Christmas/Winter Trains & Layouts - LETS SEE YOURS!

Haven't finished this years yet this last years .Will post this years later in week.

Great looking setups everyone! They are certainly putting me in the Christmas mood!

Bryce

Here's some shots of the permanent winter scene on my layout. Still a work in progress as I need to add customers to the tree lot, some skiers etc.etc.

@RickO posted:

Here's some shots of the permanent winter scene on my layout. Still a work in progress as I need to add customers to the tree lot, some skiers etc.etc.

Wow, this winter scene is stupendous! Out of curiosity, who makes those two trucks shown above? They would be a perfect addition to my winter layout, thanks in advance!

Bryce

@Oscale_Trains_Lover_ posted:

Wow, this winter scene is stupendous! Out of curiosity, who makes those two trucks shown above? They would be a perfect addition to my winter layout, thanks in advance!

Bryce

Thanks for the compliment! The Christmas tree truck on the right is a "Pine Peak Christmas Tree Farm" offering from Corgi. There are a few other Corgi trucks with Christmas trees. An "Ochs Tree Farm", as well as a" Starbucks" version.

The plow truck is a Matchbox collectibles "1954 Ford F100 Sinclair snowplow".

All are readily available on ebay. Its just a matter of waiting for your price.  In fact there is one of each of the trucks in my photo at a low bid of $9.99 at the moment.

Good evening, I attached a couple pictures of my home layout which is a winter scene all year round.

The railroad in the town is the Pennsy.

@RickO posted:

Thanks for the compliment! The Christmas tree truck on the right is a "Pine Peak Christmas Tree Farm" offering from Corgi. There are a few other Corgi trucks with Christmas trees. An "Ochs Tree Farm", as well as a" Starbucks" version.
The plow truck is a Matchbox collectibles "1954 Ford F100 Sinclair snowplow".

Thank you very much!

@MarkStrittmatter posted:

Good evening, I attached a couple pictures of my home layout which is a winter scene all year round.

The railroad in the town is the Pennsy.

Your layout looks wonderful! I really like the image of the Jordan Spreader


Bryce

Here is my last year's layout. I wasn't  able to put it up this year but I have items in a glass display.

I changed up the one end of the layout for this Christmas.  In previous years, it looked like this:

This year, I replaced the snow and generic greenery with structures and accessories from the Dept 56 O Little Town of Bethlehem and the related Holy Land series:

I left the base for the farm that sits there the other 10 months of the year.  I intend to add a few more accessories and to light the third building, but there's not much room for growth.  I continue to use the Nativity that my grandparents bought before I was born.

The scales are different, but how does that matter?

All is calm--how still we see thee lie!--all is bright, for this is a Holy Night.

Got my Charlie Brown tree up and a loop of O27 under it. Lionel 4050 Trainmaster transformer on extra low. Was going to put some PW on it but I can fit more Marx tin on that loop. Blasphemous, I know 😁

Christmas for me is really just another day. This will be the first one in almost 20 years that I haven't worked.

Uh-Oh It’s the BUMBLE!

@Chip posted:

Uh-Oh It’s the BUMBLE!

But does he bounce? What a fun scene!

Bryce

@Chip posted:

Uh-Oh It’s the BUMBLE!

Love this scene! Very creative!

No room for a Christmas layout this year, or room for my large tree for that matter, but I did create a small Main Street, featuring the obligatory Lionel Train store!

Finally changed over my Prewar layout over to this years Christmas layout…hope you enjoy it….I know I do!

Christmas get together at Z house tonight.  In case any one was wondering about the magic connection between kids and trains, check this out!!

The kids took turns with the lionchief remote.  The train got knocked off the track more times than I could count, didn't bother me at all.  Kids and trains are still magic!!

The older brother showed up on Christmas Eve! I think he was using Chesterfields!

Merry Christmas again!

Jim K

Rich,

How big is your layout table?

Thanks

Charlie

No kids.  We just put up a small under tree loop of track to remember past family Christmas gatherings.

Photos from Switcher Saturday

@CPC posted:

Rich,

How big is your layout table?

Thanks

Charlie

Charlie its a 10x7 table that I tried to maximize the space….Rich

Feel free to check out my brother's latest Holiday video card as well as his previous videos!

Toy Trains & Christmas Theme ~ 2021 Holiday Video Card - YouTube

Also, here's more photos of my layout!

A few more Christmas photos of my layout!

Rich,

Thanks

Charlie

@onetrackmind. Love those Lego modulars!  Looks like you have them all.

@onetrackmind posted:

Also, here's more photos of my layout!

I love the layout!

