Our best to Walter for a speedy recovery!

Walter stepped on a piece of wire that pushed up into his foot.  He could not feel it and it became very infected and he has been in the hospital since Saturday.  He has been operated on to have it removed.  Today he will have another surgery to repair the damaged area.  He hopes to go home tomorrow.  He sounded very good on the phone and we all wish him the absolute best recovery and a quick return back home.  
Update~ Walter called Carl, he came home as scheduled.  Feeling well and resting.  

The Clayton Tunnel

I like tunnel portals and castles so this was a natural for me.   Take a look at the interesting story of the Clayton tunnel.  Click here:

Interesting Links

These came off the NETC website:  Take a look click here.

The Great Northern New England Train Show

Coming up on Saturday, Feb 22, 2014

 Sent to us by Tiny:  For info on all the details, Click here:

Amherst Society Train Show Jan 25th

  Video from this years show just completed:  Click here to watch.

If you missed the show here is a recap.  I know some of our members were there.  Dick Rubin also had his big State of Maine train running.   I recognized it in another video where Ralph set up a large display for Great Falls.   To see it please click here:   Good job guys, that must have been a lot of work. 

MGRS Board of Directors

click on image

In recognition of our Board of Directors

Possible Desktop

Click once on image.  I thought it was kind of neat.

The Arctic Circle Express

I know we think we live in the Arctic Circle some of the time but I just watched a really good show on the same subject.  Chan 10 had  a excellent show titled The Northern Railway: A Journey Across the Arctic Circle.
Traveling nearly 500 miles on Norway's Northern Railway, from Trondheim, across the Arctic Circle, to Bodo on the Atlantic coast.  It is not the same train ride but  I found a link that is similar.  Click here:

Some unusual pictures

Well i'll be. . .

                 Hey Bert!    You hear about that new fangled thing they got?     You point your phone at it and it takes you right to the Blog!

Yup, I suppose they will be putting them on boxcars next.      

MGRS Pin

shown larger than actual size

  The image selected for this years pin is shown above.  It is given in appreciation for individual support of the fourth consecutive year at the Maine Mall Train Display.  Once again a large number of members are eligible for this years pin.  Thanks to Andy's effort we now do expect the pins to be received in time to be made available at the Spring Luncheon.   Thank you again to all the people who support the Mall Show.  It is truly a massive collective effort!  It is greatly appreciated by the public, the Mall, and all that help bring it about.   It has brought distinction to Maine Garden Railway Society and provides us with financial stability and has widened our scope of interaction with other organizations.  If health or distance have kept you from stopping by, we hope to find ways to encourage shorter more flexible visits that fit your needs.  With all that in mind we happily look forward to year Number Five!

Ernie, Ernie he's our man!

If he can't do it, no one can.


The "old highschool cheer" is for ERNIE PACKARD!    My apologizes to Ernie, I mistakenly left him off the Honor Roll.

As you can see, He certainly deserves our recognition.

He was at the Mall many times, including when the Vets were there.  As well as supporting many more MGRS activities.  And he is an excellent Golf cart driver!
















Thank you Ernie!  

Latest Newsletter is now On-Line

Thanks Art !!    The Nov - Dec IronHorse Newsletter is here.  Sparkling and full of delight!  

Here is the link: 


Lots of fun to look through,  well done!

Trying to pin it down

The problems with pins is that they are small!   They look better when they are large drawings and in an attempt to show actual size I am making this post.  These pins all have the same basic theme. They feature the Logos of the Mall and MGRS.  They show the Year 2013 and that it was our fourth year we have done the display.  The variation is on the accents of trees, garland, and various train engines.  

  

Larger images so you can actually see them:

 I hope the Board will be able to find one of these appropriate to use as our annual pin of appreciation for the fourth consecutive year at the Maine Mall.
                                         -------------------------------------------------

UPDATED   Jan 23, 2014    Carl has selected a choice for the pin.  The winner is:

The plan is to hopefully have them ready for the Spring Luncheon Meeting on March 16, 2014.

Look who's playing outdoors

Eric took advantage of the break in the weather to run his favorite engine.  Watch: Click here.

Thanks Eric, looks great!

Order a Vest - Pick it up at Spring Luncheon

  If you would like to order an official Maine Garden Railway Society vest you may do it today. Call Carl at 929-3655.  Remember you need to order a size larger because they run small.   The cost is $25 dollars.  Carl plans to have them available to pickup at the MGRS Spring Luncheon on March 16, 2014.

Murray's Story

Listen to and watch video of a true train story by the foreman of a Canadian National vintage snow plow train.

Sent to us by Tiny.

