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Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Strive

STRIVE has postponed the May event until the fall.

Friday, January 17, 2020

More from the 2019 Holiday Train Display

By popular request, more pictures from the Mall.







Santa hanging out with Grace

Strolling the Circus Midway

Ben & Friends



The Great Chimp Escape

Playing Horseshoes in the Barnyard

How did this building get here, Mike?

Container Train Rolls by the Mountain


Bikes at Tice's Food Truck



Cocoa by the outdoor fireplace
Spiderman ready to roll!
No buttons were worn out during the 2019 Display
Where is the other Optimus Prime
Batgirl on the left and Batman & Robin on the right
Amtrak and Circus Parade
New member Gloria Goodwin checking on Thomas


Superman flying low over the Trolley

Who is that off duty welder sitting behind the Circus? 
Even puppies come to visit the trains

LGB Crocodile passing North Conway Station



Local freight passing Gorham Station

Lobster Hobo jumps on the train


Video Links

Rio Grande Lashup


Amtrak with Push Pull Engines

LGB 0-6-6-0 Mallett Steam Engine and Freight Train

Burlington Freight Through the Crossing

Dual Engine Passenger Train with Railway Post Office

Rio Grande Lashup and LGB Mallett Freight

Dinosaur Train and LGB Steam Freight

Norfolk Southern Container Train and European Bonus

Circus Train pulled by Christmas Locomotive





Monday, January 6, 2020

STRIVE ROCKS at the Cross Arena

The date for Strive Rocks has moved to Saturday May 2nd.
We will have the MGRS trailer outside the Cross Arena (in the same place as last year) at 7 AM.
We need to be operating at 10 AM and will take down at 4 PM.
Thanks to Brennan Long and the Weeks brothers last year, the setup was accomplished on time. We can do it!

Monday, December 23, 2019

MGRS Train Set Raffle at the Mall on December 23rd

The club will be raffling off an LGB Starter Set today at the Mall.  Tickets will be handed out starting when the display opens this morning. The winner will be drawn today at 3pm, and people with tickets must be present to win.


Holiday Train Display Move Out Begins at 9am on Thursday, December 26th

At 9am on Thursday, December 26th we will be packing up and moving the Holiday Train Display out of the Mall.  Dave Blue will be bringing the club trailer.  Please help us wrap up out 10th event and take home anything you brought in to help us look good!

And please mark your calendars for our next event, which is running trains for Strive Rocks at the Cross Arena in Portland on Saturday, March 28, 2020.


Garden Railway Layout at L.L. Bean in Freeport


The layout of Freeport in the 1920s is back in the Children's Department on the second floor at 95 Main Street in Freeport through December 31.  Information about the trains and the rest of the Northern Lights Celebration can be found at  the Northern Lights Web Page

This display includes both G scale trains on the lower level and O scale trains on an upper level


There is a nice model of the L.L. Bean Factory Store from the 1920s along with an operating carousel, downtown area, farm and skating rink.

Carousel and Original Factory Store

Skating  Rink

Farm with L.L. Bean O27 Boxcar on Trestle behind it

Sidings and Water Tank

In addition to a model of Freeport Station, there is a poster about how it was moved north and became part of the Boothbay Railway Village.


Freeport Station Model

Poster Part 1

Poster Part 2

And some video of the layout






1920s Gas Station

Saturday, December 21, 2019

Maine Train Lines at Westbrook Festival of Trees 2019

The Festival of Trees took place from December 7-14 and Maine Train Lines ran daily for the visitors of all ages.  The decor this year was the old west of 1880s with a small town in Colorado and an Indian Village. We had over 800 visitors including all the kindergarten classes in Westbrook. Thanks to Peter Richards, Doug Johnson, Dennis & Agnes Farrell, Paul Corbett and Sam Carr for helping with this event.


Main Street In Durango, Colorado

Tepees in the Village

Wells Fargo Bank Robbery with old time photographer


Chief overlooking the Village

Locomotive leaving the Water Tank




MGRS 10th Annual Holiday Train Display





Our 10th Annual Holiday Train Display has now been operating since November 16th and will close next week on December 24th at 5pm.  Here is some of the fun we have been having.

Amtrak rolls by the Mountain

Deven replacing bad curved track
Hopefully Tice is only getting a warning
Photo with permission of the owner


Container Stack Train
Chevrolet Parking for Conway Station

And some videos....

Stack Train and European Freight

Christmas Factory Tour







Saturday, October 26, 2019

2019 Holiday Train Display Schedule and Staffing



The MGRS schedule now matches Santa’s hours. Here is a recap

From 11/15 to 12/13 (closed on 11/28)
Noon-8pm Monday-Saturday with shifts from 12pm-4pm and 4pm-8pm
Noon-6pm  on Sunday with one shift

From 12/14 to 12/21
From 9am-9pm Monday-Saturday with shifts from 9am-3pm and 3pm-9pm

12/22 Sunday from 10am-7pm with one shift

12/23 Monday from 9am-9pm with shifts from 9am-3pm and 3pm-9pm

12/24 Tuesday Xmas Eve 9am-5pm with one shift

You can sign up to run trains at the Mall by
  • Clicking on the SIGNUP button on the Blog and filling out the form
  • Signing up on the paper schedule at the layout
  • Calling Sam at 865-4467
You can see the schedule by clicking on the SIGNUP button on the blog.



2019 Holiday Train Display Tables, Painting, Track and Wiring


The Mall already had the tables in place when setup started this week. Dave Blue and Tice Leonard unloaded the entire contents of the club trailer and placed it on shelves in the storage area.

Step 1: Terry Norton and Ben Braithwaite gave the table tops a coat of white paint.

Step 2: Ben Braithwaite, Dennis Farrell, Brennan Long, Scott Gould, and  Tice Leonard installed the track.Tice Leonard built the two tables for the controllers.

Step 3:  On Saturday, 10/26 a crew came in to help Terry get the wiring installed. The crew included Terry Norton, Ben Braithwaite, Tice Leonard, David Blue, and Peter Richards along with Hunter & Scott Weeks.

This picture shows the U-shaped layout with the circus loop at the front and the lower Thomas platform on the right. At the back you can see the loops formed by the inner and outer main lines. The Mountain is out of sight on the left.



Here is the mountain with the retail area in the background.


This view is from the back of room looking toward the door. When the covering panels are removed, entry will be through a 12' roll up door where you see the exit sign. The glass wall to the right will be uncovered so vistors can look in, and there will be a back-and-forth trolley running inside the window.


This is the coloring wall to the right of the layout and the door into the storage area


This is our storage area. There is a second area behind this for the retail stock. And it even has a rest room.........



This is the view out the door to where Santa will be located.




2019 Holiday Train Display Plans

2019 will mark our tenth annual Holiday Train Display at the Maine Mall. It will run from November 16 through December 24th with the exception of Thanksgiving Day.

This year Santa will be back in the lobby outside the JCPenney store.  The Holiday Train Display will be in a store space entered from the lobby


We will share the space with the retailer who was at the entrance to Winter Wonderland last year.


The layout is a U-shape with areas for Thomas & Percy, the Circus, Town and Mountain. There will be seven trains running