It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas....?

I always think of Christmas...its my favorite time of year. 

Me too!....1 October,....start setting up the holidays display, and kick it all off with Nat King Cole in the CD player!....best time of the year!!

Pat

Haven't given any thought to Christmas yet, still trying to figure out if we will be able to do our Halloween garage layout for the local ghouls & goblins.

I’m pretty sure Christmas is cancelled this year. Lol.

Just kidding. I always run tinplate under the tree. Just a loop so not a lot of planning. 

 The track and wiring are permanent, so planning is limited to where we put it. I change up the buildings and accessories, but I never plan it, I just throw them on as I go. I am always thinking about Christmas, but the tree layout won’t go up until mid-November. 
 The pic is after the tree is up, but nothing has been touched on the layout yet.

As a kid, no taller than a Texas grasshopper, growing up on my grandparent's small farm north of Dallas in the early 1950s, the holiday season always began watching Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade on TV*, with Santa bringing up the end, which officially opened the Christmas Season across the USA to one and all!

The very best motion picture of all time remains "It's a Wonderful Life" which starred James Stewart and a cast of really great actors.  Missing at the end of the movie, when George returns to his home, is a tinplate train running under the Christmas tree.  With all the modern wonders technology has brought us, perhaps it's not too late to rework the last scene and include a toy train running around the tree afterall?

*My mother signed me up in a contest to win a Westinghouse B&W TV in 1951 at the old A. Harris dept. store in Big D.  Long and behold, I won!  Thus we had one of the first TV sets in Farmers Branch (just a wide place in the road on old US 77...before I-35E took the farm for Progress???

Item: Today, in Century 21, the place is no longer called Farmers Branch but is referred to as "The Branch". Though I'll never return to FB, I still miss the good old days, running my O27 Lionel 2-4-2, Lionel Lines tender, orange PRR/Baby Ruth box car, black is beautiful NYC gondola, and LL "SP" red caboose, til all the wheels came off!  I was all decked out in a striped engineer's cap, matching jacket with cloth patches of railroad heralds sewed on, which included little silver like PRR buttons no less!  I was Workin' on the Railroad and loving it!  Not bad for a five year old's fifth Christmas in 1951 I'd say!

Now here we are in 2020 with a deadly virus threatening mankind worldwide.  Please join me and Pray for Peace, for your family, friends, and all fellow human beings, be they near or far far away from their homes.

Thank you!

Joe

Christmas is 24/7/365 (366 for leap year) on my layout.

Since this is my permanent layout, I have a valid reason to listen to Christmas music in the middle of summer. This however, is a highly contested idea amongst my friends and family but I'll just drown them out with Crosby, Como, or Armstrong! haha!

Bryce

Oscale Trains Lover / Bryce...

Three thumbs up for a year round Christmas/Winter layout...

Howard 

www.littleglitterhouses.com

www.cardboardchristmas.com

@sawdust43 posted:

Oscale Trains Lover / Bryce...

Three thumbs up for a year round Christmas/Winter layout...

Howard 

www.littleglitterhouses.com

www.cardboardchristmas.com

I am with you on the thumbs up for year round Christmas. I keep a part of the layout in snow, trees and Christmas figures.

Ray

Houston today:  97 for high.  113 heat index.  Christmas?  Bah Humbug!  Ask me in October.

Let's have Halloween and Thanksgiving first!

Hmm, Christmas tree is still up. How else do you expect me to run trains, lol. Yeah, been up since last year, never took it down for some reason. Maybe the train running underneath, or lack of time to box things up. Just had been so busy last year at the end of the year and it ran into this year, just seemed like a great idea to keep things going. How else would one unwind if they didn't have a permanent layout? Besides, my father and my grandmother really held Christmas deep in their hearts, and gave it out like millions. I'd like to think I have some of that.

@dk122trains posted:

Let's have Halloween and Thanksgiving first!

