Ski Trains

  I always liked the idea of going on a "Ski Train".   I will skip my story and go directly to the videos:  Here is a real train and here is the G-scale version.  

Now, this would be fun to wire

Please click here and take a look.

Now that is what I call a garden railway!!!

This is an amazing video.  I have never seen any train like this before.  The engine to me looks like it is  a scale 1:3.  The coaches look larger, more like 1:2.  Amazing, real steam and its in England.  Looks like it provides tourist rides out to some facility.  This is a good research project.  Sent to us by Eric who simply said : "Now that is what I call a garden railway!!!!!"
Thanks for the find!  To view please click here:

Thank You!!

Click Here!

See all those Names,  Fantastic!  You did not have to do it so early.  But by not waiting around and jumping right in YOU good folks should be applauded.  Super thank you to you all.  I know that there is a long list of kind, reliable and dependable group to follow and we appreciate and need them too.  But we also needed some good leaders to show the way.  Nicely Done!  We are off to a great start.  But, there is still plenty of room to fill in and we encourage all our membership to join in if possible.  Even if its just a drop by,  come in and experience whatever you can.  Thank you. 

Want to help Barry decorate his sawmill?

  Barry and Carl were talking on the phone and Barry said he would like to invite members to help decorate around the sawmill he is bringing to the Mall.  People, wood piles, equipment, lumber or anything else that you think would add interest.

  That reminds me of a good point.  The round shape of the layout combined with the straight sections of the mainline provides many opportunities for close up display areas that we never had before.  The combined effect of all the little details is what will create a grand impression.   Let's plan to get all that are interested to add a little special detail to this years display!

Woodfords Family Services Outing at Churchill's Overlook Garden Railway

                                                   Click image to enlarge

  The Woodfords Family Services Group of employees and guests picked a great day for their end of summer celebration party.  An estimated 15 to 18 guests arrived at Pat and Carl's.  Hosted by their daughter Heidi and a good contingent of MGRS members they enjoyed looking through the garden and asking questions about the trains and buildings.  They seemed to enjoy what Garden Railroading is all about.  The grill was going strong and lots of laughter and sounds of a good time were heard all around.  Mike Burns was a favorite as he was called upon to provide several trail adventure rides through the back woods. Everyone had a good time, even the dogs joined the party. We all stopped in to say hi to Carl who was "resting" inside.  He looked great and he thanks everyone for all their help. All considered, it was an excellent wrap up of a very good and busy summer.    

Pretty Fancy!

A rail journey fit for a king: Paris commuter train has carriages transformed to resemble rooms from the Palace of Versailles.   Click here:
Found by John Foley NHGRS and sent to us by Denneth Lee.
http://www.chateauversailles.fr/homepage

The Great Escape

 Carl escaped a day earlier then planned!  He is headed back home and should arrive soon.
His spirits are high and he sounds good! He called from the car as Pat was driving and pulling in for the prescription stop at Hannafords.  Let's hope he remembers to follow doctors orders.  

Update on Carl - Good News!

   Carl had his scheduled operation yesterday and it was successful! The doctors were able to do everything they wanted.  Pat is home taking care of Gunner and Carl has talked to her 3 times today on the phone.  He is trying to convince them to let him go home tomorrow but Friday is the likely day.

   That is excellent news,  We all at MGRS join in wishing him a nice good recovery and want him to take it easy.  Friday he will have to stay in after he arrives. He still has a group coming. There are 10 to 12 people coming at 2 to 5pm and they are planning on having a cook out or bringing food.   So we can help out and run some trains and tell Carl not to worry about anything.

Thanks to Mac and to Pat for all the good info:  John

Steam Power

Eric sent this in for us to take a look at.  His comment is very good. He said this shows how steam must have been use by us back in our days of steam in this Country too.  The interesting thing to me is the video is from China in the year 2011. 

Take a look  click here; 
Thanks Eric.

To those celebrating the day happy-rosh-hashanah 

Happy to Return

Click on image to enlarge
 

 Here is a photo I found on the NHGRS Website (Thanks to Tiny who took lots of pictures) of our setup last year.  It was taken very early on the first day.   What is interesting is that the platform you see measured 36 feet long.  That is the exact diameter of the circular platform that we will have this year and it was pretty close to where we will be.  (We will be shifted over to the right a little more).   When I saw it, I was glad that we were going back to Center Court.  It has been a good place to be the last two years and it has more space around it than any other place in the Mall.  Santa Clause will be on the same side as he was last year. Facing the same direction but backed up to the layout, not inside it.   We will be on the right hand side (facing toward Best Buy) as seen from the picture above.

