Trains around theToronto area

If you are familiar with Toronto you will like seeing some of these short train videos by a man named James Adney. These all come from the Rail videos.net web site. Click here to take a look:

Mass Bay Railroad Enthusiasts

Here is another interesting web site that 'Tiny' told me about:
Click here
Want to read about an Amtrak Round Trip? Click here:
Amtrak Home Page

Cool stuff from Vermont - Thanks Doug

Click on images to enlarge

Here are some good pictures from Doug's recent trip to Vermont Garden Railway Society.

Doug said that Bob DeForeg is the new Conductor of the Vt. GRS. A good buddy of Doug's. Here are a couple of shots of Bob's new iron bridge by Eagle Bridge Works of Phoenix, Ariz.

The top picture is from the upper side, and the other from the lower side of the bridge. A very superior bridge for garden railways. Notice in the last picture that there is a great eagle on the rock.

Best wishes, from
Douglas R. Johnson

Thank you, John and Gigi!

John and Gigi Jackson hosted the second Open House of the season on Saturday, June 26, at their home in North Yarmouth. More than two dozen MGRS members came to see John's new addition to the Littleville Falls Railroad. The railroad now runs from a basement layout (featured in the November 2009 Iron Horse) to an outdoor patio. No heavy lifting required to bring the trains inside--just run them through the window.

Gigi prepared a feast for MGRS members, assisted by the Jackson's children and grandchildren. A great time was had by all. Look for more on John's clever electronics in an upcoming issue of the Iron Horse.

Thanks for a wonderful day, John and Gigi.

Hey, "Where's Santa and the Trains"?

That young man is standing on the right spot! He is just to early, but that is exactly where Maine Garden Railway Society will be between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year!
"29 Days of Fun with Trains". The biggest most spectacular train display the Maine Mall has ever seen is headed their way along side
the "big guy " himself, What a combination!
Santa Claus & MGRS.

Maine Veterans Home of Scarborough visits MGRS

Summer is officially here and the Vets were the first to arrive and visit Overlook Garden Railway today. The weather was great and considering it was the first outing of the year the trains ran great! The big Amtrak look very realistic as it passed "Gorham Station". Two Golfcarts and a People-Carrier were in operation as the full busload of veterans enjoyed the beautiful day. It's to bad they cannot carry more as there were several folks who had to stay behind that wanted to come. Thanks to Carl, Walter, Mac, Tiny, Doug and John for helping out and thanks again to the staff (Jeannine and Paul and Mary) for also doing a great job. Everyone enjoyed the trains and garden, had a nice picnic lunch and had fun playing with the dogs too. As they drove away they honked, waved and said "See you next month"!

Don't believe everything you see.

Here is an interesting 'confession' from the man who made the video which was originally dubbed 'Worlds Luckiest Man'. It did appear on the blog last year and a lot of people thought that it was real. Click here:

Live Steamfest Racing

Check this out - From Denneth Lee in NH. It is part of the Aristo-Craft Forum

Steam Racing Video - click here;

Thanks tiny , very good!

Update on Maine Eastern Train Trip

Thank you to all that voted in the poll. The date for the trip from Brunswick to Rockland, Maine and back will be on Saturday Sept 25, 2010. The voting was going strong and we should have no problem getting enough people for our discounted price, we only need 10 more tickets to qualify. There will be a sign up sheet at the Annual Meeting on July 10, 2010. This will be a great trip and is perfect for us. If you are interested, please make sure you sign up next month. For details please click here:

Note: I deleted the Poll because you cannot edit it once voting has begun. And I found out at the last Directors meeting that the date of Sept 18 is no longer available because there is another MGRS sponsored event planned for that day. The Event Listing has been updated.

Union Pacific Train trapped on bridge

Here is a news story which Denneth lee came across. There is also a video that is attached to the article. Thanks Tiny!
To view story please click here:

Double heading...

If all you have is little locomotives, sometimes you need two to get the job done.

Ben and I each have a "Ruby" Forney that we have built. They are small engines and cannot pull too much around my track. When they work together, they can pull a fairly sizable train.

Here is a little video of them at work. I think this train is more than twice what each can pull by itself.

What keeps a train on the track?

Here is an interesting video I found Watch here:

Here is the explanation I came across - "The inside lip is only a safety device, if it was only thing keeping the train on, wouldnt there be a loud noise all the time right. if you look closely (again) you will see that the actual wheel is sloped, meaning that the circle area on the outer rim is smaller then the circle area on the inside (beside the lip/flange), so whenever a train is going round a corner the momentum makes the train shift either left or right depending on what direction the corner is going. by this shift the wheel on the inside has a smaller distance to travel then the outside which is on a bigger circumference. thus bring the train round the corner without the use of the lips. the train sways to and fro and eventually staightens out again."

Awesome Train!

Canadian Pacific Railway June 8, 2010
GE ES44AC, at MP 79 Heron Bay Sub. Neys, Ontario.

Remarks: One of CP's monster 12000 f.t 110's grinds its way up the ruling Heron Bay sub grade at Neys and the train can be seen over 2 miles away along the steep rock bluffs overlooking Lake Superior.

Downeaster Expansion Impact Report

Link to document:

Picture of a Railroad Drawbridge that we will travel over.

The Maine Eastern trip to Rockland will go across the St. George River Drawbridge shown above in South Warren Maine.

Courtesy of Railpictures.net photo by Vince Hammel Jr.
Remarks: Looking like a model railroad, Maine Eastern FL9 number 488 rolls train 3 across the St George River Draw Bridge on July 11, 2009.

GWRGR in ALASKA

Just finishing an Alaskan trip we started on 5/27 by taking a sleeper on Amtrak Shoreline LTD from Bos to Chicago: than Amtrak Empire Builder to Seattle Wa. From there we went to BC and boarded our Ship the Island Princess for a cruise up her to Anchorage. A couple of photos of a day excursion on the White Pass & Yukon Steam train from Skagway Ak. to White Pass Can.

Quick Test

Can you identify all these scales correctly?

Answer is show inside the red box below - Highlight it with the mouse to see it!

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| Z (1:220), N (1:160), HO (1:87), S (1:64), O (1:48), G(1:25) |
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|Picture of the real EMD F7 (1:1): Click here:

Nice Picture

To view an animated version click here:

Hearing Test

I am very fond of the PCC trolly car from Boston's MTA System. I am hoping Aristo-Craft will release them sometime. So 'hear' are two quick clips that I was looking at.

Clip-1

Clip-2

My question is: What is the person saying that is solar powered at the start of clip-2?
Thanks, John

From John Foley NHGRS

Here is a link www.mssls.info to the Michigan Small Scale Live Steamers.

There are lots of great photos.

John

Tiny; please pass along to the Maine group
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Thanks guys!

Megaweed!

Anyone have any idea what kind of weed this is? I have never seen anything so invasive. In the past two weeks, it has grown at jack-in-the-beanstalk speed throughout our garden. The flower is white with four petals, less than a quarter-inch across. Leaves grow at joints along a very slender stem. The only thing good about it is that it is easy to pull out. The citizens along the Vaguely Wiscasset & Quebec are becoming more concerned than ever that the VW & Q is doomed to be a branch line.