It all began years ago.....
As a kid I was always infatuated with trains. Growing up in the late 40s and through the 50s, that was the mode of transportation in the country. Having said that, I don't think I ever even road on a train that I can remember. While I lived in Detroit until 1958, I can remember walking down to the combination toy and hobby shop on 7 Mile Road and dreaming about having a gigantic train layout. I began saving money and piece by piece adding to my tiny empire. I chose "S" scale. It was called American Flyer and was made by the AC Gilbert Company in New Haven CT. I think it was more than just the train part, I loved the electronic and mechanical workings of the trains. Today we'd call it STEM, science, technology, electrical and mechanical.
So, in 1958 we moved to Dallas Texas and that caused a restart of the model train empire. The only place that I could find to buy trains and the parts was Bobbye Hall's Hobby Shop on the corner of Bryan and Fitzhugh (4222 Bryan to be specific). It was more than just trains, they had model planes and just about anything you needed to build something. At this point I switched to HO scale because it had gained in popularity and I could get way more trains for the buck. Bobbye's was also a 'hang out' where you could just spend time with guys that were like minded. We lived in North Dallas at the time and I road I think 3 busses to get there. Thinking back, I don't think any store ever outdid Bobbye Hall's. It was a sad day in Dec. 2001 when I learned that it was closing. She and her husband opened the store in 1946 and it was an iconic place. And I have to mention that Bobbye was a woman, one that I thought was sort of a grandmother image. But she was a smart cookie and ran a great hobby shop. Too bad a fall-off in business combined with the redevelopment of the area caused her to get the offer for the land that she could not refuse, and then Bobbye Hall's was gone.
So, through my high school year and then college the trains were put in the background and other things took center stage so to speak. Living in an apartment was not really conducive to having a model train layout. Then came getting married and finally having a single-family home. Now I had time and space for a real train empire. We actually had an extra room as part of the house design where I could have my train layout and a workshop. I built a HO layout on 2 4X8 plywood sheets up on legs. I thought it was my dream layout. Easy access to the bottom for wiring and plenty of space up top for track and scenery,
Along came our two kids and I thought they would join me in my hobby but that wasn't to happen. So it became, Ron's room. That lasted for 30 years and then onto the next house.
Our next house was larger and again I had a room to myself. I continued with the HO scale trains, but never seemed to have the time to really dig into it again. We did a lot of traveling at the time. It seemed like we were flying everywhere and that included a business we started in Switzerland. That's where one day on an exploring trip I discovered an entire city that had been built outdoors by a gentleman in an adjoining town. It was fantastic and even more than that, the trains were big. Little did I know, but I had discovered G gauge trains. And more than that they were designed to be run outdoors and stand up to the weather. What I was looking at was Lehmann Gross Bahn, which when translated from German to English meant Lehmann Large Train, with Lehmann being the company name. Most people just called it LGB and they still do.
This gave me the opportunity to do two things. I had always wanted, a Koi Pond in my backyard and now I could combine the pond with a giant outdoor train layout. You can check the Garden Trains at Home page for more details on building my dream garden train layout. But you might check the Garden Trains page first to learn more about the trains and the hobby. Then the Texas Discovery Gardens page walks through how that location was constructed.
