My wife Joy and myself made a little road trip to the other side of town one August weekend to visit the Wayzata Depot Garden Railroad. We had not been out there in a few years. The three volunteers currently maintaining the Wayzata layout came to our garden railroad open house. We had a good visit and that piqued my interest in visiting the Wayzata layout.
A local garden railroad hobbyist negotiated with the City of Wayzata to get the new garden railroad built at the Wayzata Depot grounds. The track along with many of the buildings and trains were donated by Virginia Deetz Humes. Virginia’s husband wanted her to promise she would keep his garden railroad operating in Duluth after his passing. She did for a couple of years, but it got to be too much. She wanted the layout to have a new home where the public could appreciate it. She connected with the Wayzata group, and the layout came to Wayzata. Significant contributions were also made by Bill Briggs, a benefactor of the Wayzata Depot Museum, and the Railroad Garden was dedicated in his name in 2010.
Over the years, numerous volunteers have contributed to the Wayzata Depot Garden Railroad, including adding new buildings to the layout. Currently, volunteers Roger Baumann, Ed Lethert, and Paul Macek are at the Wayzata Depot every weekend (during summer months) maintaining the layout and running trains. The trains run 1-4 PM each Saturday and Sunday through the summer.
A replica of the depot building was built, rehabbed, and rebuilt by volunteers and relatives. Here we see Ed and Paul placing the newly rebuilt depot on the layout for a fit check, with Roger standing by.
The model depot still needs the columns added. It is a nicely done scale model replica of the real depot located right next to the garden railroad.
The Wayzata Depot Garden Railroad is on the grounds of the Wayzata Depot Museum. The depot was in service from 1906 to 1971. Much of the original equipment, including 1906 telegraph equipment, is in the museum in its original place in the depot. Terry Middlekauff, museum docent, is a walking, talking Wayzata Depot history book who enjoys talking about the depot, and we enjoyed listening.
While the depot is no longer in service other than as a museum, the track next to the depot is still very much in service. We watched a very long train go by while we were visiting.
If you are ever in the area on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon in the summer, stop by and say “Hi” to the guys taking care of the layout. The layout is fun to visit, and the surrounding park is a nice place to just kick back and relax, too. If you are looking for a new mission, they will not turn down volunteer help either, especially if you are into the gardening part of garden railroad. There used to be a garden club that took care of the garden part, but now the gardening duties have been left to the train volunteers, and they would love to get some help.
Joy and me spent a good couple of hours enjoying the layout and the museum. Then we heard the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream shop just down the street calling our name. And that’s how we wrapped up our trip to Wayzata.
