Looking Sharp !

   How about those nice looking MGRS gold colored metal  [ NAME TAGS ]?  If you do not have yours yet, it should be arriving in your mail box very soon.  Thanks to Carl who has personally just finished sending them all out.  They are being given to all 2010 MGRS voting members free of charge as a thank you for your participation in Maine Garden Railway Society. 

Coming soon!

OK, Our Name Tags are not that big.   But, this is a picture of exactly where we will be located in what the Maine Mall refers to as 'Center Court', a large open area beneath the central skylight.  What a perfect spot!  It is not only a prime location, it is air conditioned, temperature controlled, bright and clean, good food, security, restrooms, and oh yes. . . Lots of interested people to see what we do.  Who knows, you might even see Santa or get a little shopping done.

We should do it again

I loved our train ride together and I want to do it again some time.  In fact I all ready received a suggestion for next year.   Barry, said we ought to go on the fall foliage trip to Crawford Notch. It take 5 hours to do the round trip which includes the famous Frankenstein trestle.  I guess we would bring a picnic lunch with us.  I do not know.  But, it does sound like fun.  I am sure there are lots of good ideas and we will have fun thinking about it over the winter.  Maybe at our Spring luncheon or the Annual Meeting we can vote on what people would like to do.  If you have a suggestion let us know about it. 

A new video from Eric

Ben and I visited the WW&F railway at Alna, Maine over the weekend. 

They Ran their  new Model T rail car…yep new!  They purchased engine and body parts and built up the car as it would have been built in the 1920’s.  it is essentially a replica of an inspection car used on the Sandy River and Rangely Lakes railroad 80 years ago.  The original resides at the Owls head transportation museum.

I took some video of the trains and have put together a little presentation;  Click Here


Thanks Eric ~ Love the Model T

Pretty Cool

I looked up FL9 in Wikipedia and guess what picture I saw?   Click here

What a great day!

   First, Thank You to all the members, family and friends that went on the train ride.  That is what made it so good. There were lots of people getting together,  some who traveled long distances to be there.  Everybody was able to enjoy the nice large comfortable private car we had.  It was perfect for us, We all enjoy trains and we all had fun together! 

Here are just a few pictures of the trip, but there are many more great stories to tell about the day! Mike and Barry got a close up look at the cab.  Scott will be releasing his inside story of what it is really like to drive a FL9.  All together it was a great day and thank you Maine Eastern,  you did your part too. good memories.

Plase click here to see Slideshow  
Contributors: John/Scott/Mike  Thank you 

 I know other people took pictures.  If you can email them, send them to mgrsadmin@gmail.com and I will add them to the slideshow and Scott may use them for the Newsletter.                                                                           

Maine Eastern - The Ultimate Garden Railroad

Some forty members of the MGRS boarded the Maine Eastern Railroad in Brunswick this Saturday, September 25th, for a spectacular round trip to Rockland. A more beautiful day cannot be imagined, nor better scenery or company. Our son even celebrated his birthday.

The engine (my youngest brother told me this evening in a phone call to Colorado) is an FL9 built specially for the New Haven R.R. in 1956. It's 2000 hp diesel engine was once supplemented by an electric motor, which supplied power when the unit ran into New York City. The engineer on our homeward trip today, Leon Peaseley, says that Amtrak used this engine until it came to the Maine Eastern.

Here are a few pictures of our journey on the perfect 1:1 train set. And, yes, I know who blew the horn on some of those sixty-six railroad crossings. It definitely helps to have an Iron Horse press pass. Thanks, Maine Eastern!

All-abord for Maine Eastern

This is the Saturday we will meet at Maine Street Station in Brunswick.  Try to arrive by 10:00am if possible.  If you have a MGRS name tag please bring it with you.   There will be 39 of us all together and we will have our own car.   We will meet at the station and get organized before boarding the train which pulls out of the station at 10:20.

Greene Open house

Eric made a video of Dick Clark's Open House in Greene.  He did a great job with his new camera. Thanks for sharing it with us.  Well done!   To view please click here:

Good Bye for a while

A dozen of our favorite visitors from the Maine Veterans Home in Scarborough had their final summer outing of the year today at MGRS in Buxton.  It was appropriately the best day of the year as they enjoyed the trains again.  Walter and Dick, Carl and Mac kept everything running smooth,  both G scale and  Golf cart scale.  Everything was looking good!  We enjoy them a lot and the veterans look forward to seeing us, in fact they said they would be out to say 'hi' to us at the Mall later this year.  Thanks, we think you are great and we wish you wellness and happiness until the next time.

Spare Time Lines Steam-up

MGRS members had a rare treat today (September 18th) at the home of Elle and Henry Groth in Waldoboro. For years, the Groths have invited steam enthusiasts from throughout the Northeast to run trains on their 7 1/4" gauge pike. Most of the trains in this gauge are built to a scale of 1 1/2" to the foot, making them big enough to ride on. The engines are magnificent, some of the costing tens of thousands of dollars, and taking several years to build.

We'll have more pictures and an article in the November issue of the Iron Horse. Thanks very much, Elle and Henry, for inviting us!

Henry & Elle Groth Train Day

Our thanks to MGRS members Henry and Elle Groth for inviting us to their annual 7.25 ride-on-train spectacular.  It did live up to its promise!   A great day of fun and excitement for all.

