have a Merry Christmas also Mike 
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Brian and Ted, nice displays of the train world! I would love to have both they are very impressive!
Notning on the layout yet but making progress on the new train room. And the last one is this years Christmas Gift form my family the Thomas Kinkad "All Aboard for Christmas" framed print.
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Nice Rick, things are looking nice, Plus I have the same clock! LOL
Merry Christmas!
last minute, late night shoppers in Elizabeth City......
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Gandydancer, those crazy fools! Don't they know SNOW is coming!
snow crews are getting ready...
some are already hard at work to the north of Cleveland... 
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Finished converting 12 K-Line Heavyweights from incandescent bulbs to LEDs. I used the DC LED power circuit designed by GunrunnerJohn. Put the train on the track and tested it. Looks great, plus I substantially decreased the power consumption.
Chris
LVHR
gandydancer1950 posted:last minute, late night shoppers in Elizabeth City......
Looks exactly what I saw when I was out earlier!
RJT posted:Notning on the layout yet but making progress on the new train room. And the last one is this years Christmas Gift form my family the Thomas Kinkad "All Aboard for Christmas" framed print.
This is going to be a good one. Keep us posted!
gandydancer1950 posted:last minute, late night shoppers in Elizabeth City......
Haha guess not, but I can assure you that they are freezing their you know what's off!
Heads up East Coast folks! It's SNOWING here in Washington State at my house! LOL
help is on the way...
clearing a way, for Santa's new Sleigh...
while the Elf's have been busy on his new concept sleigh...
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What did I do on my layout today? I greased the gears on several locos, put a few K-line Add-A-Ties on a few sections of tubular track, ran a few trains with my adult son, and most importantly SWORE INCESSANTLY AT A SWITCH THAT REFUSED TO SWITCH! (Son and I will try to seriously figure out its problem after Christmas).
Kerrigan posted:Finished the interior of the Electric Motor House on the Cabin Lake & Western. Also services the turbines and some diesel units.
Awesome!
Really delightful, Kerrigan, a real treasure.
FrankM
mike g. posted:KRM posted:mike g. posted:Ok Kev. we know the trains are ready! But is Grandpa!
Merry Christmas!
I think so Mike, Best to ask in about 24 hours.
Will do! Checking back in 24 Hrs! I know it can be rough sometimes!
Mike,
Still alive after the Christmas Eve bash. House is now quiet the belly full and new oil in the daughters car.
We got a good snowfall so the kids wanted to be outside in the snow. First snow of the year and on Christmas Eve, can't do better than that for a 4 and 7 year old.
Everything went well, the only bummer is we never made it into the basement to run trains. The new tires on the JD Gator are good in the snow and it had no problems driving around the yard and woods in the almost 5" we got.
Fire in the fireplace and all is good!
Kicking back and getting ready for tomorrow's stuffing at their house. We will run trains there! 
Kerrigan posted:Finished the interior of the Electric Motor House on the Cabin Lake & Western. Also services the turbines and some diesel units.
Kerrigan, great looking engine house! Is that a kit or scratch built?
KRM posted:mike g. posted:KRM posted:mike g. posted:Ok Kev. we know the trains are ready! But is Grandpa!
Merry Christmas!
I think so Mike, Best to ask in about 24 hours.
Will do! Checking back in 24 Hrs! I know it can be rough sometimes!
Mike,
Still alive after the Christmas Eve bash. House is now quiet the belly full and new oil in the daughters car.
We got a good snowfall so the kids wanted to be outside in the snow. First snow of the year and on Christmas Eve, can't do better than that for a 4 and 7 year old.
Everything went well, the only bummer is we never made it into the basement to run trains. The new tires on the JD Gator are good in the snow and it had no problems driving around the yard and woods in the almost 5" we got.
Fire in the fireplace and all is good!
Kicking back and getting ready for tomorrow's stuffing at their house. We will run trains there!
Kev. I am so happy to hear you made it threw the night! I am sorry you didn't get a chance to run trains, but if you get a chance tomorrow, jump on it!
We also are getting some snow here but only an inch sofar, they say up 3-6 inches by morning! Our Christmas was over last weekend as the kids and grandkids had to go to the other grandparents this weekend. Still had a great time and the grandkids keep asking me when are the trains going to be running again. I feel sad cause it wont be till maybe next Christmas!
My continued work on the signal system have 10 more signals to tie in then I have to daisy chain the 36 boards together then test and troubleshoot 
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Best Christmas ever had or will ever have.
