Christmas layouts 2019 – S gauge

Well, finally got to test some trains on the lower level loops. Outer loop is 29” minimum radius with the inner loop being a mix of 29” and 24”. Upper level is started and will mix all 3 radii. Grades are ¼” per foot – a touch over 2%. There is no way I’ll get this done by next Thursday… We’ll be living in a constructions site for a while.

Tom Stoltz
in Maine

Progress is being made. My daughter has been a great help. She built a curved truss bridge (is there a prototype?) and also made the tunnel portals. Doing topo levels in foam is way more time consuming than I would have every thought.

I was hoping other people would post some pictures of their Christmas layouts.

Tom Stoltz, still plugging along in Maine

Nice Christmas layout in the makes!

Gonna' make it by Christmas Eve??

Cut pic of the daughter and grand baby(?)!

Andre

laming posted:

Gonna' make it by Christmas Eve??

Andre

I think so, probably before.  We did get the tree up in time for the Solstice.

It's on wheels and rolled into place.

Tom

Christmas night videos...  we made it.

Happy Christmas to all,

Tom

Fantastic!!!

1953 American Flyer "The Crusader" $17.50 list  Purchased at Western Auto Store in Warren, PA.

Nice set, looks to be in perfect condition. Both the tender and the log car have 3 springs trucks so they were likely made in 1953 just for that set.

Tom, Thanks for the information and comment. It has survived very well.

Loved the Under the Tree layout. Mine are still on shelves.

How about a layout put up for Christmas of 1956? 

Happy New Year!

Bob

Wow! Nice layout with lots of nice trains Bob.

Here is a picture of our annual Christmas display.  S gauge on the top and 3 rail o gauge on the bottom.  I bought the FlyerChief Polar Express set this year and I really like it.  I bought the extra baggage to go with the 3 car set.  Some years this display is all Flyer with pre war O gauge running on the bottom. 

Rolland

Super nice

T Stolz - terrific layout and in a such a compressed amount of time.  Thanks for sharing, especially the videos. 
Others - thanks too for photos of Christmas layouts past and present.  Certainly help make the season bright. 
All - happy new year!  

Lots of beautiful layouts, very nice work guys 

Ray

Tom Stoltz posted:

Christmas night videos...  we made it.

Happy Christmas to all,

Tom

 

Tom, 

Nice work, what did you put on top of the foam to make it look so realistic ?

I like the 1956 layout Bob including  the "mountain paper" backdrop.  I could still find some in the 70s at Christmas time.  Wasn't that a Life-Like product? I recall that the  replacement looked more like camouflage.     

MR_P posted:

Tom Stoltz posted:

Christmas night videos...  we made it.

Happy Christmas to all,

Tom

 

Tom, 

Nice work, what did you put on top of the foam to make it look so realistic ?

Hi MR_P,

Thank you. I think we use mostly white felt from a fabric store – I saw on line that Wal-Mart carries it. I believe there is also some flannel. What I can tell you is it is thick, like felt, compared with cloth. My wife went to JoAnn Fabrics this year to get some more and came home with thin flannel. Definitly not that! I find cotton too thick for people and trees to stay upright reliably.

Tom

Conductor Earl posted:

I like the 1956 layout Bob including  the "mountain paper" backdrop.  I could still find some in the 70s at Christmas time.  Wasn't that a Life-Like product? I recall that the  replacement looked more like camouflage.     

The mountain paper in the picture was the "real thing". Mountain paper was originally a product of the Mauer Paint Company (Philadelphia, PA) in the 1920's, later licenced to Jefferson Sales (Jeffersonville, PA) under the E-Z Bilt name, and then subsequently picked up by Life-Like in the mid-1950's. The camouflage paper was a product of the 1970's onward and does not look anywhere near as good. The Mauer-invented paper was made with lead-based paint, real mica snow, and potassium permanganate as a fire retardant and would be completely unacceptable under the current consumer product regulations.

Probably more than you wanted to know. 

Bob

Bob,

Thank you very much. It is so important to share such information. I'll bet there are many of us who did not know the origins of Mountain Paper. I used to find it at small retailers and usually on the bottom shelf. I also used the later product and yes it was not as nice, just painted brown paper.

Thanks again.

Earl