head for the clubhouse of the Arizona Model Railroading Society or AMRS.

Members run three model train layouts: N, HO, and G gauges.

Bob: The HO layout really is themed around the 1950s in southern Arizona.

We're covering the operations of some of the major areas, Phoenix, Tucson, Yuma, and that is all done in a space that is about 20 feet by 50 feet and the shape of the layout is an H shape, so operators can walk around the outside and walk inside the H as it where and get really close to the train as they travel around the layout.

There are 3 independent loops on the HO layout.

This permits train operation so that we can have trains that are running just around the layout while allowing the ability to do switching, so trains can come on and off the main line without interrupting any of the other 2 main lines.

Annc: Up to nine members of the AMRS can run trains on the layout at the same time as they travel 250 scale miles through the Southern Arizona landscape.

Bob: The HO group is really working on refining their operation plan.

Trying to really figure out how to add more scenery, more buildings to the layout to really make it a museum quality layout.

Annc: In another area of the clubhouse, the "N" scale layout, with its 330 feet of mainline, allows visitors to experience a trip from the mid-western United States to the western shore.

Bob: In the N scale layout we figured that there's a lot of opportunity for different scenic aspects, different industries that we might think of as we go along.

And it being a fairly large layout, we decided, let's come up with just the main line concept and we could start cutting in siding and turnouts.

So it's given us a lot of opportunity to change things.

And one of the biggest changes is we had a staging track plan for the entire length of the layout and decided it was too long and we cut that out and actually put the track about ground and it created a really, really dramatic scenic aspect at the mountain area.

Scenery is the biggest area we're working on right now.

Really going for drama as we travel from one end of the country to the other across the layout.

Additionally as we started constructing the N track modules comprised of the dock section and the yard section, we hope to really make that a traveling piece so that we can reach out to the community and really bring the idea of model railroading to a lot of the younger folks.

Annc: Visitors outdoors can check out the G gauge layout, which mirrors the western mountain terrain.

Bob: The G scale layout actually consists of 2 different layouts coupled together.

And between the 2 there's almost 800 feet on the inside and 900 feet of mainline on the outside layout.

There are about 16 bridges that crisscross the layout going over ponds, ravines, and other tracks.

The 2 ponds that you see connected together measure 65 feet by 15 feet, and we have quite a bit of animal life that live in those ponds, between goldfish and turtles and such.

The staging trestle, which is all built of individual pieces of redwood - all bolted together.

There wasn't a single nail used in its construction.

As we go throughout the track, we see all the turnouts are individually hand built by the members.

Early on in the layouts operation, we discovered that powering the trains with batteries proved to be more reliable than using track power.

With our harsh desert climate, the desert winds during monsoon and dust storms really would put a lot of dirt on the tracks.

So with the battery power, the trains are completely immune to the dirt, which means we don't have to clean the tracks, which is a great maintenance boon during the storms.

Annc: Back at the Adobe Station, an engineer is steaming up an engine.

The Live Steamers boast 50 plus engines, over 200 freight cars and a variety of specialty trains...While most of the engines are hydraulic, there are a collection of steam engines that burn coal, oil, propane, and wood.

Most of the trains are stored at the park in 20 to 40 foot containers.

But, these aren't your typical storage units.

The city thought that having so many containers in one place would create an eyesore, so the Live Steamers cleverly decorated them with false fronts to look like an Old-West town.

As clever as the units are on the outside, what's really impressive is their interior design.

Bill: We found out that these shipping containers that they use on ships for hauling goods across the ocean, were available, and we were able to purchase them and we set them up as a storage container for our trains.

We put multiple levels of track in them and it makes a very nice storage container.

Annc: The last train of the day is about to leave the station.

By the time it returns, over 300 people will have ridden on the Adobe Mountain Railroad and enjoyed the model train layouts.

That's 300 new rail fans that will know a little more about the exciting hobby of model railroading and Arizona's rich and colorful railroad heritage.

