Ben Braithwaite Open House

 

 

 

Ben held his open house on Saturday, July 27 with the help of his family, friends, and the management of the Princeton Pines Apartment Community on Forest Avenue in Portland.



MGRS visitors included Terry & Sue Norton, Dennis & Agnes Farrell, Ben & Sophia Braithwaite along with Ben's grandson Josi, Pat & Carl Churchill, Paul & Rachel Corbett, Peter Richards Mark Christopher and Sam Carr.



Setup started at 8am with a G Scale layout and a special visit from the Richards Family Parade Trailer. The layout had loops running diesel, steam, Eggliners and trolley reversing line. Trains started running around 9:30.



There was food for everyone include cold drinks for a hot day, and muffins for early arrivals. Lunch started around noon with hot dogs, hamburgers and chicken from the grill. Sophia was cooking special dishes during and after lunch. Princeton Pines management  provided cold sandwiches, drinks and dessert for all along with toys and games for the kids.



More residents came out for lunch and stayed during the afternoon.

Terry trained a series of young engineers how to operate the trains while others made a game of putting wood chips into a gondola during stops until we shut down at 4pm.

Trolley and Freight Lines on the Layout

Steam, Eggliners and Thomas/Percy Lashup

 

 



The parade trailer has three tracks with two tunnels and an elevated line. It ran on a small generator but uses battery power during a parade





Elevated Lined with Working Fountain



 

Mainline Passenger Train and Freight Line

Farmhouse by Amish Carpenter

Ben's neighbor Bill Chabot shot an aerial video of the event using his camera drone. Click on the link below to view the video.

Aerial Video of Ben's Open House





Thanks to the Churchills and Nortons for bringing tables, and to Norman Waycott for his tent top for shade on a warm day.



The next MGRS layout and parade trailer appearance will be at the Mill Field Festival in North Berwick on Saturday, August 16th