Anyone collect Lionel's Polar Express Trains and/or Christmas trains and/or have a year-round holiday layout?

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I have my daughter's 027 P.E. sans the baggage car.

Former it's the scale P.E. minus the combo car. And from an auction I got at a really good price the 2 8 k gold tank car and the ps1 boxcar.

I don't have any of the freight cars. I personally prefer the MTH "traditional"/religous themed boxcars. 

I have ALWAYS wanted a Polar Express since seeing the Movie in Imax 3-D in New York over a decade ago. 

I did order the PE 8,000 gallon tank car out of the new catalog. 

I always felt the 0-27 PE set was "cheap" .... I do not have the means (room) to run the scale PE Berk and cars that require 0-54 curves minimum. I decided to order the scale PE Berk and ALL of the cars out of the most recent catalog. Once of those "buy it first, figure out how to run it later" deals. I can't be more excited to get it. 

No Polar Express here, traditional or scale. (I came close many years ago for the traditional, but it was a Home Decorators Collection come on where there was not enough stock to fulfill the demand generated by their tease.  The only thing gained from trying to order that set is that I still can't stop getting their spam emails for unrelated product over 10 years later.).

I do have quite a few Christmas themed pieces however.  Started with the annual boxcar, then expanded as the offerings did.  The first year or 2 after I got involved in the hobby when  Lionel offered more than just a boxcar(1998-1999?), I think I bought all the pieces, then realized quick as it expanded even further that was not a long term possibility.  I now still buy the annual boxcar, but limit my other purchases to an item here or there that may be something different I don't yet have.

I like most of the Christmas accessories too... Have the Gateman using Santa, Nutcracker, or Gingerbread man, also the Santa Pylon as well as the Icing Station from the late 90's. 

Don't forget motorized units!  Have 2 of the little speeders, as well as both snow plow versions(rotary and non-rotating - each can probably pull maybe a small 3 car set of freight).

For passenger service, I use the little North Pole Central Docksider (love these!  though I wish they would do one in inverted colors , like base green with red/white accents and trim) to pull a set of the Reindeer named cars.

While I don't have a dedicated Christmas themed layout, I have more than I can possibly put around the tree any given year, so I alternate.  A few years back I ran a train of just the boxcars for each year since I've been involved (1997-present) on one loop. 

-Dave

I put up 2 Christmas layouts, but do not use any holiday themed trains on them...I let the winter scenery, along with the Christmas trees, do the "talking". 

I collect Christmas Cars - and have the Winter Wonderland set - and some of the North Pole Central stuff.

I like the idea that "anything goes" on a Christmas layout - it doesn't really have to be realistic and you can have silly things...like my giant Lionel Grinch and the dancing angel tree topper.

I've purchased a few of Lionel's Christmas offerings -- trying to stay with mostly O-scale stuff, although I've made a few exceptions with some Polar Express 6464-sized boxcars that are part of Lionel's O-Gauge line.

The biggest challenge to "collecting them all" is Lionel's identity crisis of sorts with respect to Christmas offerings... namely the Polar Express, the Polar Railroad, and the North Pole Central.  Some years there's some of each.  Other years, we see nothing in a particular series.    No rhyme or reason it seems.    And the North Pole Central is really all over the map.  I think the NPC series originated with starter-sets and various add-on packs.  Only in recent years has the NPC branched out to the scale crowd looking for a red/green/white/silver color-scheme for Christmas, which up until then the scale crowd only had the Polar RR blue/burgundy/gold color-scheme from Lionel.  Like I said, Lionel is all over the map with this stuff.

Nonetheless, they're all a fun series to "collect" -- even if you fancy yourself to be more of an operator vs. collector.

I'm a big fan of the scale PE & Polar RR offerings.  I'll finally be getting a black scale Berkshire with the current catalog, as well as the combi car.  That will finish off the train for me.  I also got a gold set + an extra coach a few years ago.  I have many, but not all, of the scale freight cars.  I don't currently have a layout, but I hope to eventually create my "Polar & Ohio RR" with an east-central Ohio town at one end of the line & the North Pole at the other.  Set in December, of course.  I stick to transition-era lines, though currently limiting myself to NYC, W&LE, N&W, and Polar (inplace of Pensy).  Therefore, I'm likely to keep buying anything scale PE or Polar RR that they make.   

I'd love to put up my O-72 loop around the tree this year, but now that we have more...curious dogs, as well as a will-be 11 month-old, I'll likely just do the O-36 one that came with the streamlined PE set that got me back into the hobby....

Have all the traditional size Polar Express passenger cars and the Polar Express freight set, Polar RR GP-7 and all but one of Polar RR cars. Have just as many MTH Christmas cars and run nothing but Christmas trains year round. Really a function of starting with and adding Christmas trains and not wanting to double up on expenditures by transitioning to real lines. Knowing they celebrate Christmas in Florida and Arizona, we do have lots of people walking around without winter coats, Woodland Scenics kids playing basketball and a family having a cookout, swimming pool in a backyard with Arttista swimmers, convertibles driving around with the tops down...

