Christmas Display at an Antique Store

Awesome! Thanks for sharing.

Sunrise

Very nice setup!!! Looks like the kids were enjoying it. Thanks for sharing with us.

the good old lionel 671 s2 turbine..

For the gateman, I swapped mine to a servo this year for the same reason of worrying about burning down the house.  I use a arduio mini with a resistor pressure for the switch.  After I take down the track in a few weeks, I will post a detail of what I did.  It is very simple to do.

Very nice.

Chris

We have learned from experience at the Nixon Library displays that some brands do not hold up.....period. We run 7 hours a day, 7 days a week. Williams post war copies hold up much better than others, but a spare or two is advisable. Our 2343's just got re motored after about 900 hours and out Berk just died. It also had the same or more run time. So far, the Alco's are performing great. I do remove the boards and put bridge rectifiers in them. For the tin plate Std Gauge, MTH/LCT do pretty well, again I use the bridge rectifiers. For my Marx layout, I converted my small Monon & KCS diesels to RMT Beep power, no rectifier. It looks like they are going to last through this years showing, about 350 hours of run time. These are a pleasant surprise, but they are the only thing small enough to fit in the small tin diesels.

Most of the Lionel products only give use a week or so. MTH is pretty reliable, but not in the same league as the Williams. The Lionel/Flyer steamers don't last but a few days but their diesels are hanging in there and may make it through the 350 hours, but they will be junk at the end.

Steve

Mr Bill I would really like to see your replacement for the watchman selenoid

Steve- Yes I am thining I am going to pick up a couple Williams trains for next years layout

Very unusual.  Was the oil reservoir kept filled?

Very Nice. (like the good old days).

Yes that windows gets hot, even when it was 35 degrees outside I was toasty working on the trains.

Please let me know what he has set up to control the train

Chris:

Your comments about the popularity of a train running in the store window supports the premise that "if you build it, they will come".

Nice job and I am sure your experience you gained from this year's effort will serve you well for next year. The store owner may want to look into selling starter train sets next year as well.

Chris,

   Real nice job sir, use and original Williams GG-1 and see how long it runs, like forever.  Put the Girls Williams GG-1 Train in the window and watch what happens.  Every mother who shops on that street will stop with her little girl, to watch that Girls Trains.  I also suggest the K-line GG-1, it's another engine that runs forever.

PCRR/Dave

Hmm wasn't aware of a reservoir, where is it located?

You might consider using one of these.

Sensor

Prior to his death a number of years ago, my good friend John and I had a Christmas layout the we put up at City Hall each year from Thanksgiving to New Year's.

It was controlled by a simple motion detector that let the train run for about 30 seconds and then shut down.

Thanks Gerry, This is the idea I am looking for. How is the time controlled?

Chris, the sensor I gave you the link to operates as long as you have your hand up against the panel, that would be mounted on the inside of the glass window. Hopefully someone here on the forum has had some experience doing this and can help on exactly how to set this up.

The motion detector that we used for our layout was one that like you can get at Lowe's or Home Depot. We had it set up so that when someone was standing in front of the layout, it would trigger the transformer and run the train for about 30 seconds and then shout down again.