Model Railroad Celebration at the Maine State Museum

The annual Model Railroad Celebration took place at the Maine State Museum on the first weekend in December. The Great Falls Model Railroad Club, Wiscasset, Waterville, and Farmington Narrow Gauge Railway and the Maine 3Railers O Scale Model Railroad Club  had layouts.

Village with Triple Track Bridge

Canadian Pacific Holiday Train with Lionel Camera Car

 

The Lionel Camera Car is a new product this year. The camera is in the back of the car. It transmits pictures to a tablet so they can be seen by visitors to the layout.

 

 

Polar Express Layout

 

 

Holiday Layout

 

 

Video of Brewery Building Operation

 

 

The Real Canadian Pacific Holiday Train

 

 

 

 

 

 






Model Train Village at the L.L. Bean Northern Lights Festival

Boothbay Railway Village is back for the 3rd year with the Model Train Village in the Children's Department on the 2nd floor of the Freeport Store.

Here are some pictured videos of the fun with train. There are two G-Scale trains on the outside of the layout and a raised O-Scale train in the center.  There is also a working carousel, rotating Christmas Tree, and two skating rinks.

L.L Bean Freeport Store 1920s Era Model

 

Model of Freeport Station

 

 

Trains and Operating Carousel

 

 

Around the Village

 

Trains Crossing at Thorndike Station

 

All Three Trains

 

 

The actual Freeport Station can now be seen at the Boothbay Railway Village.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maine Train Lines at the Westbrook Festival of Trees

MGRS provided and staff the Maine Line Trains at the Westbrook Festival of Trees again this year.

The Festival is held at the Westbrook Warren Congregational Church for a week in early December each year. Paul Corbett began providing the Maine Line Trains layout about a dozen years ago, and it continues with the help of MGRS volunteers.

The trains runs during the many activities that happen during the Festival, and all the Kindergarden classes in Westbrook come to

 

visit. This is definitely "fun for children of all ages"



Christmas Tree Stand



Lights Out Video





Village Siding Stop

Passengers at the Station

Snowball Fight

 

 

Behind the Scenes

 

Santa Bear on Skis

 

Moose and Calf near the tracks

 

Thanks to Dennis & Agnes Farrell, Peter Richards,  Paul Schell, Doug Johnson, Paul Corbett and Sam Carr for helping with this event.

 

Paul Schnell also leads the Boy Singers of Maine who performed at the Festival on Saturday evening.

 

Boy  Singers of Maine

 

 

Running Trains at the Mall

 

 

 

We are well into running trains in our 4th week of the Holiday Train Display. Lots of visitors have come to see us, and crowds are sometimes large. The raffle for a Thomas  Christmas set is VERY popular with lots of folks filling out entries for the drawing on December 22nd.

Skating Rink near North Conway Station

31 Circus Elephants mean a lot of Cleanup


Patriot Tool & Die built by Ernie Packard

Canadian Pacific rolls under the John Jackson Drawbridge

 

 

New Food Truck at the Mall

 

Ask Tice Leonard about his patches....

 

"Back to the Future" rides the rails

 

Here is a video of two European Trains

 

LGB Freight and Passenger Trains

 

Used Car lot - vehicles by Terry Norton and building by Ernie Packard

 

 

Thomas & Percy - the Kids Favorite

 

 

Do you see the Fisherman at the Fish Pool?

 

Amtrak passing Packard Lumber Co.

 

 

 

 

 

 

You Are Invited to a Member Social at the Mall on Saturday, December 1st at 5pm

Members and families are invited to join us at the Holiday Train Display on Saturday, December 1st at 5pm.

This is a chance for everyone to visit some old friends and make some new ones.

At 6pm we will head over to the Old Country Buffet to dine together.

And there are some new things to see

New Circus Wagons



Patriot Tool and Die

 

Tank Cars Rolling by the Skating Rink





Packard Lumber Log Delivery

 

Video of G, HO, and N Scale Trains from the Great Falls EXTRAINANZA Event

Here is video by the Lewiston Sun-Journal of the annual EXTRAINAGANZA event for children at the Great Falls Model Railroad Club. Its shows G, HO, and N Scale trains with several cameo appearances by our own John Middleton.

EXTRAINAGANZA Nov 2018

Mall Setup Almost Done - please sign up to help once we open

 

As of this evening the MGRS setup for the Holiday Train Display is nearly complete. All the train lines and buttons for the kids are working. And the buildings have been put in place. On Tuesday afternoon the Mall Staff will begin putting up the fence around the layout and getting the rest of "Winter Wonderland" ready to open on  Friday.

