1/64 Scale Model Trains

Founded 1948

Welcome to the Bristol S Gauge Railroaders!

The Bristol S Gauge Railroaders are dedicated to S scale (1/64 scale) model railroading. Formed in 1948, we believe we are the longest running S scale club in America! We are located in Eastern Massachusetts, and also have members in Southern Maine and New Hampshire.

Members are interested in most branches of S scale, including, but not limited to, Scale, Narrow Gauge (Sn3 and Sn2), Hi-Rail, and American Flyer operating and collecting. Our major goals are to learn from each other and have fun doing it.

New Members are Welcome! We are anxious to share the fun of building and operating S scale trains and layouts, as well as collecting trains and models. There is an application to join us here, or if you have any questions about the club, or want to get a message to any member, please email me at billclark424@gmail.com.

Creating an Animated Excavator

John Fucile was asked to create an animation of an excavator digging on our club modular layout. He did, and the results were outstanding:

Operating Backhoe on Club Layout, January 2016

Several people have asked how John created the animation, and he has graciously documented the process with photos and plans. Click here for the document.

March & April Meetings Cancelled

March and April meetings have been cancelled in response to the pandemic. Future meetings will be addressed at the end of April.

Click this link for the minutes from the February Meeting
Archived minutes are under the documents tab, and are available to members only.

Our next show is March 28-29, 2020, the Greenberg Train and Toy Show, Wilmington, MA. Setup will be Friday 3/27 starting at TBA. Please contact Don Haiges and let him know when you will be able to help.

Photos from Old Website

Here are the Archived Photos from the old website. They include pictures from 2000-2016.

Model Railroad Teardown

Don Haiges Layout: RIP. As we get older it's a blessing that the Lord gives us good friends to tell us to do things to which we are oblivious. So to my good friend Bill Morris, also a train guy, thanks for telling me to have my layout photographed before I tore it down. That totally escaped me. Also to my good friend Danny Oh, the videographer: Danny I thank you for taking the time to do this for me, what a great job. And finally to my good friend Craig Lentz, and also a college classmate, who got me back into trains about 10 or so years ago. He was the wiser, he sold all his trains.

2018 NASG Convention

The New England S-Press 2018 NASG Convention
Boxborough, Massachusetts
July 24-29, 2018

Moxie Convention Cars are Here!

Feb 6, 2019----GOOD NEWS----We have finally received the final 300 Convention MOXIE tank cars for the 2018 NASG Convention !

The factory in China failed to complete our final 300 Moxie 2018 convention cars prior to the end of December, as they had promised, but then promised them prior to the start of Chinese New Year, February 5th. Thanks to Des Plaines Hobbies efforts, they were flown into the states, and we received them on February 6th.

We hope to have all pre-ordered cars packaged and mailed out by the end of this month. Once that is completed, we expect to have approximately 60 pair of cars in hand, and still available for sale. Watch for that announcement here on this website, in the NASG DISPATCH, and in the S-Gaugian this spring.

2018 Convention Brochure
Car Order Form

Click links below for pictures!
Video by Pieter Ros
Lake Winnipesaukee Tour
Tuesday Layout Tour
Bristol Club 70th Birthday Party
Green Mountain RR Tour
Display Layouts
Model Contest
Banquet

History of S Gauge DVD

History of S Gauge Title
Tom Coughlan

New DVD available now! Tom Coughlan was a founding member of the Bristol S Gauge Railroaders, and was very active in the S scale community. At the 1984 NASG convention Tom gave a clinic called "The History of S Gauge" including all of the US manufacturers starting with Cleveland Models. Tom knew all the manufacturers personally, and his clinic was filled with great stories and insights. He also shows representative models from the manufacturers. Tom did not include American Flyer in this clinic, as there were, and are, several books available covering the history of American Flyer.

Bristol member Bill Morris was at that clinic, and videotaped it. He has had the original tape professionally mastered to create a 1 hour record (the entire clinic) of that incredible clinic! Copies are now available as a fund raiser for the Bristol Club, from Bill.

For information on getting your own copy of this historic DVD, contact Bill Morris.
Bill's Email is billmorris52@hotmail.com

Operating Session at Tommy's

A couple of friends from the Pioneer Valley S Gaugers, Steve Allen and George Reneris, dropped by the CGLR for an operating session. Tommy Robichaud acted as dispatcher and Helen Lenart and Bill Clark joined Steve and George as engineers. Check out the video above. We all had a great time!

1997 West Springfield Train Show

This is a video of the Bristol Club layout at the 1997 West Springfield Train Show. Bill Boucher brought his scratch built circus train to run on our layout. Video of his circus train starts at 2:06.

January Meeting at Haladyna's

The January meeting was at Carol and Bob's home. Bob sets up a very nice Christmas layout every year on their living room floor. This year he was running the Polar Express using its radio control throttle, an SHS MEC SW-9 with a set of Christmas cars using LocoMatic, and a late 90s AF Christmas loco pulling more Christmas cars. It is a very fine Christmas layout with a good portion of their living room dedicated to it! He also had his N scale empire in operation downstairs, and several of us were able to operate trains on it. There are a few photos of the Christmas layout, and a bunch of photos of the N scale layout in the Photo Gallery. Carol as usual was a wonderful hostess and put on a great spread. Thanks to Carol and Bob!

Photos from Club Members!

Photographs are one of the best ways to bring us together, and to liven up our web site! I'm always happy to post pictures if you send them to me, billclark424@gmail.com. In addition, all club members have the ability to post pictures directly into member albums.

Here's how to do it:

1. Login to website (Only members can post pictures).
2. Click the down arrow next to your name (at the top of the Home page), select Profile.
3. Click Photo Albums under Website.
4. On the Photo Album Manager page, click Add Photo Album.
5. Fill out Album name, select availability, add description if desired. Click Save.
6. Click the pencil icon.
7. Click Add Multiple Photos (other options are explained, but this is the most useful).
8. Click Select Files to browse for photos on your PC.
9. Add titles, photographer, data taken if desired. Click Save.

And your album should be there. Give it a try, see what you think.

Photos will display at a maximum of 1024 pixels. You can upload them at full size, however, and the viewer will be able to download the high resolution original. There is no need to reduce the size of your photos, bigger is better!

Our club is pretty spread out geographically, and pictures are a great way to keep us close and in touch. Also, the pictures don't have to be current. Historical pictures of meetings, members, S gauge/scale friends, etc are welcome!

Contact me if you have any issues or questions.

This is our New Website!

We have decided to move our website to a company that specializes in supporting clubs. The reason we made the move now is that it will be a major help in registering attendees for the NASG National Convention in 2018. But there are several other reasons why this is a good move for the club:

1. Several people will be able to update sections of the website. Officers can post information to their specific areas. Jim will be able to post to the archives. This will help keep the site up to date, as well as easing the transition when I can no longer do the website.

2. Any member can post pictures! We can have an unlimited number of photo albums, and anyone can create them!

3. Dues can be collected on-line.

4. The package includes social networking, which may interest us in the future.

5. There are built-in financial reports for any money collected through the web.

6. Knowledge of HTML coding not required to update and maintain the sight.

7. Automatic backups.

8. Professional security. We will be able to post information that can only be seen by the members.

It will take a while to move over all the useful information from the old site, so it will stay active for a while. I will no longer be updating it, however, so please check this site for meeting information and anything current.

You will need an account and password to get into the member only section of this site. If you don't have one, please email me at billclark424@gmail.com.

Bill