MGRS supporting STRIVE

Great day at the Cross Arena in Portland.
I arrived at the doors at 0645 and was soon joined by Paul Corbett, Ben Braithwaite, and Sam Carr with his son Sam. Setup started at 0700 and during construction we were joined by Carl with Brian , Dennis Farrell and Mike Curry.
Operations started before 1000 and John Middleton came in soon thereafter.
There was a petting zoo and costumed individuals. Miss Maine was there with Miss Teen Maine.

Spring Meeting Come Early for Lunch and Discount

Two things about our Spring Meeting at 1 pm on March 19

Please plan to come early to eat lunch. That way you will not be stuck waiting in line during the meeting.

If you mention that you are with the Maine Garden Railway Society, you should receive a discount on your meal.

Hamster Powered G-Scale Model Railway

Here is a neat video courtesy of Gary Newton in Australia.

Hamster Powered Train

It came from the site UK and Ireland Heritage Railways. Its worth a visit to check out the pictures, video and detailed information about heritage railway in the United Kingdom and Ireland

G Scale Collection for Sale - Updated March 18 2016 at 6pm

This collection is for sale. To order please contact Sam via email at secarr1@comcast.net or by phone at 207-865-4467.  Everything is new in the box unless noted as “used” or “no box”. Items ordered by March 6 can be delivered at the MGRS Spring Meeting on March 19. Payment can be cash or check.

Neville Lewis G-Scale For Sale at Topsham Show on April 29

Neville Lewis will have a table at the Topsham Show on  Saturday April 29th. He will have engines, rolling stock, automobiles, trucks, figures and lots of accessories for sale.

The location is the Mt. Ararat High School Gym at 73 Eagles Way, Topsham, ME 04086, and the hours are 10am to 3pm

This is the largest regular train show in Maine with operating layouts, lots of vendors, food and free parking. It is sponsored by the Great Falls Model Railroad Club, and there is all a fall show in early November at the same location

Strive Rocks Floor Plan and Layout for the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland on March 11

Here are the floor and track plans for Strive Rocks on March 11 at the Cross Insurance Arena. We are in the same place as last year, facing out onto Middle Street.

The 24' wide x 39' long room is surrounded by glass panels. Our layout is 16' wide x 25' long so there will be walking space on all sides as we have at the Mall

Floor Plan

Track Plan

MGRS Spring Meeting on Sunday, March 19

 

The MGRS Spring Meeting will be held at the Home Town Buffet at 1pm on Sunday, March 19.

We know the place as the Old Country Buffet. The Home Town Buffet is a different name in the same chain of restaurants. It is still located in the Maine Mall between Sears and Best Buy.

The business meeting will include members' feedback on the Holiday Train Display. We hope you will join us for a good meal and a chance to visit with other MGRS Members



Please Visit the Scarborough Veterans Home

Members are encouraged to visit the Scarborough Veterans Home. You can talk with the veterans and see the button-operated MGRS train layout. They visit us at the Mall and also come out to Buxton. It is located at 290 U.S. Route 1 in Scarborough

MGRS Layout

Scarborough Veterans Home

Donation Thank You

 

MGRS Now has a Club Trailer

MGRS now has a 10' wide x 14' long single axle Club Trailer. It is silver and has both door on the side and two barn doors at the back.

It should look familiar as the  Club bought it from Tiny Lee.

MGRS at STRIVE Rocks in Portland on March 11th

We have accepted a request to return to the Cross Arena for the Strive Rocks event.

The date is March 11th from 10 to 6.

We are looking for volunteers for the train layout. Please contact Terry or Carl to sign up.

Dues for the New Year

Please renew your membership for  by sending a check for $15 to MGRS, 33 Elden Road, Buxton, ME 04093. (Updated 5/1/2023)

Springfield Show Report

The Railroad Hobby Show sponsored by the Amherst Railway Society was held this past Saturday and Sunday. It fills four of the larger buildings at the Eastern States Exposition in Springfield, Mass.

MGRS members attending included Norm Waycott, Art Handman, Jim Jenkins, Terry & Sue Norton, David Blue, Grace Miller, Ernie Bay and Sam Carr. Mike Shipp was busy in his York Village Marketplace booth.

Once you got your ticket, the first thing you heard and saw was steam locomotive #11 from the Boothbay Railway Village. It was outside, between the buildings with steam up and the whistle blowing.

Two foot steam locomotive #11

Charles Ro had a bunch of G-Scale on display with an engine lineup in front

Charles Ro engine lineup

The New Hampshire Garden Railway Society had a big modular layout running around the outside of a 68' x 54' space.

NHGRS Switch Yard

NHGRS Work Train

NHGRS Railway Police and Emergency Services

NHGRS Military Train Video

The Central Connecticut G Scale Club also had a large modular layout

                             Central CT Turntable

 Central CT Container Handling Operation

Might grow up to be a Drawbridge

Central CT Auto Loading Facility

Drive-in Theater running Mary Poppins on a small TV

Central Connecticut Mixed Train Video

Here are a few other fun things from the show

Wind Turbine - HO Scale - Dry Hill Model RR Club

Pioneer Valley Live Steamers

Utility Company Garage - NMRA Hub Division

Thomas Layout in the Kid's Area

Videos of 2016 Holiday Train Display

Thanks to Jim Alberty from Apple, here is the video of the 2016 Holiday Train Display

2016 Holiday Train Display

Here is what Jim said about it on Youtube

Published on Jan 4, 2017

And here it is, my annual Holiday gift to the world .... every year the Maine Garden Railways Society (https://sites.google.com/a/jacksoncon...) puts a wonderful G-Scale train set in our local mall .... and give me the privilege of filming it for the purpose of making a video and writing a soundtrack ..... this year was no exception .... I started with the walk down the corridor that opens the video and then built it from there, using Final Cut Pro X and my old friend Logic Pro X .... hope you like it .... these guys do incredible work every year and it's always a blast to see children enjoy it .... happy holidays to you all ....

