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We discovered Dan’s Emerald Forest not by driving by, but by surfing in on RoadsideAmerica.com. The site, a guide to gawk-worthy oddities in every town, has a page for the elaborate model-railroad layout in the Overland front yard of landscaper/rehabber Dan Schmidt.
It’s worth the trip.
Trains run on four tracks over waterfalls, past summer flowers, and through an expansive mini village where the detailed scenes get quirky. A group of tiny railroad workers are on strike. A trio of “bums” relaxes under a trestle. A greaser combs his hair in a mechanic’s garage. Newlyweds embrace before a model of a church with stained-glass windows handmade by Schmidt. Behind a trackside café, a guy who looks a lot like Elvis strums a guitar.
The trains are maintained in the basement, from whence they emerge through holes cut into the house’s foundation. The layout, which is “G-scale,” for those who are keeping track (pun intended), has to work in all kinds of weather – including the snow.
Dan’s Emerald Forest becomes extra-popular during the month of December, when the scene is transformed into an elaborate Christmas tableau. There are lotsa twinkling lights, including an alpine mountain backdrop with fiber-optic stars. A hillock becomes a ski slope, complete with superhero action figures skiing down it. An ice-skating rink, reindeer farm and “candy mine” all appear. Schmidt even serves cocoa and distributes candy canes.
Call or email him (info below) to ask when the trains are running. (And during Halloween, he said, Schmidt dyes the waterfalls blood-red.)
Dan’s Emerald Forest, 8851 Windom, 314-606-7569, dan_schmidt51@yahoo.com. See more at Roadside America and on Facebook.
