Moving Big Boy 4014 (January 2014)

  Union Pacific moved Big Boy 4014 to its restoration yard just a little over a month ago.  It must have been quite a site to be driving down the road and see this engine go by!   See how they did it, Click here:

Portsmouth Train Show

I asked Tiny if he went to the Portsmouth Train Show and he did not make it but he found a good article in a local paper.  Sounded like a good day for the Maine-3-Railers.  They sound like a good bunch of guys and we congratulate them.   Here is the article:

History of the Transcontinental Railroad

 An interesting video history reconstructed by actors to depict the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad.  Each part 9 to 10 minutes:

Part 1 of 5

Part 2 of 5

Part 3 of 5

Part 4 of 5

Part 5 of 5

Decorah Eagle Cam Live Feed

First egg laid today.  These are pretty famous eagles.  Excellent parents and I think interesting to watch.   The past few years we have watched them raise 3 eaglets per year.  Mom on nest.  Dad will bring in all kinds of food.  But they will swap and share duties very well.  Here is the web site:  http://www.decoraheaglecamalerts.com/index.htm

Past Flower Shows

I took these pictures of the 2012 and 2013  Portland Flower Show  from off their web site.   I am glad we have a member who enjoys promoting garden railroading in such a good way.  As you know Rich Young is working on preparing his entry for the 2014 Show.   He will give us more info on that in future updates.

  I like the look of the fountain and the use of the blue lighting.  Nice job Mr. Young.

Playing with Trains

   I am a fortunate grandfather, I have a grandson that still likes to play with trains!  I had to show Jameson what Scott's engine could do so we ran it and one of my others around the tracks the other day.  We had fun and the trains looked good.  I am looking forward to getting outside with lots of flowers in the garden this year but right now I am very happy to have an indoor layout.  Also thank you to Scott who let me use his new engine for a little while, I am sure he is anxious to have it come back home.  Here is a video of some of the action.  Click here:

Show time

  Train show today in Portsmouth, Me.  Directions click here:

Daytona 500 tomorrow

   Number 3 returns to the poll position!  Here's the rest of the story:  Click here.

 I apoligize: Not a train story

Better than speed

   Personally speaking I would much rather enjoy a nicely restored dinning car travelling at a comfortable speed winding through scenic countryside.   Ahhh,  I am feeling more relaxed already. 

10 top fastest trains in the world

If you like speed this video is only 72 seconds.
Click here:

Norfolk Southern 6920

   Number 6920 painted a special design to honor veterans.   She looks beautiful.   Here is a time lapse video that shows how it was done.  Click here:  

The Rise and Fall of Penn Stationt

From Tiny:    Tues Feb 18th on PBS is a show at 9pm on  The Rise and Fall of Penn Station: American Experience   preceded by another episode at 8pm on the Grand Coulee Dam.

Update:  Watch the show on Penn Station.  Very very good!  Only in America could you have a story like that.   Hats off to the "sandhogs"  the tunnels are still operating click here.  As well as the station  click here:

Portland Flower Show ~ by Rich Young

Follow the story of Rich Young as he transforms his black & white sketch into a full color bloom of flowers, bridges, water, tunnels and trains!   Rich promises to send us photos and updates as he works on preparing his entry into this years Portland Flower Show.  Here is his story, told directly to us in his own words:

   John, 

The Portland Flower Show is in a few weeks.

Attached is the layout that I will be using.

I will be using 4 pallets of 8x8x16 cinder blocks, 2 pallets of 4"solid blocks, 2 pallets of irregular blue stone and 10 bags of 75# 2" Mexican Pebble Stone.

The concrete blocks will be used to create the header pond and the lower pond. The 8" blocks will also be used to lay the track on. 2 separate lines. a 10' circle and a folded dogbone. The folded dogbone will go through a tunnel, with water above it and then the track will go over a bridge. The 10 'circle will go around the lower pond and over 1 bridge.

Lots of plants. I am trying to keep them all on the smaller size. Some are dwarfs others just don't grow large. Falsecypress, Maples, Azaleas, Witchhazel, Junipers, Boxwoods. I've always liked the weeping look, but Michelle doesn't. So, I am going to have a Weeping Alaskan Cedar.

I am not a landscape architect, nor am I a Master Gardener. I like my G Scale Trains, Michelle and I get to hang out together in the garden and we both love to garden.

The concrete product is loaned for the weekend. I started forcing some of the plants a few weeks ago and will get some color by purchasing some annuals. And the stone will be used for a new walk path going up to the front of the house. I am not allowed to put trains in this new planting area. Booooooo, I wonder if I can hide a point to point in there for the Eggliners?!? and some smaller trains. We will see come the spring!!

I will take a ton of pictures throughout the process, only if you guys want.

Last year, I placed Second in the Peoples Choice Award and my layout was the opening shot on all 3 local News Stations. Not bad for someone that knows nothing about what he is doing!

And this year, I am looking forward to participating, as the winter has been looooong!!

Augusta Doll House (and train) Show

Sue and I went up to Augusta today to see the train show. It was a lot like the Sanford shows of yesteryear. Great Falls had an "O" scale layout. Not much "G" stuff. The doll house stuff was all larger than 1/24th scale.
Great exhibit on restoring MEC Steam Engine. I will bring some handouts to the March meeting.

Whitefield Lions Club Model Railroad and Dollhouse Show

 One of my favorite shows because it was the first train show I ever went to.  Today my daughter and I stopped in to visit the annual Lions Club Dollhouse and Model Railroad Show in Augusta.

