Westbrook Festival of Trees from December 1-8 -Volunteer Train Engineers Wanted

The Festival of Trees will return to the Westbrook-Warren Congregational Church this year from December 1-8.  The trees are donated by local businesses and decorated by charitable groups. All business and visitor donations go to local charities.

The Festival is an opportunity for visitors  to view the trees and take part in a variety of events. Full details can be found at

Westbrook Festival of Trees 

 

 

MGRS Member Paul Corbett has provided a G Scale Train display at the Festival for a number of years. All of the kindergarten students in Westbrook come to the Festival and visit the trains.

 

 

 

Other MGRS members volunteer as Engineers for the "Maine Line Trains" layout at the Festival. It is a simple loop with lots of Christmas decorations and lights. The magic starts when we turn off the ceiling lights and start up the trains.

 

Maine Lines Train Schedule

 

Day                 Hours             Activity

Mon, 11/26     9am                 Move in

Sat, 12/1          8:30-11am      Santa Breakfast

                        5-7:30pm        Public Dinner

Sun, 12/2         1-3pm            Teddy Bear Tea

Mon, 12/3       9am-Noon      Congin School

                        6-7pm            Public Hours

Tue, 12/4         1-4pm            Mad Hatters Tea

Wed, 12/5       10am-Noon    Sacarappa Schol

                        2-4pm            Public Hours

Thu, 12/6        10am-1pm      Public Dinner

                        2-3:30pm       Care Facilities Visit

Fri 12/7           10am-1pm     Charity Lunch

                        6-8pm            Boy Singers of Maine

Sat, 12/8          10am-Noon   Mystery Gift Tree

                        Noon             Move Out

Volunteer Engineers are welcome. Here is the Train Schedule. If you would like to join us please contact Sam Carr or send email to mgrsadmin@gmail.com

 

 

 



Neville Lewis has Engines, Track and Accessories for Sale

Neville Lewis has G scale engines, track and accessories for sale. You can contact him at (207) 354-8055 about the G Scale items and arrange a visit to see them in Cushing, ME.

Sale Table Available at the Mt. Ararat Show in Topsham on November 3rd

There is a sale table available at the Mt. Ararat Show in Topsham on November 3rd. The MGRS member who rented it will not be able to attend the show. Any MGRS member can have this pre-paid table at no cost - first come, first served

If you want to sell trains at the show, please contact Sam Carr to use this table

Holiday Train Display Update

The 9^th Annual Holiday Train Display will start with Santa  on November 16th and run through December 24 except on Thanksgiving Please come and help us with setup starting at 10am on Thursday, November 1^st . Opening Day is  Saturday, November 17.Trains will run through Christmas Eve except on Thanksgiving when the Mall is closed. The plan this year is an “L” shape. The lower platform with  Thomas and Percy are at the top (Santa end). The higher platform has has the Main, Trolley, and Mountain Lines with the Circus at the left. The layout is shown on the next page. Please bring your trains to run and don’t forget your Eggliners!!!

 

Please use the SIGN-UP button on the blog to schedule your time to help at the layout. Shifts are 10-3 and 3-8 except Sunday which is 10-6.

Denver & Rio Grand Western Offset Caboose for Sale

Doug Johnson has an MTH Railking One Gauge Offset Caboose for sale. This is model #70-7704 and is new in the box with the original plastic bag. The price is $50.

If interested, please contact Doug at  drj1me@yahoo.com or (207) 839-2946

MGRS Special Event at the Westbrook Festival of Trees

Paul Corbett and MGRS have provided a small operating train display at the Westbrook Festival of Trees for a number of years. The trains run when the Festival is open to the public. And each of the kindergarten classes in the Westbrook Schools comes to the Festival to see the trees, visit the trains, and have StoryTime.

This year setup is on the morning of November 25, and the Festival runs from December 1-8.
If you can help with setup or running trains for visitors, please contact Sam Carr (secarr1@comcast.net)

Here is a picture from the 2017 Festival. The layout is in separate room, so we turn the lights out when we start the trains. This allows the visitors to see the lights on the trains, buildings and holiday decorations.