Please sign up to help when the trains are running between November 16 and December 24. They will be running every day except on Thanksgiving when the Mall is closed.

Shifts are 10am-3pm and 3pm to 8pm Monday through Saturday, and 10am-6pm on Sunday.

You can sign up by clicking on the Sign Up button on the Blog.

The first thing you will see is the schedule for the current month - as shown below.

 

Below that is a form for you to sign up for time. Fill in your information and click on the Submit button

 

 

Here are some pictures of the 2018 Layout.

 

Traffic Jam at the Mall Today

Add caption

Thomas and Percy Platform


North Conway Station and Village


Mountain Train

Patriot Tool and Die

 

Village Mall beside main lines and trolley track

 

 

Horse Tent at the Circus

EIMSKIP Containers with Campground Area
behind to be set up

Operator Area with Jackson Drawbridge Up

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mall Setup Report for November 1-2

Setup began at 10am on Thursday, 11/1 with the arrival of Terry with the trailer. We unloaded the trailer and brought in the buildings loaned by Ernie Packard for the Holiday Train Display.



Bill Goodrich, John Middleton, Norm Waycott, and David Blue



The tables were ready and work began with added the new "over the rail" split jaw clamps to each track. Members took sections to work on once the John Jackson Drawbridge was in place to provide a starting point for the main platform.
Dennis-Thomas and Percy
John M - Inner and outer main lines
Ben- Mountain Track
Norm - Circus
Peter - Trolley
Terry-transformer, button box, and electrical setup



Terry Norton and Ben Braithwaite

Setup crew included Terry Norton, Ben Braithwaite, Dennis Farrell, Peter Richards, Norm Waycott, Bill Goodrich, Jeff Jacobs, David Blue, Carl Churchill, Mac McLaughlin and Sam Carr.

Dennis Farrell and Peter Richards

This layout will be left in place once we close so it can be used next year. The club will purchase new track for other events.

Setup continued on Friday 11/2 with Terry Norton, Ben Braithwaite, Peter Richards, and David Blue. By noon all tracks were complete. Terry and Dave were putting in electrical runs for tracks and buttons. Dave made excellent use of the "creeper" dolly he brought to the Mall.

Westbrook Festival of Trees from December 1-8 -Volunteer Train Engineers Wanted

The Festival of Trees will return to the Westbrook-Warren Congregational Church this year from December 1-8.  The trees are donated by local businesses and decorated by charitable groups. All business and visitor donations go to local charities.

The Festival is an opportunity for visitors  to view the trees and take part in a variety of events. Full details can be found at

Westbrook Festival of Trees 

 

 

MGRS Member Paul Corbett has provided a G Scale Train display at the Festival for a number of years. All of the kindergarten students in Westbrook come to the Festival and visit the trains.

 

 

 

Other MGRS members volunteer as Engineers for the "Maine Line Trains" layout at the Festival. It is a simple loop with lots of Christmas decorations and lights. The magic starts when we turn off the ceiling lights and start up the trains.

 

Maine Lines Train Schedule

 

Day                 Hours             Activity

Mon, 11/26     9am                 Move in

Sat, 12/1          8:30-11am      Santa Breakfast

                        5-7:30pm        Public Dinner

Sun, 12/2         1-3pm            Teddy Bear Tea

Mon, 12/3       9am-Noon      Congin School

                        6-7pm            Public Hours

Tue, 12/4         1-4pm            Mad Hatters Tea

Wed, 12/5       10am-Noon    Sacarappa Schol

                        2-4pm            Public Hours

Thu, 12/6        10am-1pm      Public Dinner

                        2-3:30pm       Care Facilities Visit

Fri 12/7           10am-1pm     Charity Lunch

                        6-8pm            Boy Singers of Maine

Sat, 12/8          10am-Noon   Mystery Gift Tree

                        Noon             Move Out

Volunteer Engineers are welcome. Here is the Train Schedule. If you would like to join us please contact Sam Carr or send email to mgrsadmin@gmail.com

 

 

 



Neville Lewis has Engines, Track and Accessories for Sale

Neville Lewis has G scale engines, track and accessories for sale. You can contact him at (207) 354-8055 about the G Scale items and arrange a visit to see them in Cushing, ME.

