Winter Wonderland & Holiday Layout Contest - The winner is...

quote:

Originally posted by Will:
I am doing a Christmas layout, and also having a little trouble with Rule 4. This seems like a sort of arbitrary design parameter and will limit variety and creativity. My layout will be made with some very old vintage trains and buildings, and I'm not sure I want to add candy themed scenery.

Personally don't think I would do rules- just the best temporary Christmas layout would seem to cover it. You could make it clear that small is good, it doesn't have to be big to win.

Anyway, my 2 cents. That said, I understand the sponsors prerogative to structure it however they want and applaud their initiative and generosity.

Will, I look forward to your layout. Good luck!

Going small as well...benchwork is assembled, but that's about it so far.


Got to get going...tree-trimming party on the 17th...

PD

Looking good PD! I will also be going small, revamping my layout on a door.

Is there anything I have to do to enter? Or do I just post the photos when I'm finished?

quote:

Originally posted by ATSF Doug:
Is there anything I have to do to enter? Or do I just post the photos when I'm finished?

Build your layout according to the rules in the first post. Post the required amount of photos in this thread prior to the deadline. That's it.

Does the Lioneville Peppermint Company tank car count as "Candy canes"...?

Here's my 3x5 loop for 2011, Lemax and St. Nicholas buildings, RMT Christmas beep, presents in gondola from JoAnn's, home made candy canes on log dump car, RMT Christmas caboose.

This Christmas layout has already had more than its 15 minutes of fame in OGR magazine so it's not a contest entry. But, it fits the requirements and may give a few last minute ideas to others.

Overall size: 3'6" x 4'6" (less than 16 sq. ft.)

All Styrofoam construction, O-36 FasTrack loop.

Overall view:




Lighted waterfall (clear acrylic caulk) and skating rink (plexiglas frosted by sanding):




The required Christmas goodies are covered with the gingerbread candy store scene which includes candy canes in the design (could never use real - the dog loved peppermint and gingerbread):




This scene should cover the "cuteness" factor:




Skating rink close-up (small string of battery powered lights under the sanded plexiglas):




The lighted waterfall (Christmas lights inserted in openings behind the acrylic caulk falls):




It was built with modular scenery panels so this forest scene was an easy switch for the station scene on the right side of the layout;




Another gondola load of Christmas trees on their way to town:




Big diesel power on a little layout:




My favorite scene says it all for train lovers at Christmas:



Jim

YOU ARE NOW IN BEDFORD FALLS. This layout is 4ft x 6ft and uses Super O Track.



In my remake of "It's a Wonderful Life," Violet took George up on his invitation to go up to Mount Bedford and therefore, he never made it to Mary's house. Here's a view of the sleepy town of Bedford Falls from Mount Bedford.

Darstaed and Trains Hoover, the US Darstaed distributor, are offering 3 Private Owners Vans to the winner of this competition.
Valued at $150, this is a wonderful prize.

There are ten different vans currently in the series, this is one of them.

Thanks for a great find Dave! I recommend everyone follow the links in the OP to view these great sponsors and to see some great looking European train cars.

Stewart, I would like to enter the contest, so do I just add my photos to this forum topic? If so, how many photos?

Hi David, yes, add your pics here, add as many as you like to best show all the features your layout has to offer.

Hey Gang,

I'm back. Sorry for the delay in answering. Post a minimum of 5 pictures. Also, OGR will be looking for stories, so keep notes and keep some pictures for a story.

I'll revise the OP to clear some clutter up.

Okay, I'll go first. Here's my entry. This is a small display built on a four-foot-by-four-foot platform.

Blank canvas:


Second level added:


Here's the completed layout:


Here's another shot without the flash:


I'm running a Lionel 259E with a string of Lionel passenger cars (607/607/608), all from the 1930's:


Here's the station:


Here's downtown:


Here's another shot of downtown:


Here's the the train pulling out of town:


Okay, hopefully I have all of the pictures in order, captioned correctly.