MGRS Trains at the Fall Model Railroad Show in Topsham on November 3rd

MGRS will have an operating layout at the Fall Model Railroad Show in Topsham on Saturday, November 3rd. Sponsored by the Great Falls Model Railroad Club, these Fall and Spring events are the largest model train shows in Maine.

We have participated in this show for the last several years, staring with John Middleton's Time Saver layout and now with a larger layout managed by Art Shean.

The show takes place on Saturday, November 3rd from 10am to 3pm. Setup begins at 4pm on Friday

If you can help with setup, operation, or move out, please contact Art Shean. ArtShean@comcast.net

MGRS Trains at the Model Train & Hobby Fair in Phillips, ME on Saturday, September 30th.

MGRS will have and operating layout at the Model Train and Hobby Fair at the  Phillips Area Community Center, 21 Depot Street, Phillips, Maine 04966. Hours 9a-3p. Sandy River and Rangeley Lake Railroad trains will be running out of Sanders Station from 11am-3pm. For details please visit http://phillipspacc.org or contact Pam Matthews, pam15river@gmail.com or 207-639-2630. For the trains please visit http://www.srrl-rr.org/

If you can help with this event please contact Art Shean, ArtShean@comcast.net

Here is a picture from last year.

MGRS at Phillips Area Community Center 2017

Making an MGRS Club Car

Are you interested in making or having an MGRS Club Car,? If so, please contact Doug Johnson (drj1me@yahoo.com) or Sam Carr (secarr1@comcast.net). Once we know who is interested, we can decide what to make along with the theme, letters and decals Then you can come to a workshop to paint, decorate, and decal your club car. Each member will pair for their own car.

Please let us know if you have ideas for this club car including sources, painting, decorating, and customizing. here are a few of the cars we might use

 

LGB 4074-02 Reefer

 

Bachmann 93270 Blank Reefer

 

USA Trains 1938 Box Car

 

9th Annual Holiday Train Display Dates and Plans

The 2018 dates are

Move In Begins Thursday, November 1st

Opening Day is  Friday, November 16th

Trains will run through Christmas Eve except on Thanksgiving when the Mall is closed

Please use the SIGN-UP button on the blog to schedule your time to help at the layout

The plan is year is a "L" shape as shown below

• Thomas, Percy & a new Trolley are at the top (Santa end)
• Main platform has the Main, Trolley, and Mountain Lines
• The Circus is at the left

Aristocraft RDC-3 Pennsylvania Reading Seashore Lines for Sale

This Aristocraft M415 RDC-3 is available for $300.

Please contact Jim Jenkins at 207-657-9218

 

It has been running well on Jim's garden railway this summer.

Twenty Eggliners at Doug Johnson's Open House in Gorham on August 25th

We had twenty Eggliners on the tracks at Doug Johnson's Garden  Railway in Gorham. Here is how it looked on video. The weather and the company made it an excellent afternoon.  Doug's visitors included Dennis & Agnes Farrell, Terry & Sue Norton, Jim Jenkins, Carl Churchill, Mac McLaughlin, Sam & Peg Carr along with Dan, Ann and Rivet ("The Hardware Store Dog" )Johnson.

 

Video Eggliners Rule in Gorham

 

 

 

Terry, Doug & Ann setting up with help from Ben's grandson Josi

 

 

Three Tracks of Eggliners

 

 

The weather was perfect  and the trains ran well. The Eggliners ran in groups because 20 is too much for the power on a single track

 

 

Watching Trains from comfortable seats

 

 

Wharf with a Seagull on the Lobster Traps

 

Biergarten at the top of the mountain

 

 

The "Lineup"

 

 

The Water Fall down to the Pond

 

"Bumblee on the Bridge"

 

 

 

Freight on the Village Siding

 

Doug's "Side" Layout. He says its Number 5...….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MGRS Train Display and Parade Float at the Mill Field Festival in North Berwick

We had both a good crowd and good weather at the Mill Field Festival. The rain held off except for one brief shower around noon, and we had visitors all day. Kids had the chance to "drive a train" on either the main loop or the Thomas track. And they could push a button to run Percy on the trestle.



