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Millersvillanova Railroad open house report.


markoles
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Hi guys,

We participated in the 5th annual Railroad Musuem of PA's Garden Railroad tour on Sunday October 5. The weather was cold and overcast, and rainy until about 10:30 AM. The rain held off until almost 5pm, but it was cold and damp all afternoon. Most of the 250 people who stopped by seemed to enjoy themselves.

When I host these events, I try not to be running the trains myself. Instead, friends come and help me by running their trains or mine, depending on how much stuff they want to put in their cars. This year, I had 5 engineers scheduled, but 2 canceled for good reasons. THe remaining three, Jim Miller, Charlie , and Kevin Yutz were responsible for making the operations smooth. Jim brought his new battery powered MTH GS-2 and a modern freight train. Charlie brought dash 9's decorated for the Reading and Pennsylvania RR's (NS Heritage units) and New Hope and Ivyland #40 (aristo 2-8-0) and a coal train. Kevin brought a battery powered Reading and Northern SD-45. I had 4 steam locomotives available along with a freight and passenger trains. My son Luke also ran some trains on the big railroad. I think by next year, he'll be ready for prime time.

I actually have two distinct, separate garden railroads: The Millersvillanova and the Pietown and Western. The P&W is a small railroad that was initially built for the kids to operate. That seems to never happen. Seems like I'm always the one running the P&W!!

Anyway, we had a decent crowd for the event. Charlie and his wife are professional photographers and were kind enough to put together a video of the event.

Enjoy!

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Great video Mark and thanks for sharing :)

So was the Pennsy Dash-9 factory original from Aristocraft? I have to say that is my very favorite new NS heritage paint scheme and it's going to be hard to not want to buy one. You had such a selection of stuff running that alone must have made the open house a very interesting and enjoyable time. :)

Raymond

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markoles, a pleasure to watch and a beautiful layout, I did enjoy, thank you

Nick, were you one of our guests this year?

Jim! Thanks for posting all the videos from the various open houses, but I think you have 2007 and 2008 swapped!!!

If you guys take note, between 2007 and 2008, I re-arranged the track to add a long passing track under the bridge. In 2009, Chris, Jim and I adopted the REVO system, which is why you see 3 trains at once on one track. In 2010, we welcomed Mary Kathleen (about 2 weeks before the scheduled open house.). Besides our new addition, we also had a major sewer project which made the whole backyard a mess. It took me 3 whole weeks to rebuild the entire railroad (and add the 300+ feet of track I got from the Ridge Road Station closing) in to a two track railroad. I also added a 54" turntable, but have yet to build a roundhouse.

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Ray,

The Pennsy and Reading Dash 9s were custom painted by Shawmut Car shops. They were definetly a popular part of the show! What I really like about this open house is how my guest engineers also get excited and bring their favorite pieces to show off. If you notice the early videos, Jim had his California Zephyr and Mallets. Chris had his Merchant's Limited and RS-3's and Russ had his Conrail trains. You can even see his (for sale) CR 4020 E-8 locomotive. I just realized that my own New Haven 2-8-2 #3016 actually did run at an open house!! That locomotive has not been very active at the open houses, even though we run that engine a great deal!!

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Gavin, how close are you to Edmonton? I was there in late June this year for work and expect I will need to return there in the near future. Has it started snowing yet?

Hi Mark, ( Suspect that this be your first name :-) )

I live in St Albert, a suburb to Edmonton. Should you be in the area please do let me know. We could meet up for a bite to eat and I could pick your brain on trains! Direct email: gavingraham55@gmail.com.

No snow yet however South Alberta and the North has been blasted. Here in Central AB, we are hovering just below freezing on a regular basis.

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  • 1 month later...

Thanks for sharing: Mark for creating such a great layout and Jim for creating such great videos

A few questions: Mark, do you do this every year?

Is it always the same time?

Can anyone come to the open house?

I'm assuming you live in or near the Strasburg/Lancaster area?

Joe

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  • 2 weeks later...

Joe,

The whole tour is organized by the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, which is in Strasburg (across from the Strasburg Rail Road). They have had a garden railway tour during Columbus Day Weekend since 2007. We've been a part of that tour every year except 2010. I am planning to be on the tour again next year.

"Can anyone come?"

Kind of a tricky subject. The museum sells tickets for the event. It's a fundraiser for them. I don't enforce the ticket as a requirement to come see my trains, but I also don't publish the names or addresses of the other railroads. All are within a 20 mile radius of Strasburg, however. This year, there were 9 railroads open for display.

Ed,

Thanks! The weather was really crummy for that time of the year.

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Thanks for the info, Mark! I've been to the museum a couple of times. Actually, I'm from Pa myself; just retired a few years ago and moved to SC. Now that I know the tour is Columbus Day weekend, I will try to attend. Oh,and I think I can afford a ticket in supporting the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, LOL!!! Thanks again and maybe I'll get to meet you in October and see your railroad in person!!

Joe

Joe

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