The Little Engine That Could Be Yours

January 25, 2014 10:40 PM

A $3.5 million estate for sale in Sherwood Oregon, outside of Portland, comes complete with almost 20 acres of land, a media room, a home gym--and its own miniature railroad.
posted by gottabefunky (30 comments total)

Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, but teach a man to use a metal lathe and he'll always be down in the basement and mostly not bother you again.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 11:14 PM on January 25, 2014 [34 favorites]

What is wrong with me that I saw "$3.5 million for a house with a miniature railway," and I thought, "that sounds reasonable."
posted by bicyclefish at 11:17 PM on January 25, 2014 [16 favorites]

My dream home is probably more like a remodeled railroad car, but as this place has a trestle bridge, it is now a very close second.
posted by EvaDestruction at 11:17 PM on January 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

Tunnel. Of course it has a tunnel.

(Brb, finding my cheque book)
posted by the cydonian at 11:19 PM on January 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

My 9 yo, who's been against moving anywhere, now says that she'll happily pull up roots and move to the US for this.
posted by Harald74 at 11:23 PM on January 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

For some reason this post made me think of The Boxcar Children, but with model trains.
posted by Canageek at 11:24 PM on January 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

Who knows where it goes, but it doesn't come back for 45 minutes. Once it had snow on it.
posted by dry white toast at 12:50 AM on January 26, 2014 [11 favorites]

Oh my god that trestle. Timeshare anyone?
posted by dry white toast at 12:54 AM on January 26, 2014 [3 favorites]

Is he dead or just moving to somewhere he can build a monorail and dirigibles?
posted by pracowity at 1:29 AM on January 26, 2014 [4 favorites]

Who knows where it goes, but it doesn't come back for 45 minutes. Once it had snow on it.

The guy's just another ice giant trying to sucker someone into buying a "miniature" railroad.
posted by sebastienbailard at 2:24 AM on January 26, 2014

I want my own personal monorail...

Could it take me from my bed to my kitchen?

That type of monorail would be the best type of all.
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 2:31 AM on January 26, 2014

Googling for jobs in Portland right now!

Of course, I've heard that upkeep on a pool is expensive. I can only imagine what this would cost on a yearly basis. Termite treatments alone could be more than the house payment.
posted by TedW at 4:19 AM on January 26, 2014

A classmate of mine when I was a kid lived in a house whose property had a railway like this (sadly, no trestle or tunnel). I don't rememeber it running too often, a combination of upkeep and needing his dad (a doctor who always seemed to be working) around to operate the train being the main culprits. Still, we all thought it was cool and that Andy had somehow hit the jackpot of life by having one of these.
posted by KingEdRa at 5:02 AM on January 26, 2014

A good friend of mine is building one of those trains from scratch. I'm hoping he'll let me build the bridges when he gets some land.
posted by mareli at 5:09 AM on January 26, 2014

during middle school, my family lived in the suburbs north of Baltimore. the neighbor across the street had a train similar to this around his property. (it was the slightly larger size you see in parks that was capable of carrying passengers). it went around the house and then over a trussed bridge into the woods and did a loop. it was awesome. he had a huge 4th of July party every year with hourly train rides.
posted by osi at 5:12 AM on January 26, 2014

Walt Disney's backyard, steam-powered Carolwood Pacific Railroad and preserved barn workshop:

In 1950, Walt built the Carolwood Pacific Railroad in the backyard of his house in Holmby Hills, California. He named the railroad for the street where he lived: Carolwood Drive. The first run on the Carolwood Pacific Railroad took place on May 7, 1950. The 2,615 feet of track included a 46 foot long trestle and a 90 foot long tunnel under his wife’s flower bed. Amidst the railroad, he had a barn built where he could monitor and remotely control the switches on the track. The barn also served as a workshop and a place for Walt and his friends to relax.

No school like the old school.
posted by cenoxo at 5:24 AM on January 26, 2014

But then where will Ricky Schroeder live?
posted by leotrotsky at 5:35 AM on January 26, 2014 [6 favorites]

I'm surprised no one's mentioned the video was taken by a drone.
posted by tommasz at 6:23 AM on January 26, 2014 [2 favorites]

For years, I drove past this house on my way to my percussion lessons. Every once in a while, the train would be running, and all the traffic would slow down to enjoy the spectacle. A couple of times, I could see someone sitting in? on? one of the cars (it is not a full size train). In my memory, the person was sitting astride the locomotive wearing a conductor's hat, but that may be a delusion added by time and warm feelings.
posted by sleepinglion at 6:33 AM on January 26, 2014

Wow, that is an amazing little railroad. Does the owner ever give the local kids rides? It seems like the sort of thing that should be shared.

It reminds me of the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad which is a small train in Los Gatos. It started out as something the owner did on his own land for the neighborhood kids before moving to the park.
posted by DrumsIntheDeep at 7:02 AM on January 26, 2014 [1 favorite]

Pfft. Please. A toy train? This is Lord McAlpine's estate, aka the Fawley Hill Railway. Note the amount of track. Note how it nestles in the Buckinghamshire countryside in some of the most unbelievably expensive real-estate in the world.

Now that's a train. It will never be yours.
posted by scruss at 7:15 AM on January 26, 2014

A little OT, but if I was a realtor, I'd invest a couple hundred dollars in a quadrocopter+GoPro and shoot that kind of footage for every listing I'd get - pillbox or McMansion.
posted by klarck at 7:37 AM on January 26, 2014 [2 favorites]

Do you have to hire your own Fat Controller?
posted by sneebler at 8:16 AM on January 26, 2014 [2 favorites]

Michael Jackson would have bought this place in a heartbeat.
posted by leftcoastbob at 9:29 AM on January 26, 2014

if I was a realtor, I'd invest a couple hundred dollars in a quadrocopter+GoPro and shoot that kind of footage for every listing I'd get

In fact this is one of the top uses of commercial drones right now (in the US anyway). However it is also illegal as there are not federal laws to allow it, the laws are still catching up.
posted by stbalbach at 12:01 PM on January 26, 2014

There was somewhere on the train line between Toronto and Chicago that had an elevated backyard railroad when I traveled that route a decade ago. I remember viewing hunting hides and then suddenly there was elevated mini train tracks running through the woods next to the real train line.
posted by srboisvert at 2:36 PM on January 26, 2014

Judging from the music, this train is powered by world-changing Google whimsy.

note: not hating on wcGw
posted by zangpo at 4:32 PM on January 26, 2014

Do you have to hire your own Fat Controller?

Don't be gauche. He's called Topham Hatt these days.
posted by zardoz at 6:19 PM on January 26, 2014

That's Sir Topham Hatt.
posted by TedW at 9:36 AM on January 27, 2014

Sadly, my youngest has outgrown Thomas books, which means I no longer get to break out my superb Sir Topham Hatt voice.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:14 AM on January 31, 2014