Coming and Going

What else is Coming up and Going on?  Here are some things that come to mind.
Next Saturday, July 5th the Seashore Trolley Museum is having a big day of events and celebration.  You should put that one on your list.  Definitely worth going to.  Here is a link for more information.

Two weeks after that on July 19th is Maine Garden Railway Society Annual Celebration.  Another definite go to event.  I honestly don't know what is planned but every year I have gone to has been great and included:  Door prizes, 50-50 Raffles, Displays, Items for Sale and Trade, Auction our greatest fun and fund raising event! Fantastic Lunch! and Annual Meeting, election of officers and updates on upcoming activities.

Other things are also going on:

•  John Middleton may have a list of G-scale items a friend of his will have for sale.  I will post that if it becomes available.  Anyone is welcome to list railroad items you have for sale.  Contact John Jackson at mgrsadmin@gmail.com
• Paul Corbett has spent time completely decorating the Veterans Layout at the Maine Veterans Home in Sarborough and getting it up and running.
• Remember it is the season for Charitable Outings at MGRS in Buxton.  Please check the Event Calendar.   

Layout Progress

While I was at Carl's yesterday Dennis was telling Scott about a meeting he had with Stefanie.  We have developed a relationship where Dennis is the MGRS coordinator working in partnership with Stefanie who is the Maine Mall coordinator.  Right now the emphasis  is on the Thomas & Lionel Christmas Tree/Fireplace Set as they call it.  A lot of effort is going into this as ideas continue to evolve.  Scott is planning to build the actual fireplace.  It will appear to be made of brick with and arched opening!  It will sparkle from the orange glow reminiscent of the 1950's old fashioned electric style fireplace logs!  Of course the Lionel train will circle the Christmas tree in front of the fireplace with stockings hung with care.    They have a lot more planned and still in the early stages of discussion, but I am sure this will turn out great and become the focal point of the layout.

As I started to say, while I was at Carl's I also took measurements of some of Carl's favorite building and drew them in scale on  our work diagram below.  Carl also has several other very nice smaller buildings like the Maple Sugar Shack  and  The Fire Tower plus others that will easily fit in addition to the ones shown.  (North Conway Station, Gorham Station, Church, the Mall, the Signal Tower and my favorite I call the Castle. )    Plus we have all those great looking trees that Dennis got last year.  We have tunnels, bridges and I am attempting to bring back a working waterfall with a straight drop of 30 inches.  So far the testing is going well.

We will be building some new trestle bents as well and Norm's Circus also has lots room to expand.   I expect we will be running some of those new PICO engines with terrific sound and I bet we attract a lot of people this year.  It should be new, different and we hope lots of fun for all of us that can be there. We want to return our Interactive displays and we will have a total of 8 operating trains on 4 different levels, plus what should be our best Control Area arrangement to work out of with easy access and lots of work space.

Click to view.

Montreal Golden Chariot

Today's Portland Press Herald has an informative article on page B3 about the upcoming 75th anniversary celebration at the Seashore Trolley Museum.  Featured in the article is the 1906 Montreal "Golden Chariot," which will be dedicated at the Founders Day celebration on July 5.  Completion of this magnificent open-air trolley has been shepherded by Seashore director (and MGRS member) Dick Rubin, who remembers riding the trolley as a child.  Congratulations to Dick and the Trolley Museum.  We're all invited to the dedication on July 5th.

Veterans visit MGRS

Two bus loads of our friends at Maine Veterans Home in Scarborough pulled in to Carl's for an outing today along with their staff.  We remember many of them from past visits and also at the Mall.  A large group of MGRS members greeted them.  Thanks to Carl and Pat along with Tiny, Paul, Mike & Mike, Scott, Dennis and John.

Paul was running trains with both hands!  We had the Amtrak (an older LGB version as well as the new PICO Camelback with sound).  And Scott brought in a Trolley he has rigged to run battery or track power with the touch of a simple hand held "clicker" you can hold in the palm of your hand.  Plus it can control  the speed!  He is very clever as we all know.

The rest of the guys concentrated on helping out the Veterans and giving them tours around the layout and out into Shaggy Bark Park.

They enjoyed a nice lunch and the weather was perfect.  This was the Vets first outing of the summer and they look forward to two additional trips over the next two months.    We love to have you visit, Thank you!

Maine Vets visit Tomorrow

  A large group of Maine Veterans will visit MGRS on Tuesday.  Many of them will be in wheelchairs.  We hope you will plan to stop by and help out in any way that you can.  The weather conditions should be perfect for our official "first summer outing".  Thank you.

