Club Tank Cars

The Club Tank Cars will be ready for Carl's open house. The price is $50.00 per car $5.00 will be donated back to the club.

MGRS member wants to join the blog

Hi Dick, I got your message. It was great to hear from you. We love to have members want to join us on the blog. You where one of the first to take advantage of the MRGSjoinblog offer. You should hear back from me shortly with your logon and password. That way you will be able to create new enteries on the blog. But for now you can leave a comment. If you see this and can respond with a comment, let me know what 'blogname' you would like to use.
Thanks,
John

Waiting for the rain to end!!!

Rain rain go away
Barry would like to go out and play.

Barry is busy building a loading dock he found in the Garden Railroad magazine. He has finished his third loop but can not run his train because of all the rain. It only took a couple of hours to finish the loading dock.

Imagine the Possibilities

Congratulations to Ray Trainman and his winning entry in the Blog Motto Contest. His entry “Imagine the Possibilities” won the most votes and becomes are Blog Motto! It was as close as it could get as Ray edged out some excellent competition. Congratulations to all the Members and Guests that submitted their choices. They are all very worthy and express excellent ideals so much so that they will remain in the heading area as reminders to us all. Good job and thank you to all the people that voted. Your participation is the best gift you can make to the MGRS Blog. Imagine the Possibilities!

Something new for people who just look at the blog

Finally a way for you to join in and leave a comment!
This is brand New, It is for all you members (or friends and relatives) out there that could only look before. It is not hard to do, Read the instructions below and test it out right now. Come On, You can do it and I bet you will like it!

Click on "#of comments" to bring up the comment box and type in what you want to say. You must click on 'Name' and enter your own nickname or initials. Then just click 'Publish' and your done! Use the 'back arrow' to return back to the blog.

National Train Day

OK we missed it this year but what about next? To read some interesting information about National Train Day please click here.

Time to Vote!

Thank you to all the members and guest who contributed ideas for a 'motto' .
They are very clever ans inspirational. In fact I think I will leave all of them right at the very top of the MGRS Blog. Please do not submit any more. Now we can have some fun as well as all MRGS Members who wish to click on the Blog and vote.

The voting is a little different but should be fun because you can vote for one or five or six or all of them. As many as you like! And to make it crazier you can change your vote until the Poll ends in a week from now.

Summer is here!

I don't know about you, but this is what I wait for! I love it, the longest day of daylight kicks off the start of the season. It goes by so fast, watch out! I guarantee you will say, Wow! where did it go?
All I can say is 'Lets Enjoy It' Every single day. . . . I even enjoy mowing the grass. I don't have a huge lawn, but it is slow because I have 'self propelled' mower that I end up pushing a lot. But, it is very peaceful and I enjoy it. In fact as I look around at the flowers and things, I feel like I have a lot to be thankful for. Anyway, I hope we all have a great summer and really enjoy it, especially all our MGRS events! Try hard to get there.

Paul's Layout

It was a pleasure to stop by Paul's house today and see his tremendous collection of G-scale trains and equipment. After a tour of the layout and his indoor setup that is great in its self, we sat on the deck and enjoyed the sounds and sights of his railroad. He has so many interesting details that you could never see them all. He comes across unusual items and uses them very creatively to make additions to his layout. Plus he has lots of interesting stories to tell. When you consider all the good deeds he does for children and the elderly you realize what a great ambassador he is!
Thanks Paul, we are fortunate to have you as a member. To see some pictures of Paul's layout, Click here and select Slideshow.

"GOT SLUGS"?

Some of you may already know about this prevention technique. For everyone that hasn't and has been annoyed with the slimy creatures here's a remedy to try.

I found this on the Internet and was somewhat skeptical until I tried it. I have sprayed the slugs directly with dramatic results.

Spraying of the plants is still a work in progress. It is supposed to be safe, as a side benefit the ammonia gives the plants nitrogen, according to the report.

The remedy is very simple and no where near as harmful to others, pets or wildlife.

Mix 4 parts water to 1 part "Household Ammonia" and spray your plants. If you see slugs, spray them too, its almost like pouring salt on them.

Once a week, maybe more frequently in the spring, unless it rains should do it.

Has anyone else heard of this? Or tried it?

Here is the link: http://www.globalgardens.com/slugs-a.html The paragraph that starts with Larry Clemmons.

The blog could say THE RAIL WRITERS

Track

An update to the members who I showed the broken track I had after this winter. I corresponded with Aristo-craft and on Fri I stopped at their office in NJ. George came out and looked at the track and said he had never seen that happen. After a few minutes out back he came back and told me they would replace it. 15 minutes later I was back on the road with a brand new box of track. They are going to have it analized to see why the rails broke in half. It just goes to prove there are still excellent companies out there that back up their products. I will continue to purchase their products with NO hesitation . Chris

As to a club motto, How about something like "Think about it, Make it happen, Write about it". Good luck to all. This is a great site.