  This year we will be adding three more levels of risers on top of the main platform (see drawing below).  The highest one will measure 6 by 6 feet and support the Mall Christmas Tree that will be in the center of our train layout.

I think you have see it , but if you want a close up drawing of this years design, click here:

Last outing of the year - Please read

 The Woodfords Family Services employees are visiting MGRS on Friday September 21st from 2-5pm.    These are the local people who provide the help and assistance to others with special needs in the Maine communities.   They are holding an outing at Carl's and he can use our help one more time especially as he is scheduled to be recovering from surgery himself  just days before. Thank You!

 

Important Maine Mall Update!

  Carl and Art and John met with Mall Operations Officers today to go over the final plans the Mall has made regarding our 2012 display.   Basically, the store front expansion has taken up more area than expected so to avoid being cramped we will be returning to Center Court!  Our new circular display will remain exactly as planned.  In fact much of it has been built and it waiting out back.  Setup day is still November 5th.  But, we are going back to our original schedule start day which begins on November 10th!

 So the big news is we have added our one week back into the schedule.  Our end date has not changed, or our hours or anything else.  Santa Claus will arrive at 10am on Saturday November 10th.  We were filling up the operating schedule very well and thank you very much to all the volunteers so far.  We hope there will not be a problem filling in the first week.  You are invited once again to use the signup Form at the top of the Blog as you have done before.

 There are some other changes and benefits, our Control area has been moved as far away from the air conditioner as possible and should be a big improvement.   We should have better in Mall advertising and signage then last year.  We anticipate having more seating available for members both in and outside the control area.   We do not expect any bands next to us, but the Charity Gift Wrapping and Good Shepard Food Bank donation spot will be close by.   There will be lots of fun and activities as Santa will have a "Pet Night" and a "Reindeer Night".   The Mall is planning on decorating our train display with a "rock fabric" material to go along with the snow blanket that they will jnstall after we put our track down.  We may also have a new fence if the budget allows or our old white picket fence is still a possibility.  The Mall will decorate and provide the  Christmas Tree that will be at the center of our layout.   Everyone who was there last year will remember where to park and how to find Service Door #7 which is the best entrance for us. Please see map below. OK! Let's  get ready for another great train display!

Click on image to enlarge

Pictures of Jim Jenkins Layout

 Eric took these and sent them to me after Jim's Open House.   I just got to loading them up for folks to see.  They all offer good perspective's and unique subjects.  To view, please click here:
Thank you Eric and Jim.

Maine Veterans’ Home Visit

  On a cool, sunny day, Carl and Pat Churchill hosted the third visit of the summer of guests and staff from the Maine Veterans’ Home of Scarborough, Maine. 

 Some of the guests were experiencing their first visit to the Garden Railway and were delighted with the venue and of course the trains. Nine MGRS members were present and participated not only in operating the Railway but also assisting the guests getting around. Walt Fossett did his usual great job in keeping the trains running. Here he demonstrates his home-made wheel cleaning electrified brush assembly.

  Mike Burns and Art Handman provided tours of the wooded expanse behind Carl’s house.

Art  commiserated with the veterans about their military days.

  

After a picnic lunch under the tent, the group bid us farewell and looked forward to return visits next summer.

Reminder - Last Veteran Outing for this year at MGRS

  Tuesday, September 11th is the final of four planned outings for the Maine Veterans Home of Scarborough to visit MGRS at Carl's this year.

  The Veterans love to come out and visit, watch trains run and take in all the sights and sounds including those adventurous golf cart trips through the wooded trails.  They always share their picnic lunch with us as well as lots of smiles and a good time.

  You are invited to stop by around 10am to enjoy the day and help them celebrate their final visit of the summer to MGRS.

Dick Clark Open House

Saturday, September 8, 2012

  In spite of threatening rain, a goodly number of MGRS members, neighbors, and friends visited the home of Dick and Sharon Clark and enjoyed their hospitality and, of course, their impressive garden railway. 

The railway is replete with a waterfall, saw mill, several town scenes,

a dance hall with an operating disco ball and sound.

