MGRS Train Display Sept 30th at SR&RL RR in Phillips

Art Shean is taking his mobile layout to the model rail and hobby show in Phillips, Maine on September 30^th. It runs from 9am-3pm and is jointly sponsored by the Phillips Area Community Center and the Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes Railroad. He will be running G-Scale SR&RL trains. Narrow gauge trains will be running all day, with a special run for vendors after show take down.

Art invites members to help with and visit this event. He can be reached at (207)-373-1608 or via email at agshean@comcast.net. 

Inn at the Village to visit Buxton at 11am on Friday July 28

A group from the Inn at the Village will be visiting the Overlook Garden Railway in Buxton this coming Friday, July 28th, at 11AM.

We need 2 or 3 volunteers to help with this group. Please call Carl at 712-7218 if you can help.

MGRS Annual Outing in Buxton

On Saturday July 15th the club held its Outing, Annual Meeting and Picnic at the Overlook Garden Railway in Buxton. The weather started off cloudy, but cleared off later with only one brief shower.

It all starts at Check-In, where you can pay your dues, get a ballot for the Annual Meeting, a Door Prize Ticket, and Raffles Tickets for the Railroad Quilt and 50/50 Raffle. And everyone received a set of directions to this summer's Layout Visits.

Terry Norton and Scott Gould with the Railroad Quilt

And the new trailer was open to visitors

Terry (with coffee), Ernie, Walter and Hunk

Then folks moved on to coffee and visiting with friends

Jerry & Judy Booth, Doug Johnson & Carl with Hunk and Terry at the tables

There was a combined train and circus display courtesy of Art Shean and Norman Waycott.

Frank Howard, Mary Garland ,  Art & Dahlia Handman, and Philip Lentz

Frank Howard running his Volkswagen Bus

Norman setting up the Sideshow

Lunch was hamburgers, hot dogs, and potluck dishes brought by the members. David Blue was our grill Master  He did spend a summer cooking for a railroad crew. Thanks to Carl & Pat Churchill for installing a new grill during the week before the Outing.

Scott Gould, Grace Miller, Ernie Bay, David Blue, Mike & Julie Curry

David Blue, Ernie Bay, Bill Goodrich, Scott Gould, and Joe Connolly

After lunch (and a little dessert), we moved on the to Annual Meeting. The election results were

President: Carl Churchill

Vice President: Art Handman

Treasurer: Dennis Farrell

Secretary: Terry Norton

Board Members: Ben Braithwaite, Hunk Erskine, Frank Howard, Mac McLaughlin and Norman Waycott.

The club offered thanks to Carl & Pat Churchill for holding the outing again at their home. And to Frank Howard for calling all the members to invite them to the Outing.

Then we moved on to the long-awaited auction. Mary Garland cheerfully issued numbers to each bidder.

Mary Garland, Frank Howard, Mike Curry, Paul Corbett & Jeff Jacobs

The auctioneers were from the slightly famous firm of Braithwaite, Howard and Norton.

Ben calling the bids with Frank & Terry holding the quilt

A relaxed auction crowd

Terry and Ben working the crowd

During the auction Ben discovered that the bidding team of  Walter Fossett and Scott Gould would bid a dollar on almost anything. So he started calling them "Dollar Store". They bid on and won a number of items. Scott also won one of the raffles, and gave the G-scale car he won to be auctioned.

Scott and Walter were using the electric Cushman cart. So here they are at the end of the auction, leaving with all their winnings.
Gigi Jackson donated a pair of railroad suspenders to the auction. They were won by Hunk Erskine, who always wears suspenders.

"Dollar Store" after the auction

At the end of the auction Frank Howard was presented with a special "Frank's" T-Shirt. It is from the Moxie Festival, and 

will help us remember his name. The shirt is from the new Frank's Restaurant in Lisbon Falls. It just opened at old Moxie Store location at the intersection of Routes 196 and 9 in the center of Lisbon Falls.

Scott Gould, Frank Howard

The outing wrapped up around 4 pm. Thanks to the many members who stayed to put away furniture and clean up.

