St. Joseph North Pier Lights, designed by Paul Busse
at Applied Imagination, Alexandria, Kentucky

Paul Busse is a graduate of The Ohio State University. He installed his first model railroad at the Ohio State Fair in 1982. His imaginative garden railroads grew from his training as a botanical architect and his love of trains. Busse and his team design and build the elements of each of his garden railways at his studio/workshop in Alexandria, Kentucky. The elaborate, three-dimensional structures are made of natural materials including mosses, twigs, leaves, bark, vines, and seeds. These creations are amazingly accurate in detail and look remarkably like they were constructed of materials used on the original buildings they represent. Only upon further inspection can the natural materials be identified.

Busse chose the historic Niles Depot as his first regional piece for the exhibit, and he has stated that it is one of his best and favorite depots to date. As you can see, the small scale depot is incredibly life-like and readily recognizable.
Photo by Phil DeVore, available as a post card from the Fernwood Gift Shop.

One of the local landmarks that Busse's team designed for Fernwood's railway garden is the historic Pears Mill in Buchanan. The white siding is represented by birch bark.

Purdue Boilermaker Train

* Approximate size 50' x 50'.
* Four trains, each running at differing elevations; approximately ground level, one foot, six foot, and seven foot levels.
* The trains will travel through three island gardens, under pedestrian walk-over bridges, and atop seven foot high trestle bridges.
*510 feet of total track.
* A seven foot waterfall.
* Two mountain tunnels.
* A children's tunnel will lead little ones to the Discovery Garden beyond.
* A six foot tall mountain range with stream descending to a ten foot wide lake.
* Detailed miniature garden featuring dwarf evergreens, specially pruned trees, alpine plants, and natural materials such as stones, branches, and moss.
* Scale models of local landmarks such as the Niles Depot, Pears Mill, St. Joseph North Pier Lights, and Notre Dame's Golden Dome, each created with natural materials such as pine cone scales, bark, seeds, twigs, moss, and more.
* Seven scale model lighthouses from Paul Busse's collection.

Paul Busse and his team at Applied Imagination were at Fernwood the first two weeks of June, 2009, installing the new railway garden. The photos below were taken throughout the building process. Go to the top of the page to learn more about Paul Busse and the Fernwood Railway Garden.

The site of Fernwood's new railway garden. This photo
was taken on May 31 before construction began.

The crew from Applied Imagination arrived
at Fernwood Monday afternoon, June 1.

Trucks and trailers containing lumber, tools, track, trains,
and everything needed to create a railway garden. Plant material
came from Fernwood's collection and local nurseries.

Tuesday, June 2, 9:15 am: Assembling panels for the "mountain".

Tuesday, 11:15 am: Looks like a walk under bridge is developing.
The little square holes cut in the cubicles at three levels
are where the trains will pass through.

Train track running through the cubicle mountain.
The garden has a total of 510 feet of track!

Tuesday, 2:30 pm: Walk under trestle.
It's easy to see how that 510 feet of track can add up.

Tuesday, 5:30 pm: Trestles, covered bridge, and kids
walk-through tunnel, as promised!

Paul Busse, overseeing construction of the mountain.

Wednesday, 10:00 am: Digging the lake and stream.

Paul Busse and his son, Brian, talk with a Fox 28
cameraman and Fernwood's Allison McRae.

Wednesday, 2:00 pm: The stream has been dug, and
tunnels and trestles are being faced and finished.

Wednesday, 4:30 pm: Kid approved! Paul Busse shows 5-year-old Landon Sinnott and Fernwood staff member, Jason Williams, where the covered bridge will go. Throughout the tour, Landon asked a lot of questions of Paul and kept repeating, "Awesome!"

Five-year-old Landon Sinnott tries out the kid's tunnel.

Paul Busse and his son Brian visited the Pears Mill in Buchanan after a long day working in the railway garden Wednesday.
Paul and his staff made a scaled replica of the mill out of natural materials for the railway garden.

Thursday, 11:15 am: The mountain gets fiber sheeting applied to the walls and rubber on the roof prior to applying cedar.

Volunteers from the Southwestern Michigan
Garden Railway club came from Holland and Coloma
to help with wiring and other tasks.

Thursday, 2:30 pm: Cedar slabwood being applied to the mountain and other areas of the garden.

Friday, 11:30 am: The buildings for the 2009 railway garden
were revealed during filming for a segment of
WNIT-TV's Outdoor Elements. The theme was Fairy Tale
houses, which included the Old Woman in the Shoe, The
Three Little Pigs, Rapunzel, and many more!

Our first look at the finished Pears Mill replica,
next to a G-scale rail car.

Friday, 2:30 pm: Before the crew left for the week, they had completed the "Mystery Tunnel" and had the mountain almost complete.

Tuesday, June 9, 3:30 pm: Some of the buildings from the Fairy Tale house collection, all made from natural materials by Paul Busse and his team.

Wednesday, 11:00 am: Landscaping begins!

Thursday, 12:30 pm: The "lake" is lined and filled with stone and rock.

Testing the tracks.

Thursday, 4:00 pm: Walking bridge and covered bridge over stream.

Circle of track mounted on cedar.

Friday, 11:00 am: Volunteers Geoff Gilbert and Joanne Sims
help with landscaping.

The Erie Lackawanna train travels across a trestle
near the 7' waterfall.

Coffee to go! And, who jumped out of their shoes?

Darlene, the owner of the shoes, and Butch, from Applied Imagination,
finishing the bridge across the pond.

June 16: Buchanan's Pears Mill, Paul Busse-style, is placed in
the railway garden as finishing touches are made for the
grand opening, Saturday, June 20, 2009.

G-scale train rolling past the Niles Depot replica.

Covered bridge spanning a stream in the new railway garden.

Monarch butterfly "eggliner" emerges from covered bridge.

The Three Little Pigs houses

Snow White's cottage

Fernwood's railway garden was a huge hit during the summer of 2009! Come see what's in store for 2010!