Please click here for Murray's Story

Conway Scenic Railroad Steam in the Snow 2014

  From Mainelines Productions1:   Sent to us by Denneth Lee.  Published on Jan 5, 2014

On January, 4, 2014, the Massachusetts Bay Rail Enthusiasts chartered their annual "Steam in the Snow" event on the Conway Scenic Railroad.   

To see full video and article please click here:

  

Forget Train controlling train, How about Man controlling Plane

  The pilot is the man with the flight controls strapped to his arm.   VERY impressive video.    Click Here: Then on red arrow   

Example of two trains automatically stopping and starting each other

My previous post talked about two trains controlling one another using a Track Activation Device (TAD) that has been around for years.  In fact my open house in 2010 featured one.    I had basically one large loop that two trains followed each other around on.  One train came to an isolated section and stopped.  The other train ran until it crossed over a TAD, where the weight of the passing train touches contacts together to send power to start up the waiting train.  Basically,  that is all it takes.  Now both trains are running and they take turns being the first to reach the isolated stop area where they wait until the trailing train automatically restarts them.   The process will keep repeating and can start and stop interactively without any problem.

  My loop ran from inside the basement where it traveled around a curved trestle and waterfall back out through a window into the garden.  There it made a double loop around the garden before crossing back over itself and heading back inside. I called the crossing "Yarmouth Junction" and modeled it with working signal lights and a little signal shed.  That is where I put the isolated  track section where the train would automatically stop.   The trailing train would start it up as it drove over the TAD just before it came out the window.  Then the two trains appeared to be racing side by side around the layout headed back toward the Junction.  The trains looked very close together but they were actually on the same loop separated by 30 or 40 feet of linear track!

They took turns stopping at "the Junction" and alternating the right of way with one another.  I called it "Trains controlling trains"  in an old video I made at the time.  Please take a look back at 2010: 
  It shows how a  simple $5 dollar gadget can be used to create a much more complex looking layout.  


 

Pretty cool and it will cost us "Nothing"

How about two trains that take turns stopping at the same station.  They travel in opposite  directions and they always keep to the right as they enter the station stop.   After they have taken the correct track they automatically start up the other train waiting at the station and then they come to a stop themselves.  No magnets, sensors, diodes or expensive electronics needed.  There is always continuous action plus one train gets to rest while the other is moving.   This will also work well on an Interactive button as it can start up and shut down at any point in the cycle without causing a problem!

All you need to do this is 4 plastic track insulators and 2 simple O gauge TAD's or track activation devices that are used to change a signal from red to green.   The switches could be electrically controlled with two more TAD's or use the simple manual spring return as we did with the Sawmill.  That also worked very well.

The trick is you need one special engine that has a "polarity switch" on it.  Bachmann provides these on the Thomas and Friends engines we already have, plus it is also on the yellow Bachmann switcher engine (45 ton diesel)  we ran at the Mall which now belongs to the Club.

                                                              Click to enlarge image

Lots of action, easy to wire, and simple principles like the weight of one train completes a contact that starts up the other.  I love simple stuff that works!

How did they do?

Click on images to make them larger.

 The Auto Reversing Unit I think was rated an "A".  It ran 10 hrs a day and did not have any problems.  I think it is easy to hook up and cannot be beaten for the price.  The Club paid $49 dollars and got a nice product made in Canada.  I got one myself and that one ran on the Saw Mill without any problems.  Recommended to anyone who wants a point to point line.

 The Bachmann engine made it to the last day with help from Walter.  Both of its engines have stopped running.  But interior lights, smoke unit and head lights on both ends are working well.  1:20.2 scale I like the looks and detailed interior.  The Club will keep it as a donation but have to pay for the repair.  I think it will end up being a good investment.  It does have a special switch that allows it to run in an opposite direction to an engine with normal polarity.  For example you could have an oval with passing sidings and two engines could take turns making a loop and stopping on their side of a station while the other engine starts up and travels in the opposite direction around the loop.    We all ready have solved how to make the switches work!  On this years Saw Mill display we "automatically" switched from one side to another by simply using two manual return switches!  I think it has 'big' possibilities!

Snow Plow does a good job

    It looks like about 10 feet of snow in scale.  I think this rotary plow does a good job.  To take a look click here:
 

Welcome to the Merry-Go-Round

   The Merry-go-round could not be used at the Mall but it finally made it to the layout when it came back home.  Take a listen below.

Thank's Jeff

Let me add my thanks to Sue and Terry for the great Open House Jeff and his wife had on New Years day!

We met lots of friendly people and got to see a tremendous layout.
      See Video of trains click here:                             More pictures

Jeff Jacobs layout is awesome. A large number of Maine RR road names.

A cold ride home

By the way ~ Do you want to be able to make your own posts on the Blog?

Just send me (John) an email at  mgrsadmin@gmail.com  and I will set it up.
Please do it, it may come in handy!  Thank you.

Wishing you a "Golden Year" ahead