Paul's Progress

John,
I have a couple of updated photos for you. I just finished the stairway and wharf for my bait shop kit that I picked up in Tampa. I need to add a couple of those bikini clad sunbathers to perch on the rocks next to the fisherman. The expression on his face would be appropriate….

Here is a current photo of my pond. The barley bale continues to keep the algae away. I did have to add a couple ounces of Tetra Pond water clarifier to get the fine suspended particles (not algae) to clump and sink to the bottom. The cloudiness disappeared after running the pond pump just overnight. Im sold on the barley as a solution for algae though!

So I’ve updated the name of the train station to “North Lincoln” which is appropriate for the Bagley Mt Division of the MEC since Bagley Mt is in North Lincoln (I live on the Bagley Mt Rd). Yesterday I added the freight platform to the side of the station along with some crates of “freight’. Now I need to find a nice 1/24 scale truck to place at the platform to haul the freight. Maybe there will be one at the auction next month…..

Paul

Thanks Paul,  We love to see the progress you are making on your railroad!   It looks terrific and you are doing a fantastic job.  And, this is only the "first day" of  Summer.    Keep up the excellent work!
John

A reminder from Dick Rubin ~ Special Event Coming

           The Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport will celebrate their 75^th anniversary on Founder’s Day, Saturday, July 5, with a trolley parade starting at 2:00 p.m. and special events all day. The Museum is located at 195 Log Cabin Road in Kennebunkport, just off Route 1 between Biddeford and Kennebunk.  Admission is $8 for seniors (age 60 and up); $10 for other adults; $7.50 for ages 6-16; and children under 6 are admitted free.  FMI:  www.trolleymuseum.org

Thank you Dick.  It sounds like a terrific day!  I hope many of the people that read the Blog will plan to go.
MGRS wishes all our friends at the Trolley Museum a very successful 75 year anniversary celebration!

Added to Event Calendar as a reminder.

Trestles

This all started when I tried to figure out how many trestle bents we might want to build.  I better stop because the number keeps going up.  I came out to 28 in total.  That is a lot more than I first thought, but I keep moving them closer together.     I do know they need to be 15 inches high.  One of my basis beliefs in volunteer work is "who ever builds it should design it".    That is still true!  Last year was a good example. Barry built a beautiful bridge which he gave to the Club.  He did a GREAT job.  He chose the style, the color, the material. everything. All we said was we needed one 8 feet long and 15 inches high.

So who ever builds the trestles will design them the way they want.   Only because I like to draw pictures I made up a basis picture of one that might work.   They can also be connected together in pairs like Ralph did a few years ago.  If we did that I would still keep 6 as singles which help to fit around the tight areas better.

This is just food for thought.  Carl and the BOD will figure out all the planning.  We will have our Annual Meeting pretty soon and may decide then.   In the meantime be thinking about it.  Here are some pictures that may help.

Monarch Nursing Home Outing

There was a large group from Monarch that visited today and they were very friendly and had an excellent time!
I am glad I went.  We did not run a lot of trains but no one seemed to mind.  The front pond looks terrific as you enter Carl and Pat's.   The main garden has new garden lights and new garden areas.  All types of Golf carts await the visitors to  help move them around and they all love the big tent, the large grill and the trail rides.  Thank you for the delicious lunch.  Hot dogs, Hamburgers,  Home made Potato Salad and delicious home made fruit cocktail type dessert!  Plus I think we all love the enjoyment of talking with each other.  Here are a few pictures:

Mac the Fearless

A short video of Mac taking Dennis and I on the start of a tour around the trails. He has absolutely no worry of  getting lost!  There is over two miles of carefully made trails behind Carl's, Mac's and Jack Haskel's property. Take a look, this is just the first hundred feet or so.

Plus there are large bridges, structures, lights,  all kinds of signs and decorations.  Mac said they also plow the "roads" in the winter time for walkers and the wildlife.  Carl and Pat and Mac also put on a big Halloween spectacular that is becoming famous in its own right every Fall.  
 

Summers Coming

Monarch is visiting MGRS tomorrow (Wednesday 6/18) .   Jeanne called Carl, She scheduled outings for monthly visits July, Aug and Sept for Gorham House! One Thursday a month.  Sounds good to me.  Updated Event Schedule. Thanks!

Train Tour

Pat and Carl just sent us a  nice note they received from yesterdays group that visited the layout. http://www.mainevocandrehab.com/

Carl,

Thanks again for letting us tour the garden and trails today. The group had a blast and are already asking to visit again! 

