Outlook for 2012

 

       We had an excellent year in 2011.  The reason is that many different people combined to contribute good ideas and take part in the different events that we offer all year long.  That is what makes us an exceptional organization and we encourage you to help make 2012 an even better year by taking an active role in an area that interests you. A Happy New Year to all as we look forward to another great year.

 ~ Maine Garden Railway Society ~

Thank you from Carl

Carl just called me and asked if I would post a "Thank you"  to all the members who helped bring this years train display to a successful end.  The lights are out and the Mall is closed.  Carl & Mac each pushed one of the big red buttons as the last train came to a stop.  It has been a lot of work by many, many different people all combining to produce an event larger than the sum of its parts.

This is very Refreshing

 A different pace.  Very Nice.   Sent to us by Eric.

Please enjoy: Click here:

MRGS Honor Roll

Please take a look at this years Honor Roll.
Click Here:

A Tribute to the 2011 Train Show

If you click here it will take you to a Slideshow cover page where you can watch all or selected parts of the tribute to Maine Garden Railway Society's 2011 train display at the Maine Mall. 

There are 9 segments that total about 39 minutes.  They show (1) Buildings (2) The Outer Loop, (3) Middle Loop and Circus (4) Thomas, (5) Lionel, (6 - 7) Trains and (8 - 9) People.

                                        To watch it, please click here:

There is a small technical problem that sometimes shows a message that says 'unavailable try again' when going from one segment to another.  If you "refresh" the page a couple of times it will clear up the problem.  Sorry, I will try to fix that if I can.

Dues are Due

Please remember to write that check for $12 per member for 2012 Annual Dues.  Payable to MGRS and mail it to:
  MGRS
  82 Carll Rd
  Buxton, ME.
  04093

Dues for calendar year 2012 are due during the month of January. They are still only $12 dollars and gives you full voting membership in the best Garden Railway Organization we think that you can find. 
 If you joined during the current train show and recently paid, your payment will be rolled forward and applied to the 2012 year.

PS: Please do not delay.  MGRS counts on it members to pay dues during January.  We need to collect monies to strengthen our own position for early season Vendor sales and train shows on items the Club needs.  Also annual recurring and on-going costs for Publishing, Mailing, Insurance, Web Site license and fees, legal and administrative requirements all keep coming.

  We have had a great year and with your support we will have another terrific year to look forward to. Thank You!

12/28/ Wednesday

Pictured above is Paul Schnell,  Philip Sypek and Art Handman.  To the left is Mike Curry, and below is John Jackson with three of his grandsons that visited today.  The guys were busy running trains, talking to people and enjoying the day as the school vacation week allowed both students and teachers time to see the display.  The crowd was big today and enthusiasm as high as ever.  It's to bad we have to take it down, in a year when times are not the best, we all in MGRS helped bring a lot of smiles and good memories back again.   

Letter from the Vets

A Thank You note from the Maine Veterans Home in Scarborough to Maine Garden Railway Society.

12/27 Tuesday.

Dear train Diary,  Today was a glad and a sad day.  Santa was gone but there were a lot of people in the Mall and we had a heavy day of conversation.  I honestly had the best three long conversations of the entire show.  Maybe I was just paying attention more, I don't know.  It could be I knew this was my last day on the schedule.  I just seemed to appreciate it more.  I saw Terry's new interactive signal sign that looked and worked great! The two big beautiful passenger trains the MEC 470 and the B&O performed perfectly.  Our Club GP38-2 enjoyed the elevated loop and Thomas's smile was a little wider as he pulled his coaches proudly.  Both interactive displays ran well. The Circus and the Lionel were both very well received and Norm and Art have put a lot of days into maintenance keeping them top notch.  I kept looking at it all and thought  " Yes, it really does look good".  Lots of people helped, 50 over all. Some came in every week, or twice a week or almost every day  or maybe just once, but it all fit together to make a great display enjoyed by everyone that saw it!  I wonder how many people actually did see it?  I wonder if they enjoyed it as much as we did?  I know I loved taking part in it.   

Merry Christmas

The day before Christmas is always special. Santa lingers as long as possible with his youthful visitors, but knows he must take an early sleigh to be ready for the night's activities. On hand to run the trains this December 24th were Carl Churchill, Mac McLaughlin, and Ben Jewitt, who are at the mall so often you expect to see them bringing sleeping bags. Also on hand were Norm Waycott, Art Handman, Dick Rubin and Ralph Luby. Dick brought along an impressive GG1, made by LGB, as well as A custom-built model of the magnificent 1934 Pioneer Zephyr, the streamliner that still holds the speed record for the Chicago-Denver run. Carl ran his B&O passenger express, as well as his crowd-pleasing Amtrak liner.
By now Santa is somewhere between the North Pole and Portage, Indiana. The rest of us are snug at home, remembering Christmas in our separate ways, but sharing our love of trains together.