Apprentice Engineer Brennan Long running three trains

 

We also had a float in the 9:30am parade courtesy of Peter Richards and his brother. The float was built by their Dad Earl, who was also a member of the club

 

Garden Railway Parade Float Side View

Garden Railway Parade Float Rear View

 

Ben Braithwaite & Grandson Josi on Crew Lunch

Pirates at the Festival - and yes, that is a real Parrot!!

 

 

North Berwick Center

 

Thomas and Trolley with Percy on the Trestle

 

North Berwick Passenger and Freight Trains

 

North Berwick Fire Department had their salt and vinegar in hydrant-shaped holders

 

Trains ran from 10am-4pm. The evening rain held off until we were done packing up around 6:30pm.

Thanks to our members who supported and visited the event. They included Terry & Sue Norton, Art Shean, Jim Jenkins, Ben Braithwaite and his grandson Josi, Carl & Pat Churchill, & Sam Carr. Special thanks to Mike McDonald from North Berwick. He and his crew put up our tent and platforms on Thursday before setup. Mike stayed with us all day on Friday to help with wiring and overall setup!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MGRS at the 2018 Mill Field Festival on August 18

Our 3^rd annual visit to the Mill Field Festival will be on Saturday, August 18.

Setup will be on Friday, August 17 starting at 10am, and Festival runs from 10am to 5pm on Saturday. We need your help on both days. Please call Terry at (207)-748-3009 and let him know when you can help.

We will be running 5 trains and a trolley line. The Festival will be selling “Be an Engineer” tickets so the kids can run one of our trains. We may also have an entry in the parade with Garden Trains running on top of a car.

Jacob the Engineer at the 2017 Festival

Please join us for fun with garden trains. The Festival Hours are 10am-5pm with the parade starting at 9:30am. The address for GPS is 14 Market St, North Berwick, ME 03906.  

 

Directions from the north are

-Follow the Maine Turnpike south to Exit 19 in Wells

-Turn RIGHT at the end of the ramp onto Route 109/Sanford Road

-Turn LEFT onto Route 9A/North Berwick Road. It becomes Wells Street. You will   travel 6.5 miles to Market Street.

-Continue past the Pratt and Whitney plant on your right

-Market Street will be on your left after you pass the Post Office

-If you reach Elm Street where Wells Street ends, you have gone too far.



 

Doug Johnson's Open House on Saturday, 8/25 - Bring Your Eggliners

Your Eggliners will be part of a contest for the Longest Eggliner Train. The contest will continue at other MGRS Events.

An Eggliner in the Garden

Please join us to socialize with other members and have fun with G-Scale! The event begins at 1pm. The address is 8 Lawn Ave., Gorham, ME 04038. Doug can be reached at 207-839-2946. Please park “head in” on the lawn & driveway. Drinks and some desserts will be available.

Directions: Follow the Maine Turnpike to Exit 47 for the Westbrook Arterial/Route 25

·       Turn LEFT at the end of the ramp onto the Westbrook Arterial/Route 25. It becomes William Clark Drive

·       Continue past Route 237

·       Lawn Avenue will be your first right AFTER the Gorham Flag Center.

·      If you reach the turn to Route 202 you have gone too far

MGRS Annual Meeting, Cookout and Charity Auction held on Saturday, July 14th

We had excellent weather for the club's annual event on Saturday, July 14th at the Overlook Garden Railway in Buxton.

 Members and guests began arriving around mid-morning. Member check-in, officer ballots, door prize raffles, quilt raffles, and 50/50 tickets were handled by Terry Norton, Joanne Tarbox,  Sue Hoffman and Cheyenne Hoffman (Sue's granddaughter).



Terry Norton and Sue Hoffman



Joanne Tarbox



Cheyenne Hoffman

 

 



Important Sign at Registration

Just past registration we found Norm Waycott with a Circus Modelers Workshop.

A New Tent for the Circus

 

The next stop was coffee, visiting with other members, and both watching and running trains on Carl's new raised layout.



Philip Lentz, Frank Howard and Sue Norton

Steam Train at Gorham Station



Freight and Seam Trains Passing the Overlook Hotel

 

 

 

 

Track Crew at the Section House

 

Our next stop was lunch with David Blue at the grill, assisted by Ernie Bay. Members provided both side dishes and desserts in quantity. Thanks to Norm Waycott for providing the drinks and to Andriana Colucci for the plates, cups, plasticware and napkins.



