2012 Christmas Photo Album

wish i was there!

Very Nice, Thanks

Hi all. I'm new to the forum and have found it a great resource and quite inspiring, thanks.

 

I recently finished a smallish 5.5 x 5.5 0-27 premanent layout for my nephew. It's a hybrid of sorts that my brothers family can use on the floor as a platform for the Christmas tree. The ponds footprint was built to the tree holder specs. I boxed out the corners of the benchwork to create female slots where legs can fit in so he can play with it off the ground.

 

The size of the layout was based off the max room my brother had including height as his tree is in his finished basement which has short ceilings. I went through several designs testing each one including different locomotives. I really wanted a twice around up and over with a reverse loop but the trains never behaved well and would always fly off the track coming down...if they got up! Lots of lesson learned including just because a locos min curve is 27 doesn't mean it likes them!

 

The frame is 1x2 with 3/8" plywood. On top is 3/8" insulation foam board. The ballast is Agway granite chick starter (50lbs~$12). Lots of stuff left over so I'm builing my own layout once I finish the man-cave. I have some prelim designs I'll post soon over in that forum.

 

Came out with a twice around with a reverse loop and one peice of operating track. I had to cut the wire of the 0-27 operating track to feed it through the table. Wierd, but since it's hard wired I didn't see another way. Wrong? Lionel Saw Mill 464 fits where the tray is. I wired the remoted switches together so it only needs one controller. Theres also a switch for the lights and switch tower. His birthday is soon...hope he likes it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great to see what an be done with a very small layout! Well done.

Thanks! The mountains can be removed if tree branches are too low as well.

tree and two close ups..will def take more when my new camera comes in.....

here is my layout for christmas and every day.  

Guys,

 

Dynamite Christmas layouts! Keep em coming!!!!!

 

Mike

jaypeakpow - First of all, welcome to you.  And congratulations on that nephew's layout.  That is really, really nice.  If he doesn't like that layout then he doesn't like vanilla ice cream, as  - who was it, Sinatra, used to say?

The D56 Baby Hudson is pulling eight PE passenger cars and the PE Toy Fair box car.

 

 

Brian,
Great thread!  I haven't pulled out my Christmas trains yet.  Your new PE Dept. 56 layout looks wonderful.  I hope to see more pics of it throughout the season.  I like those tall, slender trees.

jaypeakpow,  welcome to the forum!

Great photos all.

Last year... before:

 

After...

 

 

 

 

Going up this year on Friday!

 

Ed

Another picture of new Christmas layout for us this year.

 

 

mr. passenger train collector...

 

what the story on the tree and mountain background?...care to share the details and a closeup picture?...

 

my very best regards...howard...

 

http://www.littleglitterhouses.com

 

The Christmas Putz in The Lutheran Home at Topton will be open Saturdays and Sundays from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM through December 30. Admission is free. The Putz was built piece by piece by Mrs. Ida Henry between 1909 and 1946.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Howard:

 

My Bride of four months made the background of the mountains and trees. She used white plastic shelving paper from which she crafted the mountain scene and then cut out the mountain peaks, shadowed them and used glitter. She hand cut the trees out of green felt and also used glitter the give them a snow like appearance. I thought she did a great job.

 

I will post close-up photos of the backdrop tomorrow.

Howard:

 

This is a better picture of the backdrop Elizabeth did for us.

 

 

Nice, nice, nice all!

Here is a five minute video of the Christmas layout we put up every year. Everything is Department 56 Snow Village and General Village with the Polar Express going around it all. 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...hb4&feature=plcp

 

Great Northern:

 

Just loved your video. Very, very nice job on your Christmas layout. Spectacular.

Here are a few pics from mine. They are from last year. The layout will be the same this year.I just haven't put it up yet. My daughter and I built the mountain from pink styrofoam. I'll also try to put up a couple of video's.

 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.

Mike R

 

 

http://youtu.be/N6iTTwxiTQY

http://youtu.be/qksLadSgLp0

 

Sorry I don't know how to Embed the video's. I tried and failed. LOL! They show the Lionel Milwaukee Road S-3 going around the 0-42 loop.

 

 

the 2012 version.  I post mine shots throughout the year in Scott's photo fun thread.

 

- walt

 

 

Wonderful so far, everyone!

