Interesting video re Department 56.

Thanks for the stroll down D56 memory lane.  We have a lot of the buildings on our layout.  Our New York City scene is almost completely Christmas in the City.   We also have a vineyard on the layout featuring D56 buildings and figures.  We were at the 25th D56 Anniversary in St. Paul some years back and toured their corporate headquarters in Eden Prairie   Just about all the local stores in CT selling D56 are gone now.   The biggest outlet near us would be Yankee Candle in Deerfield, MA.

I think the On30 are really nice, but we have generations of Lionel O gauge on hand.  And I fell in love with Dept56  Christmas in the City buildings back in the early 90's.  The City is the first thing folks see when they enter our train room.  And BTW, just so many buildings...many are in their boxes beneath the Train Table.  Be safe, Chuck242

Wow, I just came across this thread and watched the video, that was really great.  My wife and I started, actually she started, collecting D56 in the late 80's, we have since stopped buying as neither of us care for the quality of the current stuff, Enesco didn't keep the same standards that D56 originally started with.  Great video and story.
I've got a large amount of On30, started out with the Shay's when they came out and kept on going after that, now it all sits on the shelf out in the garage waiting for me to decide what I want to do with it, either build a small portable layout or sell it all of.  All of it except for about 4 pieces have never been run and the ones that have were TRO's.  I have a bundle of On30 track made by Micro Engineering plus I also have an On30 Fastracks Jig for making #5 Left and Right switches plus all of the ties and everything else needed to hand lay switches.

Do they still make On30?   I've been into 3 rail stuff for about 10 to 12 years now and stopped following it.

Interesting history on how they came about and the creator. I think it's fair to say that Dept. 56 has integrated more or as many people with electric trains than anyone else, same with Lemax. So much nostalgia involved.

@J. Motts posted:

Do they still make On30?   I've been into 3 rail stuff for about 10 to 12 years now and stopped following it.

Yes, Bachmann and others still do make On30, but not in quite the variety of offerings that was available a few years ago. That really is kind of sad because some of the very best model railroading you will ever see is done in On30 and On3. Don't believe me,? Just do a Google search for some of the On30 groups, and also check out YouTube.

I once had a fairly large collection of Dept. 56 Snow Village buildings, but reduced the size of that collection in recent years. I more recently started buying--durning the Christmas season-- more Lemax buildings because (1) they are more readily available locally and (2) their more recent production items are significantly improved in overall quality.

Our NYC scenes are mostly D56.  There is a Manhattan Skyscraper scene and there is a Brown Stone scene.  We have a couple of recent D56 releases as newer layout replacements:  Singer Building and the new Train Shop.  We are mostly Christmas in the City with some Dickens.   The houses are easy to install on our layout.  We just substitute a LED bulb, place the building and plug the cord into a 12 VDC power strip under the layout.

@wjstix posted:

I thought this story that just ran on our local (KSTP - Mpls/St.Paul) news might be of interest. Many folks know that Bachmann's On30 line was first created to be used with Department 56 "Christmas Village" buildings, but may not know that Dept. 56 started as a line made by Bachmann's Garden Center in Richfield MN. (The name similarity is an interesting coincidence.)

WATCH THE VIDEO

I grew up in Richfield, less than a mile from Bachmann's. Another rail connection - literally - in the 1910s-20s, Bachmann had its own railroad spur track, off the Minneapolis Northfield and Southern Railway's "high line", which is now operated by Progressive Rail (and has been discussed in Model Railroader a couple of times.)1

What a great story…….thanks for posting.

My one and only Dept. 56 item on my layout:

This diner is a little beat up but I love it. I bought it at a gift shop about 20 years ago in Latham, NY.

Not sure, but this tree house might also be a Dept. 56 item I got at the same gift shop:

Arnold