More from the 2019 Holiday Train Display

By popular request, more pictures from the Mall.

Santa hanging out with Grace

Strolling the Circus Midway

Ben & Friends

The Great Chimp Escape

Playing Horseshoes in the Barnyard

How did this building get here, Mike?

Container Train Rolls by the Mountain

Bikes at Tice's Food Truck

Cocoa by the outdoor fireplace

Spiderman ready to roll!

No buttons were worn out during the 2019 Display

Where is the other Optimus Prime

Batgirl on the left and Batman & Robin on the right

Amtrak and Circus Parade

New member Gloria Goodwin checking on Thomas

Superman flying low over the Trolley

Who is that off duty welder sitting behind the Circus? 

Even puppies come to visit the trains

LGB Crocodile passing North Conway Station

Local freight passing Gorham Station

Lobster Hobo jumps on the train

Video Links

Rio Grande Lashup


Amtrak with Push Pull Engines

LGB 0-6-6-0 Mallett Steam Engine and Freight Train

Burlington Freight Through the Crossing

Dual Engine Passenger Train with Railway Post Office

Rio Grande Lashup and LGB Mallett Freight

Dinosaur Train and LGB Steam Freight

Norfolk Southern Container Train and European Bonus

Circus Train pulled by Christmas Locomotive

STRIVE ROCKS at the Cross Arena

The date for Strive Rocks has moved to Saturday May 2nd.
We will have the MGRS trailer outside the Cross Arena (in the same place as last year) at 7 AM.
We need to be operating at 10 AM and will take down at 4 PM.
Thanks to Brennan Long and the Weeks brothers last year, the setup was accomplished on time. We can do it!

MGRS Train Set Raffle at the Mall on December 23rd

The club will be raffling off an LGB Starter Set today at the Mall.  Tickets will be handed out starting when the display opens this morning. The winner will be drawn today at 3pm, and people with tickets must be present to win.

Holiday Train Display Move Out Begins at 9am on Thursday, December 26th

At 9am on Thursday, December 26th we will be packing up and moving the Holiday Train Display out of the Mall.  Dave Blue will be bringing the club trailer.  Please help us wrap up out 10th event and take home anything you brought in to help us look good!

And please mark your calendars for our next event, which is running trains for Strive Rocks at the Cross Arena in Portland on Saturday, March 28, 2020.

Garden Railway Layout at L.L. Bean in Freeport

The layout of Freeport in the 1920s is back in the Children's Department on the second floor at 95 Main Street in Freeport through December 31.  Information about the trains and the rest of the Northern Lights Celebration can be found at  the Northern Lights Web Page

This display includes both G scale trains on the lower level and O scale trains on an upper level

There is a nice model of the L.L. Bean Factory Store from the 1920s along with an operating carousel, downtown area, farm and skating rink.

Carousel and Original Factory Store

Skating  Rink

Farm with L.L. Bean O27 Boxcar on Trestle behind it

Sidings and Water Tank

In addition to a model of Freeport Station, there is a poster about how it was moved north and became part of the Boothbay Railway Village.

Freeport Station Model

Poster Part 1

Poster Part 2

And some video of the layout

Trains at Freeport Station

Operating Carousel

1920s Gas Station

Maine Train Lines at Westbrook Festival of Trees 2019

The Festival of Trees took place from December 7-14 and Maine Train Lines ran daily for the visitors of all ages.  The decor this year was the old west of 1880s with a small town in Colorado and an Indian Village. We had over 800 visitors including all the kindergarten classes in Westbrook. Thanks to Peter Richards, Doug Johnson, Dennis & Agnes Farrell, Paul Corbett and Sam Carr for helping with this event.

Main Street In Durango, Colorado

Tepees in the Village

Wells Fargo Bank Robbery with old time photographer

Chief overlooking the Village

Locomotive leaving the Water Tank

Chicken Dance Sound Car rolling through the Old West

MGRS 10th Annual Holiday Train Display

Our 10th Annual Holiday Train Display has now been operating since November 16th and will close next week on December 24th at 5pm.  Here is some of the fun we have been having.

Amtrak rolls by the Mountain

Deven replacing bad curved track

Hopefully Tice is only getting a warning

Photo with permission of the owner

Container Stack Train
Chevrolet Parking for Conway Station

And some videos....

Stack Train and European Freight

Christmas Factory Tour

2019 Holiday Train Display Schedule and Staffing

The MGRS schedule now matches Santa’s hours. Here is a recap

From 11/15 to 12/13 (closed on 11/28)

Noon-8pm Monday-Saturday with shifts from 12pm-4pm and 4pm-8pm

Noon-6pm  on Sunday with one shift

From 12/14 to 12/21

From 9am-9pm Monday-Saturday with shifts from 9am-3pm and 3pm-9pm

12/22 Sunday from 10am-7pm with one shift

12/23 Monday from 9am-9pm with shifts from 9am-3pm and 3pm-9pm

12/24 Tuesday Xmas Eve 9am-5pm with one shift

You can sign up to run trains at the Mall by

• Clicking on the SIGNUP button on the Blog and filling out the form
• Signing up on the paper schedule at the layout
• Calling Sam at 865-4467

You can see the schedule by clicking on the SIGNUP button on the blog.

