Over 300 School Children Visited The Train Garden

Over 300 school children visited the Highlandtown Train Garden this past week. They ranged from pre K children to 4th Graders. They came from Hampstead Hill Academy (#47), Highlandtown Elementary/Middle (#215), and Highlandtown Elementary/Middle (# 237). The children and the accompanying adults all had a good time. Thanks to all three schools for participating!

Jacques Kelly - A Thank You

We thank Jacques Kelly for coming to see our train garden and for writing such nice words about it. The power of his words was evident when the day after it was published we had our busiest day to date.
Thanks so much.

To view the article click here: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-kelly-column-christmas-trains-20101217,0,3084843.column

It Has Been Five Days

We have been opened for five days as of Sunday, December 12, 2010. As of that date 571 visitors have been to the Train Garden. The children have been fascinated by all the animations in the Train Garden and have enjoyed receiving the Highlandtown Train Garden pins and the Amtrak Junior Conductor hats. Raffle sales have been brisk.

Opening Day - A Huge Success

Today was opening day and what a huge success it was. There were 244 visitors including Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and First District Councilman Jim Kraft. The Mayor officially opened the Train Garden by pushing the button to let the trains travel throughout the garden. Thanks to all the engineers and volunteers who helped to make today a successful opening day.

Getting Ready for Opening Day

 We are putting the final touches on the Train Garden.

The Train Garden Has Moved To The Fire House.

On Sunday, November 21, 2010 the Train Garden was transported from the Old Library to the Fire House.

Creating A Beautiful Winter Wonderland

The decorators are making a visually exciting winter scene at the Train Garden.



Susan Allenback, Mary Chaney,
and Nancy Supik working hard



A beaultiful scene has been created



Creating A Winter Wonderland

After

The Fire House after the decorators hung the snowflakes as they begin their decorating of the Train Garden.

Creating A Winter Wonderland



Before

 This is how the Fire House looked before the decorators got to work.

SCARY MONEY

Susan Allenback

At the Halloween Lantern Parade Festival in Patterson Park on Saturday, October 30, 2010 several volunteers, Susan Allenback, Nancy Supik, and Joe Manfre, sold raffle tickets in support of the 2010 Train Garden. The raffle tickets will also be sold at the Train Garden itself beginning on December 4, 2010. You can win two (2) round-trip Amtrak Regional Coach tickets between Baltimore, MD and New York, NY. Tickets are $ 1.00 each and 6 for $5.00. The drawing will be held on Saturday, January 1, 2011 at Engine Company # 41, 520 S. Conkling St. You do not need to be present to win.

A MORE ENTERTAINING TRAIN GARDEN FOR 2010

A More Entertaining Train Garden - 2010

This December 4th, the 2010 the Highlandtown Train Garden will be back, bigger and better! There will be more trains, more buildings, and more surprises to look forward to. Even though train season is still months away, our dedicated "Engineers" Ted, David, and Bernie have already begun construction on the new train platforms. Check out the photos below (click pictures to enlarge) for a sneak peak and keep an eye on this blog for more news from the Train Garden crew.

The guys construct a platform

Bernie helps David attach a wooden leg

David prepares for the 2010 Train Garden

For more information send us an email at: info@highlandtowntraingarden.com

2010 Train Garden Underway

The Highlandtown Train Garden Committee has started to meet to make plans for the 2010 garden. For more information about this year's garden, send us an e-mail at info@highlandtowntraingarden.com.

If you missed the train, you can catch it next year

The numbers are in and there is no question that the first year of the Highlandtown Train Garden was a success!

• 4 dedicated community volunteers built the garden over hundreds of hours
• 22 local sponsors gave money and in-kind contributions
• 25 additional volunteers decorated the firehouse and greeted visitors
• 9 families donated photos of their family train gardens for our slide show
• The garden opened to the public for 62 hours (in all types of weather)
• 4 engines ran on 110 feet of track past more than 100 tiny people in the recreated streets of Highlandtown
• 1,371 visitors of all ages with smiles on their faces witnessed it all.

Here are some of their comments from our guest book...

Wonderful! Fantastic! Spectacular! Great job! So much fun! Very cool! Fabulous! Terrific! About time! Keep it going! Magical! Loved the decorations! Neat train garden! Loved the local stuff! Awesome! Great fun for kids and adults! Wow! One of the best we've seen! Dynamite! We love it! Great for the neighborhood, please keep it going! Can't wait till next year! Love seeing this in the neighborhood! It's nice to bring something great to Highlandtown! Breathtaking!

And the comment writeen more than any other (with a varying number of exclamation points following it) was.. THANK YOU! THANK YOU!! THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!!!

Thanks to CSX. The Southeast Community Development Corporation, all of our community sponsors, our gracious hosts at Engine Co. 41, the volunteer engineers, greeters and decorators and to all the visitors. See you next year!

The Highlandtown Train Garden Committee

Train Garden Hours Extended!

The train garden will remain open through next weekend, so if you haven't made it by yet, you still have time.

We'll open on Thursday, December 31st from 3 pm to 6 pm and again on Saturday, January 2nd and Sunday January 3rd, noon to 5.

Hundreds of visitors have enjoyed this year's train garden. A great chance to see, not only a train display constructed completely by volunteers, but also a chance to visit your local firehouse. With some luck, you can even get to sit in the firetruck!

Baltimore Guide makes Special Deliveries

Observant visitors to the Highlandtown Train Garden this week noticed a special delivery newsboy delivering mini-Guides to the shops on the Avenue. Each of the shops you see named in the train garden made a donation to this year's train garden fund. Thanks to all of our sponsors and to our friends at the Guide who crafted all of those tiny newspapers!

Snow Closes Train Garden

The train garden will be closed today (Saturday) and tomorrow (Sunday) because of the snow. The firehouse needs the space for extra personnel and vehicles to help with snow-related emergencies. Hopefully we'll be open again on Thursday, Dec 24th from 3 - 6 PM.

Susan Allenback's Train Garden

Susan's one of the many great volunteers helping on the Highlandtown Train Garden Project. These are some photos of her own train garden. Amazing, isn't it! When you visit the fire house in Highlandtown to see this year's garden, you can view a slide show that includes many photos of Highlandtown's great family train gardens. The garden is open Thursday evenings and Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Hope you can stop by!

See The Polar Express and the Highlandtown Train Garden

The Friends of the Southeast Anchor Library will host a special viewing of feature length film, The Polar Express on Saturday, December 12th at 12:00 PM. See the move (free!) and then head across the street to the firehouse to see the train garden.

For more information: Visit the Pratt Library's Website

The Trains are Running in Highlandtown!

What a great opening weekend at the train garden. We even had snow to help us get into the holiday spirit. Some of our friends have posted photos on their sites.

The opening ceremony (photos by Mark Dennis)

A closer look at the train garden (photos by Bob Dewey)

A video or the opening posted on Channel 2's website

Baltimore Area Train Gardens

The Highlandtown Train Garden is one of many in the Baltimore area. You might want to check out these too:

Fire Museum of Maryland
Wise Avenue Volunteer Fir Company in Dundalk
B&O Train Museum
Ellicott City B&O Railroad Museum
Baltimore Society of Model Engineers
The Shops at Kenilworth
Baltimore City Fire Dept,Engine 45/ Truck 12/ Medic 14
2700 Glen Ave Baltimore, Md 410-396-0171

and here's a great list of train gardens around the region:

Grandpa's Holiday Train Garden Page for 2009