Happy New Year !

Let's wish all our MGRS Members and extended Family a Happy and Healthy and Rewarding Year ahead!

Downeaster Train

My Grandson 'John' said this was the greatest thing he has ever done. For some reason he absolutely loved the train. We all did, but I think he enjoyed it the most. We were one car away from the "Cafe Car" which had everything everyone wanted. Plus nice big tables to sit at while you eat or you could bring it back to you seat which had tray tables. The train was very comfortable. Large reclining seats, electric outlets if you wanted to plug in a laptop. Nice clean restrooms and they were large, not like the little thing you may remember. The train was very quiet also and the old 'lurch' to start was replaced by a smooth gliding motion. Sound proofed and warm, you did not hear the 'click clack' unless you went through the doors from car to car. On the way down there was a 'Train Host' who gave you maps and answered any questions about the trip you might have. We all enjoyed it very much.

Our trip included the train and the subways of course plus the MIT Museum, Prudential Skywalk Tower, Copley Plaza Hotel, The Cheesecake Factory and some displays in the Boston Common were the major items. I am sorry to report we did not have time to get over to the South Station but we all had fun and it will go down as a great memory!

Boston Subway Trip

If you take the Downeaster train you will arrive at the North Station stop. We took the Green line which I call Subway Cars, they are Trolleys that have a live wire suspended 15 feet or so above the car. They usually travel in pairs. You can see the operator as you enter the car. We took the Green line to Park Street where we changed to the Red line to go out to Central Stop and the MIT Museum. Park Street Station is a connecting point where the Green Line and the Red Line cross each other on different levels , they never physically connect together. The Red Line has what I call 'trains' that have a live 3rd rail in the center of the track and travel in 5 or 6 cars connected together. The operator is closed inside of a compartment. The station is built up so that the train is in a trench as opposed to the trolley cars that are on ground level.

Here is a very short clip of the Green Line Trolley Car(s) that are on the other side of the station going the opposite direction then the one we are waiting for.



Here is a short clip of the Red Line train entering Park Street Station.
Note the Cars and the Station posts are painted the color of the Line.

TRAIN WRECK

I have scanned a few more of the Wreck Photos. These will be the last I plan to post. We would gladly share these with any group interested. All of us from the GWRGR will be on a short trip to WDW Florida until mid Jan. We will have the laptop and will try a keep up with Blog. But....!?

HAVE A GREAT NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

more on the covered bridge...

Ive added the track and deck inside the bridge. I am too lazy to spike the rails to the cross ties of the birdge but wanted the rails right down on them. So I just slid some plastic ties onto the rails to space them and set the rails onto the bridge's ties with the plastic ties hanging in air between. I glued timbers along side the rails to hold everything in place. this gives me 8-1/2" head room over the rail head which should do nicely.



For siding, I ripped up some Western Red cedar I had in the scrap box. It was small peices but nice and clear. I like the random colors of the wood. I decided to build this bridge with a "skirt" which was seen on some New England Rail Road bridges. I think it looks good.


Next session, I'll start on the roof.

National Home Project Week

Many of us have a certain amount of time off over the Holidays. a great time to get something done. both on the house...New wood floor for the livingroom and for the Choo choo's...new covered bridge.

I had a guest engineer and engine on my line last fall. His Colorodo narrow gauge equipment was a good deal larger than my Maine Narrow gauge equipment. the bridges were a choke point for free and unfettered passage around my little line. I am also concidering building a larger scale model (7/8 scale) of some maine narrow gauge equipment. Therefore, I had to enlarge the clearances on my line. My new covered bridge got taken apart and put back together bigger. The old bridge looked so good (it has been in the weather nearly 20 years) I decided to build a new bridge to replace it rather than damage it.

The photo above shows the progress to date on the bridge. I have the truss complete, and am ready to lay track. I just set my sectional track onto the deck of the old bridge but will lower the rail by having the rails sit directly on the cross ties of the bridge to get some more head room for the big trains. Next comes siding and a roof

Boston Bound

I had a very pleasant experience to Portland Downeastern Amtrak Terminal yesterday. Bought 4 tickets for this Tuesday. The Terminal and people there are very nice and I thought the prices very good. It averages out to $11.82 per person, each way. Basically its a full day 8:00am to 8:00pm with 7 hours in Boston. My daughter and her two oldest boys (10 and 13) will be making the trip with me. I know it is the last thing many of you would want to do, but we are all geared up for the adventure!
John

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from the Gould's.

Trains in the Snow

I did a bit of full size (2 feet to 2 feet scale) playing with trains last weekend
The WW&F Railway Museum had its annual Victorian Christmas train day last weekend. I took some nice photos and a little video with my little pocket sized digital camera. After fooling on the computer for an hour or so, i was able to create this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN-0-DqC-TY

Old number 10 was built as a plantation engine to work sugar cane down south. she was re-gauged by the Edaville Railway and re-built by the WW&F railway museum. Right now they are working on WW&F #9 which served the railway breifly in the 1930's having served the Kennebeck central and the Sandy River and SR&RL. It is the only remaining Portland built maine 2 footer.

A farmer from Darmiscotta brought three of his Norwegian Fjord Horses to pull a cart (not quite enough solid snow for the sleigh.) They are beautiful horses and very well kept and well trained.

The snow was about 6 inches of fine powder and the air was cold making for very nice steam railway photography.

Merry Christmas

If you want to try out an animated Christmas Tree with Train try this. It is from Ashland Univ. Choir and when it is done, you can right click and zoom in on the train. It just keeps playing. Click here to play.

Train Wreck

Just found some very old 8x10 black & white original photos of a train wreck in the White Mountains. These where from Brandons Great Great Grandfather who worked for the MEC in Portland . I do not remember the date or the exact location. Only 1 glossy & 11 matte pics.

