The NC Arboretum near Asheville developed a really nice outdoor RR for their Winter Lights program last Christmas Season and our regional PGRR Garden RR Club helped design, construct and operate two lines of trains during a grueling holiday schedule through mid January. It was so successful that they decided to extend operations starting again a few weeks ago on Saturday afternoon for the public. This too has been a real hit with the children especially with us running Thomas & Friends.
The main idea is the 'Rocky Cove RR', a fictitious logging line that could have plied its way through these western Smoky Mountains. Most of the equipment was donated by a few patrons of the Arboretum last year with not much fitting the theme they wanted. These donated items have been sitting in a room since late last summer when the project got underway in ernest. Just recently, it was finally decided to sell off the surplus items that didn't fit and I was able to procure this handsome Southern RS3 by Aristocraft. I've wanted one of these for a long time and now it is part of the roster!
Here she is today with our USA Trains Warbonnett PA in the sunshine when I went to pick it up.
) but you need some serious room to really run them. I've got a few pieces and they are shelf queens but I would love to have an LGB Stainz set just to look at and maybe set up around the Christmas tree. 