Guess What Santa Brought? Maine Mall 2011 video by Bill

It is now early Christmas morning and guess what Santa brought us?   Straight from Santa's work shop and Bill & Robin's camera is a Youtube video!  Thanks Bill, nice job!
Please click here to see Bill's video.

from Maine Garden Railway Society

    I am in the process of putting together a Maine Mall Tribute video to recap this years display.  If you click here you can watch a Slideshow of what we have so far.

John. 

Victorian Christmas 2011

Here is a video from Eric on last Saturday's WW&F event.  It looked like a lot of fun.  Thanks for the video.  Click here:

Pictures from Dick & Meridel

 Thanks to  Dick & Meridel for taking such good pictures while they were in running trains.   These are from Monday Dec 19, 2011.  Excellent details, very nice!
(I love that Moxie trailer tractor car)  
 

The No. 1 watched train video on You-Tube.

It's only 50 seconds long.  Click here:

I kind of like this one also:  Click here:

Test from Mall Tues 12-20

I found some new software on my computer called Windows Movie Maker.  I experimented with a few pictures and video clips from yesterday (Dec 20, 2011) at the Mall.

After Christmas ~ Schedule change

Carl just called to let us all know that after Christmas, during the final week of the show, the PM shift will end at 7PM.  

Tuesday 12-20

Art led the way today over to Starbucks for morning coffee and got us off to a good start.  It was a very good day for the many members who stopped by as well as a good crowd of on lookers who enjoyed telling their train stories.  There looked to be lots of shoppers in the Mall today.  Keith Stone stopped by to say hi and wished us all well.  A relative of Jim Magner stopped by to talk and send us Jim's greetings from Florida. Art,  Jeff Jacobs, Paul Corbett, Jim Hinkley, Benjamin, Tiny, and John all teamed up for sections of the AM and we all had a good time running various trains and talking to people. Plus Ben was researching train topics on his very fast laptop.  Carl, Mac and Dennis came in early for the evening shift and were setting up some more big trains as I left.  It was a day of good fun and good time except for the friend I had not seen in several years who said to me "Oh hi!, I didn't recognize you with that silly hat on!" Silly Hat, What possibly could he mean by that?   Please take a look at some other pictures and  short clips from today.  Thanks, Click here:           By the way, You have to watch the little boy below in the videos. 

Holiday Train

The Canadian Pacific Holiday Train makes a stop in Buffalo Minnesota to benefit the local food shelf.
Please click here:

Frankie and Janey at the Mall

Here are a few of our photos taken at the Maine Mall.  What fun!  ~~Frankie & Janey




Thank you for sending these in!  We wish more people did.
We love your fun and enthusiasm, and hope you had a great time!
 

Awesum Take a look.

I apologize to the train buffs, this is nothing about trains.  But it is about speed, power and precision.    Click here to view:

Taking it easy.

I admit I have enjoyed taking some time off from blogging as I just wanted to rest up from all the Holiday season. Thank you Scott for helping out with your excellent post.  Today, I am really "milking it" taking full advantage of my birthday, lounging around in comfortable clothes and enjoying trying my hand at making a train video.  I am really waiting anxiously for Bill Goodrich's Mall video and that inspired me to try one at home. But I am appreciating how hard they are to make.  First, my camera tipped crooked halfway around the loop when I tried balancing it on the front of my engine.  So I tried it sideways and it did fit much better, but the picture was to narrow.  Next, I tried pushing it on a flat car but it derailed going over a switch.  My last attempt worked as I pulled the camera on a flat car at the end of the train. (But, I wanted a picture going forward)  To see it you can click here:  It only takes 2 minutes or less to make a short video but it takes a half and hour or more to upload it.  Bill's will probably take a couple of hours to upload. As I said, good luck Bill, we all hope you can make one as nice as last years!

Lego my trains

I never gave Lego the credit they deserve.  Take a look at this, it is pretty amazing: Click here:

The Conway Scenic Railroad Arrives

Dick Rubin, Ben Jewitt, and Ralph Luby were on hand today to run Dick's magnificent LGB/Aster Hudson and a set of coaches painted to match the Conway Scenic Railroad. Here are Dick, Ben and Ralph, as well as some shots of the train as it pulls in for a photo op in front of the beautiful North Conway Station, built by Carl Churchill. We had large and appreciative crowds today, and a good time was had by all.

