my rendition of "Blue Blue Christmas" and "The Finch that Stole Christmas"

Beautiful

Very nice Carey!  

beautiful trains Carey

If only those trains could talk I wonder what type of Christmas stories they would tell.  Beautiful stuff and how nice to see them running.

Merry Tinplate Christmas Carey

Northwoods Flyer

Greg

Hello everyone ...thank you for your kind words ...it is great to see so many postings of  trains running this Christmas ..

I'm having fun trying to get the old trains to run on their original track ... which can be a bit more challenging ...

C&F steamer is running on ribbon rail...with wood ties ..(there are many   good reasons why this died out) ..the C&F trolley is running on C&F sectional track  circa 1908 ... when Lionel introduced standard gauge at the very end of 1906 ...with sectional "electric" all metal 3 rail  track ...touted as easy set up and take down it sent a ripple through the rest of the electric train manufactures to come up with sectional track... two rail  ....so each company C&F, Howard , Knapp , and Voltamp  all came out with their own sectional track using wood for ties ...and very light gauge rail..... the track was the weak link in the chain ....  C&F's sectional track is exceptionally...marginal ...this one flaw was one of the major reasons why the first and largest electric toy train manufacturer in America vanished by 1915 . 

Boucher is running on 3 rail standard gauge with wood ties and base 80" diameter ... fine wonderful and great ... but the rail is still very thin gauge and bends much more easily then Lionel.

Lionel's first standard gauge track was not much better ...oh no very flimsy   ... ..how ever about the 1908/9 window Lionel learned to knurl the web on the rail which doubled ( + - )  the rails strength  and rigidity ..... pushing Lionel's track ahead of the others ...Lionel would further improve the track in 1912  with the lower profile ties ( common ties you see today) .... which cemented Lionel has  a leader in the toy train world with rapid set up and take down abilities....toy trains were seasonal and only got to monopolize the living room floor for a short while in Dec / Jan ... 

Cheers Carey 

Carey Williams posted:

Hello everyone ...thank you for your kind words ...it is great to see so many postings of  trains running this Christmas ..

I'm having fun trying to get the old trains to run on their original track ... which can be a bit more challenging ...

C&F steamer is running on ribbon rail...with wood ties ..(there are many   good reasons why this died out) ..the C&F trolley is running on C&F sectional track  circa 1908 ... when Lionel introduced standard gauge at the very end of 1906 ...with sectional "electric" all metal 3 rail  track ...touted as easy set up and take down it sent a ripple through the rest of the electric train manufactures to come up with sectional track... two rail  ....so each company C&F, Howard , Knapp , and Voltamp  all came out with their own sectional track using wood for ties ...and very light gauge rail..... the track was the weak link in the chain ....  C&F's sectional track is exceptionally...marginal ...this one flaw was one of the major reasons why the first and largest electric toy train manufacturer in America vanished by 1915 . 

Boucher is running on 3 rail standard gauge with wood ties and base 80" diameter ... fine wonderful and great ... but the rail is still very thin gauge and bends much more easily then Lionel.

 

Lionel's first standard gauge track was not much better ...oh no very flimsy   ... ..how ever about the 1908/9 window Lionel learned to knurl the web on the rail which doubled ( + - )  the rails strength  and rigidity ..... pushing Lionel's track ahead of the others ...Lionel would further improve the track in 1912  with the lower profile ties ( common ties you see today) .... which cemented Lionel has  a leader in the toy train world with rapid set up and take down abilities....toy trains were seasonal and only got to monopolize the living room floor for a short while in Dec / Jan ... 

 

Cheers Carey 

 

 

Interesting information.  Thanks for sharing.