The G&O Story (O Gauge Outdoors)

The SLHRS had its annual holiday show the weekend of December 5 and 6, 2015.  We were rained out for the first time on December 6.  Here are a few photos taken on December 5.  We allow children of all ages to run trains on our children's layout.  

The G&O has had a tradition of running trains on New Year's Day.  No trains were run on January 1, 2015 because a tree fell on the layout wiping out the mainline.  The tradition was resumed on January 1, 2016.

The Daylight is being pulled by a brass Williams 4449 that was upgraded to command control with Electric Railroad electronics.  The SP diesel has also been changed to command control with ERR parts.  The cars are a mix of K-Line and MTH.  Here are a few photos:

I am documenting a little history.  The G&O ran many trains on Feb. 6, 2016 to bring fans to the 50th Super Bowl game that was held in Santa Clara at the 49ers Levi's Stadium.  The G&O is the primary passenger railroad serving the San Francisco Bay Area.  The G&O's Depot Station is just 20 miles from Levi's Stadium and 10 miles from Super Bowl City in downtown San Francisco.  

Demand for space was so heavy that the G&O had to borrow engines and equipment for other roads including the Polar Express.

Here are photos of the many special trains.  A G&O special powered with a borrowed N&W Class A crosses the Golden Gate Bridge and heads for the San Francisco Bay Area.

The Bronco Fans charted a Milwaukee Road train to bring them to the game because of the Milwaukee's orange color scheme.  The Panthers charted a blue Amtrak California consist to match their team colors.  Just like the quarterback matchup, it was old versus new and Orange versus Blue.

Given the results of the game, the Panthers probably should have gotten an old reliable steam engine to haul their special.

We caught G&O extra 706 rounding the famous Coupler Curve early the morning heading toward the Bay Area.  We caught the extra later in the day crossing Norris Falls as it turns toward Depot Station.

The Polar Express was brought out of winter storage to help meet the demand for space.

Here is a lineup of the specials at the G&O's Depot Station in San Leandro after the crowds have departed for the game.   The G&O held a great Super Bowl party at the G&O's headquarters in San Leandro.  

The next step will be to reverse all the trains to take the happy Bronco fans and the sad Panther fans back home.   

This is a great thread. 

Really interesting to see the progress and the integration of the various bridges and how they then "settle in" to their environment as surrounding the landscaping matures.

Wow--Great pictures and history of the G&O.

will add this to my bucket list.

The G&O's first bridges were constructed quickly to get the railroad operational as soon as possible.  The first bridge to span Bouey Canyon was the Golden Gate.  It was designed to carry a double track O gauge line.  (Bouey Canyon is named after John Bouey.  John is a civil engineer and a former USN Seabee.  John scratch built all the bridges spanning this canyon for the G&O.)

As the G&O's trains got heavier and traffic increased the railroad found that the original  Golden Gate Bridge was not adequate.  Therefore, management decided to replace the bridge.

Here is a photo of one the last trains to cross the old Golden Gate Bridge.

This a photo of G&O crew members Jeff Zolfarelli and Jim Stephens preparing to take out the bridge.  It was raining heavily when this  photo was taken.  The crew is using the sun shade to keep the rain off.

Jeff Zolfarelli and Jacques Verdier are lifting out the old bridge.  Who knew that G&O crew members could lift the Golden Gate Bridge?  They are supermen.  

A major goal is to build the new Golden Gate Bridge with a wider and stronger deck.  The new bridge will also have lights.

G&O crew members Mark Boyd and Craig Matoza are test fitting the new deck and its strength in this photo taken a week after the old bridge was removed.  This is as far as this project has progressed as of May 15, 2016.  

The G&O will have the new bridge finished and in operation in time to host an open house for the National Garden Railroad Convention to be held in the San Francisco Bay Area during July 4 - 10, 2016.

What an amazing story! Joe, you fellas and gals certainly created a fantastic set-up.

How well has the Atlas track held up over the years?

May, June and July have been very busy months for the G&O crew.  The San Leandro Historical Railway Society began repainting the Depot in May 2016 and finished during the first week in June.  It took 3 years for the SLHRS to raise $15,000 to pay for the professional lead abatement / removal and to paint the building.  The total cost of the project was $21,000.  The City of San Leandro, which owns the Depot, generously contributed $6,000 towards completing the project.  The SLHRS is grateful for San Leandro's support.  

