Phillip Brown slowed the locomotive to a lazy chug as the train rounded the turn near the tiny village church.

He carefully maneuvered the cars past the post office and general store, letting them pick up speed as the train crossed the bridge heading into the east side of town.

"I would be out here all the time if I could be," Brown, 20, said as he intentely operated his model train in the front yard of his family's Willow Street home. "I've loved trains since I was about 10, and it's all I ever want to do."

Brown began constructing his train display, which is set amid a neatly landscaped garden, about three years ago. Although it is mostly complete, Brown would still like to make some improvements.

"There are still some things I want to do," he said. "I would like to add a lot more buildings … there's always stuff to do. You're never really finished. And I would definitely like to make it bigger, but that's up to my mom. She has to say if I can have more space in the yard."

Brown's display was one of nine sites featured on the second annual Garden Railways Tour held Sunday. Each home featured a model train display creatively built within beautifully landscaped gardens.

Sponsored by the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania and the National Toy Train Museum in Strasburg, the tour included stops in Lancaster, Mountville, Ephrata, Akron, Lititz, East Earl and Narvon.

Brown, a 2006 Lampeter-Strasburg High School graduate, said his display began "as a little circle that just got bigger and bigger."

"I didn't know it would end up being this big," he said, as about a dozen tourgoers looked over his display. "I just kept adding to it … I would take the whole front yard if I could."

He estimates total track length to be about 300 feet.

His trains run in all kinds of weather, he said. When it snows, he plows the tracks with a manually operated snow plow.

With the exception of the wooden garden frame that was built by a friend, Brown constructed the entire display himself, even running the underground electrical units and landscaping around the train display.

Family and friends help to maintain the display and garden during the week while Brown attends school in Johnstown.

E-mail: jtodd@lnpnews.com