Ernie Bay and David Blue

During lunch there were also non-rail visits to Shaggy Bark Park and other places....




Carl and Ben in the ATV

Dennis gets a driving lesson from Ben's grandson Malik



Terry's brotherTom Norton, Sue Norton and Tom's grandson Liam

After lunch we moved on to the Annual Meeting and Charity Auction. We heard and accepted the Treasurer's Report and the Secretary's Report.

 

The result of the annual election of officers was as follows. Thanks to non-members Cheyenne Hoffman and Tom Norton for counting the ballots.

 

President: Carl Churchill

Vice President: Art Handman

Treasurer: Dennis Farrell

Secretary: Terry Norton

Trustees: Hunk Erskine, Ben Braithwaite, Mac McLaughlin, Norman Waycott,  and Frank Howard.

 

During the discussion on Membership, Terry introduced our newest and youngest member. He is Teyian Tarbox, grandson of Joanne Tarbox. His parents are Dawn and Tyson Tarbox.

 

The member, quilt and 50/50 raffle winners were

 

First club drawing (USA TRAINS reefer): Doug Johnson

Second Club drawing (PIKO boxcar): Hunk Erskine

Third club drawing (USA TRAINS reefer): Terry Norton

First quilt (Thomas): Dennis Farrell

Second Quilt (Modern trains): Hunk Erskine

50/50 raffle: Bill Goodrich

 

The charity auction began after the Annual Meeting adjourned. This year Frank Howard and Ben Braithwaite were assisted by past auctioneer Barry Sandford. He is known for the trestles he built at several Holiday Train Displays. He also operates Pine State Drilling, so if you need any drilling (or blasting) to build your Garden Railway, he can help you out!

 

 

 

Members pick up their Auction Ticket Numbers from Joanne.

The auction started with small items, and then moved on to bids for the Brooklyn Bridge and a very nice, white Mustang convertible owned by one of the members.



Ben and Barry hard at work

Thanks to the members who attended, including Ernie & Julie Bay, David Blue & Grace Miller, Ben & Sophia Braithwaite along with their grandson Malik, Sam Carr, Preston Chadwick, Mark Christopher, Carl & Pat Churchill, Mike & Julie Curry, Hunk Erskine, Dennis Farrell, Bill & Robin Goodrich, Scott Gould, Art Handman,  Suzanne Hoffman, Frank Howard & Joanne Tarbox and grandson Teyian, Doug Johnson, Philip Lentz, Tice Leonard, Mac McLaughlin, Terry & Sue Norton, Peter  Richards, Dick Rubin, Barry Sandford, Paul & Rebecca Schnell, Michael Tarbox, and Norman Waycott.

 

 

Special thanks to Sue Norton and Scott Gould, the roving club photographers who took most of these pictures.

 

 






MGRS Annual Outing Coming up on Saturday, July 14th

The club’s annual cookout, business meeting, election officers and charity auction is coming right up on Saturday, July 14^th. The hours are 10am-4pm. Please plan to attend, bring a dish to share and items for the charity auction. Rumor has it that a member of the Auctioneers Hall of Fame will be making a special appearance this year.

 

Those helping with setup should come to Carl’s at 10am on Friday, July 13^th.

 

This spring Carl built a new section of raised layout, so there will be a place to run trains.

 

 

MGRS Display at June 9th Touch-a-Train Event in Ellsworth for the 470 Restoration and Downeast Scenic Railroad

This past Saturday Art Shean took his portable G-Scale layout to the Touch-a-Train event at the Washington Junction Yard in Ellsworth. With the help of his grandson Griffin and other family members they provided a neat operating layout.

Art said that Percy the Small Engine along with coaches Annie & Claribel performed like a charm!   Multiple kids clearly recognized and appreciated having a Friend of Thomas on the layout.  Scavenger hunt for Mickey characters went over well.  My Grandchildren gave out over 150 Tootsie Pops. 