The building was repainted in the Southern Pacific's original colors taken from an official SP paint chip.  These colors are different from those that are generally seen on existing SP buildings.  

Here is a photo of the Depot before repainting:

Here are several photos after painting.

The G&O's maintenance shed was repainted to match the new Depot colors.

The G&O crew then set about the difficult task of preparing the display for two open houses at the 32nd National Garden Railroad Convention that was scheduled for the week of July 4 to 10, 2016.  The G&O was scheduled to be open July 7 and again on July 10.

The G&O ran its annual 4th of July celebration run on the 4th.  This proved to be a helpful tune up for the garden railroad convention.

NH Joe

The National Garden Railroad Convention was held in Santa Clara, CA during the week of July 4 to 10, 2016.  The G&O was open on Thursday, July 7 and Sunday, July 10.

Three bus loads of convention goers arrived on Thursday plus many more people on self-driving tours. All the visitors on Sunday were self-driving.

Here are photos from the convention.  Since it was the week of July 4, the G&O was running patriotic trains including a K-Line model of the American Freedom train pulled by N&W Class A 1218.  The displays was decorated with many flags.

Over 300 people visited the G&O during the convention.  Most of them did not realize that you could successfully run O gauge outside.  We answered many questions about O gauge in the garden.   This was a very successful event that demonstrated that O gauge is a viable garden railroad choice.

NH Joe

The G&O crew wasn't done yet.  The following weekend, July 16 and 17, 2016, the SLHRS held its annual summer open house.  The G&O crew changes the trains and the display for each event.  We went with a farming theme this weekend.

NH Joe

Here are two videos of the G&O.  The first was filmed by G&O crew member Glenn Wiegand.  Glenn wrote and sang the "Ballad of the G&O".  This was filmed and recorded in 2012.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffitv20VgRc

This video was filmed by a visitor to the G&O during the National Garden Railroad Convention on July 7, 2016.  He must have arrived early because we had many more trains running a half hour after this was filmed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...Xc6l5gQ&index=25

NH Joe

I haven't heard from you guys in a while!  Last time was in July. Anymore updates?

Also, have you thought about putting together a pamphlet with all of your lessons learned from this experience? This thread is great, but I would love to get my hands on something like that.

JDF posted:

I haven't heard from you guys in a while!  Last time was in July. Anymore updates?

Also, have you thought about putting together a pamphlet with all of your lessons learned from this experience? This thread is great, but I would love to get my hands on something like that.

JDF,

Thanks for your questions.  Additional updates will be forthcoming soon.

 We are always working on improving and adding additional items to the G&O.   I did start a document that I was going to develop into an article for consideration by OGR on lessons learned when building and operating an outdoor O gauge garden railroad.  I just haven't gotten around to finishing it.

The G&O crew now has two layouts on which to draw experience.  Jacques Verdier and Nancy Lagomarsino joined the G&O crew just over two years ago.  They have built their own O gauge garden railroad during the last two years in addition to working on the G&O.  Their layout uses Legacy command control, Atlas track and Plasticville buildings.

 Their Verdi Railroad is shown on the cover of the October issue of Garden Railways Magazine.  The "Raised Railroad" article by Nancy Norris (another G&O crew member) uses their layout as one example of a raised railroad.  The article is not about outdoor O gauge.  Maybe Jacques, Nancy Lagomarsino and I can combine our thoughts to write a lessons learned article on how to build and operate O gauge outdoors.

I appreciate your interest in the G&O.

NH Joe

G&O construction crews worked on many projects during the fall of 2016.  Most of these projects involved track and wiring which cannot be readily seen.  A major scenery project was the upgrade of the Gallery Tunnel.  Here are before and after photos.  The after photos were taken in early October 2016.

The "rocks" and new O gauge tunnel portals and walls are foam from Woodland Scenics that has been painted and weathered.  The G gauge portals are from other sources.  All foam is glued to the treated plywood with hot glue.  The G&O crew has found that this foam holds up outdoors when it is painted with outdoor house paint.  The crew has used hot glue throughout the display to hold foam, rocks and other scenery in place with excellent results.

