Milpitas model train enthusiast tracks his passion to his grandpa

Rural Burrill Garden Railroad honors the former track inspector.

Milpitas photographer and filmmaker Robert Burrill showed another side of himself March 18 at the annual meeting of the Bay Area Garden Railway Society, aka BAGRS. The model train enthusiast brought pieces from the Rural Burrill Garden Railroad, which he built in memory of his grandfather Charly, who was a track inspector for the Maine Central Railroad for 50 years.

Burrill, a BAGRS member, started building his railroad in 1996, laying 30 feet of track on a $30-a-month budget. The first loop went around his entire backyard. Many hours of work later, the track switched out and over the first loop to form a second loop, then climbed out of the backyard to circle the house and a dinosaur mountain with a lit glass tunnel.

During the pandemic, Burrill created a model of the 1934 America’s First streamliner and its dining cars, along with a switch tower to control the new electrified switches.

BAGRS was formed in 1988. Promoting modeling and garden railroading in the San Francisco Bay Area, the san Jose-based nonprofit has grown to about 100 layouts and 300 members who call each other “sparkies” or “steamers.” BARGS hosted its annual meeting on March 18 at the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos.

BAGRS will host its 38th National Garden Railway Convention July 1-8 at the Santa Clara Convention Center. The Rural Burrill Garden Railroad will be open to the public on July 7. For more information, visit BAGRS.org.