I was seven. Growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, we had Higbees, May co and Halley’s down town department stores. After Thanksgiving, each would have an entire floor full of toys. Of course the best was the train area where there were Lionel and American Flyer layouts set up. I’d stay there for hours watching them run and, of course, there were free catalogs.
Mom asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I pointed to the Lionel SF diesel A-A and 4 beautiful aluminum passenger cars and said ‘that’. At 90 bucks, mom said we can’t afford that. Dad worked at Midland Ross steel and, if he made that in a week, he was lucky!
$90 in 1953 is over $800 in 2017: imagine spending that much on a seven year old, today, for one present!
I remember getting up that Christmas morning and seeing the large rectangular box all wrapped and knew exactly what it was.
As in ‘Christmas story’, that was the best Christmas I ever had, or ever will.
And it still runs great!
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Mine too. Got the Santa Fe ABA freight that year. We lived in Brooklyn NY then and my Dad got it at Madison Hardware. Wish that I still had it. We lost most of our trains in a house fire in 1956. Replaced most but not the beautiful Santa Fe engine. I’m very fortunate to have more trains now than I need.
Merry Christmas from snowbound New England!
SAMPARFITT: You are correct it was a lot of money back then. My uncle worked for J&L Steel in 1953 and he bought me the same set 2 weeks before Christmas 1953 along with a ZW Transformer and lots of track and yes it still runs great today.(I think because my aunt was a bookie helped a alot) I managed to get the one missing car about 8 years ago as I had 2 of the 2533 and no 2534, I also have managed to acquire both versions of the 2530 Baggage car to complete the set. Now it sits on display under glass in a display case. Someday soon I hope it will be unpacked and back on display. My plan is to have one loop on the new layout just to run all my Postwar stuff. SOMEDAY!
SAMPARFITT, I have heard it said that what we remember most about people, events, places, and moments in our lives is how they made us feel. You have taken many treasures with you from that Christmas, even managing to hold onto that train set. Yet, the best treasure that came with you from that Christmas is in your heart, which we can clearly feel through your words.
I am very happy for you.
With respect and applause,
FrankM
Kerrigan posted:Finished the interior of the Electric Motor House on the Cabin Lake & Western. Also services the turbines and some diesel units.
That's a fine looking facility. The crew should be very happy working there.
Bob
FrankM
I had great parents.
As 'they' say:
People will forget what you said;
People will forget what you did.
But people will never forget how you made them feel.
RJT posted:SAMPARFITT: You are correct it was a lot of money back then. My uncle worked for J&L Steel in 1953 and he bought me the same set 2 weeks before Christmas 1953 along with a ZW Transformer and lots of track and yes it still runs great today.(I think because my aunt was a bookie helped a alot) I managed to get the one missing car about 8 years ago as I had 2 of the 2533 and no 2534, I also have managed to acquire both versions of the 2530 Baggage car to complete the set. Now it sits on display under glass in a display case. Someday soon I hope it will be unpacked and back on display. My plan is to have one loop on the new layout just to run all my Postwar stuff. SOMEDAY!
What a cool Aunt you had!
I also had a cool Aunt that gave me great presents when I was a child. Besides numerous Lionel trains, I once got a package from her with little holes in it when my Aunt Ruth went to Florida. It was a live baby alligator. It crawled out of the box and rolled over on its back. My mother and I gave it bits of raw hamburger, adrenalin, and cognac to resuscitate it. Then, we took it to the vet up the street. You should have seen the look on vet's face when we asked him to save my baby alligator!
This thread has been a fun to watch Talent show, from the beginning, and will continue to be for Years to come, Hope you had a Good Christmas Day, December 25th, 2017......Enjoy,
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leapinlarry posted:This thread has been a fun to watch Talent show, from the beginning, and will continue to be for Years to come, Hope you had a Good Christmas Day, December 25th, 2017......Enjoy,
Beautiful layout. Outstanding bridge, structures and ballasted track.
And beautiful turntable and roundhouse on Larry's layout.
I would need a lot more room to make them fit on my layout.
Leapin Larry - Your layout looks awesome!! Thanks for sharing the photos and your greetings!!
Today I was able to get into the layout room for several hours. It's been a very busy month to say the least! Being a musician, Christmastime can be exhausting! For instance yesterday was packed with gigs morning to night. Fun and yet very demanding. After leaving the house, for DC, yesterday at 7:30 a.m and returning at 10:30 p.m., I was drawn to the train room where I ran trains for 15 minutes or so, only able to enjoy them at a certain level for the exhaustion seem to impede my usual great depth of enjoyment.
After a good night's sleep I again was drawn to the train room where I spent several hours sipping coffee, watching the trains run, and allowing my imagination go absolutely wild!