2019 Holiday Train Display Tables, Painting, Track and Wiring

The Mall already had the tables in place when setup started this week. Dave Blue and Tice Leonard unloaded the entire contents of the club trailer and placed it on shelves in the storage area.

Step 1: Terry Norton and Ben Braithwaite gave the table tops a coat of white paint.

Step 2: Ben Braithwaite, Dennis Farrell, Brennan Long, Scott Gould, and  Tice Leonard installed the track.Tice Leonard built the two tables for the controllers.

Step 3:  On Saturday, 10/26 a crew came in to help Terry get the wiring installed. The crew included Terry Norton, Ben Braithwaite, Tice Leonard, David Blue, and Peter Richards along with Hunter & Scott Weeks.

This picture shows the U-shaped layout with the circus loop at the front and the lower Thomas platform on the right. At the back you can see the loops formed by the inner and outer main lines. The Mountain is out of sight on the left.

Here is the mountain with the retail area in the background.

This view is from the back of room looking toward the door. When the covering panels are removed, entry will be through a 12' roll up door where you see the exit sign. The glass wall to the right will be uncovered so vistors can look in, and there will be a back-and-forth trolley running inside the window.

This is the coloring wall to the right of the layout and the door into the storage area

This is our storage area. There is a second area behind this for the retail stock. And it even has a rest room.........

This is the view out the door to where Santa will be located.

2019 Holiday Train Display Plans

2019 will mark our tenth annual Holiday Train Display at the Maine Mall. It will run from November 16 through December 24th with the exception of Thanksgiving Day.

This year Santa will be back in the lobby outside the JCPenney store.  The Holiday Train Display will be in a store space entered from the lobby

We will share the space with the retailer who was at the entrance to Winter Wonderland last year.

The layout is a U-shape with areas for Thomas & Percy, the Circus, Town and Mountain. There will be seven trains running

Westbrook Festival of Trees and Maine Train Lines from December 7-14, 2019

The annual Westbrook Festival of Trees will take place from December 7-14 at the Westbrook-Warren Congregational Church, 810 Main Street, Westbrook, Maine.

Details about viewing the decorated trees and visiting the Maine Train Lines model train exhibit can be found at the Festival Web Site.

The Maine Train Lines display was started by MGRS member Paul Corbett and continues each year with the support of MGRS members.

Visitors include Westbrook residents, children from the Westbrook elementary schools, civic groups, along with folks from local nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Everyone is welcome

Model Railroad Attraction with 90 G Scale Trains

EnterTRAINment Junction is the world's largest indoor model railroad display located in West Chester Township, Ohio. This 25,000 square foot display consists of over 90 G-scale trains encompassing the early era of American railroading, the middle era, and the modern era. Click on the link below to see it

Train Journeys at Entertainment Junction

Open House at Doug Johnson;s held on September 1th

Doug Johnson held his G Scale Open House this past Saturday, September 14th.  It was cloudy, but the rain held off except for a few light showers.

There was long track set up for the flatcar distance runs. Ernie & Julie Bay brought a pair of custom flatcars to run with figures of the California Raising from the late 1980's. Several flatcars were able to run the full length of the track (and off the end....)

California Raisins

Eggliners were running on Doug's small layout

Train watchers under the pop-up shelter during a shower

Rachel Corbett, Mike McDonald, Terry Norton and Lois McDonald at the pie table

Ernie and Julie Bay comparing notes on the pies

Ernie Bay and great grandson Jayce

Mountain and Waterfall on Doug's large layout

Boats on the dock of the water feature

Jayce & Ernie watching the ""Train in a Tin run its loop on the table.

Doug has expanded his layout to include a new farm and moved the sawmill to a new position near his garage. And there is a new, raised track that runs into the small shed behind his garage where the storage shelves are waiting for the rolling stock.

Terry made sure we saw what he calls his door in side of Doug's garage. It is a small but complete roll-up garage doors with rails and springs to make is easy to get model train equipment into and out of the garage. Terry is already campaigning to have one in Eliot.

Terry's Door at in  Doug's Garage



 Visitors included Jim Jenkins. Paul & Rachel Corbett, Terry & Sue Norton, Ernie & Julie Bay along with their great-grandson Jayce Powers, and Sam Carr along with Lois, Mike & Scott McDonald. Lois was the previous owner of Doug's house and still lives in Gorham. Her son Mike (our newest  member) came up from North Berwick and his brother Mike from Windham. And yes, Mike McDonald does provide the tent and platform we use at the Mill Field Festival.

Doug recently attended the National Garden Railway Convention in Portland Oregon. He found a company there that grows and sells real, miniature trees for your garden railway. They include trees for the area where you live. The web site is https://miniforest.com/