MGRS Spring Meeting Results

The Spring Meeting was held at the Hometown Buffet at the Maine Mall at 1pm on Sunday, March 19th

Strive Donation: The Strive attendees enjoyed the MGRS train display, and we will be returning next year. A donation of $500 to Strive was proposed. This will get the MGRS logo on the 600 T-shirts and other items made for STRIVE ROCKS 2018. The donation was approved

Club Trailer Graphics: Our trailer was used for the first time at the Strive Rocks Events. This coming week it will have MGRS graphics put on. Here is how it will look

Side of Trailer

Back of Trailer

Maine Veterans Home Donation: A donation of $1,000 was proposed and approved.

July Annual Meeting on Saturday July 15th. 
--Food will be potluck and you need to bring a dish or food to share
--Beverages will be provided by the Club
--Donations are needed for the auction
--Raffle will be another quilt that Sue is going to make
--Setup will be on Friday, July 14 and help is needed
--Setup Committee includes Frank Howard, Mary Garland, David Blue, Grace Miller, Sue Hoffman (quilt), Sam Carr, and Ben Braithwaite

MGRS Display at Mt. Ararat Show on April 29 from 10am-3pm - please visit us
--The show is at the Mt. Ararat High School Gym, 73 Eagles Way, Topsham, Maine 04086
--Space at this show was approved. Sam has sent in the application including electricity.
--Display will be John Middleton's timesaver layout
--Location requested is next to Neville Lewis' Sale Table
--Friday 4/28 John and Ben bring the display from Kennebunkport to Topsham. Setup begins at 4pm.
--Saturday 4/29 show hours are 10am-3pm. Bill Goodrich will cover 10am-1pm, and Scott Gould       from Noon-3pm. John and Ben will be there all day/ Doug Johnson and Art Shean may be there
--Saturday 4/29 3pm display will be taken down and returned to Kennebunkport.

East Coast Large Scale Train Show on March 24-25
--Terry, Norm and Carl will be attending
--For the club they will be looking for Amtrak passenger cars and a steam locomotive
--If you want them to look for something, please let them know

Bachmann 4-6-0 Steam Engine Upgrade
--Terry told us how to replace the chassis on this engine that some members have
--The old chassis has plastic gears. The new one has steel gears
--You only need to take out 4 screws to replace the chassis. It includes the lower body, gears and wheels.
--A new chassis can be bought from the Bachmann Web site.
   1. Browse to Bachmanntrains.com and
   2.  click on "Parts, Service and Information".
   3. Then click on Order Parts and on Large Scale Parts. 
   4.When the locomotives pictures appear, click on 4-6-0 Standard and then on 4-6-0-Shells-and-Chassis. Select and order the model number that matches your engine or set.

Summer 2017 Open Houses
--Doug Johnson proposed that we start holding open houses again to get members together and     recruit the new members we need. They should be in June, July (Annual Meeting), August and September. He offered to hold an Open House at the end of August when his layout upgrade will be complete
--Terry Norton said he will host an Open House
--Sam will check with other members who are interested
--The idea may be more of a layout visit so people can get together. The host can serve refreshments but a meal is optional
--Members bringing trains to run could be an option
--Sam is looking at having a small display at the Moxie Festival in Lisbon Falls on July 7-8-9. John Middleton mentioned that the Moxie Congress is meeting at Seashore Trolley Museum on July 9

Mall Display Feedback: The members at the meeting were asked for positive and negative comments about the 2016 Train Display at the Maine Mall. Here they are

--Protection from little fingers

--Single level – see the whole thing

--Need white/snow

--Need more operators to help – 2 people at a time; setup and teardown had enough people

--May need more than 2 people at a time if we are in a storefront – kids will hang out

--Mall asked if we could do 2 layouts in 2017 – we said no

--Fought to get signs and we got one – at the wrong end

--Layout blocked from main aisle by Christmas Trees; some people could not find us

--Need benches for people to sit on

--Protection for the layout could be rolls of automotive plastics with rubber edge on top OR reject sheets from CYR fabricators in Sanford. Mike is willing to work on the plastic edges

--Put Thomas (9” high in 2016) up on same level as Main Platform (30”)

--Run Thomas in place of Circus Train; Circus Train can run on Thursdays when Norm and Andy come in

--Thomas fencing is good

--Passenger cars need some figures in the seats; kids noticed they are empty

--Many thanks to Ben for his many shifts, willingness to come in, and getting parents to take pictures of their kids holding Thomas or Percy