Mountain View Railroad Open Day

Nestled in the Santa Ynez Valley, with a sweeping vista of the Figueroa and Grass Mountains, lies a garden railroad where working G-gauge model trains navigate through sculpted miniature forests to delight the child within. Meandering through the walkways surrounded by 700 dwarf Alberta spruce and redwood trees, a visitor is transported into a Disneyesque environment with miniature trains making their way through forests, over bridges, by custom-built buildings and around a koi pond, with whistles signaling their passage. Don has a life-size caboose, which he built himself. It houses an authentic caboose seat, which holds a huge, serenading animatronic bear. In the garden stands a line shack that also was designed and built by Morgan with the help of his gardener. It is constructed out of uneven wood planks, and it is a favorite spot for the Morgans to sit and take in the expansive view, both of the mountains and of the garden railway. Trains are battery and track powered. Don has a railroad lamp and lantern collection plus an operating wigwag and Griswold crossing devices.