Community NewsLV Life

Garden railroads take root in LV

In the front yard of his house on the corner of Third and A streets in La Verne, model train enthusiast Tim Wheeler gets an assist from his father-in-law Dave Lannom in setting up their 15-year collection of trains and boxcars on an outdoor railroad track. Wheeler plans to eventually extend the track to encircle the entire house, replacing the original landscaping. / photo by German Jimenez
In the front yard of his house on the corner of Third and A streets in La Verne, model train enthusiast Tim Wheeler gets an assist from his father-in-law Dave Lannom in setting up their 15-year collection of trains and boxcars on an outdoor railroad track. Wheeler plans to eventually extend the track to encircle the entire house, replacing the original landscaping. / photo by German Jimenez

Bailey Porter
Editorial Director

Model trains are most often found circling the Christmas tree or displayed at the county fair, but La Verne residents are now laying tracks in their front yards.

“I never met a train I didn’t like,” Tim Wheeler said.

Tim and Margie Wheeler moved into a charming 1910 bungalow on Third Street just over a year ago. Since then, they have been spending their free time designing a G-scale train track that will circle the whole house when it is done.

“I’ve always had trains,” Tim Wheeler said. “It’s really an affliction.”

The couple gets plenty of help from Margie Wheeler’s dad, who is also a long time train enthusiast.

They said he even works on their yard when they are on vacation – adjusting their layout and also adding plants to their Japanese-influenced landscape.

The Wheelers have educational backgrounds in horticulture – they met while taking classes at Mt. San Antonio College.

Margie Wheeler grew up on a palm tree nursery in Claremont and is currently in the University of La Verne’s MBA program.

With their interest in trains, it is not a stretch that they have applied their green thumbs to garden railroading.

“The previous owner would not even recognize the house,” Margie Wheeler said.

After moving from Santa Clarita to their new home, they tore out the existing landscaping.

“A lot of people thought we were crazy,” she said. “It’s not traditional, so they didn’t like it.”

But now the rhododendrons, azaleas, gardenias and more than 27 varieties of Japanese maple among other plants are finally taking root, the train is coming together and the neighbors are whistling a different tune.

“They tell me, ‘I hope you know how hard you’re making it for the husbands on Third Street,’” Tim Wheeler said with a proud smile.

Even though the track is not complete, he runs trains from his basement full of an assortment of steam, modern, passenger and freight whenever he gets requests from neighborhood kids.

On the Fourth of July, the Wheelers’ train even took attention away from a local parade as passersby stopped to take a look.

Another La Verne train enthusiast is stopping traffic on White Avenue with his garden train.

Don Tentler has spent seven months constructing a track that runs from his front yard, through a fence, to his backyard.

“It’s kind of like you can’t ride the real thing so this is the next best thing,” he said.

As a member of the Upland Garden Railroading Society, Tentler attends train shows at the Fairplex and the Queen Mary and goes to open houses of fellow society members.

A model depot and houses line his track, but he is waiting until he has completed all the details and the track runs a complete circle before he hosts an open house of his own.

Tim Wheeler described this train craze as a subculture: “I think more people like trains than admit to it.”

“It’s a real conversation piece,” he said.

Bailey Porter can be reached at porterb@ulv.edu.

Bailey Porter, LV Life Editor
Bailey Porter
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