West tunnel portals.

East tunnel portals.

South Tunnels.

The G&O Halloween show was held October 25, 2016.  Here are some photos from the show:

Cat Tunnels

Halloween Village

CATerpillar Express

Skeleton Crew

Future Model Railroader

Eye Ball Express

The Creature Rises From the Grave

The Candy Train stops for Unloading

Great Work Joe! Can't wait to see the Christmas setup! 

The San Leandro Historical Railway Society held its annual holiday show the weekend of December 10 and 11, 2016.  It was pouring rain on Saturday, December 10 so we could not run the G&O.  Sunday was wet but it was not raining so we put out our displays.  Here are a few photos from the show:

A Christmas Story Train

The Snow Village

A Christmas Train crosses the Norris Falls O gauge bridge.

A G gauge Christmas Train on the children's display.

Yes she gets to run the trains.

A G gauge train at Bouey Canyon.

Nancy Norris gets her G gauge live steam shay ready to run.

Nancy's shay is off and running.

Mr. Snowman oversees the G&O operations.

Watch out for the bears.

January 1, 2017.  The G&O started the New Year with its traditional New Year's Day run.  

A G gauge Christmas train on Norris Falls bridge.

Wow!  Look at all those presents.

Another G gauge train passes by.

Santa rides the rails.

The Daylight is ready to depart Depot Station.

The Daylight passes Radiator Springs.

Thomas gets ready for a trip at Depot Station.

The Norris Falls O gauge bridge.

The fishing is fine year around in California.   

Even the bears get in on the action.

Depot Station is filled with trains.

NH Joe, Glad to see the repairs have been made, and the G&O was ready for your open houses.  The variety of trains for the holidays was great!  glad to see youngsters participate.

TSG Media shot a video about the San Leandro Historical Railway Society and the G&O Garden Railway on March 19, 2017.

May 6 & 7, 2017

The San Leandro Historical Railway Society (SLHRS) and the East Bay District of the Bay Area Garden Railway Society held a joint train show and picnic on the weekend of May 6 & 7, 2017.  This show was very successful and the SLHRS is looking forward to doing more events with other model train groups.  Here are a few photos from this show.

The tables are set for the joint picnic:

Nancy Norris, the G&O's designer, leads a tour or the G&O.

Trains are staged in the Depot yard tracks.

A G gauge battery powered diesel and live steamer are in the G gauge staging yard.

A SP Pacific Fruit Express climbs toward the Radiator Springs Summit.  The engine and most of the cars are Lionel.  The engine is TMCC.

The PFE train has reached the summit and sets the brakes for the descending grade.

An east bound diesel train was photographed just leaving Bouey Canyon.  This engine is battery powered and is controlled with a Crest radio system.  It has full sounds.

The next train was a east bound intermodal express.  The engine is Lionel with TMCC.

The train passes Radiator Springs.

The train emerges from the gallery tunnel under summit mountain.

The train is now passing Lizard Peak as it heads for the Norris Falls Bridge.

The engines have crossed the Norris Falls Bridge and are headed upgrade toward the Golden Gate Bridge.

Old Glory always proudly flies above the G&O.

Photos of the children's display.

A young man receives instruction on running trains on the children's display.

A crowd gathers around the children's display.

The G&O is constantly improving its right of way.  The G&O replaced the Bouey Canyon trestle with a girder bridge in April 2017.  The wood trestle was built by the G&O chief civil engineer - John Bouey.  It was located at the center of the G gauge mainline and was within easy reach of visitors.  Unfortunately, children had a tendency to climb the trestle which resulted in many repairs. The new girder bridge was built by Jeff Zolfarelli.  It is hoped that this bridge will provide a more visitor proof crossing of Bouey Canyon.  The old trestle is going to find a place on John Bouey's home G gauge garden railroad.

Here is the old trestle.

This is the new girder bridge shortly after it was installed in April 2017.  It has much less wood beams for little hands to grab.