The platform was built out of quarter-inch plywood over 1X4 framing, on two-by-four legs twenty-four inches high. I covered the whole thing with two layers of white felt. For track I used MTH Real Trax. The buildings are all Department 56, Dickens Collectibles and Lemax. The folks are all Department 56 and Lemax. After thumb-tacking the skirt onto the frame, I attached stained 1X6 framing around the platform to give it a finished "furniture" appearance. To meet the requirement of the contest, a built a fence around the top of the platform from 5/16 inch dowels painted to look like candy canes (artificial candy canes, due to roving golden retrievers). I drilled holes through them and ran through a silver chain to form a chain fence (a lot of Christmas gardens here in Baltimore were built with fencing around them, and this was the look I was going for). Last, a ran a string of LED lights around the underside of the upper level to provide some additional illumination. The tree is a four foot, pre-lit artificial I bought at Lowes a couple of years ago after Christmas, for around twenty bucks, if I remember correctly.

I think that's it. Fun project. Let me know if I left anything out...

PD

Well done PD, I look forward to seeing many more.

quote:

Originally posted by pd:




I think that's it. Fun project. Let me know if I left anything out...

PD

PD, the layout looks awesome! You'll be a great inspiration for the rest of us! As far as I can tell, everything looks in place for the contest!

The candy cane stanchions are the perfect touch. Nicely done in a very small space

Something about candy canes... They go good anywhere on a Christmas scene
=================
Has anybody checked out the new Lionel Christmas house. LEd Christmas light trim, candles in front and wreath. Also the mortar is already done Great detailing and lighting for a decent price.


Bill D

How are peoples projects going? I know time is getting tight and there are so many other projects in the works. Any chance for an deadline extension? I know many people have time off the days after Christmas and before New Years.

quote:

Originally posted by Silver Lake:
Any chance for an deadline extension?

No.

Ok, So I finally got around to buing some candy canes and can now post my pictures for the contest.

Here are some details of my Hickory Creek, NY layout under my tree...

• The layout is 4' x 8', from the wall to the layout edge, in both directions, including under the tree.
• The power froms from an MRC Throttlepack AC.
• The motive power is NYC 0-8-0 #7795 from the 2009 Lionel NYC Flyer.
• The first car is a Lionelville Peppermint Company tank car.
• The second car is my father's Marx SERX Milk Reefer from 1953, that I bought a spare frame and had K&K Trains of New Hartford, NY mount Lionel trucks. (Thank you Dan K., Bill K., George K. and Phil K.!)
• The third is a K-Line NYC/REA Express Reefer.
• The streamliner is all 8 reindeer cars from Lionel's North Pole Central.
• The track is Lionel FasTrack and the crossings are from Locomotion Hobby in Rome, NY. (Thank you Pat and Lou Mangino!)
• Sal's Pizza and St. Mary of Mount Carmel Church are on Broad Street, and The Coffee Grounds is across from Central Station on Railroad Avenue.
• The BEEP people are from RMT.
• The blue Chevy pickup is from Old Navy, where I met my wife, Carrie.

Please let me know if you have any questions...


































http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4Qk52D-PP8&feature=youtu.be

Thank you all for looking and good luck! Please have a warm and merry Christmas, and a safe and happy New Year!

Sincerely,
Mario

Mario,

Wonderfully done!!! I embedded the video so everyone can watch it here.

[IMG]http://www.photos.jcstudiosinc.com/user983/maddytrains005.jpg[/IMG








my 6 year old daughter running the trains under the tree tonight, she picked out the 2245 and 726rr to run tonight. tommorrow night she wants to get out her "madison train" which consists of 4 postwar 2627 madison cars, since her name is also madison...(i swear when we were picking out names for her i was not thinking about trains...lol nobody ever believes me)

Okay folks. Here is my entry. I thought the requirement for adding food stuffs was going to disqualify me...but I think I have it licked.

Layout is 4' x 5'. Enjoy

[IMG][/IMG]














Merry Christmas to everyone!!