Did LIONEL ever produce all the North Pole Central Reindeer Passenger Cars?

I have the 3 car expansion pack - I think its Dasher Dancer and Prancer - just wondering if they ever made them all?

I know there are some dome cars Vixen and Cupid - but did they ever get to Dunder and Blixem?

Roving Sign posted:

Did LIONEL ever produce all the North Pole Central Reindeer Passenger Cars?

I have the 3 car expansion pack - I think its Dasher Dancer and Prancer - just wondering if they ever made them all?

I know there are some dome cars Vixen and Cupid - but did they ever get to Dunder and Blixem?

Yes, 8 cars were made.  No Rudolph, probably because MTH had the licensing deal with their Rudolph items from the TV special.

The only thing I don't like is they didn't number anything other than the 3 original expansion pack cars.  Other than that, it's a nice train.  I suspect when they did that original 3 pack they hadn't considered if they would add cars to what was already an expansion pack.

-Dave

  The tree train here predates PE by many decades, so the closest was and is, a plain Berk for freight, and Hudsons for the Madisons.

  In the days leading to Christmas carbodies with Santa Fe domes and the occasional CP streamlined diesels raced people to their visiting destinations, and on Christmas Eve the trolleys and Genrals took over with a small town's pace in mind.

  Putting the track away was always a sad day for me growing up. I managed to put it off till Feb mostly. Once an imitation tree was used, that time on the floor was extended. We all liked the tree so and would often leave it up till Easter. A few times my carpet central was still running in late June/July.

 I

Today I can't reach up well enough to assemble or decorate a big tree.

But I REALLY  like my trains at Christmas.

   I also like the tree enough to leave it up year round for both the aesthetics, and as a daily reminder of why we celebrate.

 I need to plan for an eventual downsized living arraingement. (soon too)

  And so for a few years now, this has been my year round Christmas layout. a small 0-27 circle on a 30x"30" table in my bedroom with the top from the old family tree firmly planted. That Commodore Vanderbilt is the oldest family owned train left today. Notably it is not even from the train collecting side of the family   Buried in dirt [literally],  found, saved, sold, and then recovered; this and the chrome RI&P General passenger cars are my  "around the tree favorites "   

Ther is a new contender for "tree favorite". The first trolley to stop here in 40 years.....and I'm wearing the railheads thin with it already

Paul,

I don't collect Christmas trains but I do like the new CP rail lighted box cars and the engine. I also bought the Xmas train flat car with tree that also lights. Maybe I'm just attracted to bright shiny things. 

Dave

The Polar Express Lionchief set is the reason I got back into model railroading.  It started with the standard Lionchief set.  Then the 10th Anni. set.  Starting tracking down all the additional cars.  And now going to start modifying the locos with added lighting and some fan driven smoke

I love Christmas time because its time for them to come all out to play!

Paul Kallus posted:

 

That is beautiful, Paul!!!!  Perfect!

I have a dedicated scale Polar Express/Railroad train each Christmas, but it is pulled by a VL GG-1 (I like the sparking pantograph effects in a "twilight" room. lol)

Our forum friend Keith ("Michigan & Ohio Valley Lines") collects, and does some cool mod's, to the PE/PR line. I hope we see him soon.

Paul,

Your Christmas layout was magical and inspirational!  I would have loved to see it and photograph it.

As far as your original questions, I plead guilty on all counts.

The Polar Express movie is what got me into the hobby.  My first-ever train was the Polar Express with the CW-80 and I've been hooked since.  All of my collection is Polar Express, other Christmas trains, or a few other unique trains like the Aero Train and Train of Tomorrow that.

I do wish that Lionel would create a webpage detailing all of the Polar Express sets and engines that have been released.  I feel bad for new people coming into the hobby because how can they easily tell what the differences are between the transformer set, the Lionchief Set, the 10th anniversary set, and the recent set with the snow on the roofs?  How in the world can they figure out which one to get.  I am in the hobby and I have a hard time keeping track of all of the differences.  Which set do you need to add on the extra tender or cars for sounds, etc.

I do have the FT Diesel Streamliner set, but haven't gotten any of the freight cars since I like to keep to what is in the movie.  I do like the Polar Railroad stuff though and hope it is re-released at some point.  The burgundy and blue of PE and PR is just so different, regal, and striking.  Love it.

I also remember seeing pictures of your layout.  Just beautiful and jaw dropping.  I still have no idea how you got back there to work on the majority of it though!

I have collected all the Lionel Christmas box cars since 1989. It makes a long train. I also have the PE set from the second year it was out, with all the add on passenger cars.

