# Automated Public Garden Railroad



## Del Tapparo (Jan 4, 2008)

Just an update .... Our club (Northern Colorado Garden Railroaders) have successfully completed the installation of a garden railroad in the Children's garden at the "Gardens on Spring Creek" in Fort Collins, CO. It is rather small; about 11 by 15 ft. with two loops of track. One side of the layout has a mountain made of stucco which also houses the train shed. There are three different "kid's buttons" around the perimeter of the layout, which is enclosed with a plexi-glass fence to keep little hands out. One button operates an LGB tram that goes up and down the mountain. The other two operate the upper and lower loop trains (Freight train on top, passenger train on the bottom). A child approaches the railroad and hits the "button" which brings the train out of the train shed and it begins looping around the track, making random station stops at either the station for the passenger train, or the logging camp for the freight train. Pressing the button while the train is running results in blowing the whistle. Or if the train is stopped at the station, it launches the train. Any lack of kid's button activity for a period of time sends the trains back to the train shed for protection from the weather. All battery power R/C using RailBoss 4 components with custom software.
Anyone interested in a similar operation for your public layout, please contact me at [email protected]. The kid's are just going crazy over this train layout (mostly 3 to 6 year olds). The layout is operating completely unattended. The staff just plugs in the battery chargers at night, and unplugs them in the morning.


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## RCE (Sep 14, 2009)

Dell that sounds like a fun layout.Do you have any pictures or a video of it.
I'd love to see it in action.
Richard


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