Skip to main content

Reply to "Redford Theatre Christmas Trains 2021"

Thanks for the supportive comments!

A couple evenings of work and things are already coming together!

Monday evening was spent disassembling the existing platforms and rebuilding them with a bit more structural integrity. In past years they've been set up on cinder block pilings. This is fine for our train displays and temporary use for a live show here and there. The theater has increasingly made use of the platforms as an extension of the stage when the trains aren't utilizing them so I decided that something needed to be done to make the whole thing sturdier and most importantly for our purposes, more level and flat across the table surface. We managed to accomplish all of that.

Tuesday evening was spent laying down our white painted masonite sheets over the top of all of the platforms. In years past these panels served two purposes. They evened out the bumps that generally turned up at the joints between all of the 4'x8' tabletops and the white paint serves as a better backdrop for the snow material to make it more vibrant vs just laying it down over the black painted stage platforms. With all of our reconstruction work, the tables are about as flat as we're ever going to get them and it's a nice smooth surface all the way across the entire thing. Now our panels simply serve as a nicer backing for our snow material. I'm excited about this part because we had a number of trains donated a couple of years back that we ultimately haven't been able to run due to them being picky when running over the uneven tabletops. Track related derailments should be a thing of the past now!

Track was also sorted out and laid down in the approximate location that it will eventually be mounted. I learned several years ago to install Christmas light strings across the tabletops anywhere there isn't track running through. The backlit snow helps to illuminate the exteriors of the buildings and other details in an area of the theater that is very dim due to the indirect house lighting (it's an "atmospheric theater" designed to make patrons feel as though they're outside under a starry night sky). The track gets temporarily laid down as a guide so that I can install the lights without any ending up beneath the track sections. Once the lights are installed next week we'll pull the track back up, lay the snow material down and reinstall it all over again with screws to keep it in place. From there we can begin wiring the track and placing buildings/figurines. Certainly not difficult work, but quite time consuming and tedious.

New structure beneath the platforms

IMG_3635

Track laid on the main level to facilitate installation of the Christmas light strings. The upper platforms retain their lights, snow and track while stored during the off-season since they're only used for the train layout. This saves quite a bit of work every year aside from having to replace the snow material every few years as it gets quite dusty/dirty in the theater over time.

IMG_3637

Attachments

Images (2)
  • IMG_3635
  • IMG_3637

OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Suite 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
www.ogaugerr.com

×
×
×
×
×