Boston Metro Hi-Railers, Lionel Ambassador and home to 37 members is located in Wilmington, MA.
Founded in 1996, the Boston Metro Hi-Railers club is the only 3-rail O-Gauge club with a large permanent layout in Massachusetts. The 40 X 60 layout is fully wired with TMCC, Legacy and DCS systems. It is an ideal platform for demonstrating the latest products technology. In addition, they have two smaller layouts set up for childen to operate. “Do not touch” is never spoken around the kid-friendly layouts. Club members are active in promoting the toy train hobby to the community and enjoy constructing and operating the layout. Through Bob Hilliard’s efforts we have received very good press coverage from the local press as well as the surronding communities.
JULY 18, 2015 TRAIN CLUB HAS OPEN HOUSE FOR LIONEL COLLECTORS CLUB OF AMERICA
Recap:
The Boston Metro Hi Railers of Wilmington, Mass had an open house this past Saturday for members attending the LCCA convection in Danvers Mass. This is the 45th convention for the Lionel organization and was held at the Double Tree Hotel in Danvers.
Railroad enthusiasts from all over the country were in attendance. The organization has some 10,000 members and attendance at this event was over 1,000. BMHRC was of course delighted that we were the featured local layout for this event. Some 200 people were bussed to our facility.
This is an ongoing relationship that our club is building with Lionel train organizations. Long considered the top train maker, it is in the process of expanding its relationship with local train clubs and enthusiasts. In addition to this program, we have been named a Lionel Ambassador, a program that will provide some Lionel funding for our train club. This will provide us with some additional new trains and equipment that the club needs to fully upgrade club operations.
We are especially interested in their new train set that allows children and adults to operate trains with separate remote controllers; that will alleviate some expensive equipment in addition to lowering prices for trains themselves, will make the hobby more affordable for families. We expect to get 2 or 3 of these trains for the club, which will greatly raise interest in the hobby for both the club and non club hobbyists. We anticipate over time that this will result in greater interest in our club among local resident in the 10 towns that surrounds the club. The Lionel Ambassador program is a real help to us as outlined above.
SPRING OPEN HOUSE ON SATURDAY APRIL 9TH FROM 10AM TO 4:00PM IN WILMINGTON, MA
Boston Hi-Railers is located at 5 Waltham Street, Wilmington. The club layout is the largest in
Massachusetts and one of the largest in New England.
We have completed several additions to the layout. We will be completing the City of Scranton,
Pennsylvania, completing our coal mine layout and a time saver for toy trains
that allows freight cars to be moved around in a storage area that duplicates
industrial locations where businesses move product around for specific
needs. This was a toy train innovation
invented by John Allen, a toy train designer...
The big layout will feature some new engines. The main addition will be the Canadian
Pacific Grain Train; a Lionel made train that is modeled after the real grain
train. The grain train, with a Dash 9
engine, has numerous colored freight cars.
This train carried grain from the Canadian breadbasket provinces, often using
mile long trains full of foodstuff to ports and depots for delivery around the
world.
We have some historical trains that will be running. Probably the most notable will be the Mercury,
a Marx prewar New York central that operated in the Midwest. It was first developed during the depression
era and offered hope to the depression conscious for the hope for better
times. The train is gold and copper
color and is one of the first streamlined railroad trains made.
We will be displaying the Pennsylvania GG1.This engine is
run via electric current and used where regular diesel or steam locomotives are
not ideal. The GG1 is the featured train
in the current Lionel catalogue. A set of Pennsylvania passenger cars
including an observation car along with the GG1 will makeup this train. At the
end of the train the observation car has historic significance in that it was used by President Kennedy and
carried Robert Kennedy's casket from New York to Washington for burial.
We have upgraded the children's layouts by adding new buildings
and automatic switch tracks to some of the turnouts. Children will have some new trains to operate
on these layouts and new accessories in addition to those already there in
previous open houses.
The Lionel Collectors Club of America will be providing rolling
stock and we will have a free raffle for all attendees.
Entrance fee remains the same, $10 for families, $5.00 for
singles and children younger than 10 free when accompanied by adults. Refreshments will be available but not
included in the entrance fee.
Come and see our large variety of trains and let your
children enjoy the children's layouts.
This will be an exciting day for all.
Contact: Bob Hilliard
781-944-1794
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