I think there's more of us Christmas and holiday train collectors out there, but many may not ever read this forum.

Thanks for the compliments on my former layout - it ended up being about 35 feet long but most of the pictures I have left are of the west wing. It was special to me.

I started out in the hobby with the North Pole Central set, and picked up the expansion packs. I have quite a few of the various North Pole Central items, as well as other Christmas cars. I also have many of the annual box cars. No Polar Express, though.

Paul - I think we might be in the minority, but I think the Polar Railroad K4 is an amazing engine. Certainly a favorite at our house!

I have the traditional PE set with the CW80 and a couple add on cars.  I also have a North Pole Central 0-4-0 and caboose.  It pulls annual Christmas cars by both Lionel and MTH, but only ones decorated with religious themes.  My wife loved the Hallmark Toymaker LC set, so I got one, though I thought they were over priced.  Last year I got a deal on the LC Frosty set since my wife likes Frosty.  

I have the 4x8 Christmas layout in one of our married daughter's old room.  I never got to taking it down last year due to caring for elderly parents, then decided why take it down, it's almost time to put it up.  We have lots of ceramic buildings, enough for two layouts.  That started when my wife got her deceased grandmother's collection of Dickens Village buildings.  She keeps picking up others, Dept 56, Lemax, etc, at thrift stores, so we have only a fraction of the new cost invested in ours.  We will change the town around this year, but leave the track alone.

I was looking at the new LC Bluetooth PE wistfully, but since I am semi retired, and my hours were cut temporarily this fall, I am not going to pull the string.  The scale offerings are wonderful, but a scale Berkshire is too expensive for out budget, especially when I only have 48" max.

I prefer to put the Christmas trains away in January or February and run scale trains mostly Western Maryland and B&O, even on the Christmas layout this past 9 months.

Paul, your old layout looks great!  I hope you get to build another.  Thank you for opening this topic!

I've been collecting Christmas stuff for almost 30 years now.  I started with the first Christmas car in 1990.  Between 1990 and 2004, it was mainly Lionel's Christmas cars.  Unfortunately, some years a new piece wasn't in the budget so I don't have a complete collection.  Since 2005, I have all Lionel Christmas cars except 2010, that one seems hard to find.  Last year for the first time, I had more than the current year's Christmas car on my layout.  1990, 2012, 2014 and 2016.  The first 3 correspond to the years my son and grandkids were born.  My daughter was an '84 baby so no Christmas car for her. 

I purchased an original PE set around '05 or '06 I believe.  Since then, I've collected a number of Christmas themed pieces in addition to the Christmas cars; a Lionel General, Williams set a few years back, Silver Bells set and more rolling stock than I can run at one time.  This year I am contemplating adding the MTH CN holiday train to the collection. 

My Christmas layout stays up from around Thanksgiving until around Valentines Day.  I typically swap out the Christmas themed trains for non-holiday trains after Christmas.  When the Christmas tree comes down, I turn the layout into a winter layout.  That lasts until around mid April.

I don't have the space for a permanent layout so from April to November, everything is boxed. 

If there ever comes a day where I can build a permanent layout, my thought has always been to have a section dedicated to the holiday theme.

Tony

My 1st permanent layout was Christmas themed.  After 2 years, I felt limited and bored.  I then dabbled in cheap Marx for a while before I started a layout with scenery and “purpose” again.  I think if I would have had my log loader and coal ideas I would have kept the Christmas theme. There’s a lot you can do with winter/Christmas that is just fun

Has anyone collected all Lionel Polar Express train items, from the beginning (2004) onward? If I had the funds and the space I'd attempt to amass such a collection.

My dream job is to build and open a public display layout in which a portion would be devoted to Christmas and holiday trains with North Pole scene, and a fairly large section devoted to an operating train layout for the public - where people would be given a remote control and assignment. To make it interesting and challenging, it'd require the better part of 1/2 an acre. Unless I come into a mega funds it'll remain a dream as it'd be more of a philanthropic endeavor.

Funny thing about Christmas and holiday layouts is that many of us got our start with a train set around the tree, living room, etc., and then came back to the hobby years later and set something up for the holidays, which then turned into a year-round "model railroad." For me, model railroads can get boring but Christmas and holiday spirit (good will, peace on Earth, etc.) always seems to motivate me back into the hobby.

Another fan here.  I've been collecting the scale PE and the scale Polar RR rolling stock.  At my club's Christmas setup at Kennywood Park in Pittsburgh, I regularly run my double-headed Polar Express (complete with hot chocolate smoke fluid):

And there is usually a hobo along for the ride:

This train is a BIG hit with the public.  Kids' eyes just light up when they see it, and sometimes they just want to follow it around and around the layout.  I get tons of comments and questions about it, with my favorite being the time a guy pulled me aside to ask who made it.  When I replied that it was Lionel, he said, "I have a Lionel Polar Express set.  Why is yours so much bigger than mine?"   I then explained the difference between scale and traditional equipment, and how it took years to put together.