Below is our contact information. The name of the day program is 'Back Bay Connections'.

Greg Bazinet
Community Support Program Coordinator
Back Bay Connections (MVRA)
59 Preble Street
Portland, ME 04101

(207)774-4248 ext. 108
(207)347-7872 fax
greg@backbayconnections.com 

Great day for an outing (even in Germany)

I do know there is an outing today.  It may be the first of this summer.  Carl is a good man, he actually has a kind heart for people. BUT, like the rest of us, sometimes he misses things.  So, I can't give you any more info on who's coming.  It does not matter it is a great day!   . . . On another subject : We  were just visited by my son and his wife from Michigan,  and drove them to the bus station yesterday afternoon. They headed to Boston airport to take a flight to Munich, Germany for business and pleasure.
Anyway, the visit was great an we were all excited for them.    I ended up spending most of my time tracking their flight on the computer.  I never knew you could do that!  (Just type in 'Track Airlines, Flight number).  They left Boston, flew back up the coast of Maine, behind Nova Scotia out into the Atlantic.  That is when I went to bed, but I was up again about 3:30 as they went over Ireland, Scotland, England. It was really fun to watch.  I was looking at "earth view" and Country boarders do show but after they crossed the channel I was not sure exactly where they were  but it was a lot of fun to watch.  And yes, an hour or so later I returned to bed and said "they landed" and immediate fell asleep.

Open Invitation for individuals interested in Garden Railroads

 Sometimes we get emails or questions from individuals at the Mall about visiting a Garden Railroad in Maine.  Our "Group Outings" is a great way to do this. I am not inviting you to someone else's picnic lunch, but it is a perfect time to stop by, look around, and talk to all the "train guys" you want to.  Carl's opens up his garden railroad to the public by offering Group outings.  His layout easily covers an acre and a couple extra people stopping by is not a problem and we would encourage it.  For consideration purposes you should let us know you may be coming.  Check the Event Schedule and if you wish contact MGRS at mgrsadmin@gmail.com


Here is some follow up from Paul Smith:

Hi John,

Regarding your article about groups or individuals visiting members railways, 

I was wondering if we have ever developed a list of members that would be willing 

to show their layout and answer questions? 

 I think I'm the only one in my neck of the woods that has a garden railway 

(I think there is one in Brewer, but I don't know if it is operating. 

When I visited it a few years ago, it wasn't put together completely).

If you have visitors at the mall that express an interest, I would be willing

 to arrange time for a visit for anyone (during the summer of course).

 I know a lot of people from up this way shop at the Maine Mall at Christmas time. 

It's always fun to share the hobby with other folks!

Paul, That's a great idea thank you.  I will post some pictures I have of your layout.

It would be a great example to visit.  You have done everything the right way.

(click to enlarge).

New Group to visit MGRS on Monday

Carl called and said that a new group has arranged to visit MGRS.  They will arrive at 11:00am on Monday. I don't have the name of the group but they are from Maine and they may have some younger members.  But, it does not really matter to us.  Let's hope for good weather and a fun time for all that can be there.  Thanks!
 

The Veterans and their layout

I received some pictures from Paul  and Rachel.  Unfortunately I had trouble getting them to print out.  We will work on fixing that and it will be fun to see what the Veterans  train layout looks like.  Paul has been over to the Maine Veterans Home is Scarborough and helping them to fix problems on the layout.  Our thanks to Paul and we appreciate the good work he is doing.  The veterans will be coming out later this month to visit us at Carl's in exactly two weeks from today.

Having fun on a Sunny Day!

 

Hooray it stopped raining!   So I went out in the sunshine and played with water!  Pictured above are the basics of the waterfall testing.   A Radio Shack remote to a power on/off devise that the pump is hooked to.  Very simple but it turns it into a wireless interactive display!  Why not, my grandsons have played with that very same gadget for years on my own layouts waterfall.  They all had fun turning it off and on.

 I came up with the idea of using a gutter splash block as the delivery device for the waterfall.   A heavy garden stone holds it in place and the 30 inch drop is equal to 60 feet in G scale.  I have a lot more to test, but I think it is very promising.  The first video is a mock up of what a real strong pump might look like.  (All I did was turn on the hose and started to fill up the tub from the splashblock.)
 
  Short video of water test-1

OK, I know not fair, but all I have is a weak pump with very poor connections.  Still the 2nd video shows a nice simple flow. Notice how the sides of the waterfall are well defined.  That is from the special shape of the splashblock.  It gives the waterfall a good shape, take a quick look:

   Test-2 with weak pump   

The Mall has a strong commercial sump pump that we can use!  As I said I will need to do a lot more serious testing and make sure it will not splash out.  Keith would not like that.  But for today I would say: Having fun and off to a good start.