NEW:
To see a series of short videos Click here ~ select Slideshow 

West Buxton Town Library MGRS Train Display with Paul Corbett ~ 3 day event

Located on Rt 112 in West Buxton is a beautiful historic building which used to be an old fashioned School House.  Authentic decorative tin ceiling, fantastic windows now houses the site of West  Buxton Town Library, and  Paul Corbet's MGRS train display.  Paul will be there Thursday 9/16  (tonight) 4pm to 8pm,  this Saturday 9/18 10 am to 1 pm and next Tuesday 9/21 from 4 to 8 pm.  Located just a few feet from the Saco River in a beautiful area.  Stop by and say hello.  Open to the Public,  Free admission.

Click here to view Slide Show
Taken 1 hr before display opens. Everything looks good. Sharlene Fields the Town Librarian has prepare a special section of books on trains for youngsters to look at.

OPEN HOUSE this SATURDAY Sept 18th

OPEN HOUSE  This sounds like something unusual and very interesting to see.  Plus you have a chance to meet members Henry & Elle Groth.  They have a "Ride on Train" or more specifically a really large scale  7.25 Gauge outdoor layout.  I do not know the time but I will post it when I find out.  Their address is 319 West Main Street in Waldoboro, Maine.  If you can add any information, please leave a comment.

Maine Mall Staging and Risers

 Please click on image  

The Maine Mall is building the staging for our train display.   That is a terrific bonus for MGRS and we thank them for all the effort they are contributing to help make this event a big success.    They also have 'Risers' which we will be using to help support the elevated track which will pass over the main line in several areas.  Please note it is important to keep the clearance at 10.25 inches on any thing we construct.   For example, the bridge on the left will work well but the bridge on the right does not leave enough clearance beneath it for trains to safely pass under.

Dick Clark's Open House ~ Nice Going!

Dick Clark hosts his garden railroad open house as part of the Green Town Day celebration.  Open to all that love trains.  He belongs to two rail road clubs, Great Falls and MGRS and all are invited to join the celebration.  Great weather and lots of train enthusiasts combined for a great day.  Dick expanded his layout and it looked great!  Eric and Ed ran steam demo,s which always attract a crowd.  Thank you Dick, well done.

Watch a short video of part of action, see below:

Ivan & Gerry have the Magic Touch

(Click on image)

 We all know what great personalities Ivan & Gerry have and what a great railroad they have built, but now we can add great ambassadors to garden railroading as well!   They decided to open up their railroad on Labor Day.   The above article attracted a crowd of over 225  people.  Ivan said  "People came from all over Maine, and really loved the garden railroad. They had a keen interest in having a layout of there own. Wish you could have been here to see their enthusiasm."  We say,  Fantastic Job, Thank you both very much!

Scratch built Steam loco in action

Here is a great video that Eric has put together.  He has a talent and it is fun to watch and enjoy what he can do.

Thanks for sharing.  From Eric Schade:  Last spring I ran my little logging locomotive and took some video…share in the fun:

Click here to watch: 

Track Laying Train

This is very good!  I never seen anything like that before.  Thank you to Ivan & Gerry Smith who sent this in for us to see.

THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE!         I wonder what all those labourers who laid the first cross-country tracks would think if they could see this!       http://www.wimp.com/traintrack/

It is Official !

I

 
In exactly two months from today, November 8, 2010 we will be setting up track for the Maine Mall train display.  The contract has been signed.  The Iron Horse is preparing to publish details with a beginning schedule listing the volunteers who have graciously agreed to help run the trains.  We will be located right where that vehicle is sitting,  underneath the large skylight in center court.
All-aboard for the big Event !

The new Brunswick Train Station

I wanted to find a picture of where we will be meeting for the train ride later this month. These pictures are from  Google maps.  From what I can tell the new Maine Street Station in Brunswick is located off of Maine St (Rt 24) just beyond the RR Track crossing as you are headed east toward the large church building in downtown Brunswick.  Take the first right after the RR Crossing onto Station Ave.  I believe the station is the 3rd building on the right.  I could not get a picture from that side.  The only one I could find was from the other side of the tracks as seen from the Hannaford Parking lot.

 

Note the Station Parking lot does not look very big.  But, these may be old images.  If anyone has been there recently please leave a comment, thanks.

Conway Scenic RR - Railfans' Weekend

Take a look,this is always good. 
Link to event description

Looks like quite a day.  See schedule:
From member Denneth Lee.  Thank you.

Dick Clark's Open House ~ Sept 11, 2010

Going back to Yester year!

Click here to see a great video from 1952   Excellent  Thank you!

Rail Cars of Old

Check out this Photo Slide Show!    From Denneth Lee. These are some Great Pictures!   Click here to view.

Hurricane Earl

Rich Young asked a good question.  What to do to help save your railroad from an impending hurricane?
Most of us will probably try to ride it out.  But, anything light that can catch the wind is going to blow.  If you have favorite structures maybe try to put them in the garage?   Pick up anything loose like lawn chairs and weight down or remove what else you can.  Here is something my daughter just sent me: 

Hello,

This is an interactive Hurricane Tracker from News 13.  You can click on your location on the map and get very specific storm info. Thought you might like to check it out!

http://www.wgme.com/newsroom/wx/features/hurricane_tracker/