Fun times in Patsburg was had by the Mayor and CEO of the Free State Junction Railway on this Christmas Day .... just as my imagination did 61 years ago on Christmas Day when I received, from Santa, my first Lionel set at age 4!! I can remember with great clarity coming down the stairs, making the turn into the living room and immediately spotting, under the Christmas tree, the oval of track and the face of the 2065 steam locomotive staring at me. WOW ... That feeling was absolutely exhilarating!!! I still have that same set intact with the operating milk car, log car, NYC Pacemaker boxcar and the 3 dome Sunoco tank car, complete with a Lionel Lines porthole caboose, and the 1033 transformer ....the locomotive still works as does the milk car, NYC Pacemaker boxcar, and transformer. Unfortunately the log car no longer works... but still looks good.
Yes, as Frank M said ( to paraphrase ) we do remember our feelings and that Christmas of many years ago was my best!! AND I've had many wonderful Christmas Day's over the years, even when I had no layout .... for I still had those wonderful memories of those young years with my trains. Thanks Mom and Dad ( and Santa too ) for giving me that wonderful Lionel train set and thank you, most of all, for allowing me to experience that absolutely wonderful magical feeling 61 years ago today!!! My heart overflows with gratitude ... Merry Christmas!!!!!!
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Patrick, Great story and once again a very nice video! Thank you for sharing both with us! Merry Christmas!
Patrick's reply this evening inspired me to take a few photos and say a few things.
We are close in age and got close to the same Lionel train set at close to the same Christmas! Here are 4 photos of the first train set I got for Christmas sometime between 1954 and 1956:
It was led by the same 2065 Locomotive and coffin style Lionel Lines tender:
My best recollection is that next came this operating milk car and non-operating yellow horse/cattle car:
Again, my best recollection is that next came this green log dump car and red gondola:
And I'm sure this Lionel Lines lighted caboose with round portals was included in this set:
So, we had the same loco, tender, log dump car and caboose in our sets, but the other 3 cars were different.
I also received as a young child the orange operating cattle car and corral, the operating barrel car and barrel loader, and the gray searchlight car, 2 of which might have been in my set instead of the operating milk car and yellow non-operating horse/cattle car. I'm 99% sure the red gondola was in my set because my father used to put his L&M cigarettes in it for train rides around the Christmas tree (thank God he gave up smoking cold turkey a couple of years later so he lived until age 76 and did not die younger of lung cancer.
What we also have in common is how we both treasure our first train sets.
Another difference: my log dump car works like a charm and yours doesn't. Good news is it is easy and relatively inexpensive to get them fixed so they work perfectly and there are plenty of available parts to make it happen. I'm sure there are people in this forum (not me) who can fix yours blind-folded.
I love what I saw on your video of your layout with magnificent trains and scenery.
You sound like you are a busy and successful professional musician; I can play chords on the guitar, sing a little and at times have had great passion for songwriting.
We both find peace and joy retreating to our caves (train rooms) where "In our little world we leave this troubled world behind."
I very much look forward to meeting you, Patrick, down the tracks.
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Larry, Patrick, and Arnold- great stories and sentiment. You all have spectacular layouts and should be very proud. My train life started early as well but I had HO trains. My father and I built my first layout when I was 8 in 1969. My first set of trains was a Lionel ATSF Streamliner set with a F3 AB set pulling. I spent many years playing with them. Every Christmas was a big deal as the whole family would come over to see "my" trains. The layout was a L-shaped 4 X 8 board with a 4 X 6 yard. I could run two trains simultaneously. I learned a ton about block control, wiring, etc over the years. Great memories that will last a lifetime.
Merry Christmas!
Bob
RSJB18 posted:Larry, Patrick, and Arnold- great stories and sentiment. You all have spectacular layouts and should be very proud. My train life started early as well but I had HO trains. My father and I built my first layout when I was 8 in 1969. My first set of trains was a Lionel ATSF Streamliner set with a F3 AB set pulling. I spent many years playing with them. Every Christmas was a big deal as the whole family would come over to see "my" trains. The layout was a L-shaped 4 X 8 board with a 4 X 6 yard. I could run two trains simultaneously. I learned a ton about block control, wiring, etc over the years. Great memories that will last a lifetime.
Merry Christmas!
Bob
Wonderful
Wow, feel like Paul 2, since I'm off for Christmas Break and get to sit around all day and work on the layout.
Was able to move amusement park rides to another part of the layout that is going to work better. Made risers for my monorail so trains can fit underneath it. Had to raise it up about 1 3/4 inches. Started to work on the midway of the amusement park and since I like to customize buildings and make my layout unique here is what I came up with.
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