The clubs are always looking for new members, so if you live in the Phoenix area, stop on by and enjoy the fun.

What have you always dreamed about doing when that old 9-5 daily grind goes by the wayside, and you finally get the chance to create a new life for yourself?

Today we meet a couple who knew just what they wanted to do.

Annc: Retirement brought Jim and Gayle Steed to a mountaintop outside of Blairsville, Georgia.

Here, the Steeds designed their new house and called on a builder to bring their dream home to life.

Jim: I said Gary, I need a big basement.

I need a basement without posts.

Gary says, 'Well I'm sorry, I can't build a house and a basement without posts' and I said, 'well, let's see if we can do it with as minimal as possible', and he said 'why?'

I said well, we're going to build a train room down there; we're going to have a railroad.

And sure enough, Gary gave me three posts and there we are.

Annc: Today, Jim's dream home houses his dream layout, the second largest O-gauge layout in the Peach State - a terrific 1950's-era model of the Great Georgia Central & Southern Railroad Company.

Jim: The size of the layout is 36 sheets of plywood.

That's one thousand one hundred square feet.

We have a 2,000 square foot room and that gives me lots of aisle space.

Thirty six sheets of plywood is probably we think the second largest layout in the state of Georgia.

On the layout you've got about 1,000 feet of track, that's a fifth of a mile.

Twenty five locomotives, 400 buildings and structures.

Over 1,000 people and 1,000 automobiles.

Annc: This stellar layout also has 155 railroad cars, 50 switches, 7 main rail lines, and 4 streetcar lines.

A layout of this size is rarely the work of one individual.

Jim has the perfect collaborator in his wife Gayle, who is always finding new ways to create and enhance the scenery.

Gayle: I think the first thing we did together was start the snow village.

We started off with a one-dimensional mountain because we wanted to save real estate space.

I wanted to reproduce what it looks like on a Christmas day.

We had a lot of stone and brick left over from our home when we built it, and so I created a 3 by 4 foot rock quarry of which he then added some mountain lions and some creative characters down there.

Jim: And the Hell Gate Bridge goes over one end of the quarry.

Annc: Jim's love of trains goes back to his boyhood, growing up 150 feet from the main railroad line on Atlanta's northeast side.

Jim: The big Georgia Railroad main line freights would come by in the afternoons and go into Augusta with a long string of freight cars.

And I remember the glasses in mom's China cabinet rattling.

And I always remember that sound.

My dad was a trucker.

He never had a train as a boy.

And I think he wanted a train for me, so right after WWII we went downtown to King Hardware and we parked right on Peachtree Street.

Atlanta was only about 250,000 population then, if you can believe that.

You could park right on the street, we went into King Hardware and we came out and I remember carrying out a box of trains.

I put it into the trunk of the car.

We brought it home and we set it up and we ran it that Saturday afternoon.

And the railroad is dedicated to my father, Frank Steed, because he was my best friend and he taught me how to build things, how to do electricity, and I'll always be grateful for those things that he taught me to do.

Annc: Frank Steed's influence is reflected in his son's layout and has helped Jim and Gayle develop quite a knack for modifying and recycling what other folks might be tempted to throw away.

Gayle: When my granddaughter was born, they gave her, in the hpital, 2 or 3 infant formula bottles, that Jim brought home, painted them silver, put them in a carrier and now they've become a gas tank.

Another item, we take table legs from Home Depot, turn those items upside down, paint them, and they become smoke stacks for an industrial size building.

Take a little bit of cotton, swish it around in charcoal or your fireplace soot and put that on top of the smokestack and it becomes the smoke.

Another item we had was a breathalyzer which became a silo, a gasoline silo when Jim brought it home and painted it, so we've recycled a lot of humorous things that have become serious on the layout.

Annc: After a decade of building, expanding and perfecting their layout, a curious visitor might pause to ask Jim and Gayle just when they expect to put the final touches on their creation?

Jim: This railroad will never be finished because you keep adding things every week, every day and that's the fun and joy of it.

