MGRS Trailer Update - Ready for Prime Time at the Outing on July 15th!

The trailer will be appearing at the Annual Outing in Buxton on July 15th. In addition to the large decals on the outside, the interior has new shelving that holds our Garden Railway equipment. Terry planned this project, and Sam helped him set it up. Terry is getting more bungie cords to secure the equipment. At the Outing  we will pick up the additional totes still at Carl's. Then some of the boxes can go into them for easier handling.

Next Stop Mill Field Festival in North Berwick on August 19th!!!

Shelf Test Fit Before Unloaind

Shelves Installed and Attached to the Walls

Trailer Reloaded

MGRS Operating Display at the Mill Field Festival in North Berwick on August 19

In addition to layout visits during the summer, MGRS is returning again to the Mill Field Festival in North Berwick on Saturday, August 19th. This is another chance for members to get together and have fun with other members and Festival visitors!!

The 16' x 32' outdoor layout will have a town and country railroad along with Thomas, Percy, and a trolley line. Many other fun activities and lots of food. Mill Field is located at the intersection of Main St and Market St. For GPS please use the Fire Department, 14 Market St., North Berwick, ME 03906. Here is a link to the flyer

 Mill Field Festival Flyer

Here are pictures from last year's event

Four Layouts to Visit This Summer

Members and families are invited to visit four layouts this summer. This is a chance to talk to other members, run some trains and learn more about “motion in the garden”. Visits will run from 1-4 pm.

     August 5, Jim & Ann Jenkins, 11 Adler Drive, Gray, ME 04039.  Please bring trains to run, and a chair if you want to.

A & J Railroad

August 26, Doug Johnson, 8 Lawn Ave, Gorham, ME 04038, 207-839-2046. Doug is building a second layout with a pond, waterfall, and cog railway.

Doug Johnson's New Layout

    September 9, Scott & Kris Gould, 25 Hunts Point Road, Cape Elizabeth, ME 04107, 207-799-9799

Aberdarion Station

·      September 16, Terry & Sue Norton, 1957 State Road, Eliot, ME  03093, 207-748-3009. Terry and Sue are adding buildings and Moxie rolling stock.

Moxie at Cash Corner

You are invited to the MGRS 16th Annual Open House and Business Meeting on Saturday, July 15th

MGRS members and families are invited to our largest get together of the year on July 15 from 10am to 4pm at Carl & Pat Churchill’s at 82 Carll Road in Buxton. Come to visit your friends and meet new ones

The club will provide hot dogs, hamburgers, drinks, ice, plates and utensils Please bring a side dish, salad, or dessert to share. Dennis Farrell will be our grill master.

The fun begins at 10am when you get your tickets for the door prize, 50/50 raffle and the 2^nd Railroad Quilt Auction (thanks to Sue Hoffman!). Lunch will be at Noon with the Annual Meeting at 1pm. The quilt drawing and charity auction will follow at 2pm.

Please bring items for the auction. And if you can, please volunteer to help with setup on Friday July 14 at 9am by contacting Sam Carr at 865-4467. The setup committee includes Frank Howard, Mary Garland, David Blue, Grace Miller, Sue Hoffman, Sam Carr, and Ben Braithwaite

MGRS Mobile Advertising

Here is a picture of Terry's truck. He is having fun advertising for MGRS with magnetic signs on his truck. Folks have talked to him about it and mentioned the Holiday Train Display.

For Sale - American Flyer 4730A Nickel Plate Switcher Train Set

This complete set includes the engine, cars, track, transformer and a number of original boxes. Run only at Christmas for about 10 years. List and description available. Price $350. Cash. Call 929-6335 evenings

Thanks for MGRS Participation in STRIVE Rocks

MGRS participated in Strive Rocks this past March and made a donation to the program. Strive serves tweens, teens and young adults with intellectual & emotional disabilities. For more information or to donate please visit https://www.pslstrive.org/

The STRIVE program of PSL Services is designed to address the many issues faced by tweens, teens, and young adults (ages 11-24) with developmental disabilities. Areas that we focus on include: improving fundamental academic skills, developing leadership potential, improving economic opportunities through continuing education, enhancing or upgrading work skills, integrating literary and social skills into occupational/vocational opportunities, fostering career opportunities through education and training, and promoting peer support for parents and siblings of this young population.

