Trains Running

March 24, 2009 1:33PM

The Meadowbrook and Casco Bay Garden Railway began it's 2009 operation today at the noted time. Trolley track was clear of snow and debris. Track was cleaned and off they went, Mighty Macks and Eggliners

B&M # 6000

Traveling more then 700 miles a day, 6 days a week the Flying Yankee provided service from Boston to Bangor starting and ending it’s trip in Portland Maine. Service began in 1935. Please watch and listen.

Paul's West Buxton Library Train Exhibit

Thursday morning which was March 12, 2009 Paul arrived at Carl's with his whole truck packed with trains, buildings and track. Walter and John where there to help as Carl 'borrowed' a big pile of Pat's folding craft tables loaded them into his truck and off they went to meet Charlene the very nice lady who manages the West Buxton Library. It is a beautiful historic building located across from the picturesque Saco River on Rt. 112. It turned out that Walter and she had gone to grade school together. So she immediately liked us all! The tables were perfect and Paul covered them with special cloth he has. Then we all tried to play 'connect the track' which was a lot of fun until Paul revealed that he had several curves that were cut to slightly odd lengths. Luckily, Paul found the last missing piece he needed to complete the layout and we were ready for a test run.
That much done and the clock ticking away we got out of the way and left Paul to add all his detail Indian and Western Town display. Paul had it all completed and ready for the 4:00pm Opening which went to 8:00pm that night. Then he came back early Saturday morning until 1:00pm. The library is a beautiful building and there was also a very nice art display on the walls which was done by a local artist. The attendance was good and the trains attracted lots of interest especially from the kids which there were a lot off. I know Paul gets a lot of enjoyment from teaching the children about trains. MGRS also donated train video tapes and Thomas stories to the Library which will make them available to many more children through its video program. It was a great show. Thank you Paul for all that you do.

California Zephyr Anniversary

One of my brothers called from Colorado this morning to say that today is the 60th anniversary of the California Zephyr, one of the country's premier long-distance trains. The Zephyr ran from Chicago to San Francisco over the Burlington, Rio Grande, and Western Pacific railways. The usual consist included eleven stainless steel Budd cars, five of them with vista domes. I traveled on the Zephyr between Grand Junction, Colorado and San Francisco when I was in college. The $50 trip took 28 hours, most of which I spent in a vista dome. There never was a better way to travel. The last Zephyr made the journey on March 21, 1970, sixty years to the day from its first trip.

The Flying Yankee

The Flying Yankee ~ To view Video click here
Follow Up Report click here

~ LIVE STEAM~

Larry and Pattie Goodhue's 7th Annual Southern NH Invitational Steamup - Photos by Richard Jenkins

If you want to see a very interesting slide show click on the above link. After it starts click once on a picture and you be able to read all of the descriptions which explain each photo. It is well worth studying.

If you want to see more of where these came from look for the NHGRS Logo on left hand side of the Blog. Click on it and then select photos.

Green is the color of the Day

Nashua Telegraph coverage of Milford Show

Tiny Lee sent us the link to Nashua Telegraph On-Line slide show coverage of the recent NHGRS Train Show. Click here to view: (use Back Arrow to return)

New Hampshire Train Show

MGRS members Carl Churchill, John Jackson, and Tiny Lee at the Milford, New Hampshire Train Show. Tiny does double-duty as a member of the New Hampshire Garden Railroad Society, which has more than sixty active members.

NHGRS member Tom Foley prefers to work in 7/8th scale. Here are pictures of a dockside scene he has modeled, including a toy truck from a Home Goods store he has modified into a railcar.

The most popular place at the show, at least for those under six or seven, was a room full of toy trains. Here's hoping that we're seeing the blossoming of a new generation of train lovers.

Thank you New Hampshire!

Thank you for the great hospitality of NHGRS members who met with some fellow members of MGRS that visited to see the 8th Gigantic Train Show at the Milford High School this past weekend. Special thanks to Denneth 'tiny' Lee as he introduced us to as many people as possible including Larry Goodhue, John Foley, Barbara Kessler, Harriet Cutler and so many others whom I apologizes to for not writing down your names but I will remember your friendly faces the next time we have a chance to meet. You all combined to put on a great show and it was very impressive to hear that your main layout which took up most of the gymnasium was completed in under 5 hours! I have a few slide show pictures which do not do justice to your displays. Hopefully I will be able to add some videos. Slideshow Pictures.

Bridges

From our member Denneth 'tiny' Lee in New Hampshire who sends us this excellent reference for Bridges in the United States. Thank you! http://bridgehunter.com/

Train at the bottom of the Piscataqua River.

I ran across the included link for an article about B&Ms #3666, 4-6-2 around September 11, 1939.(Interesting Date!)

The attached link goes to a Newsletter from the "Walker Transportation Collection". Unfortunately there is more to the newsletter than is really pertinent here, but I couldn't figure out how to include only pages 8 and 9. They are the pertinent pages.

http://www.beverlyhistory.org/200701smnews.pdf

Some of you probably already know of this!

Dot's Place a Maine Cape Farmhouse

My latest project is another house that I call Dot's Place...for my Sister-in-law who owns the place where this house stood. It is based on old photos of the house by the Kennebec River, here in Phippsburg. It was probably colonial vintage and was a farm house. The barn stood near where Dot's house now stands. One photo shows the family posing in front probably in the 1880's another shows it abandoned, probably in the 1920's. I had to make up the "L" an pourch as they did not show on the photos.