May 29, 2017 (Memorial Day)

A few G&O crew members attended a Memorial Day remembrance at Lone Tree Cemetery in Hayward, CA in the morning.  This was the 140th year that a remembrance ceremony has been held at this cemetery.  The cemetery has graves of veterans going back to the mid 1800s.

The crew gathered at the G&O for a picnic lunch and to run trains in memory of American veterans and those who currently serve in the afternoon.  The American Freedom Train visited the G&O.  This is a Lionel model of the 1947 Freedom Train.  The PA diesel is controlled using TMCC.

The AFT rounds Coupler Curve.

The train passes Fireside:

The train has crossed Bouey Canyon and passes Radiator Springs.

A freight approaches Radiator Springs Summit

The AFT approaches Norris Falls:

The AFT crosses the Norris Falls Bridge:

The end:

The G&O was open for the 2017 4th of July weekend.  Here are a few photos:

This is the recently repainted San Leandro Historical Society Depot decorated for the show:

The entrance to the G&O:

This is an older Lionel engine with a Pullmore motor that had been converted to TMCC pulling a red, white and blue train.

A Lion Chief Thomas was very popular:

A G gauge Army train:

The two cars before the caboose are a Pledge of Allegiance car and a Teddy Roosevelt car.

A G gauge steam train decorated for the 4th:

This is a State of Maine train pulled by a battery powered UP Train Master.    The Train Master is controlled by an Air Wire radio control system.  This is the first radio controlled O gauge train to operate on the G&O.  The caboose is by K-Line.

Here are some buildings decorated for the 4th.  First an O gauge gas station.

G gauge building fronts.

Radiator Springs:

Lizard Peak.  The wolves are never going to reach the Lizard.

Depot Yard

An Independence Day Train.  The engine is K-Line.

Note the BC Rail caboose.  It has perfect colors.

There are always fires in CA during the summer:

The children's display.  The ore train is K-Line.

This is a 13 Colony train by K-Line.  The colonies are in order by the date that they ratified the Constitution.  The engine is a MTH PS-1 FP-45 that has been converted to TMCC.  The train is on the mountain line and passing above Radiator Springs.

The colony train is crossing the Bixby Bridge.  The real Bixby Bridge is a concrete bridge located south of Monterey, CA.  It is often featured in automobile ads.

The American Freedom Train crosses the Norris Creek bridge.  The AFT train is a Lionel model of the 1947 train that President Truman sent around the country at the end of WWII.  The PA engine has TMCC.

The AFT is followed by the Congressional.  The Congressional is a Lionel model controlled by TMCC.

Here is another view of the Congressional:

The SLHRS / G&O 4th of July show was well attended by the public and everyone had a good time.

NH Joe

Great photos! Always love seeing yalls outdoor setup!

I just realized that I have not posted anything about the G&O since last summer.  So I thought I would catch up.

The annual Halloween show was held October 28, 201.  This is always a fun show.

The G&O Christmas show is among my favorite.  This show was held December 2 and 3, 2017.  

A G gauge train crosses the Norris Falls trestle.  I sprayed the trees with fake snow.  I think that I should have used more snow spray but I didn't know if it would damage or kill the trees.  The trees are still alive so I will use more snow next year.

This is one of the G&O's snow cities.  Ceramic buildings do well outdoors.

We always encourage and teach kids to run trains.  This lad is running on the children's display.  

These are a couple of views of our children's display.  We have discovered that Lion Chief engines are perfect for running on the children's display.  The controller is easy for kids to learn.  We can regulate the speed of the trains so that don't derail by setting the maximum track voltage.  

The G&O crew has a tradition of gathering on New Years day to run trains.  Here are photos taken on January 1, 2018.

This is a brass 3rd Rail SP Mountain pulling a mix of K-Line and MTH cars.  The photo was taken on the Norris Falls bridge.

This lad and his father stopped by.  We let him run trains.

The New Haven is represented on the G&O.  This Williams PA has been converted to battery power.

This Lionel Big Boy is pulling a long Pacific Fruit Express reefer train across the Norris Falls bridge.

A Lionel GG-1 with a PRR Congressional is ready to depart Depot Yard.

A G gauge train crosses the Bouey Canyon Bridge.

SLHRS members have hosted several groups during the past few years.  On Friday, March 9, 2018 the crew hosted a home school group.

