| The history of garden railroading is not commonly documented. Excellent and historically notable railroads have come and gone and have been lost for ever because no tangible vestige of the essence of their existence has been preserved. Some of this essence is embodied in the characteristics of handled track, which is almost always unique to its particular railroad. As such it makes a wonderful record of the railway's existence and memento of its passing.
The Exchange
This exchange was created by a few of us to provide a clearinghouse for those interested in exchanging these bits of history. The track has no intrinsic value, but in exchanging bits of one anther's railways, we are preserving a little bit of the more esoteric end of garden-railroading history. It's also fun to have a tangible connection to garden railways from all over.
Requirements
• You must have hand-crafted track to exchange (no commercial track, no plastic tie strips please)
• Track must have been in service at one time
• Track can be straight or curved and should be cut into sections from 9" to 15"
• Track is exchanged on a one-for-one basis and each participant pays his own postage
• Please include the following information with each section of track:
- Name of the railway and builder
- Gauge of track and rail size (code)
- Short description of the railroad
- Service life (when in use)
How to participate
If you'd like to participate in the project, please fill in the form below. Once submitted, we will e-mail you a list of other participants. (This way your privacy will be preserved and your e-mail address will not appear in public.) You can then contact the other participants directly to arrange your exchanges. We'll also add your railway name to the list below.
Below is a list of participating railroad names and locations, just so you know how many are on the list so far.
•Ogden Botanical Railway, Colorado
•Isle of Shoals Railway, New Hampshire
•Excelsior Railway, Nevada |