Lets have a Blog Contest

We do not have a Club motto, perhaps we will some day. That would be to 'official' for us to do on our own, but we could come up with a 'Bloggers motto'. Lets collect some ideas from those people that are active on the blog and come up with our own. If you look close at the top of the Blog you will see something that Mr Deere wrote. I think it is a good one to start with. Lets here from you. We might rotate them every so often, if we have lots of good ones to choose from or maybe we can 'vote' on what we like the best. It is purely unofficial an just for fun. So, put on your thinking caps and leave a comment.

OK, I am a Blog Hog

One more time! I promise to try and cut back but I can't help myself. This one is why you want to have grand children. Both the trains belong to grandsons but I get to play with them! That reminds me, I am using a MRC transformer (The important thing is the handle lifts off) perfect for the youngest who likes to "crank it up". He gets the stop/start control but that's all. Grandpa's trains are still safe 'inside'.

Yes, they did arrive!

*** It was great, the long walk down to the mail box and then at a distance I see this package in a bag hung from the mail box. Yes, the Gandy Dancers arrived. They are very nice, I love them. A large array of what looks like authentic tools that they used. So, I got out my old (I think it is Hartland Engine) because it is noisy and celebrated their arrival!

Video Clip I also added a quieter clip.

Thank you to our first Guest Blogger

Our son (John) and his family live almost 1000 miles away, but like to know what's going on back in Maine. I sent him the web site so that he could see what we are doing. And he was the first guest blogger! Thanks John, check back again!

Gandy Dancers

I got the term from Brenda and had to Google it. The 'callers' date back to the rhythm singing that went along with track workers laying rail or working the line. Its also sounds a little like prison work gangs to me, but that is not the root. Anyway here is a little clip of the item I got. Not this one but one just like it. I hope the tools are actually that detailed. I thought it would be perfect for that high line, dare devil loop I have.
To take a look click here.

Mostly Plants, a little on trains

The humid weather has taken its toll, especially on me and the blog. This is not a very well prepared blog, I just snapped pictures of a lot of the plants we are working with. Gigi always has a nice looking deck with container plants and garden items. This year more emphasis on the garden 'train' area.
Most of what is planted are perennials so next year should be fun to see what if any come back. The picture of a beach umbrella in the fish pond is odd, I was cooling them off a little as I was replacing some of the water with cooler water. I did prepare the elevated level and am hoping my ebay Gandy Dancers arrive tomorrow. looking forward to that like a kid waiting for his secret decoder ring to arrive! Anyway, here are some pictures. Click here and select slideshow.
John

Dear Railroad Friends

Thank you so much for the flowers and your card of sympathy for the loss of our loved one. It was greatly appreciated.

Barry and Buckie

Inspiring words from Ed Leslie

I thought Ed words were so good that I re-printed them for all of us to read (as they were buried down deep in the comments). I though they might be missed. He rightly describes why we love our hobby and reminds us of the benefits of being a MGRS member. Thanks Ed.

Let us talk about an Open House.
First off there is no right or wrong way of building your garden railroad. Small or large, home built or store bought buildings, annuals or perennials, Aristo-Craft or LGB track, battery power or track power. If you are happy then it is right.* Brenda and I personally hope the railroad is never finished in our minds. Because we replace worn out with new and different ideas all the time. Our first open house we had about sixty feet of track and a 3 amp power supply running it. A little 0-4-0 switcher and a few cars made up the roster. We had fun. Everybody has a different prospective and different ideas. And that’s what we enjoy about an open house. Sharing and learning about the hobby. And it need not be expensive to host an open house. Pot luck lunches are great...It is about people enjoying each other’s company and sharing a command ground. Yes , check out the different open houses this summer. But by the pictures I see on this blog you both have some really great roads already.

* I love what I have come to call, "Ed's Rule" for Garden Railroading. After all it is a hobby and we should enjoy it ourselves.

Update from John

Added some flowers and small shrubs on the front and some water lilies for the pond. Thinking about some vinca vines for the waterfall wall or flowers. As far as track work goes I added a switched crossing through a tunnel (in process) around the back. Also, started work on a small elevated loop. It is only 24ft but would make a nice Gandy Dancer run as it cuts in front of the waterfall. I do have a Trolly and plan on using that. I have the pattern for the elevated loop chalked out on the basement floor, so I can build some kind of support for the track. Tomorrow is another trip to Lowes for more small shrubs. I should have waited till I had more done, but what the heck, I like to blog!

36 second video

Real trains - just something you don't usually see
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Fg3YOW2LGs&feature=related

SCGRR progress up-date, 6/01/2008

Here are some new pictures of my layout with some plants added and some figures. No, you don't normally use or add, "Blue Stone for a stone wall, but that's a long story.

Most of the figures are resin figures from "Smith Pond Junction" and are very reasonably priced.

The Cowboy figures are from a local "Big Lots" store I just happened to stumble upon.