Run Your Trains at the Outing on Saturday

You can run your trains at the Outing on Saturday. There will be an 8' wide x 16' long layout table with two loops to run on..

Greenberg Show Dates in Massachusetts

Future dates for the Greenberg's Great Train and Toy Show in Massachusetts are

Wilmington      Nov 18-19, 2017

Hanover           Jan 6-7, 2018

Wilmington     Mar 17-18, 2018

For details please visit Greenberg 2017-2017 Train and Toy Show Schedule

Model Trains at the Moxie Festival

On July 8 we had a chance to run G, O and Z Scale trains at the Moxie Festival in Lisbon Falls.

The main layout was on an 8’wide x 12’ long modular table built by Art Shean. It uses folding sawhorses, 2 x 4’s and plywood sections that lock together. It goes up and down in about 15 minutes. This table held the G and O scale trains.

Modular Table

The other layout was Z Scale by Ron Czaja of the Great Falls Model Railroad Club. He brought an operating “layout in a case”, and displayed a variety of engines, rolling stock, and accessories. Also included were a scale comparison of HO, N, and Z locomotives along with a Maine Rail Group map of railroad routes. Many of the visitors asked about the tiny trains and even tinier accessories.

G Scale from the Maine Garden Railway Society included a freight train loop and a trolley on a reversing line.

Engines: Boston and Maine A-B units with caboose and Santa Fe A-B units from Jim Jenkins along with SRR&RL and another steam locomotive from Art Shean.

Trolley Cars: Bachmann open trolley from Art Shean and LGB from Sam Carr

Rolling Stock with a Beverage Theme:

      Moxie Boxcar (Terry Norton) and Moxie Trailer on a Flat Car (Jim Jenkins)

·       Poland Springs, Coca-Cola, and RC Cola (Sam Carr) and Pepsi-Cola (Terry Norton)

O-Scale from the Maine 3Railers

Engines:

·       Sodor and Diesel from Thomas the Tank Engine

·       Lionel Coca-Cola locomotive – old enough so that there is a “forward/reverse” switch on the engine

·       Lionel “Lionchief Plus” Mikado & Challenger steam engines

·       Polar Express “Lionchief” steam engines.

All except the Coca-Cola locomotive have wireless remote controls for the kids to use. Jeff Jacobs brought the “Lionchief Plus” engines which were just delivered to the club. The “Lionchief Plus” system has a remote control that allows you to operate up to three engines.

Rolling Stock with a Beverage or New England Theme

·       Moxie, Fanta, Tab and Sprite boxcars along with a Coca-Cola caboose.

·       Maine Central, Bangor & Aroostook, Maine Blueberries, and Providence & Worcester boxcars along with a Maine Potatoes gondola.

      Special thanks to Doug Pollock for supporting the patriotic theme with the American Flag and Wreaths Across America display.

Moxie Festival Visitors

The train layout was located inside the MTM Recreation Center on School Street. Vendors were in the field behind the Center, including the Roving Railroad

Roving Railroad - not at the Moxie Festival.....

Visitors began arriving before the official 9 am opening. It was quieter during the Moxie Festival Parade, which runs from about 10 am to Noon.

Just before noon visitors began to pour in.  It was a lot like a weekend day at Cumberland Fair or the Maine Mall. And the Festival has a shuttle bus that brings people from parking at the High School to the downtown area and then to the MTM Center. We knew when each bus arrived!!

The kids had fun running the remote-controlled trains and watching the trolley to go into and come out of the barn. Many of the visitors live in the local area, and wanted the flyers for Great Falls events and Cumberland Fair. Things began to quiet down after 3 pm. At 3:30 a member of the Moxie Festival Committee drew the raffle winners for the Maine 3Railers O-scale  Moxie Boxcar and the Charles Ro G-Scale Moxie Trailer on a Flatcar

The Festival had a concert behind the Center on Saturday evening, and wraps up with a Car Show at the High School on Sunday.

Publicity

We had great support from the Moxie Festival folks both before and during the event.

Here is the entry from their web site.

The train display was also included the tabloid flyer for visitors. It was an advertising supplement in the Lewiston Sun-Journal on Thursday, July 6^th.