Proposed Club Trip on the Mount Washington Cog Railway in September

Dennis and Carl have proposed a club trip on the Mount Washington Cog Railway this coming September.

The Cog is a three hour guided round trip to the top of Mount Washington and back with a one-hour stop at the top of Mount Washington. More information can be found at http://thecog.com/

The trip will be a topic at the Annual Outing and Meeting on July 16. If you are interested, please contact Carl or Dennis.

Steel Caboose Published to Members

The first edition of the Steel Caboose will be published this week. It follows the Iron Horse, and is sent to all MGRS members. You will receive it by electronic mail or U.S. mail.

Topics include

• MGRS Display at the Great Falls Topsham Show April 30th
• MGRS at March 12th Strive Rocks Dance Day 2016
• Open House and Annual Meeting on Saturday, July 16
• East Coast Large Scale Train Show
• Condolences to Norman Waycott
• Trailer Committee Formed, to Report at Annual Meeting
• 2016 Holiday Train Display Update
• G-Scale Items for Sale and for Free
• Upcoming Railroad Events in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont

 Read the Steel Caboose now

Please find railroad-related items for our annual charity auction

Part of the fun at our Open House and Annual Meeting on July 16 is the Charity Auction.  Please find things about railroads you no longer need or want and bring them to the auction.

Our auction is conducted by the famous auctioneers Frank Howard and Terry Norton. They will choose the top three "best in auction" items for the day. The members who bring them will get a free lunch at the Paradise Diner.

They can sell just about anything, so please bring them some challenges....

MGRS Had the Only G-Scale Layout at the Topsham Show

John Middleton's Cape Porpoise Industrial Railroad got attention at the only G-Scale layout at the Great Falls Model Railroad Show in  Topsham this past Saturday. 

John,  David Blue, Mike Curry and Jim Jenkins talked with a number of folks during the day. We had both the time-saver layout and a “movie” running of the combined Holiday Train Display videos from 2011-2015. Handouts included the Winter 2016 Iron Horse and the Kalmbach "Beginning Garden Railroading" brochure with an MGRS membership application inside.

Thanks to Scott Gould, Terry Norton, and Carl Churchill for their help with the show. The Fall Topsham show is scheduled for November 5th.

MGRS Layout at the Great Falls Spring Show on April 30th in Topsham from 10 am to 3pm

MGRS will have a layout at the Great Falls Spring Show on April 30th in Topsham from 10am-3pm. The show is at the Mt Ararat High School Gym, 73 Eagles Way (off Route 201), Topsham, ME 04086.

We will have John Middleton's modular switching layout, the Cape Porpoise Industrial Railroad.  And there will be a place for members to talk to visitors about MGRS. Please come to the show, see the layout, have a chance to see your old friends and make some new ones.

We need some help with the show. The three modules, one 8' and two 3', need to be moved from Kennebunkport to Topsham and set up on Friday, April 29th, and back again after the show. If you can help, please contact Sam at 865-4467.

MGRS Open House and Annual Meeting set for Saturday, July 16 - please save the date

The MGRS Summer Open House and Annual Meeting will take place at Carl & Pat Churchill's, 82 Carll Road in Buxton on Saturday, July 16.

This Open  House is a chance for members to meet, run trains, have a great lunch, visit the Circus, bid on good stuff at the Auction, and elect officers for the upcoming year.

The Quilt Raffle will be back along with our two famous Auctioneers, so be ready to bid!!

MGRS Events Listing Updated

The MGRS Events Listing is up to date as of today. 

MGRS Events are shown in red. 

Other events include train-related activity in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.

Future dates are included for Amherst, York, and the East Coast Large Scale/All Scales shows into 2017.

Future Greenberg shows are not announced until late summer.

The Friendship and Gratitude Trains - G-Scale Friendship Train Car Available

This story begins with the French "40 and 8" wooden boxcars, built to carry 40 men or 8 horses. They were well known to American veterans of WW I and WW II. 

Maine Merci Train Car at Boothbay Railway Village

The 40 and 8 society for veterans was formed after World War I and was associated with the American Legion. More information can be found at  http://www.fortyandeight.org/ 

Last year at Togus I met a 99 year old veteran of WWII who remembered riding on them during his service in France as a tank driver.  He also remembered growing up in Maine when they did not plow the roads between towns in the winter because everything came in by train.

                                                                                                                                                         

The Friendship Train was the brainchild of columnist Drew Pearson just after WWII. It send 270 freight car loads of donated supplies from America to the children of France and Italy  in 1947. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendship_Train

France responded in 1949 with the Merci Train of 49 40-and-8 boxcars, one for each U.S. State plus 1 to be shared by DC and Hawaii, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merci_Train

MTH issued  several Friendship Train cars in 2011.  The O-Scale versions are available on the internet under stock numbers 20-93522, 20-93523, 20-93524, and 20-92331.

The G-Scale version is New York Central and the link is http://mthtrains.com/70-74072. MTH Club Members get a discount if they order and pay by phone

East Coast Large Scale Train Show

This past weekend four members of the MGRS visited the East Coast Large Scale Train Show in York, Pennsylvania.  When Carl Churchill, Norm Waycott, Terry Norton, and Scott Gould arrived in York last Thursday, the temperature was in the 70's, while southern Maine was getting snow.  Along the way the four visited Steamtown USA in Scranton, Pennsylvania.  Terry wanted to take a F3 home, but there was only room in Carl's monster pickup for a Reading Northern 4-8-4.  York itself was beautiful, as street trees in the historic downtown were all in bloom.  The downtown also has a train shop that is surely the most evocative of childhood memories in the country.   Here are some pictures of the trip, which concluded with a tour of Gettysburg, where Carl, Norm, and Terry posed by a monument on Little Round Top, where Joshua Chamberlain's charge did much to turn the tide of battle.

Maple Syrup Time

Sue Norton sends us this picture she took in Eliot.  Syrup from a phone pole?  Sue wonders what Fairpoint could get from a turnip.

Neville Lewis Spring 2016 G-Scale Scale

The spring  sale includes engines, rolling stock, MOW cars, buildings, track, switches, accessories, electronics, scenery, bench work and a collection of model railroad books. Contact information is at the end of this post.

LGB 995001 Locomotive $125

LGB 992015 Locomotive $125

D.S.P. & P.R.R Locomotive #18,  $200

Pardee & Curtin Lumber Company #11, $200

Handcar with Trailers, $40

S.R. & R.L Coach #1, Lot of 4 $175

S.R.&R.L Coach #2, Lot of 4, $175

S.R.&R.L, Combo, Lot of 4 $175

S.R. & R.L. Baggage, Lot of 4 $175

SOLD-Bangor & Aroostook Boxcar, $40

SOLD -Two  State of Maine Products BAR 4067 boxcars, $50 each or two for $90

SOLD-Two State of Maine Products BAR 4067 boxcars, $50 each or two for $90

SOLD-Boston & Maine 72000 Minuteman woodside boxcar $40

SOLD-Boston and Maine 42890 woodside boxcar $40

72

Railway Express Agency REX 4071 Refrigerator, $40

Coca-Cola Coke is it! boxcar $40

Westside Lumber Co. 11 woodside boxcar, $35

SOLD-Southern Pacific #4067 boxcar, $35

LGB Express 4059 flatcar with 2 Mercedes Sedans, $35

SOLD-Denver and Rio Grande Western flat with 3 generators, $35

SOLD-LGB 4058 depressed center flatcar with transformer

LGB 76826 High Side Gondola with doors, $35
Southern Pacific Low Gondola with steel load, $35

LGB 4024 low gondola with scrap barrel load, $35

Southern Pacific 4060 Stake Car with Log Load, $35 

SOLD-NY Central 555 depressed center flatcar w/cable $35
SOLD-Pennsylvania 65556 Depressed Center Flatcar $25
Lot of 3 Small LGB Cars with farm equipment $35
LGB 20T Crane Work Car, $30


LGB 4011 Work Car with opening hatches, $25
LGB Work Gondola with opening doors and sand load, $25
SOLD - Stationmaster Building, $50

Additional Items

--Track, electric switches and a turntable

--Buildings and station platforms

--Figures of people and farm animals

--Scenery and bench work

--Misc. small building kits, fences, etc.

--Other stuff that is cheap and cheerful.

--Some is free.

--Come and see!!

Everything is in good condition. Most items have been on an indoor layout. All couplers are hook and loop. Please contact Neville about items you like or to set up a visit to see them. He can be reached at207-354-8055 (home), 207-650-3510 (cell), or email barometershop@roadrunner.com. 

Directions and a map can be found at http://www.barometershop.net/directions.htm

Partial Book List –many more available

A Century of Model Trains

Atlas of the World’s Railways

American Narrow Gauge Railroads

Living in the Depot

When Beauty Rode the Rails

Mixed Train Daily

Highball – A Pageant of Trains

Steel Trails

Railroad Avenue

The Art of Railroad Photography

Steam Trains of the World

Steam’s Finest Hour

Rio Grande Narrow gauge

On the Main Line

American Locomotives

Hear the Train Now

Model and Miniature Railroads