Visiting a front yard train village

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Nestled behind blocks of homes adorned with holiday lights in the Severn community, whistles and bells sound from a freight train as dusk settles in the land of Beaverton Cliffs. A boy lies on his back, making a snow angel while sledders race down a slope beneath the train trestle. Travelers ride a passenger train through a picturesque landscape, where the mountainside town’s residents never fail to wave at passers-by.

Excited children and adults watch the two trains pass each other in the holiday-themed, G scale train garden created in John and Kim Beverly’s front lawn at 7927 Stone Hearth Road. “People need a little shot of Christmas spirit,” laughs John Beverly, who has created the display for the past two years. “If you cant get a little bit of Christmas spirit from coming out here and walking down the sidewalk and listening to the music and watching the trains, then you’re just a Scrooge.”