Dec 15th

Dec 15th and Time is flying by.  Possibly,  the strange craft pictured here will also fly or hover over our layout and send some airiel photos back to the large scale Television.... Who knows, it could happen.   In any event it was definitely a good day for trains this AM as the Circus team had everything running well.  Doug will be in tonight and take over the controls this PM.  Here is just a glimps of the sights & sounds from today:

In The News

• 10th  Anniversary of the Downeaster  (12/15/2001)

            Downeaster Promotional Video - Click here:
           

•     The Iron Horse ~ Current Issue

            Now on Line - A terrific job by Scott Gould ~ Click here:

•   Rules of the Road ~ Maine Mall

            From MGRS Secretary ~ Click here:

• Maine Mall Video is in the works

              Bill Goodrich will be releasing the video soon!

Dec 14th

OK, these are old pictures (from last week)  But unlike me these folks and Mike Curry and Carl and most likely other members all made it in to the Mall today.  Tiny for example must drive about 120 miles to make a Mall trip.  We congratulate and thank everyone that puts in time, effort and expense to support the train show.  It is being very very well received and appreciated by the public and it is providing a lot of enjoyment which we can all be proud to be a part of.        

Dec 13th at the Mall

    Lots of people were in today.  I though I came in early but Jim and Hunk had everything going when I arrived.   Art help calm a vendor who thought the trains were to noisy and he fixed the problem.  Benjamin arrived and he is a big help as he loves to run trains and do maintenance all at the same time plus he is putting in lots of extra time.  Jim was getting lots of requests from parents of small children to let them touch Thomas and say 'hello' to him. Jim responded and the little kids were loving it! Hunk and I were talking to lots of "bigger kids" our age who just love to talk trains! One was new member Dennis Homa who stopped by with two grandsons and he said "Save me a vest and I will be back Saturday to run trains!"   Tiny came in despite his planned doctors appointment. He will be back tomorrow to help Mike Curry in the Afternoon.   Paul and Walter stopped by. The Budliner and the Amtrak are always a favorite, they were running this morning. Ben was running his new CSX and I put on my "Conway Scenic passenger train" as I call it.  Carl, Mac and Dennis arrived and changed over to the Big B&O Mallet as I was leaving.  Most of the other guys were still there. But I did manage to get lots of pictures on the Slideshow from today,  Please take a look.  It was a great day and sadly it will end to soon.  Let's enjoy it while it's here . .  All-a-board!!

Monday Dec 12th

Things were back on track today as everything was running smooth.  One Station Master was operating and the others trains were under operator control.  Santa's workshop was really smoking!
Jim was looking pretty cool in his Santa/RR hat as he took over from Dick & Meridel.  Ben offered to stay on and keep him company.   Take a quick look at a little bit from today, please click here: 
By the way, I stopped to talk to several different people. (all you have to do is look up and smile and they are ready to smile back and tell you a story).   There seems to be an endless supply of people who enjoy the layout and numerous people taking pictures.  Their appreciation makes the whole display worth the effort.  One man and his little boy come by very often and we love to see them return and the smiles keep coming.  Thank you!

Hey Weekend Bloggers ~ Help Wanted

  Because I do take the weekends off,  you may not see any news on the Blog.  Especially with the Mall Train Show going on we hate to miss any of the action.  So here is the offer.  If you have a PC and a digital camera and are willing to go in and take some pictures I will train you completely on everything you need to know. If you ever thought of being a "Blog reporter" Now is your chance.  I think it is fun to do and I can easily sit down with you at your PC and show you exactly what you need to know.  No prior knowledge required.  If you are interested, please email John at mgrsadmin@gmail.com or leave a comment. Thanks!

Invitation from Eric Schade

Eric donates time to WW&F Museum and they are having their annual Victorian Christmas this Saturday.
Here is the information:   It does sound good, Thanks Eric.
 There is a FREE Christmas train day on Saturday the 17^th.  It is great fun especially with some snow on the ground.  They will have sleigh rides  and snacks as well as hot cider, cocoa and coffee!  Have a look at www.wwfry.org

Birthdays and Trains

Our Grandson is visiting with us today. He brought over his favorite model house that he got at our MGRS Auction to add under the tree.  Tomorrow is his birthday and also my son's birthday!  So we will have a party and we have to have a train ready to go.  See it here:

Friday 12-9

 

   I arrived at the Mall today in time to catch everybody at the 3pm shift change:  Dick, Ralph, Art and Benjamin were their for the AM and Robin and Bill drove up today from Middleboro Mass to run trains tonight and tomorrow morning.  Bill made last years official video and said he would try it again this year, Yahooh!
Thank You "Video Bill"  We were hoping you would!

