Gravette resident combines love of trains and gardening

Photo by Susan Holland Jeff Davis relaxes on the viewing bench he built for visitors to his garden railway layout. Sitting beside him on the bench he built from railroad ties is the Rootville Trolley, another of his creations. In the background the tiny town of Rootville can be seen, encircled by tracks from his Spavinaw and Honey Creek Railway.
Photo by Susan Holland Jeff Davis relaxes on the viewing bench he built for visitors to his garden railway layout. Sitting beside him on the bench he built from railroad ties is the Rootville Trolley, another of his creations. In the background the tiny town of Rootville can be seen, encircled by tracks from his Spavinaw and Honey Creek Railway.

GRAVETTE -- Jeff Davis, of Gravette, has a model railroad in his backyard that would be the envy of most kids in town.

Has he grown up? Davis admitted he'd once told a friend he was a lot more fun before he grew up and quit playing with trains.

The garden railway in the Davis yard just south of the Baptist Church allows him to combine two of his favorite things, gardening and model trains. It consists of an elaborate layout including an entire miniature village inhabited by tiny figures, animals, vehicles and all the accessories to make the tiny town look authentic.

"I like to think of it as little Norman Rockwell scenes," Davis said. "It is sort of like a painting. When you look at it, it's just a little slice of life."

He hopes those looking at his layout will be moved to use their imaginations and speculate whether the tiny man they see is going to the hardware store to buy a new tool or heading to the diner for a hearty lunch. Is the little lady going to buy fabric to make a new dress or doing her weekly grocery shopping? They are encouraged to really place themselves into the scene.

Davis said there are two types of miniature railways. Prototypes are based on an actual railway and use accessories that are authentic replicas of items used on that line. Freelance railways are products of the builder's imagination. The owner must be creative and write his own story to provide background for the line. Davis' railway is a freelance line he has named the Spavinaw and Honey Creek Railway.

The background story he has created is that the railway was established in the early 1900s and ran from Decatur to Rootville, Word and on up to Southwest City, Mo. Davis' layout depicts the line during the 1950s.

The story of the Spavinaw and Honey Creek Railway is interwoven with Davis' own history. Jeff and his wife Pat lived for a time in a cabin down near Rootville on Spavinaw Creek and later moved to a farm on Honey Creek Road, northwest of town. The little village in his railway layout is named Rootville.

Davis' railway runs on about 65 feet of track which is set on a base of treated lumber and stays out all year. The buildings, although they are weatherproof, stay out only during the spring and summer; and the locomotives and rolling stock are taken outside only when he is running the train. Jeff's rail cars originally ran on "track power" where wires were attached to a transformer which provided the power. Last fall, he changed the layout to battery power because it provides more options. In the past he had to keep the track polished to keep it from oxidizing. That required much more labor. Now he can have his cars ready to roll in about 10 minutes instead of an hour.

The Spavinaw and Honey Creek Railway runs on a G-scale track which is larger than HO and N gauge tracks which are more popular for indoor model trains. On a G-scale track, one-half inch equals a foot. Davis has made several of the buildings in his miniature village himself, including the Rootville depot platform, the water tower and the Banjoworks building.

The Banjoworks reflects another of Jeff's interests because he is a musician who builds musical instruments and plays banjo, ukelele and washboard in the popular Old Town String Band. The band entertains almost every week at the Billy V. Hall Senior Center and often plays on Saturdays at the local farmers' market.

Several of the buildings in Rootville are built from kits Davis bought and assembled. Others he purchased at flea markets and yard sales. He built the Rootville Trolley last winter. It goes back and forth on the track and is controlled by a series of magnets. When it reaches one magnet, it reverses direction. Another magnet will cause it to stop. The other cars on the line are operated by remote control and go the full length of the track.

Davis has been interested in model trains since he was a child in California. His mother and father had a big piece of plywood with an American Flyer layout on it. They made a mountain with plaster of Paris and designed it so that their Christmas tree would fit in the center. Each year they would place the tree inside and decorate it with winter scenes all around the base.

Visits to his grandmother who lived near the California and Western Railroad tracks in northern California reinforced his love of trains. A rail bus came into town, bringing the San Francisco Chronicle and other goods. Trips into town on the rail bus were eagerly anticipated features of their annual Fourth of July visit. And at Christmas, family members would prepare packets of food wrapped in tinfoil for the motorman and conductor.

Jeff and his wife, Pat Baldwin, met and married in California when they were teachers at the same school. They moved to Gravette about eight years ago and he started his outdoor train layout the next spring. At first it was just around the base of one tree. But when he got a new dog which damaged the track, he fenced it in and increased the size. It has been expanding ever since.

Davis says he enjoys the gardening aspect of the model railroad and he enjoys watching the trains run. Most of the plants in his layout are miniatures designed to stay small in size, but they require trimming and sometimes replanting. Most of the bushes and flowers are spring bloomers, so he says spring is the best time to visit his miniature village.

Davis subscribes to a bimonthly magazine called "Garden Railways" and is a member of the Northwest Arkansas Garden Railway Society. Other members come from Benton and Washington counties and from Oklahoma. Some have layouts featuring 400-600 feet of track. Monthly meetings are held at members' homes. Jeff was host to the society in March. Each year the club builds a train layout at the Ozark Botanical Gardens a few weeks prior to Christmas and sponsors a fundraiser there for the gardens during the holiday season.

The society welcomes new members. Anyone interested in joining may call Davis at 479-250-0125.

Community on 09/10/2014