2012 Christmas Photo Album

Here is my standard gauge tinplate train.

Ah, to be 6, cold November evening, and watching a train in footies:

One of my favorite sets of passenger cars, Lionel Texas Specials, heads out of the station with a full load of Christmas travelers.

Talk about Christmas Cards, That is one great shot.

Very nice pictures, Brian, thanks for starting this thread. Christmas is what makes the hobby worthwhile for me. Here's some better lit shots of my last Christmas layout.

Magnificent pictures everyone!!

Here's a Christmas layout I put up shortly after moving into our current house, and just as I was beginning my permanent layout downstairs.  It was the only year I built it as I concentrated on the permanent layout since then.  Maybe next year I'll build it again as the permanent layout moves further along.

"Mistletoe", Chief Railroad Supervisor.

Mistletoe providing much needed guidance:

Some outside decorations, Christmas evening 2002:

Best time of the year for trains.

The train shop is a charming structure and fits nicely with the loop under the tree.  I've been working over my carpet layout, but hope to get it cleaned up enough, soon, to do a new Polar Express video.  Hey, you put my favorite set under yours tree...the Spirit of the Century looks great there.  Your photos are beautiful.

Finished putting the layout up Sunday, then took me a couple of days to clean up the mess! But, it's done now. Time for fun!

Skip:

Your Christmas layout is one of the very best on the Forum that I always look forward to each December. Please post more pictures when you get a chance.

I could not resist posting this photo. We were hanging the Christmas stockings this morning and out dog Cody took a special interest in his stocking, This was with no prompting.

Caption: " OK, I know it is not Christmas morning but I want my stocking now anyway".

PTC,

Do you have any doggie treats/toys in the stocking? My brother has a dog, and one year we had one of those doggie plastic squeak toys wrapped up in Christmas wrapping paper under the tree. The dog ignored all the other presents, but climbed over them to get to her present, and unceremoniously unwrapped it to get to her toy. She didn't even wait until Christmas. I guess dogs can either smell a toy, or maybe they are smarter they we think, and they can sense them?

Everyone's layouts are really nice. Brian and Skip, elevating a bit off the floor is an excellent idea.

Here's another night time scene from my Victorian village. It's not apparent from the photo - there are three levels of train lines, all interconnected by grades and Ross switches at various points on the railroad. That was a lot of work and unlikely to be reproduced again anytime soon.

trestrainfan:

There were no treats yet in the stocking we hung for Cody. He loves to chew on stuffed animals and the dog on the front of his stocking set him off to get it if he could.

By the way, there was a train related item in the picture. The lower left hand corner has a portion of the transformer that runs the train under the Christmas tree.

Cody is as curious as it gets and he does get into mischief occasionally. Last night he tugged at the wires connected to the track under the Christmas tree and pulled half of the track out into the hallway. When I realized what he had done, I had to laugh. I got down on my hands and knees and reconnected the track and there he was nose to nose with me as if to apologize.

Dogs are really great and a lot of fun.

This is what I have under my tree

She may have taken everything including the Christmas tree & trimmings, but I still have the Christmas tree base & trains.

She may have taken everything including the Christmas tree & trimmings, but I still have the Christmas tree base & trains.

NOT to mention the All important OGR Beep!

Hartman, You got the best of the bargain.

I am not doing a big layout this year so I'll post last year's, which I never got around to posting.  This layout was done on a folding table, with a 4x8 wooden base I built on top of it.  There were two loops and an elevated S-curve subway line.

As always, my ideas were more than I had time to do, so I didn't get the details down like I had wanted.  The pictures were also taken while I was still in draft mode, so excuse the wires.

I don't have a permanent layout and only run trains at Christmas, so this year my plan is to do just that.  Run trains.  In past years, I've spent so much time setting up the layout that I don't get much time to actually sit back and run trains.  So this year I'm keeping it simple and running the **** out of my trains.

Here are a few pictures of my Christmas layouts.  The smaller one is at my mom's house and the larger one is at my dad's house.  I've done some more to the one at my dad's house since the photos were taken, so the next time I'm there I'll get some more photos.

Hartman, That gave me a good chuckle this morning, Just look at that smile on your face.  Good thing I can see the transformer, or I would think you have to push your train around the track. Thanks for the chuckle and Good Luck. 

This year, I put up my Christmas display at our church for the annual breakfast with Santa. 

it was so popular with adults and kids alike, Santa had to get behind the layout and wave to get every ones attention!

Where is Santa? Look closely at the photo above to find him.

Some pictures from my Christmas Village.  I went with G Scale this year...

Nice looking display Rixster!

Thanks, Brian.  Just a drop in the bucket compared to your sprawling metropolis! 

Rick

TrainDiesel, what building is that on the left side of the pic?

Also, where did all you guys get your empire state buildings from?

Chipset:

I looked at the pictures you are referring to in Brian's photos and I believe the one you are asking about is the Times Square Tower. I have an extra if you want one. The Empire State Building and the Times Tower are both by Department 56. These buildings were produced around 1999 and the Empire State building gets a pretty price on the secondary market. This is one of my favorite buildings.

I hope that this answers your question.

Ken:

I am very sorry to hear about your Dad's passing. Your story is very heartwarming and this was a special relationship with your Dad with your love of O-Gauge trains. The 261 will always be special to you as your Dad wanted you to have it.

Your 2012 Christmas layout is impressive and I wish you a very Merry Christmas.

We used the Lionel Spirit of the Century set for under our big tree in the living room.

this is my set up from last year, i kept it real simple.... my wife and dogs are not as much of a model train fan as i am, so i was limited as to what i could do

Lorraine gets her first Christmas tree train. As a kid, her brothers monopolized the Lionel train and later it was given to neighbor kids. Typical 1950's routine.

We set up only the top half of a fake tree, it suits us OK.

Nice pics all.  I love Christmas layouts.

Some post war (and MPC) posing in its natural habitat , (first shot is from last year):

This is the best time of the year on this forum!  All of your trains look great. I am so enjoying this thread.

View of my Christmas Layout from outside.