Rail Road Auction Catalog

   If you like authentic Railroad items to add or start your collection then click below to take a look at what is available.  The auction is in Rochester,  New Hampshire on Sept 3, 2011.   You do not have to be there to bid.  But, it is also fun just to see what some of these items look like.   If you click on an item description you will see a picture of that item.    Sent to us by Denneth Lee.  Thank you very much, their is a lot of interesting things to see.   Click Here:

Not like the old days of laying track

See what some modern track laying equipment with concrete ties looks like. Thank you to Tiny Lee:  Click here to see:

Maine Veterans Home of Scarborough visit MGRS members

  A Hurricane did not stop them!    Carl had no electricity . . . They came anyway!  And we enjoyed a beautiful day together.  Carl and Mac had the people carrier and Golf Cart going strong.  They had a great picnic lunch, walked around and enjoyed the beautiful day and we had a chance over very delicious sandwiches and desserts which they brought to hear some interesting stories of what they are doing.  Some of the members pictured above include Dick Rubin, Ralph Luby, Dick Cosgrove, Denneth Lee, and in the back ground is Carl.  Not shown is Art Handman, Pat, Mac and John.  Jeanne is telling us about the vets and and their activities.  They stayed the full day and we all had a good time together. We love them and they enjoy coming out for a visit.  The trees, flowers, sunshine, food, conversation, trail rides and fresh air all felt good and next time we will even add trains!

Veterans Outing

   The Veterans are scheduled for tomorrow.  I would advise MGRS members to call Carl tomorrow morning if you want to come over. He is currently out of power from the storm.  He has one battery train ready to run.  The grounds are fine. the Veterans could come over and have their outing.  Carl is ready for them.  But, he has not been able to contact them yet to see what they are planning.  If you need to contact him please click here:  for his number.

3:00pm UPDATE:  The Veterans ARE COMING OVER TOMORROW.  They plan to arrive about 11am.  The forecast is for blue skies and sunshine.

WoW ~ That was a Great Open House!

  Congratulations and Thank You to Barry & Buckie for a terrific "Open House".  On what was possibly a bad weather day turned out to be beautiful in Athens, Maine!   We all know that they both worked hard to get ready and it paid off with great results.  Four or Five trains ran without any problems all day long!  The lunch was outstanding, thank you again to all that helped out and made it such a great time.  Maybe it was the big storm that is approaching or that we simply enjoy each others company but it felt extra good today.  We were also pleased to have Nancy Norris from Garden Railway Magazine in attendance.  She is a MGRS member and is visiting 'back home' from her current home in California.  She was very nice to meet and we enjoyed her company.  She commented on what a great turnout we had and said it was better than what she would expect back in California.  So that was nice to hear.  But, we do know that we have great enthusiasm as an organization.  I think it is because we have fun as a group!  So, thanks again to all who made the trip to Athens and a special thank you to Barry & Buckie for being such great hosts.   To see some picture please click here:

OPEN HOUSE Tomorrow

  Barry (our favorite Auctioneer) & Buckie say "Come on Up!""   We are ready to go.  Bring a chair and a pot luck dish if you can, but come anyway!  Barry said if you have a train that you would like to run you are encouraged to bring it along.  The weather is expected to be fine on Saturday, so we hope to see you in Athens, Maine about 11am.  The address is 193 Fox Hill Road.  See map to Athens: click here.

Shriner's Show in Concord Flyer

   Don Sweet president of New Hampshire Garden Railway Society has sent us a flyer about an up coming train show in Concord, NH.  Thank you NHGRS and good luck with your show!   To view the flyer please Click here:

Railroad Tracks - a History

Thanks to Ivan & Gerry who sent this in. Some of you may have seen this before.  Logic and history seem to show that this is a possibility.  To view, please click here:

Tunnel portals for the Mall

Hear is picture of a sample tunnel portal I made for the Mall layout. It is designed to fit the new risers that the Mall will build for us. The opening is 8 inches wide and is 10.75 inches high in the center. Overall it is 14 x 12.75 inches and is made of wood and styrofoam painted with a texture paint to give it a stone appearance. I wanted something that was basically simple in design that looked strong and solid. I was pleased with the way it turned out and hopefully the Board will like them.

How to make your own "Power Routing" Turnout

Click on image to enlarge

Thanks to Paul Smith who reminded me of this.  Let's say you have a dead end siding like I show above on my layout.  You can easily pull in a small engine and car and "park" it on the siding by shutting off the power simply by throwing the switch it came in on back to the straight position.  The switch can be manual or powered it makes no difference.  The "power routing switch" automatically sends power to the siding when it is moved into the curved position.   To make all this happen you only need to turn the switch over and remove the terminal screw (See small red arrow)  that connects the main rail to the rail points or movable section. (I think this is called a "frog" but I am not sure).  The important thing is that the only time the siding will pick up power is when the switch is turned back onto the siding so that the rail point physically contacts the main line rail (Blue Arrow).  Now you have a "power routing turnout" or a "smart switch" that turns the power on and off for you automatically.  