Here are some pictures and clips from today:  Please click here to view:

 

Very Good News!

   Carl passed along the news from the Maine Mall senior management that reported they had received an excellent review yesterday Dec 8th from General Growth Properties review team which flew in from Chicago to inspect this years Center Court Christmas Display which is as you all know Santa Claus and Maine Garden Railway Society.  Well done and Congratulations to all involved for contributing to such an impressive display and lifting up the spirits of thousands of viewers.   

We have reached 50!

No,  not 50 years old.  Even better than that,  we reached 50 different MGRS members that have offered to donate their time to help out at this years Maine Mall train display.  We really do want to stop and say "Thank you!".   Today Jeff Jacobs who brought in his own Lionel train to run was the man who put us over the top.  Thank you Jeff.  We hope that many more will still follow your example and join in and enjoy the show on a first hand basis.

Tribute to Circus Day

  I guess I always was a Circus fan but early this Spring I bought a Keystone Circus train on sale and that really got me started.  It was fun finding people and animals to join the Circus.  Bidding on E-bay for a couple extra circus cars and then customizing a couple of old cars that I had and finally printing out old circus posters to decorate with. . . .  and Presto! The Circus came to Littleville Falls! 

  I have had this all set up for months, but today being "Circus Day" I took a couple of pictures and a clip of the circus train in action.  Please take a look:   Who doesn't Love the Circus?

Dec 8th Circus Day

  I know that all the members or many of them interested in "Circus trains" will be meeting at the Maine Mall this morning before the train show begins to celebrate what they have named as "Circus Day".  Due to a doctors appointment I may not get any pictures but hopefully I will be able to find out what happened and report on it later.  I do wish all of the guys a great day of celebration and we all thank them for all the help and color and excitement they have brought to this years train show !

Thank you and Happy Circus Day!

From Dec 6, 2011

 The Maine Veterans and Santa both deserve better audio and video then I was able to get. But, I hope you will still enjoy watching them.  We all join together to thank them so much and truly wish them a Merry Christmas! To see  some additional pictures and  video from Dec 6, 2011.  Please click here:
     

Dec 6th Veterans Visit the Mall

 It was good to see over a dozen members of MGRS arrive early today to meet the Maine Veterans from the Scarborough home who came to visit us at the Mall.  They had a good time and they all seemed to enjoy seeing the sites of the Mall, the trains, and meeting Santa as he made the presentation of gifts from MGRS to them.  Carl had checked with Jeanne who said they wanted to have some structures to go with the train set we gave them last year.  Carl  had 3 or possibly 4 nice packages made up for them which Santa Claus handed out after giving a very nice talk.  He does a great job and is very sincere which is why he IS the REAL Santa.   Our own Mall press photographer took a lot of excellent photos, Thank you James very much! Excellent job.
If you would like to see them, please click here.


The remainder of the regular day was scheduled for Tiny, John, Benjamin and Jim in the AM.  Here is a little video of their trains running.  Tiny had a good looking Maine Central freight which featured a very realistic trailer transport from St. Johnsbury, which drew several compliments from the people today.  He also had a novelty car with "Tweety and Sylvester" remember them?  Ben was able to run his  LGB on the middle level.  He really loved the way it smoked and I have to say he really did get it going good!  Here are some train videos from today.  Please take a look ~ Click here:

As I left Carl went over to Santa and thanked him and said what a good job he did today.  Carl, Mac and Santa will all stay to 8Pm tonight and we thank them, They do a great job every day, and so do all the other members who continue to work hard, donating their time and efforts to give a gift to thousands of people every day that are pausing and enjoying our trains run by.

Monday Dec 5th

It's a good thing Meridel was there, someone had to be paying attention to the controls as the boys discussed all that important "stuff".  Thanks to all the crew on today which featured Dick & Meridel, Norm, Walter, Jim Jenkins, Carl & Mac, they just can't stay away.  It's to much fun at the Mall.  Tomorrow marks the halfway point and it seems like we just got started!  A transformer needed to be replaced today and that was taken care of quickly by Carl.  Everything else ran well and Jim brought in a good looking steam engine and passenger cars all decorated up for Christmas.  Take a look, please click here: