Sometime after Labor day I will be on a trip in the Northeast USA. Would anybody know of any Model Railroad exhibits/clubs open to the public in the area? I will be all over, from St. Louis MO to Portland ME.
Not quite the Northeast, but I would never hesitate to recommend the B&O Railway museum in Baltimore, Maryland. They have a garden railway, as well as a HO scale layout inside one of the cars. They also have a nice collection of 1/1 rolling stock. Great Museum.
sfb
The Olde Newburgh model Railroad Club in Walden NY is open each Wednesday evening from 7p to 9p. Visitors are always welcome. Contact us at www.newburghmodelrrclub.org Walden is about 65 miles north of NYC.
Don’t miss Steamtown in PA going one way or the other. It was nice when it was here in VT and I understand it is much better now. It’s full size, but a great display.
Tnere is a club in N Conway, NH that has a display. (shame on me I haven’t visited it yet.) Right now I can’t get to their site, but I remember they do have hours. They are listed above in the list of MR groups, under RESOURCES. It’s on the northern (slower) route to Maine. The Conway Scenic Railroad is there, offering rides through some pretty fantastic scenery. (Have seen a video.)
Have a pleasant trip,
Richard
Ah, yes. Steamtown. And Conway. Already in our itinerary but they are fantastic places!
Fantastic Suggestion! In fact, that on is already in our itinerary!
Sounds like a fantastic place! I hope we can fit it into our schedule. I do have a LTD amount of weekends, so I am glad this isn’t one of those weekends-only.
Thanks for the great suggestions! Keep em coming!
Acela (Which is probably the only train we won’t ride in the NE[:(] )
If you email him or contact him, George Sellios might be able to let you tour his Franklin & South Manchester Railroad. I went up about 15 years ago and I was in awe. You just have to move six inches over and you will see more details to a scene that give it a different look than where you were previously standing.
He is a very gracious host who doesn’t hesitate to share his modeling techniques or why he did a scene a certain way.
The Model Railroad Club in Union, NJ is often open on Saturdays too.
If you also check out the website Railserve.com, they list all sorts of railroad events and groups.
And of course, lets not forget this website. If you scroll to the very top of the page, click on the resources link for a bevy of upcoming events.
If you are going to be in Portland, ME for a few days, there are a number of RR exhibits and rides available. You need to check the various websites for opening times and schedules:
Maine Narrow Gage RR Museum in Portland runs some 2 ft gage trains on the Portland waterfront
http://www.mainenarrowgauge.org/
Boothbay Railway Village in Boothbay about 60 miles from Portland. I voluenteer there with the model RR group; we meet every thursday for a work session from mid-afternoon into the evening. The museum runs 2 ft gage trains on a 3/4 mile loop, has an antique auto museum and a number of preserved buildings moved from other locations.
http://www.railwayvillage.org/
Wiscasset Waterville & Farmington Railway Museum in Alna is only a few miles from the Boothbay Railway Village and operates 2 ft gage trains on the original right-of-way of the WW&F RR that ran from the late 1800s to the 1930s.
http://www.wwfry.org/
Maine Eastern Railroad runs standard gage passenger trains between Brunswick and Rockland on the former MEC Rockland branch. They use FP9 locomotives and restored lightweight and heavyweight passenger cars
http://www.maineeasternrailroad.com/
Sandy River & Rangley Lakes RR in Phillips runs trains on some restored 2 foot gage right-of-way in the Maine mountains not far from the Sugarloaf Ski Area. They may not have their steam engine restoration complete for early in the season; if it’s not ready they will be running a “steam” locomotive powered by a V-8 car engine. Check the website for details and driving directions
http://srrl-rr.org/
Seashore Trolley Museum in Kenebunkport has a very larg
For starters, try this website: http://www.nmra.org/directory/
It’s the web directory for the NMRA. On the right side of the page, there’s links to layouts and hobby shops as well as museums and tourist lines.
In the Boston area, we have the following model train clubs that have permanent layouts:
Bay State Society of Model Engineers - a 3 scale club with O, HO and N. It’s upstairs above retail shops in Roslindale, MA. It’s been years since I’ve been, but it’s interesting to see how they got 3 scales in one room. The N layout is northeastern-based, while the HO is southwestern. The O scale layout (not tinplate) has an extensive trolley portion.
North Shore Model Railroad Club - an HO club in Wakefield, MA. It’s in the basement of a restaurant, and is around 30+ years old. It’s very well done with excellent scenery and operations. It’s semi-modern era based on northeastern prototypes.
South Shore Model Railway Club - (disclaimer: I’m a member of it) a 73-year-old HO club in Hingham, MA, it’s in a former Naval ammunition depot warehouse with 10,000 sq. ft. (the layout will eventually be in 6300 sq. ft. of it). We moved to Hingham 13 years ago, and our layout is still under construction with around 1/3rd of the layout completed. We are currently adding a major freight and passenger terminal. Our club building is quite possibly the finest club building in the USA. The layout is 1950’s northeastern based, but one is likely to find just about anything running on it.
Tech Model Railroad Club of MIT - I’ve never been, but I’ve heard it’s what one would expect from the boys at MIT…technologically advanced.
Waushakum Live Steamers - a club with trains so big that you can ride on them, including a 7.25" gauge ground line.
Worcester Model Railroad Club - an HO club based on the B&a
To expand on a couple of Paul’s ideas: If you do make it to Essex, we should have a THIRD steam locomotive operational: a chinese Mikado that we have turned into a very nice replica of a NH J-1, painted in New Haven livery and bearing number 3025 (the highest real NH loco was numbered 3024).
Just 5 miles south of Essex is a great dining experience: Pizzaworks in the Old Saybrook train station (the restored freight depot) has two operating model railroads, roughly 80 square feet each, built and maintained by maritime and railroad artist Steve Cryan. They’re not very prototypical, but extremely whimsical, and are certainly worth a look. Pizza and brew selection is great, too. And, if you’re lucky, an Acela or two will blow through the station at 90mph while you’re eating!
Further north in Connecticut (71 Hillard St., Manchester). On the 1st and 3rd Sundays of each month, the local model rr club operates it’s 5000 square foot layout. There are O scale, HO scale (mostly), and N scale sections. At the rear of the layout is an absolutely spot-on reproduction of Horseshoe Curve which absolutely HAS to be seen. Their website is www.timemachinehobby.com
Mt Washington cog railway last year was running one steamer and three diesels each day. Call first. We stood in the rear of the car and could feel the heat from the smokebox. You can open the windows and lean out for some great pictures and videos.
We did a short ride at Conway and that was lame ompared to the cog. If you do Conway, take the Notch train.
Link below list by state.
http://www.railroaddata.com/rrlinks/Tourist_Railroads_and_Museums/New_England/
Don’t forget Bretton Woods for a Canopy tour. Zip lines are fun when you are 70. Some almost 1/2 mile long.
Steamtown, get there about 8:30 am and go to the roundhouse. You can walk the walkway inside right up to the front of the steamer being readied for the days run. I did about a week ago. Great accommodations in Dunmore near Scranton at the Best Western which is an easy ride into Scranton, about three miles. Better price than in Scranton.
Rich
If you are going to be in Portland, ME for a few days, there are a number of RR exhibits and rides available. You need to check the various websites for opening times and schedules:
George listed just about every interesting rail spot in Maine. However, man does not live by trains alone. Sometimes you gotta stop and eat. Might I suggest Big G’s in Winslow (right across the river from Waterville)? http://big-g-s-deli.com/
They make their own bread. A full sized sandwich will feed at least two people and come in an incredible variety. They also make some oversize desserts (the cinnamon rolls are the size of curling stones http://tinyurl.com/3q9b84t and the cookies the size of frisbees).
Andre