Christmas buildings

Department 56

I have a set I got in wall-mart, they are ceramic w c9 lamps.

I don't think they sell them any more, as I could not find them last year.

They made 2 sets, a rural set and a Victorian group. Mine are Victorian except I added the Barn. I use horse drawn carriages from the dollar store for street traffic.

I also added a Greenhouse, a skating rink and a treehouse/slide piece that don't match but are about the right size. Those are battery powered and musical as well.

As Charles said, D56 is your best choice for quality and variety.

D56 buildings for us also, although we have one depot by Lemax, which is also very nice.

I've heard that in the past and it appears to be the case visually as well.

I like the Dept. 56 Christmas in the City and North Pole buildings and collect those series. Oh well, I run traditional size trains, so at least they are closer in size in relation to the smaller buildings.

It also holds true for the giant Dept. 56 people you can buy as accessories. The Snow Village folks are larger than the Christmas in the City folks. It doesn't make as much difference for the North Pole folks as they are elves.

Scale tends to take a vacation during the holidays. Some  of the neatest Christmas layouts I've seen have a mix of different size trains, buildings, vehicles, people and animals.

I also agree with Charles on Department 56. You have 2 options with them, first with Snow Village which are made of ceramic, buildings and accessories are slightly larger in size and they have a high gloss finish. The other is their Heritage Villages which are made of porcelain which are slightly smaller in size, and they all have a matte finish. In the Heritage line they have different villages which are Dickens, Christmas in the City, New England, Alpine and North Pole. Some of their buildings have animation and special lighting built into them. They have many animated accessories which will add action to your town.

Department 56 has the best quality buildings and accessories compared to ones you will find in other stores, they also make some other villages and in Sears you will find items A Christmas Story. Visit Department 56 web site on-line and you can find a dealer close to you. I have all of their villages but only you can decide what looks good to you. Personally I would use either Snow Village or the North Pole Village for a Christmas display.

On the size of Department 56 buildings I have measured different village pieces and compared them to HO & O. You can find my articles on these on my web site just follow this link.    http://www.spikesland.com/display/index.html

Do you beleive there is interest within the forum for Dep't 56 buildings?  If so, please let me know and I will post them on the sale forum as I have some that I would be pleased to ship to someone else's layout! 

Thanks.

I didn't buy the Dept 56 houses and shops to match my layout.  I matched my layout to the houses and shops that I had been buying my wife for years before that.  Then about 4 years ago she suggested a train to go around the houses.  I wanted to make it to scale so I measured one of the doors, compared it to my homes front door and did the % conversion to decide what gauge train to buy.

Go to KOHL's.  I saw them in the christmas section and if you have a 30% off coupon in the mail, they may be cheap as they clearance their stuff.  it looks good with lights and LED lights on the trim of the buildings.  go take a look if you have a Kohl's in your area.

Chris

Dept 56 here also.  I shop the Lennox outlet store near me year round for Dept 56.  I've saved as much as 75% on some items.

I agree with Chris. The Kohl's line, St. Nickalaus Square", makes some nice buildings and compare in size to the D56 which I also like. If you are looking for previous discontinued pieces, you can find them on the bay fairly easily.

I concur with the Dept 56 Snow Village, they are the best.  However, I also mix in MTH buildings, and Korber.   It looks fine, see picture

I like the Dickens Village series and I have quite a few of them.  They an be

placed at a distance from the viewer, so as to enhance the sense of distance.

It's more realistic, though, if you replace their 'sun-bright' interior lights with

smaller LED's.

     Hoppy

My favorite of the D56 collection of villages for O-Gauge trains is the Christmas in the City collection. I think the scale is close enough not to look out of place. In terms of appearance, the porcelain finish is more realistic than ceramic and D56 has added much more detail to these pieces.

Don't  get me wrong, I enjoy most of the villages D56 has produced and use the North Pole collection for our new Christmas layout. I also have many Dickens Village pieces on our mantle in addition to a large shelf display.

If you want quality, there is no substitute for D56.

I have a mix of Lemax, St Nicholas Square from Kohls, Heartland Village (ACE Hardware), and then whatever brand A.C. Moore and Joann Fabrics carries.

My favorite so far are the St Nicholas Square buildings.  They are large, have a lot of detail, and many have blinking Christmas lights on them.  And you can get them for cheap by combining the sale prices with the 30% off.  Many of us got the Train Station when it came out and I've seen it in a lot of layout pictures.  I'm not a huge fan of this year's buildings, however.

I agree with others that the D56 are the cream of the crop.  But you do pay for it.  I want to eventually start collecting the Christmas in the City line though.  They are just perfect for a city Christmas train layout.  I have seen so many great pictures.

Many of the buildings I have are cabin, lodge, ski-type buildings that go well off in the distance on mountains, etc.  So the smaller size of those does not matter.  The only time you'll want larger buildings is when the train is right next to them.  But even them, it's a Christmas layout.  Not supposed to be worried about realism.

We don't do buildings, just a few presents under the tree seem to fill up the small loop we put around the tree.

Kohl's - the price is right with all of their sales and % off deals.

A couple of years ago, I picked up a line of "It's A Wonderful LIfe" ceramic buildings that I use on my Christmas tinplate layout. They had the Bailey House, Martini's Bar, and the Pharmacy.  They also had some townspeople figures and the famous "You Are Now In Bedford Falls" sign.

Can't remember for sure but may have got them at Lowe's. I haven't seen them since.

D56 Christmas in the City.  Working on a small setup with a Bachmann On30 trolley for this Christmas that I'll post pics when complete.

D56 here. I prefer the Christmas in the City series. They are closer to S scale but look fine with 027 size trains.

Dept 56 Snow Village lighted buildings for us, too. Beautiful, but expensive. We try to add one each year.

Looks like two this year. When I saw the Lionel Electric Train Shop that Keith posted in a recent post .... its a must have, gonna hunt one down.  Dept 56 has came out with Volunteer Fire Department Firehouse #5 .... my son is a member of our town's volunteer FD Company 5 ..... another must have.

I use a lot of Lemax, some St Nicholas Square and a few oddballs like ones from Home Depot.  I also use regular O MTH, etc buildings.

On thing I like about Lemax is that with the little 5 watt bulb in it, the walls glow a little. Its a nice effect.

I do have to admit I did get 1 Generic building!  Dollar General had their own 2 story building on sale a couple of years ago.  I also have purshased from Kohls & Sears and Walmart and a number of other places have rolled pavment strips in either cobble stone or paving brick.

I have 2 Christmas layouts. The main one uses regular "O" buildings, but with snow added. The other is all  Lemax buildings, people, and animations. I run Lionel postwar on both.

Thanks for all the replies!  We have a Kohls nearby, so I am going to check those out and we have a local shop that sells Department 56, so I will check that out as well. 

Most of mine are Lemax they are at Michaels and many other stores. Half price right now. Sears has a few and the odd hardware store. With the extra lights and some action buildings makes for a colorful backdrop.