PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM 111 you haven’t seen for a while,” Richard says. “It recharges you to be amongst friends with like minds.” Beyond its monthly gatherings, BAGRS hosts an Annual Membership Meeting. It’s an all-day affair with breakfast and multiple members giving talks on everything from historical railroads on the West Coast to Walt Disney’s fascination with model trains. But the Big One happens every five or so years when the club hosts the National Garden Railway Convention. This summer, nearly 1,000 attendees (some international) convened for dozens of talks, access to operating layouts and railroad supply vendors, opportunities to hop aboard the Napa Valley Wine Train and Roaring Camp Train and open invites to more than 60 backyard garden railways stretching from Sonoma to Santa Cruz. “We’re the ones oftentimes who do the national conventions because we are one of the biggest and most active railroad clubs in the United States,” Richard explains. all aboard the garden railway
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