Dave Wilson

Here's my entry. Merry Christmas everyone!

Don








Passengers waiting for the train (baked and decorated by my daughters)

quote:

Originally posted by Dave Wilson:
Okay folks. Here is my entry. I thought the requirement for adding food stuffs was going to disqualify me...but I think I have it licked.

Layout is 4' x 5'. Enjoy

Merry Christmas to everyone!!

Dave Wilson

Very nice Dave! Love the tinplate.

Don

Like many of you, I love the Christmas season. It gives me a wonderful excuse to get out all of my toy trains and set them up for the family to enjoy. Right now the Christmas layout is the only place I have to run my trains, since I had to tear down my layout earlier this year when I had the basement finished. I have been building layouts for the past ten Christmas seasons, and each year is different.

Key Facts:

• Layout size: 9' x 5.5' = 49.5' square feet
  
• Two loops of Lionel Fastrack; O-48 outer loop and O-36 inner loop
  [LIST] MTH DCS control using Z-1000 and Z-750 power bricks. I picked up a used DCS system from someone on the Forum last year and it really adds to the layout. My 7 year old daughter and 8 year old and 5 year old nephews love using the DCS remote to control the trains and open the doors on the Silver Bullet train
  
• Train 1 - Katy SD70ACe Heritage Diesel pulling the Christmas Express (Candy Cane dump car, Santa Chase Gondola, Christmas Music Box Car, Angela Trotta Boxcar, Santa & Frosty “surfing” Boxcar, Candy Cane Tank Car, Naughty & Nice Ore Cars, and Christmas Caboose)
  
• Train 2 - Coors Silver Bullet with add-on Tail Car
  
• BuildingsCeramic are from Department 56, St. Nicholas Square (Kohl's), Carole Towne (Lowe's) and Winter Wonderland (Home Depot)

Benchwork Construction

• Three modules, each 3' x 5.5'
  
• Modules are very light weight, and use 1” foam for the “tabletop”. My father-in-law built the modules for me last year (Thanks Bill!)
  
• The legs are bolted to each module, which allows the layout to be be stored taking up a minimal amount of space in my garage during the offseason. The wheels on each module allow me to construct the layout in the middle of the room, and then easily move it up against the wall

View of benchwork from the other side

Notice my little helper at the far end. My youngest daughter loves to help me set up the Christmas Train and looks forward to it every year. I often joke that she is a little boy trapped in a girl's body.

Extra Module

I actually have modules that I can set up for a total layout size of 12' x 5.5'. I had to leave one module in the garage this year in order to keep the total size under 50 square feet, and enter the contest. This picture gives you a good idea of how I store the benchwork during the offseason. The square white piece to the right of the benchwork module is the 1” foam “tabletop” that fits into the benchwork module.

Extra Legs

These are the four extra legs for the extra benchwork module. During the offseason, I store all of the legs in the plastic tote, making it very easy to store the entire layout in a minimal amount of space in my garage.

Finished Overview

I used to build the layout under the tree, but raising it off the ground has the following advantages:

• Easy to wire and hide all the light cords under the table
  
• Easier to view and operate
  
• Less “accidents” from people walking near the layout, and the cats “playing” with figures, buildings and wiring
  
• The table skirting is red felt.

Finished Overview II

The Christmas tree in the background is not part of the layout, but is next to it (due to space limitations, this is the only place where the tree can go).

Finished Overview III


Meet at the Candy Cane

The Silver Bullet and Christmas Express meet at the Candy Can near the local depot

Round the Bend near Ralphie's House

The Silver Bullet rounds the bend near Ralphie's house, just as the Old Man opens his major award

I'm a die-hard Ohio State fan, and this is one my favorite decorations on the layout.