The plan is to have the waterfall drop from a height of 45 inches into the same tub shown that will sit on the floor inside a hole in the main deck 15 inches high.  There will be two special risers (A and B) on either side of the tub connected by Tiny's 3 foot iron bridge that the inner loop will cross over.


 

Scratch building wooden trestles

This article may have more info than you want to know.  I have only built one trestle but I like it a lot and I basically did it from a picture.  However,  it does make sense to learn from what other people have done and this is a very detailed description with pictures that may help us someday.  Please click on the following link:  https://sites.google.com/site/purgatorypeakmodelrailroad/construction-techniques/tresels

Weather or not

This is still the best weather map I know of.  Lets you see any spot in the USA that you are interested in.  It is also very handy for making your own predictions.  Hope you like it:  http://radar.weather.gov/Conus/full_loop.php

Looking Back and Ahead

 What I mean is I was recently looking back at a picture of the 2011 display.  It looked good!  I call it the year of the trestles.  If you look at the trestles in the bottom part of the picture they curve gently around the double main line.

  If you hold on to that thought and move ahead to this Fall, you will see we our bringing back a long curving trestle that will crisscross over this years double main line!   This year instead of a loop it will be a point to point line.  Our new Bachmann Trolley pictured below is expected to do most of the travelling on the trestle line.  

 

We will need to build some new trestles which will be 15 inches high but that should give us the opportunity to have a workshop where we can get together and help out.   I am sure we can turn the project into a fun activity.    More on this later.

Updating the Event Calendar

Just a reminder the Event Calendar has been updated.  If you look close the date last updated will change.
There will be many changes as we go through the summer.  Among the dates to remember is the Annual Meeting.  This year it is on July 19th which is a Saturday.   This month we have the Maine Veterans on June 24th.  Monarch Nursing Home leads off the outings this month on June 18th.

Now all we need is some nice days.  I planted a rose bush yesterday and Gigi did flower boxes on the deck.
I am looking forward to lots of enjoyment just "fiddling around" the garden this year!  But, remember to keep your eye on the Event Calendar. The best place to talk trains and keep up with what's happening is sitting down by the train shed.   Enjoy.
 

Approved by the Mall

 Today Keith Stone, Sr Operations Officer reviewed and approved our request for building the platforms needed to construct the above design.  Thank you very much indeed.  It officially recognizes our location and physical space requirement for the MGRS Train Layout for 2014 at the Maine Mall.

We will be located just outside Center Court in between BON*TON and the newly opened Lobster Boat Cafe.  It is nice to know that we will be returning for our fifth consecutive year!   This years layout will feature 8 operating and interactive trains on four levels.  We will have a small operating waterfall with a scale 60 foot drop.  It will be setup as our first wireless interactive device.  We should have our very best  ever design for the MGRS Control Area thanks in large part to clever ideas from Scott Gould as we overlook two separate sections of the display totaling an impressive fifty feet in length.  Our actual total track will be long enough to stretch the length of a football field!   This year Carl has suggested the use of Plexiglass to protect our display while providing a very close up experience!  Keith  and Craig also approved Carl's recommendation of  a one foot height around the outside of the layout.  That is excellent and we our looking forward to moving into the next phase of planning as soon as possible.  Carl will announce those details shortly.     In the meantime thank you Keith!  Take a look at all the work he will be taking on.   Without his effort we would never to be able to make this magnificent annual event a reality. 
More information soon:

With regret we announce John Sholtis has died.

John Sholtis the owner and operator of Rainy Day Trains in Saco Maine died suddenly on May 30, 2014.  John had been a member of MGRS and is well know by many members and train enthusiasts in Maine.   We would like to offer our condolences to the family.  Portland Press Herald:  updated 6/2/14.

Photo from Paul

Here is an overall view of the station and Brenda’s Classics. I got the area mulched today as well.

“Brenda’s Classics” and got it populated with the business manager by the front door who is supervising the couple washing the 57 T-Bird. A photographer is doing a shoot of the yellow cobra with an attractive model posing by the driver’s side.

I put my lesson on pruning boxwoods from Nancy Norris in Tampa to work today also after picking up a specimen from the local nursery (next to the auto store).

I used Durarock painted black for the parking lot.
Paul

Thanks Paul,  Keep em coming!  Looking Good!