Thinking Ahead To The Christmas Layout

Leave it in front of the window mounted like this.  There's still plenty of room below to run trains.  As for protecting your Dept 56........good luck!!!!

Going to lowes ,and buy, 4-5, of their tables on sale, for 44.0O, and do a

elevated,  Dept 56 , combined MTH, Tinplate, with 7 car, display, on fast track.

I Think we cataloged  4-5,  pages of Dept inv, last year to kind give an

idea, no where near what some folks do, but to expansive to be under tree

thanks!

You really can't kid proof something like that.  Either kids know how to behave around fragile objects or they don't.  Not too late to teach 'em of course.

Wild Mary,  I once thought of doing my tree upside down as a joke for my wife.  But, knowing my wife, I didn't.  But that is cool.  Looks cool too.

Rick

Send your kids to the grandparents for the Holidays.

A "leg lamp" is supposed to go in the window.

Dude, CHRISTMAS?!?!, I haven't even opened my pool yet for the year!

Jerry

I was amused about the timing of the post too since we are looking forward to sailing this weekend!!

Last year was our first attempt at a Holiday layout, 2 trains, 3 folding tables, and mostly Dept. 56 & Lemax type buildings.  We kept it in the room directly behind the tree and since it was at table height the risk of a stray ball or toy was minimized.  My kids are older (13 & 11) but the dogs could still do a lot of damage and that's why I felt better having the layout off the ground. 

I keep an eye out throughout the year for items that might work well for the Holiday layout.  This year we are going to set it up at end of September for a fall layout with Spooky Town and Carnival rides, and then change it over to Holiday theme around Thanksgiving. 

Here's a pic of the layout from last year.

I put a tree in my dining room with a small layout underneath , its built on a 4 inch high platform . it works good for me ,I leave the track on it when its put away .

Speaking of Christmas.

I also have a large framed window and have a 5x7 plywood layout with two ovals, one is O36 the other is O54.The plywood is 3/4 inch thick and I can pick it up and slide it into the garage for storage. HOWEVER!!!! This year after christmas I was having so much fun with the trains,That after removing the tree and all the decorations, I decided to leave the plywood lay on the floor and have been running the trains ever since.

We are now about halfway until Nov, when I normally start my christmas set up, maybe I will leave it there for a while longer.

 Having Fun and Apoligizing to no one. 

Only 215 days until Christmas!!   We even expecting Frost tonight here IL.  However, after a long winter, it is hard to think about Christmas.  I only have a Christmas layout and I admit I occasionally through out the year think about what I am going to do different.  Our Tree usually is in the corner allowing the most space for village.  Last year I had 5 loops of track....the most I have ever set-up. 2 of loops circled the room and others circled around and within the village itself.  4 trains running on the outer loops and 1 train on each of the inner loops. I will probably do something similar this year.     

TGP

"Going to lowes ,and buy, 4-5, of their tables on sale, for 44.0O"

I was at Home D and they had folding tables for 39.99.

Hello - Have you given any thought to have your children help you to design and

build the layout for Christmas this year?  They might enjoy it and you get to spend quality time with them.  Also, it may spark an interesting a new hobby for them and they can focus their energy towards that.  That's what my dad did for my brother and I when we were really young and I've been into trains ever since (about 30 years). 

As for myself, every year I do a simple oval of tubular track with period trains and I run them with an original transformer, rheostat and circuit breaker.  Assuming my cats don't bother it, it'll stay up for a while.  LOL. 

how about letting us enjoy the summer first ? bad enough the retail store industry wants to start christmas season sooner every year.-jim

I was just moving some stuff around in the basement and came across the the platforms I use for our Christmas display...never too early to start thinking about it.

I will once again issue my plea for Christmas layout picture--individual shots that can be used in our Readers' Rail section and even full layout features if you have something a bit out of the ordinary.  It offers a chance to make a bit of extra Christmas shopping money, be it for train items or a gift for someone special.  The photo can be of this year's display or even some great shots you made in previous years.

Photos need to be high resolution (largest file size; camera set for fewest number of images), but you can send examples of what you have via e-mail attachments first and I can advise on what might be needed.

I like to feature Christmas in our December issue, and it won't be too many more weeks before I'll actually start working on putting that issue together.  Get in touch with me if you feel you have something worth considering, and which, if published, will provide a lasting momento for family and friends that lasts far beyond the here-today-gone-tomorrow displays seen online.

For those moaning about thinking about our Christmas layouts in May, I have a thought that they may want to consider.

Some of us with Christmas-only layouts enjoy trains and enjoy the hobby - we just don't have a permanent layout.  I get my year-round participation in the hobby off to a jump start in February each year by starting to design new track plans for the upcoming Christmas season.

I spend months and months drawing, redrawing, rethinking track plans.  One I have a few that I like, given the priorities that I set for that year, I see how scenery elements fit in.  That forces some to be discarded, others to be reworked, and new ones to be drawn given new parameters. 

Then there's figuring out how I'll wire the thing.

So this is how I get my enjoyment within the hobby and May, to me, is actually a bit late to start thinking.

- walt

I'm working on an idea I had too late to complete it last year: a Thanksgiving Day Christmas Parade through my downtown area on my Superstreets, complete with floats, a reviewing stands and crowds, a brass band, etc.   I'm currently building powered 'Streets parade floats with 10:1 reduction gearing so they move very slowly: the Snow Queen, floats from local vendors including Cohen's Corner Hobby, and of course a Santa Claus North Pole float, with a few convertibles with local dignitaries and politicians, etc.