We received two notes of thanks.

Dear Maine Garden Railroad Society,
Thanks for your time and model building talents at STRIVE Rocks 2017!. Thanks to your help we raised over 86K during the weekend, enough to fund our next 12 months of programming for young adults with disabilities.
-STRIVE-

Dear Maine Garden Railway Society,
STRIVE would like to thank you for your donation of $500 toward ours programs. We have earmarked it as a STRIVE Rocks 2018 sponsorship and will be sure to include the MGRS logo on all event materials. In the meantime, rest assured that the dollars are being used for a great casue - on field trips, class materials to help students learn or succeed at wor, and morE1

Thank you,
STRIVE Rocks & STRIVE
Eben, Nick, Ryan, Pete, Stefanie, Chadd, Michaila, Betsy M.

Military Model Train Video from Togus

This video was taken at the Togus VA Medical Center in May 2017. Click on the link to see the video.


Military Model Train

The Challenger locomotive is pulling WWII vehicles including a canvas-topped Truck, Sherman Tanks, a Half-Track, Jeeps, and a variety of military rolling stock

G-Scale Trains at the Moxie Festival on July 8 in Lisbon Falls

There will be G-Scale trains at the Moxie Festival in Lisbon Falls on July 8.  The indoor space is 10' x 20' so the layout will be about 8' x 14' to allow space to walk around on 3 sides.  It will also be simple because the setup time is 6:30 to 8 am with operation from 8 am to 4 pm. Information about the Moxie Festival on July 7-8-9 can be found at http://moxiefestival.com/  The Moxie Congress will visit and hold their annual business meeting at  Seashore Trolley Musuem on Sunday, July 9. For details please visit https://trolleymuseum.org/event/moxie-day-seashore-trolley-museum/

The idea is to run rolling stock related to Moxie and other beverages. The likely trains are

G-Scale RC Cola Train with Moxie "Trailer on a Flat Car", Coca-Cola and Poland Springs water cars.

G-Scale Trolley on back and forth line

O-Scale Coca-Cola Train with Coke engine/caboose, Tab, Fanta, Sprite and Moxie cars

Here is the trial layout. Anyone interested in joining the fun can contact Sam at 865-4467.

Winterization Project on the Bagley Mountain Railroad -** Nursery Info added on 6/6/17**

Paul Smith sent in this information about protecting the live trees on his layout. His notes and photos speak for themselves.

The plants came from Iseli Nursery, http://www.iselinursery.com/  A local nursery special ordered the plant from them

Last year (fall of 2015) I put a burlap “shield” on the northwest side of my Jeans Dilly trees to protect them from the prevailing winter winds. That didn’t seem to help as I had those brown limbs on the trees the following spring. This photo was taken October 2015.

October 2015 Barrier

Last winter, I came home from Florida in the spring and inspected my plantings in the railway to see how they did. It was a low snow year, so there wasn’t much shelter from the winter weather. My south facing hillside which my tunnel runs through is covered with Jeans Dilly tress with a couple Pixie Dust interspersed. I found that I had some browning of the Jeans Dilly trees, but the Pixie Dust trees did fine. I didn’t know if it was the lack of snow that contributed to the dead limbs or sun exposure as the sun reflected off the low volume of snow and then hit the trees. So, last fall I set up a burlap “screen” on the south side of that hill to shield the trees from direct exposure to the sun. Of course we also had a much larger amount of snow this past winter. However, upon my arrival back home a couple weeks ago, I found all of those trees in good shape. Here is a photo of the shield that I made using a metal frame with burlap attached to it using clothespins.

 

Winter 2016 Barrier