I've loved railroading from day one.

I love the engines, the smell, the grease, the sound.

I love everything about it.

Gayle: He's always adding things.

People, cars, buildings, thought processes, ideas.

As you can see, the railroad is never complete.

People from all over the world travel to Train Mountain to ride the rails.

Some are so taken by the experience that they move permanently to the area.

In the past 10 years, an average of two families a year have made that move.

What brings them here and what makes them want to stay?

We'll find out shortly.

First we're off to southwestern Idaho, where we'll enjoy the fresh mountain air and relive a little piece of Idaho railroad history.

Annc: If you are ready to explore the scenic beauty of south western Idaho then hop aboard the Thunder Mountain Line.

Located in Horseshoe Bend, just north of Boise, this historic line is now known for its tourist excursions.

Over a century ago, the railroad started life as a way to service the mining and timber industries along the Payette River.

Mitch: There was an excellent business opportunity here with the timber business.

Boise Cascade Corporation had a number of timber mills up and down this mountain and the trains were running daily.

The green lumber was coming down the mountain and being finished down in Emmett, Idaho, and then we'd take it to interchange from that point.

Annc: But the timber business didn't last, and soon, all the mills were shut down and dismantled.

Life didn't end there.

And the railroad still serves a two part mission.

Mitch: The two pieces that we're operating, the passenger side, the tourist side, we run about 24 miles from a point south of here up to Banks, Idaho north of here.

And on the freight side similar mileage, around 20 miles.

What makes this railroad unique, ah, first of all, is the country it runs through.

The terrain, we have upwards of 2 1/2 percent grade in some areas.

It's very scenic.

It runs along the Payette River, which is a very scenic river, and a recreational river, lots of rafting and kayaking takes place on that river.

There's lots of wildlife, lots of activity on the river, and you can't necessarily see that by driving the highway.

And we operate in areas where you would either have to be on the train or hiking in order to see.

Annc: In addition to the scenic beauty, there's always something happening around the railroad to amuse the passengers.

Nat Sound: Guitar Player Mitch: The train robbery is pretty fun.

It ah, it's ahm, basically a wild west setting, a wild west shootout.

It's interactive in that they get the crowd involved, the passengers involved.

Annc: The railroad also runs the Aloha Express, a little piece of Hawaii, right here on the mainland.

Mitch: Dinner excursions ah, vary in ah that we cater with different restaurants and caterers in the area, ah different types of food um, we have a dining car on the train and that is utilized sometimes.

We also have dinner trains outdoors, when it's a nice evening.

We have a spot at Banks, Idaho, where we canccommodate that.

Annc: In addition to being colorful, the rail equipment has arrived here from all over the country.

Roland: This locomotive is an ex Illinois Central locomotive.

It was built in 1956, I believe by EMD Corporation.

It was modified by the Illinois Central in 1979, ah for the MBTA.

And we had purchased it after that.

It was converted to an F10 which means it had a number upgrades, including the engine and head end power generation.

Those open air cars were built when we shut down the lumber operation, and we had converted some of these flat cars into open air cars, with no roof, and some with a roof.

So we call them open open airs, and covered open air cars.

And they work pretty well, they're pretty popular cars.

We have some coach cars, those came from the Long Island Railroad , they were used for a number of years until 1993.

At that point we had purchased them and brought them over here.

The business car was an ex CP Katy & Pacific car.

It is one of four specially built cars that were made for the executives of the railroad.

And this is one of the last ones that still exists.

And right now it's been modified into a private car and people can purchase it for the day or spend the night in it if they want.

It's got it's own kitchen, it's got it's own nice dining area, lounging area, a number of bedrooms.

It's a real nice car to go for a ride with.

Annc: And what does the future hold?

Mitch: The future of this railroad is to continue to grow it and expand our passenger service back into the northern end of the railroad.

Annc: Whether it's hauling freight, or catering to tourists, the Thunder Mountain Line is the perfect way to spend a relaxing journey into the mountains of southern Idaho.