  There is so much to see on this railway, it will be covered in more detail in the next issue of The Iron Horse.

   The railway is a family affair.  Dick scratch builds the buildings and Sharon paints them.  Granddaughter Abigail, a sometimes body painter,

constructed the Abby nursery on the pike. 

Dick also builds his own switches

  including the frogs.

Folks of all ages enjoyed the day which bodes well for the continued existence of the next generation of model railroaders.

Thanks again to Dick and Sharon for opening up their home and garden railway for all to enjoy.

 

 

2012 Mall Layout

  Featuring two 100 foot main line loops crossing over the MGRS drawbridge and through tunneled areas with 20 foot diameter curves showcasing the 36 foot circular display.  Elevated lines cross metal bridges and feature 10 foot curves on Level-2 and wide 8 foot curves on Level-3.  Level-4 will be reserved for the Maine Mall Center Tree display.  All this is surrounded by six Interactive Displays!  The Circus, Lionel,  Flashing Signals, Thomas the Tank Engine, Operating Chairlift and the Sawmill.  Our control area is embedded within the layout design.  This year we will have extra room to set up display sidings close to the public for viewing trains that are not running.  These will be added as needed.    Santa Claus will be there too!  We hope all members will plan to stop by sometime over the display period and share in this major model train event that entertains and educates hundreds of interested viewers every shift.  

Open Invitation

If you are a current member of MGRS and particularly if you have never been to the Mall to watch our trains run and see the expressions on people faces please come and stand on the other side of the fence.   I don't care if its just 10 minutes or you stay for hours.  But, once you see how warmly received we are by the public you will love the feeling of being part of it.  Stand near one of the interactive displays and watch what happens as children and adults press the button.  Maybe you will get tired of hearing "How great this is", or "This reminds me of when I was young" or "My uncle used to work for the railroad" or "I remember taking the train to" or maybe it just is "Look, look, here it comes!".  My guess is you will be glad that you stopped by. Plan on it this holiday season.

Nice catalog of train items

I liked the way this was organized.  Looks like it has a lot of items, easy to find with pictures and prices:  Click here to view:

Getting Ready!

 We are getting ready for another wonderful Holiday Season.  This will be our 3rd Main Mall Train Display and they continue to improve each year!  Part of getting ready is ordering Vests and Nametags.  We only do that once a year and we are approaching that time again. Name tags and vest are worn all year around for any MGRS event and even if you do not go to the Mall we encourage you to get a vest if you would like one.   

    We expect to offer the same prices as last year.  The price of a vest should be $25 dollars and the price of a replacement nametag should be $5 dollars.   All new members should receive their first nametag for free.  If you lost yours or you want to order another, you can order a replacement and that way we can combine the orders and you can get it at a lower cost.  (If we ordered one tag for you separately it would cost a minimum of $15 dollars to have it made up). 

The price is assuming that you will pick up the items either at Carls or at the Mall Train Show.  If you require that they be mailed to you, please include the cost of mailing.  If you want either item you should contact Carl Churchill. (See current issue of Iron Horse).

The only other helpful hint I can give is that you should order a vest at least one size larger because they have always run pretty small.  If you do order a vest, patches from the previous two years of MGRS at the Mall are included.

I would also encourage you to order an extra nametag.  Once I get mine lined up I like to keep it pinned on the vest, but I would also like one that I can carry in my pocket and pin on my shirt.  Or you may want a nametag with your nickname on it.  Either way it is a good time to think about getting an extra.  Thank You!

Nancy Norris - Web Site

 Here is the link to www.gardenlines.net  the web site of Nancy Norris.   It contains lots of interesting information.  Located and sent to us by Denneth Lee.  Thank you.

Local Boys Make Good

 
   Be sure to watch for your copy of this month's Garden Railways Magazine.  MGRS member Eric Schade's Winnegance & Quebec Railway is featured on the cover and in the principal article.  With the help of son Ben, Eric has created a rural Maine railroad with a matchless sense of place and authentic detail.  Congratulations Eric and Ben.

Radio Controled Model Air Show

Click here for all the Info:  Watch their video too!

Bill Green scheduled a segment on this Monday night at 6.  Found and sent in by Tiny. Thank you!  Awesome Color, Sound and Excitement.  Free and Fun at the same time.  Super detailed scale models.