You probably have one of these in your own town somewhere, at a mall (assuming you have one left to go to), a library or firehouse. I’m seeing them growing in popularity and listening to people recount their delight in the time-honored tradition of train gardens, in particular during the holiday season. In most cases, a free show of throwback enchantment hailing simpler, if more painstakingly crafted modes of entertainment.
In northwest Baltimore City, on the cusp of Pikesville region, a firehouse has been putting on a 12 by 40-foot railroad spectacle every Christmas season, now in its 66th run. Baltimore County Engine 45 on 2700 Glen Avenue in Baltimore draws lookee-loos and families to its clickety-clack treasure trove. Always with a nod to the city’s roots, always with amusing roasts of kid-based pop culture. Akwats something different that hasn’t been there in years prior.
My father in life was a diehard HO scale train aficionado. Having done a handful of professional custom builds for private clients including train buff Rod Stewart, my dad had worked on, for most of his adult life, his own train garden stationed in Cripple Creek, Colorado, circa the Old West. I got to know the term “roundhouse” as intimate as any word I knew in the English lexicon, since he was so proud of his own, which had a shifting track inside.
For most of my own life, my father used to take me, without fail, each December to Engine 45’s garden of goofery, which changes intermittently, every minute or so, between full and dark illumination schemes. Suffice it to say, the lighting schemes are so masterful, each mode is pure wonderment.
My father is now three years passed and before his death, he’d missed out on his beloved Baltimore train garden four years prior, as health and mobility became more of an issue. I’ve kept our tradition going with my own family, now my son and TJ. My kid’s been to Engine 45 each of his 16 years and it tickled me to end this year, he insisted we go to the garden on Christmas Eve at a precise time before beginning our family festivities. Just as I have in years past. I know my dad was thrilled to pieces and he was there in our presence around the garden.
Here’s to you, 45, and here’s to many more holiday visits to come…
–Photos by Ray Van Horn, Jr.
Roads Lesser Traveled 