Experience Nostalgia: Tulsa Garden Railroad Club Hosts Annual Weekend Tour

The Tulsa Garden Railroad Club is hosting its annual tour this weekend.

It's a chance for people to check out their miniature villages around Green Country.

Robert Buttram spent twenty years creating a train garden oasis and the level of detail that goes into every piece.

The rumbling on the tracks is a sound of nostalgia, and as the G Scale Model Trains chug along the track, Robert Buttram is transported back in time to his childhood.

“The train tracks run behind our house and as usual, us kids liked to watch the trains go by,” he said. “We tossed a couple of rocks at it as it would go by, course we were kids. The first train I ever had was a line L train and I did what I wasn't supposed to — take it outside and play with it. Now, I am outside and playing with it.”

To connect with his past love of trains, Robert started engineering his own train garden.

“It started off with just a little small piece,” he said. “It grows on you, and it just keeps growing and growing, and now, we have the area in behind us.”

His backyard has been transformed into a miniature wonderland of trains winding through tiny towns filled with hand-painted figures.

“Every year you find something or acquire something and next thing you know you have a yard full of it,” said Buttram.

He's spent years setting up the vintage steam engines to dart around his meticulously crafted scenery.

“You just have to take your time at it. A little bit of craft here and there,” he said.

He wants visitors to come by this weekend to step back in time as they wander through the garden.

The tour will be going on Saturday and Sunday of this weekend. Every family needs to purchase a booklet for 10 dollars to visit all nine locations. For more information on the tour, click here.