Sale Table Available at the Mt. Ararat Show in Topsham on November 3rd

There is a sale table available at the Mt. Ararat Show in Topsham on November 3rd. The MGRS member who rented it will not be able to attend the show. Any MGRS member can have this pre-paid table at no cost - first come, first served

If you want to sell trains at the show, please contact Sam Carr to use this table

Holiday Train Display Update

The 9^th Annual Holiday Train Display will start with Santa  on November 16th and run through December 24 except on Thanksgiving Please come and help us with setup starting at 10am on Thursday, November 1^st . Opening Day is  Saturday, November 17.Trains will run through Christmas Eve except on Thanksgiving when the Mall is closed. The plan this year is an “L” shape. The lower platform with  Thomas and Percy are at the top (Santa end). The higher platform has has the Main, Trolley, and Mountain Lines with the Circus at the left. The layout is shown on the next page. Please bring your trains to run and don’t forget your Eggliners!!!

 

Please use the SIGN-UP button on the blog to schedule your time to help at the layout. Shifts are 10-3 and 3-8 except Sunday which is 10-6.

Denver & Rio Grand Western Offset Caboose for Sale

Doug Johnson has an MTH Railking One Gauge Offset Caboose for sale. This is model #70-7704 and is new in the box with the original plastic bag. The price is $50.

If interested, please contact Doug at  drj1me@yahoo.com or (207) 839-2946

MGRS Special Event at the Westbrook Festival of Trees

Paul Corbett and MGRS have provided a small operating train display at the Westbrook Festival of Trees for a number of years. The trains run when the Festival is open to the public. And each of the kindergarten classes in the Westbrook Schools comes to the Festival to see the trees, visit the trains, and have StoryTime.

This year setup is on the morning of November 25, and the Festival runs from December 1-8.
If you can help with setup or running trains for visitors, please contact Sam Carr (secarr1@comcast.net)

Here is a picture from the 2017 Festival. The layout is in separate room, so we turn the lights out when we start the trains. This allows the visitors to see the lights on the trains, buildings and holiday decorations.

MGRS Trains at the Fall Model Railroad Show in Topsham on November 3rd

MGRS will have an operating layout at the Fall Model Railroad Show in Topsham on Saturday, November 3rd. Sponsored by the Great Falls Model Railroad Club, these Fall and Spring events are the largest model train shows in Maine.

We have participated in this show for the last several years, staring with John Middleton's Time Saver layout and now with a larger layout managed by Art Shean.

The show takes place on Saturday, November 3rd from 10am to 3pm. Setup begins at 4pm on Friday

If you can help with setup, operation, or move out, please contact Art Shean. ArtShean@comcast.net

MGRS Trains at the Model Train & Hobby Fair in Phillips, ME on Saturday, September 30th.

MGRS will have and operating layout at the Model Train and Hobby Fair at the  Phillips Area Community Center, 21 Depot Street, Phillips, Maine 04966. Hours 9a-3p. Sandy River and Rangeley Lake Railroad trains will be running out of Sanders Station from 11am-3pm. For details please visit http://phillipspacc.org or contact Pam Matthews, pam15river@gmail.com or 207-639-2630. For the trains please visit http://www.srrl-rr.org/

If you can help with this event please contact Art Shean, ArtShean@comcast.net

Here is a picture from last year.

MGRS at Phillips Area Community Center 2017

Making an MGRS Club Car

Are you interested in making or having an MGRS Club Car,? If so, please contact Doug Johnson (drj1me@yahoo.com) or Sam Carr (secarr1@comcast.net). Once we know who is interested, we can decide what to make along with the theme, letters and decals Then you can come to a workshop to paint, decorate, and decal your club car. Each member will pair for their own car.

Please let us know if you have ideas for this club car including sources, painting, decorating, and customizing. here are a few of the cars we might use

 

LGB 4074-02 Reefer

 

Bachmann 93270 Blank Reefer

 

USA Trains 1938 Box Car

 

9th Annual Holiday Train Display Dates and Plans

The 2018 dates are

Move In Begins Thursday, November 1st

Opening Day is  Friday, November 16th

Trains will run through Christmas Eve except on Thanksgiving when the Mall is closed

Please use the SIGN-UP button on the blog to schedule your time to help at the layout

The plan is year is a "L" shape as shown below

• Thomas, Percy & a new Trolley are at the top (Santa end)
• Main platform has the Main, Trolley, and Mountain Lines
• The Circus is at the left

Aristocraft RDC-3 Pennsylvania Reading Seashore Lines for Sale

This Aristocraft M415 RDC-3 is available for $300.

Please contact Jim Jenkins at 207-657-9218

 

It has been running well on Jim's garden railway this summer.