Wait, ....whuuu??....there’s two other holidays before Christmas??.....we didn’t get the memo....🤣🤣🤣

Pat

@Dave NYC Hudson PRR K4 posted:

Hmm, Christmas tree is still up. How else do you expect me to run trains, lol. Yeah, been up since last year, never took it down for some reason. Maybe the train running underneath, or lack of time to box things up. Just had been so busy last year at the end of the year and it ran into this year, just seemed like a great idea to keep things going. How else would one unwind if they didn't have a permanent layout? Besides, my father and my grandmother really held Christmas deep in their hearts, and gave it out like millions. I'd like to think I have some of that.

I guess it's safe to assume that it is an artificial tree. 

@sawdust43 posted:

Three thumbs up for a year round Christmas/Winter layout

Howard 

Thank you Howard!

Bryce

@Doug W. posted:

I guess it's safe to assume that it is an artificial tree. 

yup

@Oscale_Trains_Lover_ posted:

Christmas is 24/7/365 (366 for leap year) on my layout.

Since this is my permanent layout, I have a valid reason to listen to Christmas music in the middle of summer. This however, is a highly contested idea amongst my friends and family but I'll just drown them out with Crosby, Como, or Armstrong! haha!

Bryce

Love your winter and Christmas themed layout, Bryce, the snow, the pine trees, etc. If I were to do it all over again, I might go in the same direction that you did. Arnold 

My small Christmas layout has remained pretty much the same since 1986. I have removed the ON30 trolley line since the HO track needed constant cleaning. Postwar Lionel steam pulls MTH RailKing passenger cars full of passengers. The station is a Rico minus the freight shed. The ice skating lake is animated with 3 skaters (I glued the workings of a Lemax skating pond to the underside of this lake. Arttista skaters are glued to tiny earth magnets).

Maybe it's the very challenging times we now live in, but merely reading the title of this topic puts a smile on my face and all the posts under it are wonderful. Arnold

@dk122trains posted:

Let's have Halloween and Thanksgiving first!

I'll be happy to get on the other side of Labor Day!

We did a garage display one year and promoted it like crazy during the Halloween program but unfortunately there were less than a dozen visitors that came by the two nights the garage door was open and everything aglow. Needless to say this was only done the one year. Everything now is scaled back to a spare bedroom for family and friends that come over for Christmas dinner. 

One of the advantages of having a Christmas-time-only layout which I completely change every year is that come around May I get to start thinking about designing the layout for the upcoming Christmas.  It occupies my time until October or so - figuring out wiring, scenery, track plan, etc.

Here's what I have for this year (2020).  I decided that with COVID I'm not going to have the normal amount of kids, in fact, none! so I'm keeping things very simple this year.

- walt

This is the lower 11'x14' section.  The 2 big outer loops will run my PW stuff.  The lower inner loop will host my tin-plate Baby Blue Comet.  The upper inner loop will have my tin-plate Christmas Train.  Note that the 2 inner loops are connected which will allow for me to change which track each runs on.  BTW: that blank rectangular area in the bottom will be where the 4'x12' plateau will be. 

I plan out all scenery too.

A 'cleaner' look at it.

The plateau is only going to have a simple loop running another of my PW trains.

I even plan out how I'm going to lay down the Homasote pieces.  I put down blueboard directly on the carpet and then Homasote on top of that.  yes, it's a floor layout

@walt rapp posted:

One of the advantages of having a Christmas-time-only layout which I completely change every year is that come around May I get to start thinking about designing the layout for the upcoming Christmas.  It occupies my time until October or so - figuring out wiring, scenery, track plan, etc.

Here's what I have for this year (2020).  I decided that with COVID I'm not going to have the normal amount of kids, in fact, none! so I'm keeping things very simple this year.

- walt

This is the lower 11'x14' section.  The 2 big outer loops will run my PW stuff.  The lower inner loop will host my tin-plate Baby Blue Comet.  The upper inner loop will have my tin-plate Christmas Train.  Note that the 2 inner loops are connected which will allow for me to change which track each runs on.  BTW: that blank rectangular area in the bottom will be where the 4'x12' plateau will be. 

I plan out all scenery too.

A 'cleaner' look at it.

The plateau is only going to have a simple loop running another of my PW trains.

I even plan out how I'm going to lay down the Homasote pieces.  I put down blueboard directly on the carpet and then Homasote on top of that.  yes, it's a floor layout

Walt, that does not look like a simple, but rather a very interesting and elaborate, design for a Christmas theme layout.

