The Trains Of Christmas Past

My memories are your memories...well, darn close anyway - thanks Mike

I like it...Mike.

Christmas 1985

Christmas morning 1965

1955

Trains of my Dad's Christmases in a new Display layout.

Great stuff, Will!

Talk about memories. You're fortunate to have your father's old trains in such great shape, and the layout and video essay you have created truly does them justice.

- Mike

Bob Taylor, Is that a Olive drab Alco there with you?

My sister Claudia, Tiny Tears baby doll, and me! Christmas 1951

George

Christmas early 1950s

Northwoods Flyer

Greg

@Greg J. Turinetti posted:

Christmas early 1950s

Northwoods Flyer

Greg

OMG the tinsel! Where is the tree? LOL I well remember the days of out of control tinsel.

@Greg J. Turinetti posted:

Christmas early 1950s

Northwoods Flyer

Greg

Greg, your picture shows a tree decorated as my mother would always do - the tinsel was perfectly straight, and strands were not clumped together. And as a kid, you knew if you threw just one piece on their randomly, you would get hollered at good n' proper!

George

One of the rare times I was allowed to put together a Christmas layout.

Steve

I don't have any pictures from long ago tinplate but my father always told us the story of how shortly after Thanksgiving his father would close the french doors going into the living room and put butchers paper over the windows.  During that time he would put up the train and tree.  The platform sat on beer cases.  Then before Christmas the doors were open and my dad had access to the tinplate train.  His turtles were part of the the layout in their pond.  It was always a good story.

Here is one from a few years back that I "aged" a bit.

@Chuck Sartor posted:

Bob Taylor, Is that a Olive drab Alco there with you?

@Chuck Sartor posted:

Bob Taylor, Is that a Olive drab Alco there with you?

No Chuck it’s a 227 Canadian National. I still have it.

Here's a truly awful video clip of my Christmas layout running a few years back -

Here is a photo of what was probably my largest Christmas Layout.  This was set up in 2017 and was built on six 3x4 small modules which combined amounted to a 6x12 layout.  I loved this layout and so did my neighbors.

@Greg J. Turinetti posted:

Christmas early 1950s

Northwoods Flyer

Greg

Greg...thanks for that great photo...nothing like lead tinsel for "THE LOOK"...Merry Christmas....Joe

The Lionel Standard gauge layout ("platform") of my uncle and father for Christmas in 1927 set up on their front sun porch. The moon over the mountains could be lit when it was dark.

Merry, merry!

Bob

I've been having a fun time trying to identify all of the trains and Plasticville in the old photos shared here.  These nostalgic pics just make me feel, well, warm! Thanks for the memories guys and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I wish I had pics of my old trains to share and I'm guessing that others feel the same way.

Perhaps a present for all could be surprise feature published on Christmas eve on www.Warrenvillerailroad.com , if you guys give me permission to post your Christmas train memory photos, both those already shared here and new ones. I'm gonna ask my non-OGR forum friends (yes, they do exist, and I don't understand why they don't participate here despite my encouragement) if they have some to share too.

My email is in my profile

From December 1958......starting at about 2:04......

Layouts from 58 till about 63......

Peter

@Bob Bubeck Bob, that is a priceless photo.

Fantastic Peter! I don't have home movies like yours but the people and surroundings you shared here sparked great memories of my own past Christmasses. MUCH thanks

Do you still have that New Haven set that made you clap for joy?

I can say most certainly that Peter still has, and runs, his beloved New Haven F3's!

That's me in the red jacket, and my brother in the blue... Dad in the middle.  I'd love to have the semaphore tower again, but it somehow disappeared.  This must've been 1968 or '69.  The fake tree was where mom would thread cookies and hang them.  The real tree arrived Christmas Eve with Santa!

@KOOLjock1 posted:

That's me in the red jacket, and my brother in the blue... Dad in the middle.  I'd love to have the semaphore tower again, but it somehow disappeared.  This must've been 1968 or '69.  The fake tree was where mom would thread cookies and hang them.  The real tree arrived Christmas Eve with Santa!

Great photo, Jon. Love that semaphore! You guys were dressed up, for Christmas photos by order of your Mom, i would guess.

I'm guessing somewhere between 1950 and 1952. My father put the train under our tree in the dining room.

I can see the train is off the track. I remember our dog came into the room and knocked a couple cars off

the track while my mother or father was taking this picture.

Recent Christmas memories...

Lead tinsel. I remember running my Christmas train set, turbine, milk car and etc and having the tinsel fall on the track and cause a short.

My Mom was also a stickler for straight and separated also.

@Scotie posted:

Lead tinsel. I remember running my Christmas train set, turbine, milk car and etc and having the tinsel fall on the track and cause a short.

My Mom was also a stickler for straight and separated also.

I remember removing the lead tinsel shorts and quickly discovering one CAN actually get a shock from powered Lionel track, especially the bottom side! I wonder why the bottom offered more shocks? Anyway, just part of Christmas memories!

@Bob Bubeck posted:

The Lionel Standard gauge layout ("platform") of my uncle and father for Christmas in 1927 set up on their front sun porch. The moon over the mountains could be lit when it was dark.

@Bob Bubeck that is one awesome display - totally love that the backdrop (moon) lit up!

George

@Will posted:

Trains of my Dad's Christmases in a new Display layout.

Will, can I come over and play? I think my prewar Blue Comet would look right at home under that tree!

George

@Lionelski posted:

I've been having a fun time trying to identify all of the trains and Plasticville in the old photos shared here.  These nostalgic pics just make me feel, well, warm! Thanks for the memories guys and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I wish I had pics of my old trains to share and I'm guessing that others feel the same way.

Perhaps a present for all could be surprise feature published on Christmas eve on www.Warrenvillerailroad.com , if you guys give me permission to post your Christmas train memory photos, both those already shared here and new ones. I'm gonna ask my non-OGR forum friends (yes, they do exist, and I don't understand why they don't participate here despite my encouragement) if they have some to share too.

My email is in my profile

Hi guys,

Christmas is getting very close - do any of you guys want to give me permission to use your great photos for the feature noted above?

Thanks in advance,

John

For whatever they're worth, you can have at it with my photos above, @Lionelski.

Thanks to all of you who have contributed great photos and memories of Christmases past. They make for the most Sentimental of Journeys.

- Mike

@Lionelski posted:

Hi guys,

Christmas is getting very close - do any of you guys want to give me permission to use your great photos for the feature noted above?

Thanks in advance,

John

Sure John. Go ahead and use my photo.

Northwoods Flyer

Greg

  You're welcome to use mine John.

                             Robert

Much appreciated Mike, Greg and Robert.

Knock yourself out!

Jon

Back when I was a student, I used to build a temporary Christmas layout every year at my parent's house. The layout started as a small Marx and prewar Lionel setup under the tree but eventually got moved to the spare bedroom floor as it grew.

I dug through my photo archives and was able to find a video I took of one of the very last iterations of the Christmas layouts from 2013. In 2014 I was too busy working on my parents' third-story attic to build a Christmas layout and in 2015 I finally had a permanent layout in one corner of the now-finished space.