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 a Membership Application to join us, or if you have any questions about the club, or want to get a message to any member, please email me at President@bsgr.us
Club Activites
Looking forward to seeing everyone at the Railroad Hobby Show sponsored by Amherst Railway Society. The Bristol S Gaugers will be attending this event held January 24-25th, 2026. Come visit us in the Young building at the Eastern States Exhibition (Big-E Fairgrounds) in Springfield, MA.
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Our Bristol Club Christmas party was held December 6, 2025 at St. Paul's church hall in Newburyport, MA. Our Club party was lots of fun with a "Red Sox" swap event and plenty of delicious food. Members, spouses, friends and some former club members all had a chance to catch up with each other during the festive event.
This year the event featured a recently built, portable American Flyer layout showing a 1950's era on display. Doug Peck commissioned building this layout as a display for the Church Fair Day event in November. It was then viewed by the attendees at the Christmas party and was also available for viewing a week later for the Newburyport Holiday House Tour as the church was on the tour.
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We were shocked and saddened upon hearing that our long time club member, Paul V. Riley, passed away unexpectedly on October 20, 2025.
You can go to Legacy.com and search for Paul V. Riley to see the full obituary.
He was a long time supporter of the Bristol Club since the early days, having switched from HO to S gauge when he as 18 years old as stated in the wonderful write-up he gave us of the early Bristol Club History. You can see the full text of this Club History under our Club Info tab.
Paul's skills in model railroading were utilized so often in the Bristol Club from work on our main layout and individual member layouts. In 1968 he produced a timber trestle kit (PVR kits).
Also his engineering skills helped design the vendor hall layouts for many of our National S Gauge (NASG) Conventions, even as recently as the August 2025 Convention.
At the 1972 NASG Convention, Paul won Best in Show for his exquisitely, detailed hand-built covered bridge. Paul's enthusiasm and involvement with trains extended beyond our Club to the include the Rutland Railroad Historical Society, Boston & Maine Railroad Historical Society, and the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railroad Museum.
Paul's kindness, good humor, helpfulness and intellectual skills will be greatly missed.
A full life, well lived, an inspiration for us all.
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Club Activities
Another Bristol Club train calendar year began with the September 7th, 2025 Club meeting. Our hosts, Tommy and Helen Robichaud, provided us with a variety of pizza for lunch along with Tommy's traditional chili. Trains were running on our spooky themed layout and club members had a chance to use the DCC system to run them as well.
It was a good time catching up with what everyone had been doing over the summer. The Club began our planning for attending train shows this calendar year. Looking forward to seeing everyone at the next meeting in October. Check the Club info tab and Calendar for future events.
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It was a busy summer. Bristol-S-Gauge Railroaders co-hosted the 2025 NASG Convention along with the Connecticut S Gaugers club and the 2025 NASG Convention Committee. Lots of members attended and provided support.
The August 6-9th convention was well attended. The tours were lots of fun. Attendees enjoyed the Essex Train ride and the tour of Mystic Seaport Museum along with Mystic Village shopping area. There was also a great Shoreline Trolley Museum tour that included their repair shops area. Our tour group completely filled Trolley car #1425 that was built in 1911! The Trolley staff said this was the first time in long time that they saw that happening. The car was an open style car also called a "breeze car". The museum had some A.C. Gilbert artifacts, a working trolley layout and power models to try.
In the Convention Model Contest; one of our Bristol club members, Charlie Franklin won First Place in the Amateur Diorama category with his Aaron Blake Sawmill. The mill has a working Fleishman electric motor too!
Several of us were able to score a couple very good ice cream places in the area too!
Next year's 2026 NASG Convention will be in Dearborn, Michigan. Make your plans to attend.
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B&M Quad Hoppers for Sale!
There are still some cars available.
For our 75th Year Anniversary milestone, we are offering B&M Quad Hopper cars featuring the "Minuteman" herald which were produced by American Models. These car models are available with three different car numbers (8000, 8248 and 8323). These numbers are from the March 1929 and February 1930 range from 8000-8999. The Original 1929 quad hoppers were later "re-shopped" with the "Minuteman" herald from the 1940's.
Each car number will be available in both scale and high-rail. Due to limited quantities, we reserve the right to fill orders for either one or two cars with car numbers of our choosing. Orders for three cars will receive all three car numbers. Photo above is similar to production car.
Click B&M Quad Hopper Order Form to place your order NOW!
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