I molded the windows using a silicone mold and Urethane resin. they came out OK but I do have trouble getting all the mullions to fill properly. many windows have patches but they do not show too much.

I havn't seen the ground since Christmas, so I am not exactly sure where to put my new buildings. I am excited to find them spots and give them some plantings.

Nostalgia for Steam

For those of you who can remember when steam still ruled, these pictures should bring back fond memories. I had almost forgotten the towering columns of smoke a loco would spew when under full steam. I don't know the source of the pictures, so I can't give credit for them. But they were apparently taken in just the last three years.

Cabin Fever getting to you?

Tiny sent me this picture of a wild Maine Moose. I do not have all the details but I know all this snow is having a bad effect on our abilities to think clearly. We may need to get out more. I am thinking about driving to Milford to see the NH Clubs layout plus 'live steam' 7/8 scale, plus others. If your interested in seeing that show and we can hook up conveniently you are welcome to join me for the ride. Use the gadget at the bottom of the blog to contact me for details.
Thanks,
John

Copper Roof...

This roof is copper "flashing" from Lowes. it is not the real thing...copper sheet but is copper foil bonded to a plastic backing. I wish it was self adhesive-peel and stick but it is not. As the material came in a 12" wide roll, I had to cut 13" wide sections which overlapped to cover each side of my 30 x 13 roof.

I used a dulled awl to "draw" the raised seams from the bottom or baking side of the material. It is soft enough that a firm uniform pressure makes a nice line when I used a square as a guide.

I distorted the material when drawing the lines on it so that it did not want to lie flat. I needed to glue it down. I used waterproof contact cement which seemed to work quite well; but as it was cold (no power-no heat) when I did it, it came unstuck...well only partly unstuck. I was able to peel it back a bit and brush in some more glue...we'll see if it works, I guess I have enough flashing to try again.

by the way, the building in the background of the previously posted photo is roofed with ice and water sheild. this roofing underlayment was coated with grit to make it less slippery. It lasted over a year on my house in Connecticut without shingles on top and kept the house dry. I had some extra and it seems to work well on models too. I have yet to find more. it is expensive, about $100/roll, but that is enough to do about 30 scale houses!

Trains , Trains and more Trains

I got lucky this afternoon and resting with a cold, I stumbled onto a marathon of 'Extreme Trains' History Channel, (in fact running 2 or 3 more episodes right now). I was enjoying the Union Pacific 844 and they went up to the cab and watching the engineer blow the whistle at an up coming grade crossing. So here is an easy one (except I did not know for sure) What is the long and short pattern for the whistle?

Answer: - Two long, one short, one long: Train is approaching a grade level crossing (i.e. a road crossing). This is a widely used safety signal used to warn motorists and is blown at every grade level crossing, except where local noise ordinances prohibit it. Known in railroad rulebooks as rule '14L'
SCGRR was the first with the right answer! Plus the link he found has been added to the Blog.

Where the windows went...

Here is a photo of the "mill" I have been working on. It utilizes the windows I showed off a couple of weeks ago.

The building is basically a barn, but with more windows of course. It is built from 1/2" plywood with cedar strip battents glued on. An "L" on the back side will be a loading dock next to the tracks.

The "boiler shed" is a seperate peice which can be installed in any of several locations. I sawed the smoke stack from a 30" peice of pressure treated 4x4 using my band saw. I just left the natural saw-texture to simulate brick work. the paint is a mix of rust-o-leum mixed with linseed oil.

I had a plan to make standing seam roofing from 14" aluminum flashing but the "press" I made is not quite up to the task. any roofing suggestions? I am not up to the task of 4000+ wood shingles. I want a long lasting waterproof roof so I can leave the building out...it is too big to move around.

I LoveToy Trains and Thomas the Tank Engine Videos

Donated to MGRS by Kimberly Alling. ~ We have approximately 40 VCR Videos in excellent condition that are being given to benefit Maine Garden Railway Society. Unless otherwise directed by the BOD these will be going into the annual MGRS Auction. They are from the series "I Love Toy Trains and "Thomas the Tank Engine".

MAY open house in Phippsburg...

I am hosting a MGRS open house on May 2nd(Saturday) rain date the following day. Official arrival time to be about 11:00. It will be posted on the news letter.

I invite any live-steam or battery powered locos to share the rails. about 100 feet of main line (single track) with reversing loops and some simple yards. minimum radius 6 feet (I think) clearance 5 1/2" wide 8-1/2" tall.

I would supply soda, burgers and dogs, for a semi pot luck cookout.

Directions:
Route 1 towards Bath (from north or south)
exit for Route 209 (Phippsburg, Popham, Sabasco)

From North, route 209 passes the Bath Iron works and Maine Maritime Museum then turn left at stop sign.

Follow Rt 209 over causeway into Phippsburg.

1 mile after causeway, turn Left onto Fiddler's Reach Road.

1/2 mile after turn turn Left onto Captain Perry Drive

At end cul-de-sac turn Right onto our driveway #83 on the white kayak sign. The track is right there! Drive in to park

phone Eric at 207-386-0129