Members Bill and Robin Goodrich also created a video with some of their trains, trolleys, and (as always) really neat handcars.

Maine Mall Trains 2016

Items for Sale by Jim Muthig

Jim has the following items for sale. Please contact him at  jmuthig3@gmail.com or call 2072066102

USA 17024 St. Johnsbury Trailer on a Flat Car, NIB $85.00

LGB 45590 Truck Transport and Trucks, NIB, $100

USA Trains R1765 USMC Flat Car with 2 Dodge Power Wagons, NIB, $85.00 

Miniature Railroad and Village at Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh

I happened to find this on the Internet while looking for a model train show. Its worth a look on your computer.

Miniature Railroad and Village Web site

Here it is by the numbers

And there is a nice collection of pictures at

Miniature Railroad Photos

The Chocolate Train

Thanks to Dennis Farrell we have a story about a train in Belgium which is made out of chocolate

Locomotive and Tender

Click here for a Chocolate Train web story

A train made entirely of chocolate has set a new Guinness World Record as the longest chocolate structure in the world...        The sculpture, on display at the busy Brussels South station, is 112-feet (34.05 meters) long and weighs over 2,755 pounds  (1250 kilos).  Maltese chocolate artist Andrew Farrugia spent over 700 hours constructing the masterpiece. He said he came up with the idea of the train last year after visiting the Belgian Chocolate Festival in Bruge: "I had this idea for a while, and I said what do you think if we do this realization of a long chocolate train, you know, because a train you can make it as long as you like. "Actually it was going to be much smaller than it was, but I kept on adding another wagon, and another wagon, and it's the size it is today." Farrugia had previously built a smaller train of 12 feet for an event in Malta, which he said gave him insight about how to build this much larger version. There are two parts to the train. The first seven wagons are modeled after the new Belgian trains, and the rest of the train is modeled after the old train wagons, including a wagon with a bar and restaurant on board. Three days before the event, Farrugia transported the chocolate train by truck in 25 wooden boxes from Malta to Belgium. Farrugia said the train incurred considerable damage during the drive and several of the train's walls had completely collapsed.. Luckily, with hard work and little sleep, the chocolate artist was able to fix all the damages before presenting the train to the public on Monday. After measuring the length of the train and confirming no material other than chocolate was used, officials from the Guinness Book of World Records added a new category to the collection of world records and declared the train to be the longest chocolate structure in the world. Freight and Treasure Chest Cars Passenger Cars Flat Car and Vat Car

2016 Season Finale

After running from November 18 through January 1, the 7th Annual Holiday Train Display at the Maine Mall was dismantled and moved out today.  We started after 8am, left the Mall at 11, and finished unloading in Buxton just before noon.

Here is the "cast" for the move out, in no particular order.....

John Middleton

Norman Waycott

Paul Corbett

Andy Hendrickson

Carl Churchill

Mac McLaughlin

Mike Curry

David  Blue

Terry Norton

Jim Muthig

Frank Howard

Mary Garland

Art Shean

Dennis Farrell

Jim Jenkins

Sam Carr and son

Ben Braithwaite

Special thanks to Casco Bay Ford for providing the cargo van for the move in and move out.

Waiting for the next run......

Rail Diesel Cars Coal and Mixed Trains roll into 2017

This past week we had the fun of seeing two Rail Diesel Cars (RDCs), also known at the Buddliner operating at the Holiday Train  Display. The Budd Corporation built almost 400 of the prototype car in four different models. They replaced the railbus built earlier by several other companies.


RDC-1  90 passenger coach
RDC-2  70 passenger coach with baggage compartment
RDC-3   48 passenger coach with baggage compartment and   Railway Post Office
RDC-4   Railway Post Office and baggage compartment only
RDC-9   94 passenger trailer with engine but no control cab

Prototype RDC

The G-Scale units are RDC-3s built by Aristocraft.  Jim Jenkins ran his RDC pulling two New York Central coaches. The unit runs smoothly and quietly. It can also produce smoke.

Pennsylvania Reading Seashore Line

RDC and Circus Train Run By

Prospective member Ed Smith came by on Saturday evening and had a chance to run his brand new Boston and Maine RDC. It looked great!!

Boston and Maine

RDC running past the Circus

A short coal train came through. It  only had  four Aristocrat coal cars. They are shorter than the Piko coal cars, but the train looked right with a steam engine, passenger car and Bobber Caboose.

Another visitor was a mixed train with two Rio Grande diesel engines.

Twin Diesel Mixed Train Runby

John Middleton has a long and narrow time-saver layout. So his buildings are also long a narrow. Since the Circus left town we had space to set them out and show their nice detail.

Specialty Fasteners Co. (Loose screws, nuts and washers)

Flavors and Extracts, Inc. (Your favorite tonics)

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Casco Bay Ford vehicles fueling up at the Esso Tank Farm

MGRS Engineers always stop at Ernie's Diner