Garden railroading is the art of combining a model railroad and a garden to create a railway-like atmosphere with mountains made of dirt, rivers are made of water, rocks are made of stone. In order to be in proportion to the model trains, structures, and figures, miniature plants are used in the layout. The Centralia Garden Railroad is being built by Doug Brainard in Spring Hill, Florida. Over a decade ago, Doug’s added trains to his backyard, but remains passionate about the gardening aspect of garden railroading. He spent nearly 40 years as an independent financial consultant in Spring Hill.
The Centralia Garden Railroad is based on the lumber mill town of Centralia, a town north of Weeki Wachee, Florida, that became a ghost town in 1922. Between 1900 and 1022, over 2000 people lived and worked in Centralia, while today only foundations of the mill remains. This site is dedicated to recording the history of Centralia and building a railroad model to represent it.
References used for this site:
§ Garden Railways , Marc Horovitz
§ The History of Hernando County
§ Florida Photographic Collection.
§ Mike Woodfin, photographer, Valrico
§ Virginia Jackson, historian, Brooksville
§ Jeff Miller , historian, New Port Richey
§ Hernando County Historical Society, Brooksville, FL
§ Wilfred T. Neill
§ Jeff Cannon
Centralia Garden Railroad 