Here it is, "THE" Christmas Tree Layout - Video Added

Bill, "THE" Christmas Tree Layout and Video were THE hit of Christmas 2014.  A great project, beautifully executed, and well produced video.

 

Looking forward to the OGR article and plans.  Thanks.

It was good enough that he didn't put it in the Christmas Tree competition as to give someone else a chance to win.

 

Class move, taunting is unsportsmanlike when you know you are good. The entire display was awesome.   

 

A lot of credit goes to fella forum member and friend Ron Lego for creating the excellent video. He has also been helping with some of the photography work for the article.  

I'm will soon be in the initial stages of planning my holiday layout.

Can anyone tell me what issue of OGR the how to article previously refered to for Harry Henning's magnificent Polar Express around the tree display is scheduled?

Hope it'll be a late summer or early Fall issue in order to give readers ample time to both gather necessary materials and then consruct it (and if they so wish, to even possibly down scale it to a manageable residential size for the new FlyerChief S gauge P.E. due out early this Fall.)

Hopefully OGR won't wait until the November or December issues to publish Harry's article as many readers in the Northeast might find it easier and less messy cutting, assembling, and painting materiels outdoors rather than indoors, especially while the weather is still comfortable and conducive to working outdoors. 

 

Bill,

    Your Christmas Tree layout is one of my favorite Christmas layouts, simply incredible!

Sense my layouts are all at Christmas time now, if I had the room I would build one similar to it, congrats on one of the hottest Christmas layouts ever engineered.

I agree with Guns, you are a class guy for not entering it in the Christmas layout competition, nothing would have been even close.

PCRR/Dave

I don't know how I missed this post.  This is an amazing layout...well planned and well built.  What a vision and incredible results.   I LOVE IT!

Like Keith above, I don't know how I missed this thread.

 

Bill, what a fantastic display of craftsmanship. While I don't think I will ever build something like this myself, I do appreciate the effort AND the fact you were/are willing to share your experience in such detail.

 

Thanks for putting a smile on my face Bill.

 

Charlie

The layout in person was even better, Bill whacked that together with a little help from his friends in little more than a week!  I suspect it was about 85% Bill, he really did put in the hours!

 

I saw the other entrants to the Christmas Tree contest, this was the hands down winner, probably by about 5X over the next runner-up.

 

BTW, I saw Bill working on the article the other day, he was slowed down by the fact that the Crypto-Locker got his computer a while back and a lot of his pictures.

Unfortunately for Bill, more proof, John, why everyone with a Windows operating system needs a good anti-malware protection program as much as an anti- virus program and also always regularly back up all files. 

Having similar display trees made for other clubs would be an excellent project, I am glad a member asked for our Club, Paradise and Pacific, that will have ALL the kids, young and OLD, jaws agape and thinking of Christmas.

Add in Christmas story and the other Christmas themes and you have a winner to entertain and entice all who see it to our hobby.

No argument about computer backup, I just used the image restore yesterday when Windows committed Hara-Kiri for an unknown reason.  No virus, just had registry corruption for some reason.  A quick image restore and copy back a couple of files, and I'm back in business.

 

So, John, if the article isn't completed yet and OGR doesn't have it, it likely it won't be published until the Nov./Dec. issue, (at the earliest,) - a tad late for people who'd like to make it for use during the Nov.-Jan. holidays

I'm also assuming any agtreement with OGR to publish it would preclude permitting Bill to sell it prior to publication.

Sorry to hear of Bill's predicament - a loss for forumites and an even greater loss for Bill.

It will be in the December issue, which will likely be available late in October or early November. Still ample time to do something similar before the holiday if you care to.

 

Fabulous news, Allan. Thank you for replying and publishing an article on such an impressive holiday project. Hopefully, it won't prove that difficult to scale Bill's plans down for use with my S gauge Polar Express set due to arrive mid September.  

Great job. Brother you have put a lot of time in to the tree and the article.
GOOD LUCK!!!!

     Bill, glad to hear from Ed Boyle's post that your how to do it article on creating this masterpiece will be the lead/cover story in December's OGR magazine.

     Haven't had the opportunity to stop by Henning's Trains but would guess you also sell S-gauge trains in addition to your O-gauge offerings. That fact coupled with you mentioning in this thread the inadequacy of the O-27 PE set you used not have speed control for smoothly traveling those inclines inherent in your design; I'm wondering if you've considered adapting your creation to S-gauge for running the new speed controlled AF FlyerChief Polar Express set. Done in S-gauge would make it smaller than the 5' wide, 10' tall O-gauge version and better suited for homes having standard 8" ceilings.

     How difficult would it be to scale down your O-gauge designed masterpiece from the O-gauge Fastrack you used to S-gauge Fastrack? 

     Anxiously awaiting December OGR with its cover story. Your tree certainly belongs on that cover!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

o

Excellent project and video. Check it out...........

Screenshots from Henning's Trains

Gary

• Cheer from The Detroit and Mackinac Railway - Click on screenshots to enlarge.

WOW, I just read the on-line December issue and immediately started searching the forum for this article. It was a little hard to find as if you search the article name "Trains in the Tree" it doesn't come here. I am hopeful that me adding the title here will help (PS. If you hit my link to this do yourself a favor and go to page 1 now).

 

I watched the video and read through all of the posts. I didn't see the plans in here, will there be a separate link?

 

Thank you.

That's an incredible double helix arrangement, very creative to put it inside a "tree". Presumably the train manages the 10%+ grades OK ?

Well, OK is a matter of conjecture.   They were able to make the grade, but he cooked a couple of motors during the whole session.  I think this time he'll have some spares readily on hand.

 

I am looking for the "full set of plans" referenced in the "Trains in the Tree"

article OR some information about when available and cost of the plans.  I have the

article but the "plans" are what I need, if I have any chance of successfully constructing this terrific layout.

I should have the plans ready to post tomorrow. It will be listed as a new posting.

Thanks for all the great comments, much appreciated. It has been great, with the help of OGR, to be able to share with so many people. I also appreciated all the compliments and meeting so many people at York this past weekend.

I just saw your article in the December OGR.

To see a man with such talent getting to unfurl it while doing it for a living does the heart good!