Victorian Christmas Excursion

The Winnegance and Quebec Railway ran its annual Victorian Christmas train over the weekend. there was a good turn out and extra cars were added.

Likewise, the WW&F railway Museum had a good crowd for their Victorian Christmas Train.

I put together a little video showing some highlights:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPk7bGSQR_k

By the way this engine started life as Carl's Red Ruby.

Good Bye for a while

A dozen of our favorite visitors from the Maine Veterans Home in Scarborough had their final summer outing of the year today at MGRS in Buxton.  It was appropriately the best day of the year as they enjoyed the trains again.  Walter and Dick, Carl and Mac kept everything running smooth,  both G scale and  Golf cart scale.  Everything was looking good!  We enjoy them a lot and the veterans look forward to seeing us, in fact they said they would be out to say 'hi' to us at the Mall later this year.  Thanks, we think you are great and we wish you wellness and happiness until the next time.

They're coming anyway! 75 State Street is on the way.

Carl just called me and said 75 State St. wants to come out for a outing tomorrow!  Well Carl being a very kindhearted man could not turn them away.  They said they would be gone by 1:30 which gives him just enough time to get to Doug's Open House at 2:00pm.   They will arrive about 10:30.  Sooooooo, if you can manage to stop over and help Carl out tomorrow, I am sure that he will appreciate it.  Thank you!
Follow up: Thank you to the members that responded so quickly and came out to Carl's this morning to help him with 75 State St.  You really did do a good deed and a great job! 

The Teen Extreme

Here are a couple more shots of students from the Gorham Teen Extreme Summer Camp, who helped out today (as John mentioned) at the Overlook Garden Railway. The group meets Monday each week to help in various community activities. Today they accompanied visitors from the Maine Veterans Home. They were supervised by Gorham teacher Gregg Morton. What a neat program. Thanks for the help!

Great Day at Overlook Garden Railway

August started out great as the Maine Veteran's came out to visit MGRS.  Today the wheelchair unit visited us and they arrived in their Veterans bus along with a special truck and another van full of enthusiastic kids from Gorham Rec.  The kids were great and very helpful as they assisted the Vets and did all the heavy work.
They really were great! They loved the trains, frog ponds, dogs and cart rides.  I did not know Scott could drive like a NASCAR pro.  Carl was busy with everything and Pat and Mac and John rounded out the MGRS crew.  All together it was a very good way to start out a new summer month.   Dick had 3 trains running smoothly as you can see above.  The Veterans, the Youngsters from Gorham and MGRS all had a great time together!

Gorham House has big outing at MGRS

Two full bus loads plus a car from Gorham House  Retirement Home arrived today at Carl and Pats Overlook Garden Railway in Buxton.   They picked a perfect day and they went right to work and settled in quickly.  Carl and Pat with Mac, and Jack got them everything they needed.  Soon the great smell of Hamburgers and hot dogs on the charcoal grill was in the air.  They had an excellent time.  Walter, did a fine job of keeping the trains and trolley running while John and Neil kept him company.  Two other MGRS members stopped by to visit again.  This was the 3rd day in a row that Carl has had special outings.  All the visitors seem to really appreciate getting outside in the beautiful surroundings and enjoy all the hospitality that MGRS offers. 

Here are a couple quick train clips

 

Cross Road Garden Club visits MGRS

The good folks from Cross Road Garden Club from Windham, Maine visited Maine Garden Railway Society today as they toured the Gardens and enjoyed the sights and sounds of the trains.  They were greeted by members Carl, Pat, Hunk, Betty, Walter, Dick, Mac, John and Neil.   Here is a clip of Mallet 2-8-8-2 as she thunders past.

Wardell Retirement has an Exciting Day

  
One of the three vehicles full of Wardwell Retirement Community residents from Saco broke down and the occupants had to be rescued by MGRS.  That was an exciting start to another great day of adventure, fun, food, trains and making friends!  Today's event was attended by many MGRS members.  New  Director Richard Young brought by two of his friends who are also planning on helping out Richard at the Maine Mall Train Display and introduced them to Garden Railroading.  Other MGRS members who where very helpful today were Grace and David, Walter, Scott, Mac, John, Carl and Pat.  We  truly did enjoy the very nice people from Wardwell today as we shared  rides on the trails out back, a nice lunch and some good stories.  Plus we enjoyed the trains and the comradery of other members.  The outings are becoming very popular with us and with the groups that attend.  Today one of the Directors on the Board of the six Veterans Homes in Maine came by with his wife to visit and take pictures.  We know them as Paul and Maryanne who are very active helping the veterans and assist them on visits to MGRS. So it was great to see them on a day of their own!  Once again, special thanks to Scott as he was last seen driving off headed to Saco with a car full of folks needing a ride back home.  
    http://www.wardwell.org/wardwell_home.shtml

Veterans Outing July 2010

Thanks to the Maine Veterans Home in Scarborough and to MGRS Members Tiny, Walter, Mac, Dick, Carl, Scott, Neil and John for an excellent Outing!   

Boston & Maine 1950's from Dover NH. Pictured below styled car was brought by Tiny - It ran great! 

Maine Veterans Home of Scarborough visits MGRS

Summer is officially here and the Vets were the first to arrive and visit Overlook Garden Railway today. The weather was great and considering it was the first outing of the year the trains ran great! The big Amtrak look very realistic as it passed "Gorham Station". Two Golfcarts and a People-Carrier were in operation as the full busload of veterans enjoyed the beautiful day. It's to bad they cannot carry more as there were several folks who had to stay behind that wanted to come. Thanks to Carl, Walter, Mac, Tiny, Doug and John for helping out and thanks again to the staff (Jeannine and Paul and Mary) for also doing a great job. Everyone enjoyed the trains and garden, had a nice picnic lunch and had fun playing with the dogs too. As they drove away they honked, waved and said "See you next month"!