Grand Western Mining Company
James & Sally Bando
- 1258 Hendon Rd
- Woodstock, Georgia 30188
- 770-928-2135
- sandjbando@comcast.net
Tour Schedule
Saturday November 10, 2012 10:00 am - 2:00 pm
Basement access via short lawn area
Directions
See It On The Map
From I-575, exit at the Town Lake Parkway. Go east (into downtown Woodstock). Before downtown, there is a "Y"; stay to your left and go straight through downtown Woodstock. You are now on Arnold Mill Road. Be sure to obey the speed limits as they are very strict (2 miles per hour over the limit gets you a ticket). Stay on Arnold mill road about four miles (you will pass a Mobil gas station) until you get to a traffic light (there is a Luthern Church on the corner). Make a left onto North Arnold Mill Road. Follow this curvy road about 1.26 miles to Hendon Road (there will be a magnificent horse farm with white vinyl fencing and a pink house at the corner). Turn left (north). We are the first house on the right, a single story red brick house with four white pillars set back 3oo feet from the road.
Layout at a Glance
Our HO layout depicts a western mining town in 1900, with cowboys, horses, and even a gunfight. Grand Western Mining Company (GWMC) owns the Idalee silver mine and the Grand Western Mining Company Railroad. Major scenes on the layout include the railroad, the Idalee mine, a sawmill, a cemetery, an engine house, the town of Crystal City, Crystal River, Crystal Falls waterfall, and Riverside Park. The theme for the 2012 pilgrimage is "Buffalo Bill's Wild West." Riverside Park will depict scenes from Buffalo Bill’s extravaganza that traveled throughout the United States and Europe from 1883 through 1908. Previous riverside park lift-out scenes, the German-style resort, the Otis coal company, and last year's Civil War reunion with the "General" locomotive and President Lincoln's funeral car, will also be on display. See how lift-out scenes in Riverside Park renew interest in the layout each year. In addition to the layout, we will have activities to entertain adults and children alike, including a layout scavenger hunt and the opportunity for children to achieve the rank of Junior Conductor on the GWMC Railroad by taking the "Junior Conductor test." Educational displays include evaluations of materials used to simulate water on the layout, how to make a waterfall, how to ballast track, and evaluations of various adhesives. Mining and railroad artifacts will be on display, including locomotive oil cans, railroad tools, a dynamite blasting machine, mining lanterns, and even a candle from a Colorado mine. For you circus buffs, "The Great Circus Train" by Walthers will be on display, including all 20 cars and the rare 4-6-2 "Old Milwaukee" locomotive.
This year we have added a 230' folded dog-bone mainline to our existing 104' oval track. We will be running live steam locomotives and battery-powered remote-controlled locomotives.
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Scale |
Indoor: HO Garden: Fn3 (1:20.3 scale, 45 mm gauge track) |
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Size |
HO: 4' x 7' Highly detailed Garden: 104'oval and 230' folded dog-bone, live steam and battery locomotives |
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Prototype |
Freelance |
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Locale |
Western USA mountains |
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Era |
1900 |
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Layout Style |
Old Western town with mine |
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Len. Mainline |
HO: 15' Garden: 104' and 230' |
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Layout Height |
HO: 40" Garden: 32" |
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Benchwork |
HO: "L" Girder Garden: Wood frame deck |
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Roadbed |
HO: Vinyl roadbed on plywood sub roadbed Garden: Wood and ballast |
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Trackwork |
HO: Code 83 Flextrack Garden: Code 332 stainless steel and brass |
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Turnout Min |
HO: #5 Mainline Garden: Various/ |
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Minimum Radius |
HO: 18" Mainline Updated: Sat Mar 30 07:02:05 2013 |