As much as I love my Spring/Summer green scenery, largely baseball theme layout, especially considering my limited space, if I was going to disassemble and start over from scratch, I would be inclined to go for a Christmas/winter-holiday theme layout. Such a layout would evoke such joyful memories. Arnold

Cod front next week. Highs ay not break 90. In Houston.  There is hope.

Hi folks (I'm new here by the way, having lurked intermittently). This is a great thread, and I agree that the topic is uplifting, especially given the circumstances of this year.

So far, my only layout has been a temporary Christmas layout, which I don't do ever year. Last time was in 2018.

I'm going to skip it again this year, but that's because I've finally started work on my first Halloween-themed layout. While the Christmas layout uses the standard Polar Express, the Halloween layout will have the MTH Halloween ES44AC. It's also getting a larger slab of lumber, and therefore will be set up in the basement. It won't be as fleshed out as my Christmas layout, as it's just getting started, but I'll take a video later on when I get what I have in place.

sinistar, Love the Bumble.

It's Christmas on my layout all year long.

We will have to depend on Skip this year -

Macy's Santaland?  Who is going to sit on Santa's lap?  I think Santa will be virtual.  

NY-Historical society has cancelled the Jerni collection display this year.

Grand Central / Transit Museum was scheduled to be closed before the CV 19 hit town (Construction in GCT) - do you see anyone lining up to stand elbow to elbow to see the trains?

We will remember seeing trains in the years BC - Before Covid.

Last  ( I think  🤤 )  of the four new Judy's Yarn buildings fot this years Christmas layout  A Christmas wreath and a few more figures coming in the mail should finish it.   That will make it nine yarn houses for this year.   The construction is going well and should be done in about a week. 🤔   its been a busy late summer and fall.

Hope everyone is really getting things ready .............Santa is coming real soon . 🎅🤶

As I mentioned about a week ago, I made a portable layout, based on an idea on OGR by Jim Policastro, for an alien/Area 51 layout. By switching out some of the carved styrofoam panels, it becomes my Christmas layout.

@Artie-DL&W posted:

As I mentioned about a week ago, I made a portable layout, based on an idea on OGR by Jim Policastro, for an alien/Area 51 layout. By switching out some of the carved styrofoam panels, it becomes my Christmas layout.

The only helicopter you will ever need......UH-1H HUEY......Nice Artie...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRd-yMT_5NE

@Prr7688 posted:

When do you start planning your Christmas layout? When do you actually set it up? Has anyone else found themselves thinking of it earlier due to the craziness of this year?

Definitely started earlier this year  PRR.      September the four 60 × 30 inch tables were set up for the first level and one 96×33 inch for the  second level .     Wanted to get it up off the carpet for a change.

The second level came about with the addition of the MTH Nativity Train.  The PE will still run on the first level.

Still a wee bit of work to do .       We wanted the layout up by Thanksgiving but this year there won't be the normal 18 guests for the big feast.  😶

Thanks, Pete!

@Dominic Mazoch posted:

Cod front next week. Highs ay not break 90. In Houston.  There is hope.

COD front? You got a load of fish dumped on your area??

Artie-DL&W,

Would it be possible for you to post a short video of your Christmas layout running, curious to see it in operation. It looks very interesting.

Thanks

Ray

Here is a shot of my Lionel J-3a pulling the Polar Express in preparation of the upcoming holiday season.  I’ll begin working on our Christmas tree layout this weekend.  Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

It will be a Christmas miracle if our new home is finished in time for us to move in, put up a tree and have the traditional train under it.

Let's hope for the very best.

I always put up the Christmas tree at Thanksgiving. Been traveling for last 2 holidays before covid so I didn't put up the under tree layout. This year I put it up.

@Artie-DL&W posted:

As I mentioned about a week ago, I made a portable layout, based on an idea on OGR by Jim Policastro, for an alien/Area 51 layout. By switching out some of the carved styrofoam panels, it becomes my Christmas layout.

Nice work Artie - it is amazing what you can do with Jim's little layout. I turned my copy into a Halloween themed layout.

Now I'm working on a bigger version for Christmas.