Fixer-Upper Crowd Visits Home Show : Lifestyle: A display of products and services to make life more comfortable, healthy and interesting draws thousands to Anaheim Convention Center.

ANAHEIM — As economic hard times linger, people appear to be devoting more time and attention to their homes, according to organizers of the Southern California Home and Garden Show, which is drawing thousands to the Anaheim Convention Center.

“With the economy the way it is, not only are people looking to improve their homes, younger families are buying fixer-uppers and people are refinancing and using the money on their homes,” said Pamela Schnaible, a spokeswoman for the show, which runs through Aug. 29.

People have come to realize, Schnaible said, that “you don’t need to move into that new home. You can redecorate the one you’re in.”

Every imaginable appliance and improvement to make life at home more comfortable, healthy and interesting was on show Sunday among the displays erected by the 700 exhibitors taking part in this year’s event, the 39th year that the show has been held here.

The usual lineup was in evidence: plants, pools (including non-chlorine systems), decks, windows, siding, shutters, roofs, security systems, satellite dishes, pianos, cleaning products, antiques and artwork.

But there were also some more fanciful offerings, ranging from a landscaping company that offers customized, computer visualizations of what your home would look like with different landscaping, to soakable neckties that cool the wearer as the water in the tie evaporates.

And there was the usual array of food stands, filling the hall with an aroma of offerings that ranged from Mexican fare to all natural.

If one exhibit epitomized the effort to find happiness in your own back yard, Schnaible said, it is the one extolling the joys of “garden railroading,” which she said was “a big draw for the kids.”

Garden railroading?

A hybrid hobby if ever there was one, the combination of two seemingly unrelated leisure activities now involves 50,000 families across the country, three annual nationwide conventions and four magazines, according to Bill Axline, who edits the Laguna Hills-based “Train Yard.”

In the past five years, said Axline, 53, of Villa Park, “it’s really taken off. It’s an upward spiral.”

The industry was launched, Axline said, when a 100-year-old German toy company, Lehmann-Gross-Bahn, started manufacturing electric trains that could stand up to the outdoor elements.

Because of their durability and size--roughly twice that of the familiar Lionel trains--the outdoor variety immediately appealed to children, Axline said.

And, he added with a laugh, to older adults with deteriorating eyesight and dexterity.

In this country, he said, the large trains struck a chord with families that boasted at least one member with a green thumb.

Many starter sets were purchased to circle the Christmas tree in the living room, Axline said, until people realized that they could be moved outdoors and used throughout the year in places like Southern California.

Dwarf varieties of plants and trees stand in for their full-sized relatives, in as close to the scale of the trains as possible.

“The object is to have fun,” Axline said, rather than to become fixated with precision and detail.

Of the 600 members of the Los Angeles Garden Railroad Society, Axline estimated that a third live in Orange County.

“What’s good about it is that it brings the family together at home,” Axline said. “Mother gets her garden. It’s good for Dad. You get him out of the basement or the garage.”

Axline said a father once approached him for advice, saying, “I want to have a train for my son.” In fact, Axline said, it was clear the man was looking to recapture something from his own youth. “He wanted to have a train back for himself,” he said.

While garden railroad sets can start for as little as $300 and can be built in a matter of days, some layouts, like the largest of three on display at the hall, can get quite pricey.

Recently, an El Toro family paid $19,000 to install a garden railroad in their yard, according to Bob Rust, of Big Bear, a former landscaper who did the job and was helping Axline operate the home show exhibit.

Of course, before the back yard is torn up, Axline said, the main emphasis has to be decided.

“Do I want to have a railroad in my garden, or do I want a garden around my railroad,” he said.