Over the years, Rodger has constructed a railway wonderland incorporating several villages and stations, a lake, treetop taverns, hundreds of Lilliputian figures and one very excitable frog.
"I have a bent toward architecture and city planning, and the trains offer me an artistic outlet," he said.
Amberley is nestled on a small peninsula bordered by Ridout and Whitehall creeks. Across the creeks lie the neighborhoods of Whitehall and Pleasant Plains. En route to the Findiesens, a sod farm provides a glimpse of bucolic rural scenery.
The Findiesen home is at the end of a long driveway, surrounded by shrubbery and a fringe of trees. Built in 1965, the six-bedroom brick residence has been home to the Findiesens for 19 years. Their three daughters - Andrea, Amelia and Alexis - grew up there.
Vanessa, who shares her name with a dazzling genus of butterflies, is a registered vascular technologist at Anne Arundel Medical Center.
Rodger is the one with wings, however. He has had two overlapping careers. He was an Air Force reservist pilot for 20 years. near the end of his reserve service, he was activated and flew Lockheed-Martin C-141 USAF cargo aircraft during Operation Desert Storm. Based at Zaragoza Air Base in Spain, he flew supplies, munitions and troops to stations in the Middle East.
In his civilian life, Rodger began as a pilot with Continental Airlines, then flew for Air California, which was purchased by American Airlines in 1987. He retired from American Airlines in December 2008 - "not because I had enough money, but because I had some money," he joked. Now, Rodger is active as a lay minister at Calvary United Methodist Church on Rowe Boulevard.
There are also two cairn terriers in the family. Gadget is well-behaved, while Sparky loves eating little plastic people.
A trip to Lilliput
Rodger may be in his 60s, but he retains the joie de vivre of someone much younger. He insisted The Capital photographer and I visit the backyard first, and we happily complied.
In the center of the yard is a serene, azure blue, kidney-shaped pool. "It's the best shape for a pool," Rodger noted. "it can clean itself, as there are no dead corners."
But we weren't looking at the pool.
Alongside the pool were swarms of teeny, tiny people having a great time in the waning days of summer. two resort taverns, built atop tall shrubs, were in full party mode. at one, a groom hoisted his bride high in his arms, while a pair of working trams transported wee folk from one bush to the other. a bartender poured beer while keeping an eye on a buxom blonde at a nearby table. On a street behind the Schonweiler village train station, a brass band was preparing to play.
A yellow engine, equipped with special wheels to scrub the brass tracks clean, wound its way through the town shaded by bonsai-like shrubs, passing a pond dotted with a small rowboat and sailboat. a very real frog leapt from the water, nearly capsizing the rowboat.
Across the pond was a glass greenhouse filled with flowers and a bustling waterfront restaurant reminiscent of Cantler's. The engine passed through several molehill-sized mountaintop tunnels, not even pausing at an amusement park featuring a hot air balloon, a carousel and a scaled-down Statue of Liberty. it didn't stop at the brewery, either, where tipsy wee people were having an early happy hour.
Rodger says the trains are made in Germany on a 1:22 1/2 scale, and about 400 feet of track loops through his backyard. were it life-size, that would be about 2 miles of railway.
"I built all the buildings from kits, but how I constructed them is my own design," said Rodger, who often combines elements from several kits to get the look he's after.
Though he's collected trains for at least three decades, the outdoor train garden began when Vanessa balked at having tiny choo-choos running through the house. The trains are brought in after each use and the elfin-sized figurines - the ones Sparky didn't eat or bury - are boxed up during winter months, but the major structures and tracks remain outdoors year-round.
Elegance and fun
Indoors, the spouses' collections of art, games and toys coexist in a home that is both elegant and fun. it starts at the front door, inset with a clear, beveled and leaded glass panel. near the back door, the Findiesens have a large indoor hot tub. Alexis painted a tequila-colored sunset on an oversized, paned window sash and hung it on one side of the tub as a unique privacy filter.
The dining room is in the front of the home, just off the central hall. Visitors pass a cabinet bustling with more small people - this time, they are Vanessa's collection of Hummel figurines. Inside the dining room, sparkling cut crystal glistens in three wooden china cabinets.
A collection of cloisonne artwork is displayed on a low set of mahogany bookshelves, and three striking still-life oil paintings by local artist Joan Johnson adorn the walls. a large sideboard holds a vintage wooden music box.
On the other side of the hallway is a small sitting room. two more cases hold numerous Lladro figures Rodger purchased in Spain during Desert Storm, and a taffrail log hangs on a wall. The thing is handsome enough as a sculpture, but is a late-19th-century brass instrument used to determine the distance a ship had sailed.
The Findiesens' collection of Victorian oyster plates also is carefully hung throughout the first floor. each one has several depressions to hold the slippery bivalves.
Coke in the kitchen
The Findiesens renovated their kitchen in 1997; it looks as fresh as a showroom model, with granite countertops and cherry cabinetry. They removed a half-wall separating the kitchen from a breakfast nook and installed an island. Above it, an eclectic hodgepodge of new and vintage utensils and pans dangles from a hanging rack.
A framed 1944 Coca-Cola poster, the focal point in the breakfast area, features two young women saluting G.I. Joes with bottles of Coke. it is a print of a painting by Haddon Sunblom, longtime Coca-Cola artist. The Findiesens discovered it in an antique mall in Waynesboro, Pa., owned by Vanessa's father.
The family room, paneled in knotty pine, is comfortable, colorful and filled with what Rodger calls "eye candy." a china cabinet holds part of Vanessa's collection of the "Autumn Leaf" china from the Superior Hall Quality Dinnerware collection. The china found its way into American homes as promotional pieces packed in boxes of detergent or through giveaways offered by door-to-door jewelry salesmen.
It was tough ignoring the trains whooshing around the room on a ledge above our heads. We were also transfixed by the coffee table, a shadow box that displayed Vanessa's collection of new and antique playing cards, vintage tin Easter eggs, dog tags, campaign buttons and a large medal presented to Rodger by an appreciative Saudi Arabian government for his Desert Storm service.
Next, a tour of the basement rec room, which is really an extension of the family room. if everything were scaled to human size, it would be a fully loaded, multilevel parking garage - with a stocked bar and waiting pool table. On one wall, several shelves hold Rodger's collection of sports car models, all neatly parallel parked. An opposite wall holds many of his colorful train cars and engines. a half wall that divides the space provides a pad to display a model of the Norwegian three-masted tall ship, the Jutland. Rodger built the model in college.
Above the bar is a print depicting Santa Catalina Island, Calif. (cue Beach Boys music). With a dreamy look, Rodger explained its significance: "It's where I took my future wife sailing on our first date. The sailboat was called Afternoon Delight."
Yes, the house has bedrooms upstairs. but, after all the excitement of the basement, main floor and backyard, when Rodger assured us there were no more trains upstairs, we choo-choo'd out the front door.
It felt so wrong driving away in an ordinary, life-size, 21st-century hybrid.
Would you like to see your house, townhome, condo, apartment or cottage featured as The Capital's Home of the Week? To nominate your home, e-mail Wendi Winters at wendi@quantumstep.com. Include your contact information and details about your residence.
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