Thank you from the Maine Veterans Home in Scarborough for the Summer Outings and Christmas presents

MGRS donated annual subscriptions of  "Garden Railways" and "Model Railroader" to the Maine Veterans Home.  We also donated a G-scale train  set when they visited us at the Main Mall.  Here are Thank You cards which go to all MGRS Members. 

Click on images to enlarge.

Thank you from West Buxton Public Library

 

Thank you for subscription to "Garden Railways" 
To all MGRS Members from the West Buxton Public Library and it patrons.

Aristo-Craft Catalog

Click here to view on-line catalog

Turn the pages with your mouse.

A little dumb and dumber

At least the guy that helped out deserves some credit.  But he almost did not make it.
Train video - click here to see:

OK, I added another one someone sent me.
Flash flood in Toowoomba, Australia on January 10, 2011

(my apologies, not about trains, but i am just getting back to posting).

full size hand switching...

I hapened accross a video of full scale "0-5-0" hand switching and picking up and turning around the engine...all things a "real" railroader would never do!

The Bochan train of the Iyo railway company, Matsuyama, Japan Tram click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3Diw9MSUVo&feature=related

Indoor G scale Layout

Here is a video which the owner claims is the worlds greatest indoor G scale layout.  To take a look please click here:

New England Depot

Here is a link to  another site that Denneth Lee came across.  It has information that you may be interested in.
http://www.newenglanddepot.blogspot.com/


Thanks Tiny!

Hello Charlie

I am still waiting for the Aristo-Craft PCC Cars to make it to market.  I definitely want a MTA Boston style.  If you enjoy classic Kingston Trio click here:

The Great Wooden Railway

 This came from Doug Johnson and looks Great!  I only watched about a third of it and immediately went to post the link on the blog.  To watch it all please click here:
Thanks Doug!

Thank You All !

 It is great to be home!   Just a quick "Hello" and a big "Thank You" to all the folks who were concerned with my health.  I am back home and it feels very good.  In fact I even was down in the basement today and was beginning to run my trains a little.  I decided I like my RS-3 Engine I just got before the show.  The Aristo-Craft model does not have pick up shoes on them and as far as I can tell they travel across the old switches and crossings etc, better than my other engines.  Any how I like the little Canadian Pacific very much.  It has caused some controversy as to which end is the "Front".  There is a little "F" on one end, but that is not the way the seats and control panel appear to face on the model.  It is a switcher so perhaps it does not really matter that much on the real engine.

Any how good to be back. Thanks, John
PS For College Football fans, enjoy the National Title Game  tonight.

Real steam railroading...

I was looking at a video from the East Broad Top Railroad. looks pretty cool, thought you might enjoy it. click below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzEzTsYc6xM&feature=related

Wishing You Well, John Jackson

This past Monday, while the MGRS holiday train display was being taken down, John Jackson had a bout of chest congestion that sent him to the hospital. John has worked so tirelessly to make the MGRS display a success that Symon Mink and other folks in management at the Mall posted this get-well sign on the Mall marquee. They also visited him at Maine Med.

John assures us that he is responding well to treatment and that he should be home soon. When you hear the brightness in his voice, you know that John's inner strength is even greater now than it was before. We wish you well, John Jackson.

(M)all's Well That Ends Well

Last Monday many members of the MGRS met at the Mall to take down the Holiday Train Display. Carl Churchill reports that the volunteers worked so well together that they finished the job ahead of schedule.

That kind of cooperation has marked this whole event. By now most MGRS members have heard just how successful the Maine Mall display has been. If you weren't one of the many volunteers who came to run the trains, you've probably read about the display in the Press Herald and other newspapers.

Almost every MGRS member who participated in this event has remarked that a highlight was our ability to become acquainted with each other. Even Santa got to know the MGRS members, and became one himself. We also managed to introduce tens of thousands of Mainers to the joys of garden railroading.

Many, many MGRS members deserve credit for the success that the Mall display enjoyed, from the volunteers who came to run the trains on an almost daily basis, to those who brought trains to run from the far reaches of the state. But the greatest credit goes to the members of the MGRS board, and to Carl Churchill and John Jackson, without whose tireless energy and enthusiasm this wonderful event would never have started, let alone end so well.

Thanks and congratulations!

scale camper you can build

how about this for a camper trailer I thought it was pretty clever. I saw it on the garden railways forum

All Good Things must come to an end.

It is now 6:00pm, Payton Manning just threw a touchdown pass.  So did MGRS!  My car sits in the garage full of boxes of trains I have not unloaded from the Mall.  Carl probably just shut of the Mall display for the last time of the "2010 Display".  I imagine Mac, Tiny, Paul and Rachel are still there. Norm and I left earlier as we all enjoyed the last day of running trains at the Maine Mall.  Tomorrow many of us will be coming in at 8:00am to pick up the track and buildings. 

 It was a great exhibit!  And the people to thank are the ones who helped to make it all possible.  It was a tremendous Team Effort!  

We also want to thank the BBIG's  in Florida.  That would be Barry, Buckie, Ivan, and Gerry.   We miss you and we are thinking of you!  

Happy New Year !

Happy New Year from the folks who are at the Mall today.  Grace, David, Carl and Mac.  Sunday will be the last day you will be able to come in and see what it looks like or be there and talk to the people who come by.  Hours are 12 to 6.

Last Day in 2010

Sue, Hunk, Betty and I enjoyed the last train runs in 2010.

Carl stayed around a few minutes after we arrived to give us last minute encouragement.

The crowds thinned out after 4 o'clock as people went home for the evening. Betty got some quality time on the throttles controlling Thomas on the elevated line.

Friends got their picture taken with Thomas in the background (Thomas and Annie certainly were BIG favorites with everyone).

We got some assistance from Lexie with clearing the track after Annie and Claribel decided to stop playing nice with Thomas.