At York this year, I scored a bunch of Circus Craft children figures that will get painted some time over the Winter and inserted into my empty coaches so that they will not look so lonely.  I also ordered a new set of the coaches and observation car from the new catalog, so in the future my 2xPE will be really long.

Andy

I started with a simple loop around the tree to replicate the train set that I played with as a kid. It was a mid 50's set that was given to my dad from my grandfather. Over the years it grew from a simple loop to a perimeter of the room layout to an elevated table table layout. The setup went from 1 hour to sometimes wrapping it up 4 am Christmas morning .  The layout was always generally started Christmas eve after the kids went to bed. 

The same year Lionel came out with the 10th anniversary scale PE set, I saw a PE layout that TW trainworx did. I was blown away! I decided I have build that for the new scale PE. As impressive as all of TW's work is, I like to see what I can accomplish with my skills. Not to mention this was a week before Thanksgiving. So on black Friday, I started the layout. I got a lot accomplished in 1 month, the village looked good, but the mountain .... was way more work than I had time for.  The mountain wasn't finished till the second year.   I had to have help setting it up Christmas eve but did 98% of the layout myself.

I have since started collecting some of the PE, North pole and Polar RR cars that i run behind the B6 PRR switcher.

WMCWOOD,  the PE layout and train looks great!  What did you use for the rocks and snow?  What all is on the lower level?

It was the Polar Express that hooked me back into this hobby. I am currently on my second locomotive (LionChief) and have the majority of the add-on cars. The "Letters to Santa" car has me sitting on the fence. Already have a baggage car and for the cost of some lettering, I have not gotten this car.

Also have the scale Legacy Polar Railroad GP7 (thanks Allan), all of the Polar Railroad scale cars, and a couple of the PRR cabooses. It is the nicest of my Christmas consists. 

In addition, I have a growing collection of Christmas buildings. River City 3 Railers will be displaying our small modular layout at Richmond (Va) Main Street Station on 12/1/17 for the Grand Illumination. We'll be pulling out all the stops with the Christmas scenery at this event. There are ten new Christmas buildings to add this year, plus a couple of older items that didn't make last year's display.

Christmas, and trains go together. It's all part of the fun of this hobby!

Just found a video I forgot I had. It is a hodgepodge of Christmas cars pulled by polar railroad switcher. The B6 is a very nice legacy locomotive. 

The taxi is a modified super streets car that I chaneged the shell on and added headlights. NOT and easy project. Way too much time involved. 

Yes to all three questions

I have the original polar express train with all the add-on cars. The polar express looks nice going through a winter section of my layout that stays up year round. Currently the set is back in the boxes, Ill need to dig it out as the holiday season is upon us already!

Here's Paul's layout image again. I Photoshopped it to cool the ambient light to help me identify some of the buildings - and thought I'd share. A great looking layout!

Paul, can we see more?!

Whatever happened to PassengerTrainCollector?  Haven't seen him here for quite some time.  He built a big PE layout.

Rick

Halloween is a holiday at our house. Currently building a layout and a 1/3rd of it will be Halloween,  small section pictured.

I grew up making a Christmas train garden and have continued to do it with my kids.  2017 was the first year I purchased a "themed" locomotive.  I change the display every year.

The only Christmas themed engine I have is the Polar Express that came out a few years ago. It may have been on of the early Polar Express engines that came with the LionChief remote, I could be wrong about that. I got it around 2013 or 2014, I really don't remember. I am planning on doing a winter/Christmas themed layout in my Dining room to leave up year round. Since my wife really loves Christmas(it is her favorite holiday), and she likes the winter season.

That is still a bit of the way off, since I am unable to do much because we do not have a table in the dining room quite yet, also a couple of desks are in there that I would have to accommodate to be able to put a layout in there.

" Whatever happened to PassengerTrainCollector?  Haven't seen him here for quite some time.  He built a big PE layout.  Rick..."

                here is the beginning of Brian's Polar express layout...

                        here is his Gold Edition Polar Express train...

              https://ogrforum.com/...-makes-inaugural-run

                            the Polar Express on his other layout...

Rixster posted:

Whatever happened to PassengerTrainCollector?  Haven't seen him here for quite some time.  He built a big PE layout.

Rick

 

P T C is alive and well on another venue.  I look there some but don't participate much.  My home is here.  I do know he moved to a different house in Maine, and they are building a new layout.  I just saw Briansilvermustang posted some photographs of the new layout above.

                   here is my Christmas under the stairs year round layout...

                              trains go thru the wall to the other layout...

                       it's been Christmas time here now for a while too...