 

Peter

Christmas layout, tree and mantel,

 

 

  

   

 

  

The Christmas Tree Lot from my permanent layout

 

Folks are skating while the deer scrounge for food under the early snowfall

 

Brian, this picture just screams "Christmas" I love it and so does Amy. All the images posted above are really nice, but I think you have struck a perfect balance of trains AND D56 in a relatively small (for you) space.

 

I would love to see an article or a photo spread of this scene alone. It just keeps your eyes moving from scene to scene. Thanks for sharing.

 

Charlie

Just wonderful photo's and video's everyone,

Here's some photo's and a video of Thomas the tank going around the tree. My daughter was filming and I was controlling Thomas.

 

Alex

 

 

I agree. PTC does a wonderful job with D56 buildings and trains. I really enjoy his D56 town on his permanent layout, and I think this Christmas layout is just as nice if not better. My first thought when I saw it was "Wow!"

 

I'd love to see more photos and details of the layout.

I took some time this long Holiday weekend to do some surgery to my Christmas layout. To be honest, in all my years I've never had a "standard" Christmas layout. I've run N, HO, O, and G under the tree at one point or another. In the past, I generally chose whatever is running the best at the time. Last year, I used O Gauge for the first time in many, many years. I plan on that again this year. 

 

For many years, I used a 4x4 sheet of plywood painted white with an oval of track. I did that with HO for years. Later went to LGB for a few years with just a circle directly on the floor and back to O last year with a "permanent" 4x6 layout. I used the 4x6 for many years but that became to big for both the room and moving in and out of storage and far too heavy for me to handle just myself. This weekend, I cut the 2 foot extention off the original 4x4 and will keep it as 4x4 this year. It is a good size and easy to move and store. 

 

I have one Dept. 56 building and found in Home Depot the other day, a bunch of Dept. 56 village accessory sets with trees, figures, and small buildings. A large pack for $10. I grabbed one and will probably be back for some more. Last year I used the Plasticville stuff I use on National Capital Tracker displays but due to my need for that stuff this year during Christmas for a Tracker display, I'm using the one building and accessories. I plan to use a small oval of MTH Realtrax running in conventional. The layout has a very this indoor/outdoor carpet in green stapled over the plywood. I sprinkle "snow" over it and it is very easy to clean every few days to keep dog hair and toys to a minimum. A few quick runs with a vacuum and we are back in business. 

 

No pictures now. Will come when we get the tree up in about 2 weeks. 

Thank you Charlie and trestrainfan. I certainly appreciate your kind comments. Building the new Christmas layout was a kick as my bride of five months and I got to do it together. She has taken to O-Gauge trains like a duck to water. I will post more photos of the new layout.

 

This morning I took some photos of our mantle, and for you Department 56 Dickens Village collectors, there is a photo of the rare Brighton Train with the Chadbury Station in the background. There is also a photo of our Christmas tree with Santa in the background with his TMCC hand held controlling the Lionel Spirit of the Century set under the tree.

 

 

 

 

The 2012 Lionel Polar Express and Department 56 A Christmas Story Layout.

 

 

 

Paul:

 

I remember your spectacular layout from last year. This is a wonderful picture.

Not much different this year on my Christmas layout, except the room now has yellow walls instead of the nice holiday friendly burgundy, and I've added a few operating cars, and new operation buttons in the form of retro door bell buttons.  As my daughter has gotten a year older and is now almost 7, we are having even more fun than before running trains and operating the layout together!

 

New operating Lionel pastel purple barrel dumper for my daughter, new Lionel dumping car, and old MTH operating brakeman car: 

 

 

MTH Railking tuscan PRR Pacific and original America flyer talking station:

 

 

 

Styrofoam snowman with playdoh hat and orange plastic toothpick nose:

 

 

Made the "7" using the lionel "L" upside down, and the "8" by cutting and pasting together two "3's":

 

 

Yellow walls, well let say they are nice the rest of the year!:

 

 

 

Hydrocal mountain sits on its own base and just lifts off, the wings on the sides are foam:

 

 

Scratch built news stand made during the blizzard of 2010:

 

 

Crayola clay grade crossing pieces:

 

 

New door bells for operating the firehouse and gas station:

 

Jeff, your 2012 Christmas layout looks like great fun. Thanks for posting your photos. By the way, yellow is my favorite color, so I like the color of your walls.

 

Keith, nice to see your Christmas tree is up. You can't beat the D56 Lionel Train Shop. I look forward to a video of your scale PE train this year.