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Who Are We?
The Garden Railroaders of Northern New Jersey
A Brief History
A garden railroad merges the beauty of the garden with the added excitement and wonder of a working model railroad that remains setup outdoors all year long and is ready to run whenever the weather permits.
In 1998 the Garden Railroaders of Northern New Jersey (GRRNNJ) was formed by a half a dozen garden railroaders.
The purpose of the club was to help one another in the building and maintaining a garden railroad, as well as to share information about the hobby. A member volunteers to host a get together at his house and invites the other members to bring their equipment to operate on his railroad. Initially there were three operating Garden railroads.
By 2001 the Garden Railroaders of Northern New Jersey (GRRNNJ) grew to 14 members and the number of operating Garden Railroads had also grown to six. We usually met at a members homes during May to October, but as the club membership grew, those members who were planning Garden Railroads or were just collecting Large Scale trains wanted to meet during other months of the year. During those months which we didn't operate trains outside because of the weather, we began sharing information and techniques about Garden Railroading at these sessions.
One tradition which almost all members attend is the Annual East Coast Large Scale Train Show held at York Pennsylvania. This show lasts for two days and a great time is had by all. We all wear our Club Shirts and hats and have our club photo taken at a very special spot at the show so we can all see how we age. We also arrange to have a dinner with many of the members together at our favorite restaurant to review what each of us had purchased during the show.
Today our membership has grown to 22 and some of our members live beyond the Northern N.J. area. As an example, one member is in Pennsylvania and another is down on the Jersey Shore, but we still get together and continue to assist one another. We
meet almost on a monthly basis during the good weather months. We have also established a web site www.GRRNNJ.com to help everyone keep track of our planned meeting locations, share photo's of everyone's Garden Railroads, projects and even have a for sale list of R.R. stuff.
We welcome new members and visitors at our meetings Please contact
us ahead of time to introduce yourself and to let us know to expect you.
Come join us in the wonderful world of Garden Railroading.
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