Emerald Heights celebrates garden railway’s 10th anniversary
Published 12:26 pm Wednesday, November 12, 2014
This year, the residents of Emerald Heights senior living community in Redmond are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Emerald Heights garden railway, which residents built and have maintained since inception.
The community’s residents at are retired engineers, architects and have creative minds, among many other professions. They have the ability to explore all of their current passions as well as be introduced to new ones — including the construction of the garden railway.
In 2003, a resident with a garden railway at his former home wanted to put a similar structure in his Emerald Heights cottage. Other residents got wind of his plans and thought of expanding the railway project to be collaborative development for all of the seniors at Emerald Heights.
Over a span of two years, the residents created the garden railroad as a miniature version of four cities: Redmond, Issaquah, Snoqualmie and North Bend. The structure also includes local stops such as Willowmoor Farm (Marymoor), the Gilman Coal Mine and other places of historical interest.
“We are honored to recognize our residents for their work building and maintaining the garden railway,” said Leah Diehl, executive director at Emerald Heights. “It is a beautiful example of what hard work and determination can lead to.”
Emerald Heights residents combined their skills to plan the layout and topography. The hills and Mount Si were built from dirt and stones. Residents diagramed and installed underground wiring for powering the track, acquired train locomotives and rolling stock and eventually lit the streets and buildings.
The railway has 275 feet of track, and is flourished with various flowers, trees and shrubs, a train barn, six bridges and trestles and 45 modeled buildings.
Neighbors at the community who are interested in working on the railroad are trained to operate the train. Family members and friends have the opportunity to view the railway as it runs regularly throughout the year.
For more information visit www.emeraldheights.com or call (425) 556-8100.