Katy Heritage Diesel decorated for the holidays


The Silver Bullet sure is a looker


Time Lapse Movie of Layout Construction



Several years ago the gentleman behind ogaugewatch.com created a time lapse movie showing him building his Christmas layout. I have always wanted to the same thing, and the video below is my first attempt at a time lapse video. I created the video using my iPhone 4s and an app named TimeLapse. I am still learning to use the app, so this video is a bit rough around the edges, but I still think it is pretty cool.

I wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Chris

Here is my entry. Merry Christmas Everyone.

54"x 48" Super O Layout
Postwar ZW Transformer
Heavy white fleece was used for the snow.
Lionel Hobo Hotel
Lemax Ice Pond, with O Gauge children skaters













Frame being built


Plywood floor and then sound board between the plywood and fleece


The layout needed three sections of straight track cut down. Had I gone with 60X48 that would have not been an issue but I wanted a smaller layout.



I used a woodland scenics foam incline for the loop.


Banana Clips for the power.


Real candy canes for the bench scene and then candy cane painted trestle to hold the track up. I was going to use the lemax people on the pond but I felt the looked way too big.




Lastly, I needed to add some snow to the Hobo Hotel.

This Christmas layout combines new and old elements. The locomotive and super O track are from my childhood Lionel outfit gifted to me on Christmas day in 1957. Many of the china buildings are recent issues from Department 56. The main concept behind this layout is to have the train fully integrated with the village and Christmas tree. This was done by placing the buildings very close to the train track and having the tree mounted on top of the train table. The size of the layout is 4' x 6'. Hope that you enjoy these pictures. Merry Christmas.


Side view of the village. The Lionel 2352 runs as well as it did 54 years ago.




Creche scene next to the train station.




Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus getting some exercise.




Train approaching the passenger station.




Street scene in the heart of the village.




Kids frolic in the snow on the outskirts of town.




The Lionel gate crossing still works.




Christmas tree at night.

Here is my entry, a simple 6x8 a lot was purchased here on the buy sell forum. Thanks to my Grandpa and my Dad for all the wonderful memories. Merry Christmas all and thank you to all involved with the OGR forum.













Warm Regards,

Wes

Hi Everyone,
Here's mine:
6X8 Layout
Up and over figure 8 with two reverse loops. One of the reverse loops uses a 30 degree crossover
Four switches, all O-31, each wired with an Atlas non-derailing circuit.
Minimum radius: 0-27
Maximum radius: 0-45
All Atlas 21st Century Track
Wired to run conventional OR DCS/TMCC
All switch wiring uses CAT5 Ethernet cable and jacks
Layout, support table and wiring harnesses break down for transport
Construction is 1-1/2" foam insulation and foam gap filler
Table is 2X4's
Buildings are a hodgepodge of several manufacturers including Dept56, Lemax and store brand (JoAnne Etc.)
Thanks for looking.
Enjoy! :-)

New pics with my new Camera! Still learning how to use it a bit.











|-----------------Original Pics-----------------------------------------|

Our layout is 4x8 and sits on our dining room table. (Naturally, we don't host the Christmas Dinner.)
Frame is 1x4's with 2" thick sheets of foam for the lower and upper level platforms. Mountains were plaster cloth over wadded newspaper forms.
Track is Fastrack with Legacy control on both loops.
Candy canes were used for the upper level cantenary poles and also for the town's street lights. My daughter fashioned the lamp fixtures from fondant.
Merry Christmas all!

Nice, Graz. Great catenary!

PD

Love those trolley poles. How did you get the arms to attach?

Dave Wilson

A dab of hot glue for the poles.

My entry...

Built most of it last year and posted many of the step by step photos of the process... added details and more stuff this year.

