31st National Garden Railway Convention

The 31st National Garden Railway Convention was held in Denver, Colorado from July 5 to 11, 2015.

The first two days included trips to scenic railroads in the area – either the Leadville RR or Georgetown Loop in Sunday, and either Pikes Peak Cog RR or Royal George Train on Monday. Tina and I elected to visit the Leadville RR and the Royal George Train.

Leadville, CO is at 11,000 ft elevation and the train went up hill from there. The scenery was beautiful but breathing took a little bit of effort. The Royal Gorge Train was once a spur of the Southern Pacific that no longer is used. As the name suggests, the train parallels the Arkansas River through what is known as the Grand Canyon of the Arkansas. Again, the scenery was outstanding and the train ride a joy.

Tuesday through Saturday mornings involved bus trips to garden railroad layouts in the greater Denver area, including Fort Collins north of Denver. Six to seven layouts were visited each day.

Tuesday through Friday, clinics were held in two sessions each afternoon covering a wide variety of subjects.

Tuesday evening included a bus trip to the Colorado RR Museum near Golden, CO. A BBQ banquet was included along with a visit to the Denver Garden Railway Society’s layout which is also located at the Colorado RR Museum.

On Wednesday, the vendor hall opened and was open every afternoon through Saturday. Many vendors offered a variety of garden railway related merchandise. Road names for most of the engines and rolling stock reflected western US railroads. And, the variety and quantity of vendors were less than the Eastern Garden Railway Convention held in York, PA each March.

Wednesday evening included a ice cream social, Thursday evening entertainment and a buffet dinner, and Friday evening was the banquet that wrapped up the convention festivities.

Forty two of the fifty United States were represented at the convention along with Britain, Scotland, Germany, Luxemburg, Japan, Spain, and Australia. We ate dinner with an Australia couple who were a real hoot.

It was a busy week, but the members of the Denver Garden Railway society were most gracious during the layout visits providing refreshments and interesting conversation.

The scenery was outstanding. We got damp a few days but overall the weather cooperated rather well.

Attached are a few pictures of the trip to give a sense of the adventure.