The stage features the 3-Railer's Layout.  I immediately recognized Jeff and Maurice below and completely messed up the picture.  But had a nice talk and it was fun to see them again and talk to some of the other guys.  I saw our Norm and he is feeling a lot better!   Talked to Ed and Brenda who are working on a nice O gauge layout at Norm's Trains in Casco.
I also talked with Steve who is ready to hike the Application Trail in March through August.

Snowy Day

  I love snowy days because I go back and find old pictures like this from several years ago when I started to build the water garden.  I still get the water hyacinth,although you only need a few.  They spread very quickly! I get them at Longfellow Gardens in Manchester Me, right beside Augusta.  Actually not that far from us.  In fact if it does not snow much on Saturday, I will be up to Augusta for the Doll House and Model Train Show at the armory.

All Set ~ Looking Good ~ Smoking Good

   The BR-64 stop over is creating big excitement in Littleville Falls.   Thank you Scott.

   Note:  Compared to posting on UTube  same video  but looks better.

Smoke testing

   If you buy a new expensive engine. . .do not leave it at my house.   I might start fiddling with it.
Scott's new BR-64 ran great but somehow we could not get the smoke unit to go.  Anyway, Scott insisted I try it out for a while.  I did not tell him what happened but he will be glad to see this video and see what a "ball of fire" it turned out to be!   I guess PIKO really does know how to make things smoke!  Check it out below:

The smoke unit works great!  There is a switch behind the front cover plate which must be on.  Be liberal with the smoke fluid.  I used a straw which I put in the bottle and placed my finger on the top.  That gave me plenty of fluid without spilling it.  There is enough slack in the connecting wire so I was able to place the unit in a separate dish for testing,   I wanted to make sure it was not  leaking.

More PIKO owners

Honest, I am not promoting PIKO for any reason.  But, I know other members have gone right after the chance to buy the new PIKO offerings.  One is Tiny, he brought his new Canadian National 7470 steam engine and train to the Mall last year.  It looked and sounded great!  I caught it on the video I took that day.  You can see it close up and in the background views at 1:00 and 2:00 mins.

In fact it feels good to see the clips from just a couple of months ago.  The Mall layout and trains really do look good.  Click here to watch:

Scott's new BR 64 from PIKO

  Scott loves his G scale European styled locomotives.  Especially the big steam engines LGB has produced.  Well now a new G scale leader is emerging and becoming very popular here in America.  It is PIKO which also manufactures its products in Germany.  Carl Churchill is a PIKO dealer and Scott got his new BR 64 a short time ago.  I was lucky enough to have Scott bring it over to my layout for its first run around my indoor loop.  It ran great.  What a beautiful engine! It looks good pulling those European coaches which Scott found and told us about last year. The quick video does not do it justice but take a look:  Click here:

Thank you Scott!  I love the pictures of the real engine, you can hardly tell the difference.

The folks at Littleville Falls RR, say "Hello"  to the BR 64 engineer.

Chicago's Station Magical Piano

This is pretty clever.  Amtrak had something to do with setting this up in Chicago's Union Station.  Take a look, Enjoy Click here: 

Trans Europe Express (G scale and Actual)

 Here is a set of videos I found from Germany that show the TEE.  The link will take you (I think) to video 16-of-33.  I watched 16,17,18 and 19.   They show a model railway Club, A Train Show and the actual train itself plus I assume many other videos.  I thought they were interesting.  To take a look click here:

 (2/7)  I looked at the remainder of these. All are good but especially liked #2 for detail of lighted interior and sound system,  #5 for Smoke.  "For the real train" #20 shows interior of cars and cab, and #27 for great views of a long train and the countryside.  Only a couple I skipped through and didn't like.  I can see why this is such a popular train and PIKO did a great job of reproducing it in G scale.

ECLS Train show preview

OK, not exactly.  But it is a very good recap of Vendors, Clubs, and Items  from a previous show. Next months 2014 Show will likely cover many of the same things.  To take a look:  Please Click here:

PIKO Catalog

Always fun to look at a train catalog!  Especially on a snowy day.

This is from July 2013.  To view please click here:

Here is another interesting video I found.  I also noted that I had been pronouncing 'PIKO' incorrectly.  At least according to these fellows, and they should know. (One of them is the president of PIKO).  Take a listen click here:  

Note from a Good Friend . .

We received the following email from Ernie Tarbox to pass along .

         Hello One and All ,

  Spoke to Norm to night and found out he had a close one. His only kidney shutdown and after a few minutes in the ER,like ten,he was off to the OR.

He's home resting and getting better! So,please pass the word and if you can give him a call. I can't start to say how much Norm does for us all.

   Thank you

Best wishes from us all Norm!

PIKO BR 64

  I know at least one member that has ordered this beautiful new engine from Carl that PIKO is rolling out.  What a beautiful big locomotive!  It is an exact reproduction of the real item. Here is the link if you are interested.  Click here:   You might have to hit translate as it is printed in German.  

  Carl ran some PIKO engines at the Maine Mall.  Not only are they very well detailed, they run beautifully!
The quality and performance to me is just as high as LGB.  I cannot wait for this years show, I hope to get a chance to see this one in operation!

Happy Groundhog Day ~ See what happened

 . .  Click here:

Headed this way . . .

Portland Flower Show in March 2014

More on the Flower Show to come.

Also headed this way in just 2 weeks:
Whitefield Lions Club 
Model Railroad and Dollhouse Show 

  Here is the link Click here:

Update on Vests, Pins, and MGRS Spring Luncheon at TOP of Blog.