Specs:

5' x 9'
3/4 plywood with white felt overall
inner loop Realtrax
outer loop Fastrack
trolley line Fastrack
DCS operated - my first encounter with DCS!
built with one edge on window sill, legs for the other edge
breaks down to (4) 4.5' x 2.5' boards plus tunnel
St Nicholas Square buildings and accessories
about 40 hours to build, 4 hours setup, 2 hours breakdown
MTH Trains

Here's some pictures:
THE BIG PICTURE


THE GINGERBREAD LIMITED (no DCS) MEETS THE POLAR EXPRESS


TREES FOR SALE


LOOKING DOWN MAIN STREET


THE GINGERBREAD LIMITED LEAVES THE STATION


CHRISTMAS EVE WITH PRESENTS FOR ALL


What I learned:
+ DCS is fun! 7 year old grand-nephew had a great time... 2 year old was in charge of the trolley pushbutton.
+ The Gingerbread Limited is VERY limited!
+ 3/4" plywood is very strong, and very heavy
+ At less than 2' above the floor, wiring is tricky... and all of the wires are tied up so the presents won't snag 'em
+ All of our guests loved it, which led to a trip "downstairs to the year 'round layout"

Best Wishes and Good Luck to all of the Great Layouts displayed on this thread... Thanks to all for contributing!

Ed

ps. a couple of hundred "as it was being built" photos were taken.

Hello,

This is my submission to the Winter Wonderland and Holiday Layout Contest. The layout started out as a K-Line Christmas Train set that I had given to my mother as a Christmas gift, who wanted a train for under the Christmas tree. Being a model train enthusiest, I was happy to oblige. I decided to make an elevated layout, as apposed to a floor layout, as my mother had received a dalmatian puppy on the prior Christmas, and the puppy would be trying to "catch" the train on most occasions.

The layout is approximately 2.5' x 5.5' in size and consists of a simple oval that is disguised by the layout backdrop. The train enters the backdrop via a tunnel under a replica of the Seth Thomas Building, that is located in Thomaston, CT, up the street from my parents home, and exits via the mountain tunnel. The base of the layout is plywood covered in sheets of styroform insulation and rests on work horses. The "snow" on the layout is made of Sculptamold and the evergreen trees are from Woodland Scenics. There are various buildings on the layout that are detailed and illuminated, including the Ameritowne theater with working chase lights, that continuously shows, "101 Dalmatians", in recognition of my mother's dog. In addition to the K-Line Christmas Train that is delivering a supply of candy canes, there is a Lionel Trolley on Main Street. Other layout features are the skiers on the mountain and ice skaters on the plexiglass ice under the bridge.

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Hi and Merry Christmas.

My wife and I have this little layout. It is built on two folding tables, roughly 30 in X 72 in. each, for a total of 60 in X 72 in.. It resides temporarily in our foyer area in our house in FL (hence the incongruous foliage behind the window in some of the photos!).



The layout itself is an outer loop of O36 Fastrack with the Polar Express and some add-ons. The buildings are a combination of Lemax, Dept 56 and St Nicholas Sq. The candy canes, are edible. I wonder why our three dogs haven't figured that out yet...

Overview of Layout

One of the neat things, but also a drawback, of the payout was that I made it so that we can use a wireless remote (the three button kind with the separate plug-in receivers) to allow us to turn the train and trolly on and off as well as separately turn the lights of the buildings on and off. The draw back was I couldn't use the transformer to adjust the speed of the train or trolly (set it for a moderate speed) and I couldn't blow the (anemic) PE whistle. Did well though, because the layout enthralled all of our neighbors during our Christmas party last weekend.



Some picture from around the layout at various scenes we created.





















Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!!



Our best to you and yours. Hope you all had a very Happy Holiday Season! I didn't get any trains (cleaned up for my birthday), but our son came home from school and we had a great time just loafing and running the train and trolly around this little layout. I say this because my now 26 y/o son commented that he would like a train to run around in his apartment while at school, and he remarked at how this "cool" hobby kind of passed by his generation due to video games. He already wants me to expand the permanent layout in NC and wants to help! If that isn't a nice Christmas present, having my grown son interested in O gauge!

Best of the season,

Bruce & Chris Leone

Hello,

Here's my entry. The layout is roughly 5' by 9' and has 3 levels. There are candy canes decorating the yard of a house and a Christmas tree. Plenty of snow everywhere!













Thanks