Trains, Cars, and Boats

Model railroads, cars, and boats have long been popular hobbies, and having them as part of a miniature village has been the ultimate goal of many hobbyists. Whether hand built or mass produced, creating detailed models of vehicles in small scale has held a fascination for millions of people around the world.
	Miniature model railroads have been popular, with varying scales or gauges of track and equipment. For outdoor use, "G" gauge had been the most common scale, with most equipment made by German manufacturer LGB.   LGB's first major public premiere was at Great Adventure. The Garden of Marvels featured G gauge trains operating on five separate loops of track that wound through the landscape. The tracks followed along the edge of the waterways and the base of the mountain ranges, crossing the water on elaborately constructed bridges. All five track loops originated from the control room which was located under the mountains at the far edge of the Garden of Marvels. The trains passed in and out of tunnels at the bottom of the mountains, where each track looped back out into the garden. The small, colorful trains wound their way through the garden without stopping all day long, barring occasional derailments. The biggest obstacle to the trains was the park guests who often through small stones or pennies onto the track in the path of the oncoming trains.
The 1973/1974 LGB (G-Scale) Train Program  Great Adventure's Garden of Marvels rolling stock was comprised of several engines, passenger cars, and freight cars from LGB's 1973/1974 program.  The track used in the Garden of Marvels featured LGB's brass rail sections which were included one foot straight sections and four and five foot diameter curves.  All of LGB's equipment was weatherproof and made to withstand the strong UV rays from the bright summer sunlight.
	Along with the trains that ran around the loops of track, several other trains were parked on sidings where they were shown loading. An example of this was the scene beside one of the windmills where logs were being unloaded from flat cars and moved into the saw mill. The trains were the biggest and most visible animated aspect of the Garden of Marvels, but not the only one. Aside from the trains, a miniature super highway ran along the base of the mountain range alongside the railroad. The road featured two lanes in each direction. The road emerged like the rail lines from the edge of the mountains where the control room for all of the Garden of Marvels animation was contained. While it appeared that the cars were driving down the roadway, it was actually the roadway that was in motion.  The cars were attached to the painted fabric roadbed that would enter a tunnel at one end, hang suspended on the underside until they made it back to the opposite end, and then reappear  back on top of the roadway. Aside from the moving cars along the highway, model cars were parked in several locations around the Garden's streets.
	Elaborate model ships were another of the Garden of Marvels more spectacular features. Boats and ships of all sizes floated in the waterways, with some of the ships operating on motorized tracks. Underwater pulleys guided metal wires which had the boats and ships attached to them.  Many of the circuits in the lakes were circular but some of the canal routes were elaborate with the motor mechanisms located within the areas control room under the mountain range. The sheer size and variety of the boats found in the Garden of Marvels was spectacular, with multi-masted sailing ships, canal boats and simple sailboats filling nearly every inch of the waterways.  For a brief time several of the model ships from the 1970 movie Tora! Tora! Tora! were featured in the Garden of Marvels.