(train whirring) (train whistle tooting) (train chugging) - It's a steam train!

(train chugging continues) - [Narrator] These trains may be small, but the landscapes they travel are immense.

(smoke mist hissing) (train chugging) This is the meticulously-crafted world of Garden Railroads.

(smoke mist hissing) - One of the things that's so interesting about this hobby is there are no two Garden Railroads that are alike.

- [Narrator] When you think of model trains, you probably picture a table in a basement or an attic.

The Garden Railroad hobbyists take their trains into their backyards, and by that, I mean their trains take over their backyards.

- [Bill] That piece goes somewhere here.

Can't remember where this thing goes.

- [Narrator] Members of the Rose City Garden Railway Society, like Bill Derville, are prepping their personal backyard railroads for the annual summer tour.

- That's got to be shimmed up some.

- [Narrator] And the pressure is on to get ready.

(tunnel door thunking) (plastic crinkling) - After winter, this is what it looks like, and it's a huge amount of debris that needs to be picked up.

Lots of pine needles, branches, you name it.

(birds chirping) - [Narrator] Every inch of tiny track must be cleaned.

(vacuum whirring) Everyone has a method, vacuum, sandpaper, (train whistle tooting) or even a brushing locomotive.

(brush buzzing) (train chugging) (switch clicking) (water gushing and gurgling) - [Bill] It is great to see the railroad looking like a railroad again.

(water gurgling) (train whistle tooting) - [Narrator] For the members of the Rose City Garden Railway Society, their passions started young.

- I can remember as a little child, and this is in the early '50s, big black trains going by that would make the glass shake and I would run to the window to see that happen.

(train chugging) - [Tom] I had a paper route and my father would get up on Sundays and help, and then afterwards we'd go meet the steam engine going up the Columbia Gorge and chase it, so it was always a race in the morning to get all the papers delivered to chase the last steam engine running out of Portland.

- [Narrator] Many of today's Garden Railroaders had train sets growing up, but then came careers, marriage and kids, and their own childhood toys had to be put away.

- And when you retire, it's okay, yeah, I'm through with worrying, let somebody else do it.

I'm back to just enjoying life, and what did I enjoy when I was a kid?

Playing with trains.

Oh, okay, I'm going to play with trains again.

I just play with them in a different fashion.

(train chugging) - [Narrator] Transforming their backyards, they create elaborate railroads, tunnels, and trestles (train chugging) (train whistle tooting) and towns based on their own lives, like Alan and Nola Olson.

(gravel crunching) - I always try to put touches of humanity because trains are trains, but I like human stories.

- [Narrator] Their Crooked River Railroad, it's like a book of their lives.

They scatter tiny details in their layout.

- [Nola] Well, how about that?

- [Narrator] They even have a Garden Railroad in their Garden Railroad.

And the heart on the tree is a nod to their marriage, 56 years and counting.

- [Alan] Here.

- Thank you, my love.

Okay.

(water gurgling) - [Narrator] One of the buildings has a special place in Alan's heart, a scale model of the church he attended growing up on Mount Hood.

The actual church burned down, but its memory lives on in his railroad.

- It means a lot, something that is part of my childhood, part of my upbringing, part of who I am.

(train chugging) (train whistle tooting) - [Narrator] Railroads like the Olson's commemorate Oregon's heritage with sawmills, logging camps, and even Steiner cabins.

Some members, like Gary Lee, have picked a special area of Oregon as the setting for their railroad.

- [Gary] I wanted to have a railroad that went someplace, went from Baker City to Ukiah, Oregon, over the Blue Mountains.

(train chugging) I'm trying to create that sense of distance that we had as a country 100 years ago, where cities were separated by hundreds and hundreds of miles.

- [Narrator] Some members go to incredible lengths to make their railroads just like the real ones, earning them a playful nickname.

- Some of our club members are what we call rivet counters.

Now, by rivet counter, I mean you can look at one of their locomotives and you can look at a picture of the real thing, and you count the number of rivets in the picture and you count the number of rivets on the model, and they're exactly the same, precise down to the last rivet.

- [Narrator] Gary Lee takes pride as a master builder, making the ties for his tracks from cedar and driving each spike by hand, - [Gary] Four spikes on each tie.

- [Narrator] He estimates he's driven at least a quarter million of these teeny tiny spikes.

For Alexis Barberis, there's a bittersweet connection to her railroad.

She built the Pine Valley and Western Railroad with her husband, Frank.

- We met at Benson High School.

He asked me to hold this small blue box and I asked him what it was for.

He said it was a transformer to a model railroad.

I went home from school and I said, "Hey, Mom, met the man I'm going to marry."

It was just kind of a miracle, the two of us actually stayed together, and it was all because of a train.

And we were married for 44 years.

He passed away after a spinal cord injury after a fall.

- [Narrator] When Frank died, the club rallied to fulfill one of his lifelong dreams, a scale replica of a roundhouse and turntable.

- The wonderful, wonderful club members, all of these guys showed up and they built the roundhouse, and I just, I cannot thank those men enough.

It was just amazing.

It was his dream.

(train screeching) - [Narrator] Although the railroads harken to the past, the club members are focused on the future.

- We're all baby boomers, so we're going to age out.

There's a lot more people that are older in the hobby than younger, unfortunately.

We're trying to change that.

(switches clicking) Welcome, how are you today?

- [Narrator] It's Father's Day weekend.

The annual tour is the big day each year when the railroads are open to the public.

More than 500 people will come to admire the creativity and hard work that goes into these Garden Railroads.

- Look at that steam tractor one.

(train chugging) - [Narrator] But most importantly for the club members, it's a chance to capture the curiosity of the next generation.

- Look at that train.

- Whoa.

- Can I try one out?

(bell dinging) - [Narrator] Kids are handed the controllers, and for a moment, they are the engineers.

- To someone who doesn't think that this is a worthwhile hobby, I'd say grow up, (chuckling) or grow down because this is fun and why should we not create something that is enjoyable for ourselves and enjoyable for other people to see?

(train car whirring) - We don't have to go far to be happy.

All we have to do is open the back door.

(train whistle tooting) (train chugging) - Getting inspiration for your next adventure, it's kind of why you're here, right?

Or you can support more of what we do on Oregon Field Guide and everything else you see on OPB, by going to OPB.org/video and becoming a sustaining member.

(gentle music)