Music Annc: Quentin Breen wanted to build a railroad where grown men could ride small trains.

Today, Train Mountain - the railroad that Quentin built in Chiloquin, Oregon - holds the Guinness World Record of being the longest miniature hobby railroad - in the world.

And, it is home to the largest electrical hydraulic turntable -in the hobby.

Ross: We call ourselves an inch and one-half scale railroad, but it's a seven and one-half inch gauge track.

So we allow everything up to basically three and three quarter inch scale with axle loading up to four hundred pounds an axle.

The railroad length is approaching 30 miles of main line track total.

Once you're on the train and start traveling the tracks, we have a feature called the Serpentine that takes us down about 80 feet in elevation.

We also have a town involved in that called Youngstown and a new winery called DeBroy that were built by our volunteers.

Both of them contain superb buildings that they've constructed to a scale.

Once you reach the bottom of the property, the South end of the property is our new Garden Railroad.

Leaving the Garden Railroad, you'll go through campgrounds.

There's four different tunnel structures on the property, one which goes under South Chiloquin Road, a two-lane highway to take us to the North side of the property.

We have a logging camp on the North side of the property, built to scale with a high lead that is used to load logs onto our log cars to bring them back into the mill sites.

Traveling farther north, you go straight into the Oregon wilderness.

There's no buildings, there's no structures.

It's all Ponderosa pine trees, brush and open spaces.

You'll see everything from deer and elk, coyote, badgers, small critters, occasionally a cougar.

Coming back into Train Mountain, you take a secondary route to climb the hill which is our steepest grade which is 3.2 percent grade.

And when you reach the top, you go through our longest tunnel which is 300 feet and it puts you back out at Central Station where the last significant piece of railroading is involved and that's a completely operating control tower that can route you all around the top of Train Mountain.

And the Control Tower is also in communication with the signaling system at the far North of the property about 3 miles away that tells them what trains are on the track in that area.

And this is all being built, installed and maintained by our volunteers.

Dennis: We got carpenters, we got machinists, we got sheet metal people, we got mechanics, and if something breaks or something needs fixing, or something needs built, there's someone here with the skills that can build it.

Annc: Over 260 members help run Train Mountain.

Many participate in the residency program and either live on-site in the campground during the summer months or have moved permanently onto properties inside or surrounding Train Mountain.

Someday, all of these properties will be linked by tracks for the train cars to run on.

Ross: Many of the train cars we have were custom built to our specifications for Maintenance Way.

If you take a hobby train car from a normal car builder, they won't withstand the loads we carry, the miles we put on them, and the kind of equipment we haul on them to do maintenance around the track.

So we built some very specific cars for those purposes and our members have come in and built some very specific equipment to maintain the track on too.

Dennis: Some of the members have designed snowplows that will fit right in the coupler pockets in the front of our engines and before the snow gets too deep we can go out there and keep the track clear.

Annc: Along with model trains, the railroad boasts a collection of full size artifacts.

Ross: We like to show the comparison of the real stuff versus what we miniaturize to do our job with.

We're looking around 80 pieces of full size equipment scattered around the property that will eventually be put into museum pieces.

Annc: Quentin's dream lives on through the men, women, and children who come to Train Mountain to ride the rails.

But Quentin's finest legacy just might turn out to be the community he inspired.

Ross: I love railroading, but the biggest thing about train mountain is the family we have.

And the family is all of our members.

Dennis: I have never met a better group of people to work with in my life.

Ross: I searched for something like this, and once I found it.

It became my home.

This is what I know, what I do.

You have to come and experience it.

And we welcome everyone to come and experience it.

Future plans include caboose condominiums along the ridgeline.

That's all for this episode.

Please join us next time for more, Tracks Ahead.

Tracks Ahead Brought to you by Rancho de Tia Rosa, three unique Mexican restaurants serving culinary delights since 1990.

Walthers, manufacturer and supplier of model railroading products; serving the hobby since 1932.

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