I am posting a scan of the glossy & 1 matte. If any interest in more I will try to scan & post at a latter date. Amazing Stuff from older days. Mike ( P.S. would be Lucilles Grandfather)

Remember the Sunday Comics?

Do you remember reading the Sunday Comics in the 1950's?

How many of the nineteen figures near the station can you name?

Cold hands, Warm Hearts!

A big Thank you to Mr & Mrs Deere who have given up 3 straight weekends to host the McLaughlin Gardens Trees and Trains display in South Paris, Maine. They are enduring very cold conditions to carry on an expand the MGRS participation in this event. The above car is only a computer drawing, but designed to honor their exceptional Christmas spirit and most definitely their own "'Warm Hearts". This is the last weekend you will have an opportunity to stop by and visit them and you might even win a "Christmas Train" of your own!

Santa's High Wire Short Line

Here's a short video (~20 seconds) of a short Holiday layout at SCGRR.

The 30lb monofilament serves two purposes. One is for looks as that trolly, if real, would run off a catenary wire. Secondly and more important, it serves as Santa's safety line should he stray from the line. It's about 11' to the ground and 43" to the deck surface.

I have also moved the right bumper back a bit to keep it from just bumping into it as it comes to a stop.

It just keeps going back and forth untill you Pull The Plug!

Next year I hope to add about 20' more of straight tack so it will run the entire length of the deck. But for now, "Small Budget, Small Results"!

Steam in the snow

After plowing out the main line, we had some freight to haul, just a short train

More live steam action from Phippsburg...

Hello again,

I thought I would include another photo of my SR&RL #24 and a video in which it is featured:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncKSvmS0Utw

The Loco is 14 years old from England made by Roundhouse. A "new and improved" version is available still. Mine is a pretty good representation of SR&RL #24, rivet counters will have to do some work though. I do not know what the new version is like, but I think they have better details than my loco has. She is radio controlled...trottle and johnson bar (forward/reverse) each have a servo control. The radio is a bit touchy as the train gets a little ways off, the servos twitch which can stop or otherwise distrurb a nice smooth run -- I just switch off the transmitter and let it go.

Steam is cool especially on days when the steam shows up well (cool humid days) The vapor can hang around for a bit and really looks good. they have a built in natural sound system, in the video you can hear the exhast chuffs and the burner whine (sort of sounds like a turbo-generator. ) The power and handling feels real too!

Some of my other engines (including my battery powered engines) are manual control. This is acutally quite fun. You follow the engine and keep track of its progress. Usually I do not have to change much...my track is pretty level.

I do not have track power. no messing with wires, dirty rails or bad connections.

Huge Christmas Model Train Display

I remember when I was a youngster and went to the Jordan Marsh Department Store at Christmas time to see their magnificent electric train display. This was the main store located in Boston. You got to go up in an elevator to the 5th floor. It was the kind that someone operated and had the gate type door that they pulled back to open and the operator would announce what was on that floor. “Santa Claus, Toys and Trains” is all I heard. They had what seem to me the biggest possible train layout in the world! It was mostly Lionel which was the most popular trains of the day. I also remember Marx and American Flyer. It was a great time to be a kid! Other store fronts would put trains in the window and they would always attract a crowd. Of course there is no video of those old time displays, but I found one modern day clip that reminds me some of those great store displays of the past. Of course it pales in comparison to a young boy’s memory. But it does give you a little idea of what they were like. This video has a lot of new action gadgets plus a ’moving highway’ which was something I had not seen before. If you enjoy lots of detailed animation look at the ‘more from ppiker’ the author of this video. He has a whole collection of videos that you can see many more details. To watch the video, please click here.

Snow train on Winnegance and Quebec

Sunday was the final official run of the season here on the Winnegance and Quebec Railway. A light but sticky snowfall was very pretty and the cold wet air made the steam superior.

Here the engine crew is going over number 24 as she builds up steam while the yard guys shovel out the switches.

A Train around the Christmas Tree

There will always be fond thoughts when we think of a train going around a Christmas Tree. Here are a few videos I found with that as the theme. These are not from people we know. Perhaps some of our own members will be inspired to set up their own train this year. If you do, please take a picture and post it, or send it to another member to post for you. We would all enjoy in sharing in the happiness they bring.
Click on the individual video clips below to view them:
Clip number-1
Clip number-2
Clip number-3

The Real POLAR EXPRESS

Still lettered for the movie in which it starred (partiallly), Pere Marquette 1225 is presented here during an excursion from Owosso to Cadillac, Michigan in 2005. The big 2-8-4 is a classic example of a Lima Locomotive Works Super Power steam locomotive.
Watch the Video - click here.
Here is another video - Same Engine different cars.
Sorry, Can't stop finding more videos i like, here is one more!

Winter is good too

Now, please don't get me wrong, I do enjoy the flowers, plants and frogs that garden railroading offers, but I miss the blinking lights, switches, sounds and standing up straight that my indoor layout has. And, I love it when I take a $3 dollar HO whistle and hook it up to have a passing train activate it! I even enjoy it months later when I spend an hour trying to figure out what I did! So please take a quick look at some of the action on my indoor hobby. Thanks, John

Just for Xmas

Just a temporary Christmas Trolley on the border. AND the snow is REAL.

Kind of puts you in the Spirit doesn't it!!

Paul's Christmas Spirit

Her are some pictures of Paul Corbett's layout that he built for the Festival of Trees (Dec 2-6th) in Westbrook. Paul displays the MGRS Banner and does all his work for free. Any money raised by the event goes to the local food bank. This is just the first of five different events he has scheduled for this month!