Pictures of Paul Smith's new Layout in progress!

Paul, You are doing a fantastic job!  Thank you for showing us some pictures.  Good Luck with future construction and if it is anything like you have done already it will be a great success.

To see a slideshow of Paul's pictures, please click here:

July-Aug IRONHORSE is now available On-line

Reminder you can click on the image of the "IRON HORSE" to see the current Newsletter.  You can also see any issue which Scott Gould has published by clicking on the "Moving Wheels" image on the left hand side of the Blog.  Thank you Scott, we love the Newsletter!

A Perfect Day!

A Great OPEN HOUSE was hosted by Ivan and Gerry Smith of Buckfield, Maine today.  The signs all  pointed the way to "MGRS" and members came from Athens ME.  to Barrington, NH and all points inbetween.  Ivan has done a super job on his layout and he is always expanding it. He has so many details to see plus his track plan is very realistic of a real railroad.  He builds his own buildings and they look fantastic.  He even has a replica of the house he lived in as a boy.  Both Ivan & Gerry are terrific hosts and everyone had an excellent time and enjoyed a terrific lunch and dessert together as they enjoyed the trains and conversation.  Everything ran fine and we all owe them a big THANK YOU!
Please click here for a Slideshow with more pictures and video.

My IRON HORSE arrived!

  Thank you Scott!  Another great Issue.  I never took a magnificent train like that, but I do remember my trips from Boston to Vermont every summer and when you spoke of the dining car's white table cloths it triggered wonderful memories!  Train travel was terrific and it still is. 

  Just as a reminder we hope to see many MGRS folks and friends in Buckfield tomorrow at Ivan & Gerry's OPEN HOUSE.  It should be a great day to get together and enjoy trains and stories.  Looking forward to it. 

Oh the Horror!

Actually I like crashes as long as nothing gets broken!  Must be something wrong with me.  Anyway, I was weeding the garden and had one train running in a loop, that was all. No problems until I decided to grab a snack. (the irony is while I was inside, I was actually thinking how good the train was going, that will teach me) When I came out, disaster had struck!    My forensic reconstruction (or my wild guess) is the work caboose became uncoupled and the rest of the train completed the loop and ran into the back of it.   When will I learn, Huh?

Welsh Highland Railway

 

Here is an excellent video which Eric found and passed along for us all to enjoy.  Thanks!!    To view Please Click here:

 Actually the above came from one of Eric's friends (my mistake) but here is the original that I was looking for which Eric originated:

"Here is a set of videos of an express train from King’s Cross London to Waverly station Edinburgh.. interesting footage and amusing British commentary."

Part 1  Click here:

Part 2  Click here:
  Note:     If YOU find a good train video you would like to share, send it in using the Form at the very bottom of the Blog. 

New layout question

Well, I've finally accumulated enough track and Split Jaw clamps to complete an oval of about 150 feet. I will post a photo this weekend of my progress, but to date, I have completed my train storage/power supply shed, planted some shrubs around the perimeter of the layout and hauled in two pickup loads of bark mulch for that perimeter. The interior of the garden area where the layout will be built is still 95% bare ground, but because I am anxious to get a train running, I am placing the track on short pieces of 2 X 4 laid out flat on the ground and spaced about every 24 to 30 inches under the track with one piece under each track splice/clamp (and then another half way between).

My question/concern is under the sun and in the heat, will this be enough support for the track on a temporary basis or will the track begin to deform or sag under the weight of itself. I have it leveled up as best I can with a bubble level and shimmed under the 2 X 4's with cedar shingles or thinner boards in the lower areas to keep it as level as possible.

I have run my GP-38 along 74 feet of completed track and plan to have the rest of the oval done by Friday evening.

My plans are to leave the track in place through the winter, purchase the remaining track that I need for my planned folded dog bone layout of about 320 feet or so and begin work laying the rest of the track, building a pond and waterfall where it fits in in the Spring and continue the planting and landscaping process.

Is this a good plan for development of the layout, or should I change what I am doing?

I appreciate any of your thoughts out there! Thanks.