Well here it is December 23 and I finally have the trains around the tree.  Wife and I travel just before Christmas to our east coast family place where we all gather for Christmas and New Years...so the "tree" had to wait until we moved 1155 miles east from Texas.  Brother and I got tree up - actually he did most of that work and yesterday we unpacked the trains and got them running after a bit of a crises...see below.

Had the classic "Christmas Eve" type problem...my 1 year old, modern, brand new, highly detailed, expensive ($150 +), Lionel 0-8-0 made it 1/2 way around the oval and quit...NO RUN, NO MOVEMENT, NO NOTHING!!! After about an hr of playing "try this  then try that"  what to do?  I am over 1000 miles from my collection which would have had many substitute engines available.   Then I remembered a a 50 year old Marx set I had put up last summer for my young nephew to play with...So I dug out the 50 year old, Marx 400 plastic engine ($10) and put it on the track.  Like most all Marx, it runs, it moves, it pulls the train.  Then comes the imaginative part.  We realize that all the "sounds" (steam, bell , whistle, crew talk) are in the TENDER of the Lionel set...so my brother fabricates an innovative link to attach the Marx drawbar (tab / slot) to the Lionel tender (pin/hole) and it works.  So now we have the Marx 400 as motive power but all the sophisticated sounds of the Lionel set.  So here is our 2021 Christmas round the tree Train layout.

"Old Reliable" Marx 400 linked to the very sophisticated Lionel sounds tender.

The full tree - note since we are at sea shore almost all ornaments are sea shells...thanks to my very talented wife.

Here are a few residents of Christmas Town including the Coca Cola polar bear raiding the Coke machine!

Santa hitches a ride with the NYC we live in Waco, Tx so the "Dr. Pepper" car is required !!

The water tower , caroler's and more residents of Christmas town.

The 2021 "train layout savior" the classic, very common, and always reliable, Marx 400 plastic loco

Best wishes and Happy Holidays to All!!

Don

Here are my entries in the Christmas layout photos for 2021.  Finally finished the 4x8 overnight.  Still needs some work, but I'm done.  Not expending anymore energy otherwise it isn't fun.

I watched both Die Hard 1+2 in the background on the TV last night as I was finishing up the layout.

The Boy Scout lodge corner.  As a former Cubmaster and Assistant Scoutmaster (see my avatar) when my kids were younger, this is a staple on the layout

This last one is me running my HO Scale SEPTA train on the ceiling layout.

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Unrelated topic, had many issues with the RealTrax this time around and it was very frustrating and made my videos almost impossible to film.  Thought about switching to Lionel's Illuminated FasTrack this year, but didn't.  That will not be the case 12 months from now.  Once I finish editing the cuts that I was able to do I will post my YouTube video here.

Here is my Christmas Project. It is almost done. All of the track shelves are powered.

Here is a short video of this year’s family Christmas tree layout.

https://youtu.be/RUViaHxg1gk

I finished the video of my layout mentioned above to here it is:

Here are some pics. It’s a little smaller this year due to Gunner the Labrador pup. Merry Christmas Everybody.

Some more images of the layout, wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas Eve!

Wishing Everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy/Healthy New Years!

I pulled an old radio show out of my archives and wanted to share it with my forum friends. In 1965 for Christmas Eve, Jean reads "Rattling Home for Christmas" by Grant T. Reynard. The poem novel is about a son coming home to the Midwest from California via trains. Shep uses lots of audio from steam engines and trains to add ambiance to this poem novel.  The story starts at 12:44 and continues at 20:40 after the commercial break.




All the best,
Bryce

Thanks To Everyone that shared their pics & videos from this years layouts ! 

Very late to the party here…but Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!

2021 Christmas train garden photos and video finally posted.  Chip, I'm going to steal that bumble scene  - very creative.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

https://youtu.be/6n5SwtEaOKw

OK I know I am way behind the power curve and most of you have already put away and taken down these Christmas layouts. Sorry,  but this experience was really unique and fun.  While packing away various Christmas presents and so forth from the Holiday season, I happened upon (sealed in a plastic bag) this relic from many Christmas' past.  It was the early post war 40's and Japan / Europe was recovering from the effects of the war.  Japan in an attempt to get its economy moving decided to create an industry for "paste board" products that could be made without any industrial infrastructure.  These products were exported in mass to the US where we used them for all sorts of things, but often when they were in the form of model / decorative structures, around the Christmas tree.  So here is the 1940's vintage Christmas Village house I found.

There are no markings about the manufacturer on this except on the bottom is a stamp "Made in Japan" and in pencil, a price 10 cents!

I thought this was neat, then I happened upon a picture of our Christmas tree layout in 1946 and to my utter amazement found a surprise.  There is the house, or at least a similar one!! So not only is this fellow a relic, but he just might be MY RELIC!

Well best wishes to all.  Belated Holiday Cheer if I missed you earlier.

Don