VES Enterprises
PO Box 11672
Casa Grande AZ 85130
Prices: Tunnel portal, $19;
wing walls, $19/set
Website: www.gtrainbuildings.com
Natural cedar tunnel portal; wing walls available separately; supplied assembled, ready to finish. Dimensions: Portal: height, 131/2″; width, 131/2″; depth, 2″; tunnel opening, 73/4″ x 11″. Wing walls: 11″ x 11″ as reviewed—can be customized
Pros: Sturdy construction, suitably sized for trains of all common garden-railroad scales
Cons: None
VES Enterprises’ product definitely falls into the “proper tunnel portal” category. While the company’s literature lists the scale as 1:24, you can’t really pin an exact scale on a tunnel portal. It’s suitable for any of the common scales we run in the garden, with an opening that has a width of just under 8″ and a height of 11″. VES Enterprises will also produce custom sizes for you if you need double tracks or larger (or even smaller) clearances, etc.
The portal is built from natural cedar and is left unfinished. If left like this, the wood will weather to a nice gray color over time. You could also stain it, paint it, or just seal it with wood preservative to keep the tan look of the unfinished cedar.
The portal is sturdily constructed. The main walls are solid cedar, 1/2″ thick. Trim pieces are nailed and glued to that to finish it. The wood is rough cut so it has some saw marks on some pieces that add a rustic look. It looks appropriate for a typical wood tunnel portal, though it is not what I’d consider “detailed.” Most prototypical wood portals would be built of large vertical timbers and smaller horizontal planks. You could easily glue strips of thin cedar between the vertical trim pieces if you wanted that kind of look but, frankly, I don’t know that it’s really needed unless you want a particular prototypical look.
Many such tunnel openings had retaining walls angling out from the portal itself, and VES Enterprises sells those as well. These are built of the same 1/2″-thick cedar planks as the tunnel portal, with cedar trim pieces giving them some detail. The samples sent for review are 11″ tall, tapering to 6″; they’re 11″ long. VES will also build these walls to custom sizes for you.
Overall, this portal and accompanying wing walls have a good look to them that would be right in line with almost any garden railroad. They’re sturdy, made from a wood that has proven to be rot resistant (and, with preservative or paint, can last even longer), and have enough architectural detail to give them a prototypical appearance and a lot of charm. If you wanted to superdetail the the portals with smaller planks and nut-bolt-washer details, that’s also easily done.