MGRS at Touch-a-Train in Ellsworth

Grandson Griffin in dark green T-Shirt

Ground level and elevated tracks

Layout with 470 Locomotive Parts at Upper Left

He likes the Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes Logging Train

Girls Like Trains Too

Richard Glueck from New England Steam said " Your model layout was probably the biggest hit of the show!  This is going to come to you in two emails, because the images are so large.  I thought you'd really enjoy seeing the impact you made by appearing and going through all the work and expense of driving up and setting up.  The Tootsie Pops were a great touch.  Thanks to your family, too.  Grandchildren are a delight, and yours were polite, and obviously happy to attend.  Please know, we will welcome you and the Maine Garden Railway associates each year, or whenever they choose to have a show in this region."

The overall layout looked like this

And here is the "official" summary of the event.

Touch A Train 2018

A Summary

The purpose of Touch A Train events is to bring the public, train lovers and the general public, in contact with both the Downeast Scenic Railroad and New England Steam Corporation's work in restoring Maine Central steam locomotive 470. 

Before I get into specifics, allow me to thank Mr. Art Shean and his grandson, Griffin, who set up a captivating "G" scale layout in the rear of the NESCO shop building.  This had to be one of the most exciting parts of the show.  Art represents the Maine Garden Railroad Society.

Governor's Restaurants, which is our longest time sponsor, provided five huge trays of desserts for visitors.  Governor's is our "official restaurant", and has been generous with feeding our workers, going back to 2014!

Penobscot Energy Recovery Corporation (PERC) provided ice cream, sponsored the whistle blow, and raffled off some pretty nice garden chairs!  PERC has been a long time supporter of NESCO, having built the lovely three chime whistle.  That whistle has visited CNJ steamer #113 and well as the Maine Narrow Gauge.

Hancock Fire and Rescue once again, brought down a fine looking truck for visitors to enjoy, and was joined by "A Family for ME".  Thank you for being with us, and your good work in the region.

Furbush-Roberts Printing, of Bangor, once more provided us with quality posters which were spread around Bangor, Brewer, Bar Harbor, and Ellsworth.  Furbush- Roberts does all NESCO's printing, and we recommend their services to anyone needing quality printing.  Thank you Tom and Caitlin!

Display's inside the cavernous shop building included some magnificent souvenirs from Odd Duck Foundry, New England Steam's shirts, hats, and railroad collectibles and the beautifully restored 470 turbogenerator, restored by A.C. Electric Company of Bangor.  The turbo was under power and illuminated 470s headlight, tender backup light, and the beautiful classification lights.  You may not know, but A.C. Electric restores Diesel locomotive traction motors and historic motors from museum trolleys.  We were honored by the presence of one of A.C.'s prime electrical technicians, who finished 470's turbogenerator.

Crowds began to flow in at 9:00AM and continued in a flood until 12:30PM.  The popular caboose hop in DESR's restored Reading caboose, continued to be the premier attraction.  Engineer Leverett Fernald and Downeast's volunteer docents kept the ride safe and operating all morning.  The special 1:00 train left the yard with a large contingent of happy passengers as well.

After reviewing the Hancock Fire Department's display, families took turns sitting at the throttles of ALCO Diesel #1055 and Davenport 0-4-0 #53.  The beckoning of the PERC steam whistle and 470's restored bell, this year mounted in the original yoke.  After blowing the whistle, supervised by director Paula Santos-Shevett, families met the PERC engineers who handed out ice cream cups - lots of ice cream cups!   Volunteer Jessica Morris, standing in the shade of the 470's tender, helped direct the bell ringing, and awarded each child with a souvenir sticker,  replicating a Maine Central pass from the 1950's.   Inside the shop building stood the frame and drive train of the 470, adorned with color photos of the locomotive in service.  Across from the frame director Bob DeWachter not only manned the 470's turbogenerator and light display, but kept a model live steam locomotive operating.  On his flanks were Odd Duck Foundry and New England Steam's gift and souvenir tables.  The feature of Governor's cookies and Art Shean's model trains, were the capper for the inside part of the event.

NESCO President Richard Glueck was interviewed by the WABI television, while other special visitors came by to meet company representatives and find out how they can help awaken 470.   

This was our fourth "Touch A Train" event.   The official count was 767 individuals who parked and shared the day with us; our largest crowd, yet.  The actual number may be even greater, as crowds took advantage of the day to "get in touch with their "inner train".  It couldn't have come off better for all parties.