The children's display was decorated with Flint Stones figures.  The Lion Chief Thomas engine is holding the high iron.

Girls were very interested in running trains.  This young lady is running two trains at the same time.

The home school group gathered on the Depot's front porch and sang "I've Been Working on the Railroad" and "Jawn Henry".

The group was given an Operation Lifesaver Presentation.  The SLHRS has given Lifesaver presentations to over 30,000 children in the local schools.

This is my Lionel Drag Race set.  It makes drag race sounds when it starts.

This fellow was looking over the train action.

The G&O crew has had an active 2018.  I cover those events in another post.

NH Joe

Thank you for the photo update, Joe!!  Things have been mighty busy on the G&O!!  I see your group has done a lot of great things for the kids!!  

Engineer-Joe posted:

I admire all your equipment and I have a lot myself. For some reason, this one always brings a smile to my face?

 must be the inner child thing...

Ah yes, another snoopy fan!!

The San Leandro Historical Railway Society held its spring train show on the weekend of April 21 and 22.  The theme of this year's show was Dinosaurs at The Depot.  Both the HO and G&O displays were decorated with dinosaurs.  Train loads of gondolas carried the big critters.  This was a fun show.  Here are a few photos.

This is an overall view of the children's layout.

This fellow is running a Lion Chief Dinosaur Train using the remote throttle.  

The upper level of the children's display was decorated as Bedrock of the Flintstones fame.

Here is a G gauge dinosaur train.

We found a few real life dinosaurs around the display.  These guys would rather be at York.

This is our new volcano display.

Here comes a train!!

Bedrock rocks.  Note the flying Pterodactyl.

Dinosaurs ride the gondolas.

This is a scary place.

This Canadian train took a wrong turn somewhere:

Back to Bedrock.

They dug up some dinosaurs in the mine.  The mine train is taking them for a ride.

How is Thomas going to get past all those dinosaurs?

The Daylight should be able to outrun the dinosaurs.

OOPS.  The Daylight is pulling a train of dinosaurs.

The kids really like running Thomas pulling dinosaur cars.

These guys are working hard.

Do you think that FM ever thought that their engines would become dinosaurs?

This is the end of the train.

The SLHRS will be celebrating the club's 30th anniversary at the next show which will be held June 23 and 24.  2018 is also the 10th anniversary of the start of construction of the G&O.  You can see photos from 2008 at the start of this post.  The club is inviting San Leandro's mayor, the city council and other dignitaries to this upcoming show.  Our challenge is to get the Depot and displays ready for this important event and milestone in the club's history.

I hope that you have enjoyed these views of Dinosaurs at The Depot.  NH Joe

I have been delinquent in keeping this post up to date.  Over a year has passed since my last post.  A lot of work continues to build and maintain the G&O.  Much of the work is under ground and cannot be seen in photos.  Even the above ground work such as fixing the irrigation system or replacing track is not visible.  As with any garden, planting, weeding, and pruning are a continuing project.  

Here are a few photos that I took yesterday during our July 4th show.  About 100 visitors stopped by to see and run trains.  The 4th of July show is my favorite.   NH Joe

This is the San Leandro Depot on July 4, 2019.

This is the entrance to the G&O.  The G&O is located behind the Depot.

This is Norris Falls.  The O gauge bridge is black.  The G gauge tracks are to the left.  Norris Falls is named after Nancy Norris.  Nancy designed the G&O and built the waterfall.

This is a G gauge Army train.  The engine is track powered and has a full sound system.

The O gauge Spirit of 76 engine was made by K-Line over ten years ago.  It has Lionel's TMCC and runs beautifully.  I usually only run this engine during 4th of July week.  It can get 4 plus hours of continuous running during a show in hot weather.  

The train it is pulling is a K-Line 13 colony train.  Each car has information about each state.  The cars are arranged in the train in the order that the colonies ratified the Constitution.  K-Line made this set over 10 years ago.  I tend to collect off-beat items like this.  Most of my TCA friends have never seen this set.

The train is passing Lizard Peak

This Lionel PA and F3 B-unit are pulling the Super Chief across the Norris Falls bridge.