Paul Smith

Update on Mall Layout

   Carl and Ralph gave me an update on the Mall to pass along to the members regarding our layout for this year.  This year the Mall has decided to eliminate the two smaller trees on either side of Santa and keep the one large tree behind Santa Claus.   That gives us two new 1 foot high platforms to work with. As I understand it, Norm will be in charge of decorating one for the Circus theme and the other will be used for a Lionel theme which Arthur Handman will coordinate.  Ralph has gone full speed ahead on building trestles.  He has built over 120 trestles.  Half of them are low trestles which are approx 1 foot high.  He has an equal number of high trestles which are approx 2 feet high.  The above diagram shows them as the green (2nd Level) and the red (3rd Level) tracks.  So we will have two elevated lines crisscrossing our double main lines. Ralph is also building roadbed for the elevated lines.
   Denneth Lee and Ralph have both offered the use of their bridges.  There are plans I believe to paint all the visible plywood deck and risers white.   Ralph is going to stain the trestles a brown or grey color for contrast.
   Dick Rubin has offered to buy a Thomas train set which the Club can use for the display.  We can alternate it with the one we do own already so that we will be able to keep them running through out the display.  Plus he ordered a Percy and a James train set which we can also alternate.  The result will be a display that has Thomas and one of his friends running together  at the same time on the high trestle line.  They will take turns automatically stopping and starting each other.

  So That is part of the plan for this year.  More Trains, Bigger layout, more action, bridges and tunnels.  More buildings and we hope even more fun for all of us!

Transformer question

I have an ART 5450 power supply hooked to an ART 5401-10 controller that has stopped working.  It now pops fuses instead.  My question is how can I test to see if the power supply is OK?  It produces 16v DC output,  Can I wire it directly to a piece of test track and touch a small engine to it?  I would think that I could but it would run at full speed.  I do not want to damage my engine. If the power supply is still good maybe I can find another controller that works. 

(Note: I went to ACE Hardware's new store in Falmouth to buy fuses. Very nice new store and friendly people.  I bought a couple of bird feeders and mentioned they were for my garden railroad.  One of the men was very interested in trains and asked if I had been at the Mall last year and if we have open houses.  So, I am sending him the link to our Web site and hope he can catch one of our events some time.)  

Follow-Up:   I hooked the power supply (it's only 3.5 amps) directly to the track and it was perfect for a couple of small novelty motors.  They seemed to run fine.  take a look  https://picasaweb.google.com/jjackso/20110811#5639649839743566546

Joe and Eddie

What do you call a train man who steps on a live 3rd rail?
A conducter!  


What railroad couldn't keep their engines shiny?
The Erie!
Huh? Why is that?
It's because of Lackawaxen.

What's the angriest piece of track?
A cross tie...

If this was a model railroad we wouldn't have any of these problems.
Hey, Is that a HEADLIGHT coming at us????  

New Board of Directors

We never took an "official" photo for the web site so I have added some individual pictures from last year to help identify MGRS Officers and Directors recently elected.  Take a look, click here.

Ooops!

I promise, this was a surprise (which is what makes it fun).  The result of forgetting what I was doing.   But, these two sisters met 'perfectly' at an unattended crossing that was never meant to have switches set the way they were.  Luckily the speed was slow and it was just a 'bump' and an immediate short circuit.   Somewhere I have a folder of more specular crashes, but I don't consider them anything to be proud of.  It just makes you glad your only playing with "toys". 

MGRS Map of member Towns

This is only a picture, not the actual map.

 

This map shows the different Towns where MGRS members reside.  It is in a development phase and may be made available in the future for member use.  Clicking on a town could bring up a box listing the names and contact information of members living in that town. 

Remember August ~ Two Open Houses

Saturday Aug 13, 2011 ~  Ivan & Gerry in Buckfield

Saturday Aug 27, 2011 ~ Barry & Buckie in Athens

Bridge Builders Delight

IF you ever wanted close up pictures of real railroad bridges then this is the web site for you. 
Take a look by clicking here and scroll down to see all that is available to view:  Click Here:

Speaking of taking Pictures

Gigi looked out the Kitchen window and said "There is a Great Blue Heron in the back yard".  He does not look that "Great" in this shot, but shortly after,  he took off and had an enormous wing span!  With nothing but a couple of frogs he did not stay long,  but he was very impressive to see.

Picture takers wanted.

  Dear fellow MGRS blog readers - I know you have a computer and can find the Blog.  That is Half of it right there!  If you have a digital camera and are willing to stop by the Mall display this Fall and take some pictures of who is running trains, That is the second part!   The rest is easy and it is free.  I can show you how to transfer the pictures up to a Picasa picture album that I will have access to.  That way I can post them on the blog so we can all enjoy them.   

   Last year, the activity on the blog was very high during the train show.  People seemed to enjoy seeing who was there and what was happening.  I came in most every day and took some pictures but this year I need your help to provide the kind of coverage we would like to continue for this year.  

  If we get 3 or 4 people who can stop by once in a while, that would be fantastic!  I promise you, if you can get there and take a picture, the computer part is completely free, safe and easy.  If you need any help I will be glad to provide it. 

 Maybe you stop by the Mall once a week for some other reason, that will still be a big help.    If you think you may be able to assist the picture taking effort, please contact John at mgrsadmin@gmail.com
or leave a comment.  Thank you!