Find us on Facebook!
We Grow Trains in our Gardens r
new website!
We Grow Trains in our Gardens
Welcome to the website of the award-winning Gold Coast Garden Railway Society. Our members share a common interest in trains running on Gauge 1 (45mm) track, commonly known as “Garden scale” or “G scale”.
Many of our members have backyard layouts (indoor layouts are not impossible, but are rare around here) in a variety of scales all on 45 mm track. The majority of our members live between Thousand Oaks and Goleta, California, but we have active members as far away as Santa Maria, Bakersfield, Burbank, and Hollywood.
Typically we have one or two meets a month, depending on weather. All our meets are at member's homes and are “open run”, meaning visitors are encouraged to bring their own trains and run them on the host's layout. Since grades, curves, clearances and availability of track power vary a lot, you should contact the meet host before bringing a train to a meet.
Our meets are centered around either lunch or dinner (rarely). Before COVID-19, all our meals were pot-lucks. For the duration, everyone has to bring their own food, drinks, plates and utensils.
So, why are we the "award winning" GCGRS? In 2019 we had a layout on display at the Ventura County Fair. Nearly half of our members contributed in some way, and we won a First Prize, a Best Construction and a Best Overall Design. The Fair was cancelled for 2020 and 2021. We had a great time in 2019, and will be back as soon as the Fair restarts. If you would like to participate in the next Fair, we encourage you to join us.
We are always looking for new members, whether they are veteran modelers or just getting started in the hobby. We only offer family memberships, which are $10 per year, and spouses and well behaved children are always welcome. Click here for the Membership Application page.
Our New Website
Although we encourage all of our visitors to check out every page, they are grouped according to what the user might be interested in. We have:
– How-to articles for beginners on starting a layout, building mountains, an explanation of scale vs gauge, and lots of other topics. Most of these were pulled out of old newsletters, so they tend to be short and introductory.
– References for club members including a new roster, a calendar featuring our current meet schedule and other garden railroad related events, and links to manufacturers and other garden railroad clubs.
– Fun stuff for everyone including articles on jet powered trains, poems, quizzes, cartoons, and even a recipe or two.
– A revamped gallery featuring pictures of our member's layouts, famous Gold Coast train wrecks, and some whimsical items like Halloween and submarine trains.
– A brand new section featuring pictures of our 2019 display at the Ventura County Fair.
