2012 Christmas Photo Album

Very, very nice Daniel, Nice and neat. Thanks.

Looks good Daniel. And Hartman, you have outstanding attitude for Christmas. Best to you. Larry

Our dog Coty is a keen observer of the PE train.

This thread is great. Very nice layout displays, everyone.

My Lionel Erie Berkshire blasts out of Split Rock Tunnel on Christmas Eve.

This year's Christmas Carpet Central Railroad.

Thanks, Larry.  But it's not easy after 40 years.  We are remaining friends and that's good.  Our sons are in there mid 30's so children is not a problem.  Just learning to live alone after all that time.  At least when I go out to look at furniture (& trains), I am the only one to consider.

Being alone Dennis after 40 years is the toughest part of your situation. However there is hope for the future so approach what has happened with a positive attitude. I lost my wife of 51 years unexpectedly when she passed and then found a lady at church who is a real gem and who loves trains. Things have a way of taking care of themselves if you remain positive.

It took a lot of courage to post your photo so that the Forum members would get a big kick out of it. My wife and I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a MUCH BETTER New Year.

Merry Christmas everyone.  These layouts are fantastic.  Here's a quick video of mine.

Chris

Thanks kjstrains. Coty is a four year old Bichon who just loves to watch trains in motion. He can be a real ham but he is just a great dog.

The Southern, Milwaukee Road, Christmas Display.

This yearour display is just shy of 5'X8'X20" As is tradition it's a tribute to Grandad who retired from the Southern and Dad who passed away last year after retiring from the Milwaukee Road.

None of the track or layout boards are screwed down. The road bed is floating over cotton batting with mesh 15" wide ribbon layed over it. The plywood is floating on top of Folgers Coffee canisters and bubble wrap. Tha bottom layer is attached to 6, 2" swivel casters.

You can see the display in action on this weekends movie thread

Chipset, Brian is correct.  The Times Square Building has the crystal ball on top that takes about 10 seconds to drop.  When it gets to the bottom the "Happy New Year " sign blinks several times as the ball rises back to the top.  It even comes with extra numbers to change the year at the top of the building.

Here is my family's (permanent) Christmas layout that is in our basement. We have a little Christmas the whole year. It was started last year and is nearly finished.

Happy Holidays.

Have had many under the tree loops and on the window sill vilages.

This year, I decided to have both.

Just extended the window sill and raised the tree.

Still working on it but got the basic shape down.Using Lionel O gauge.

One Polar Express loop and a trolley run. Ceramic buildings and a couple of tinplate.

A Marx crossing gate and an AF talking Mystic station.

I bought some Mainliner Rubber Railroad ties on the Bay, more out of curiosity.

But decided to try them out. Quite large but look good with the high rail O track.

I was amazed at how quitet the train ran. So quite that I could hear thr traction tires squeak as the slide around the O-31 curves at high speed.

This is a view of my traditional Plasticville / Lionel Christmas Layout.  My late father would build one every year, this one follows the same pattern.  I am running two trains, both engines were my fathers, A postwar Lionel steamer with 3 pieces of rolling stock.  The other is a Lionel Pennsylvania NW-2 from the 70's.  The three boxcars are Christmas cars , 2003 (Marriage), 2006(Sons birth) and 2009(Daughters Birth) The tree is adorned with vintage glass ornaments from the 1940's and 50's.  Nothing fancy just something that makes me smile every Christmas, and it brings back memories of time that has ticked off the clock that we may never again have back.

Bbsf... Nice.  Reminds me of our layouts when I was a kid growing up.

I love this time of year.  Merry Christmas!! 

Train has been out for a few weeks.  The kids and I expanded the layout with a cut across the room and also reworked the X pattern under the tree to allow our new SD70 to operate without fail.  Our steam train is still in the shop waiting on parts, so just the new one for now.  Also we added a TIU and DCS remote, Nutcracker Gateman, and the Christmas freight station (it is kind of lame, so if you are thinking of getting one, get something else).  We also have added new Police helicopter car and the new chase car with Mrs. Claus chasing the Gingerbread man. 

My son liked the lego gantry crane we built last year, he hid it and brought it out again this year. It is the lower right of the second picture.  It works well and picks up many things and gets most of the duty with the merchandise containers.

My daughter likes to place her people on the train and makes into a orphan train.  Too cute.  

Merry Christmas and God Bless,

Bill

Blue liner:

Exceptionally good work. Love your pictures.

Thank you, Passenger Train Collector!  I really enjoy putting out the Christmas display every year.  I try to do things differently from year-to-year by adding pieces or changing the layout without taking over the family room completely.  My wife doesn't mind one bit and my nephews and nieces love it.

BTW, I like your Texas Special on your layout.  Good choice!!  That set is on my wish list at some point much further down the road.

Blue liner:

I also like your Denver & Rio Grande set you are using for this year's Christmas layout. I have this same train and believe it is an excellent choice for your layout.

Thanks, Sam.  I appreciate the kind words.

I don't have a track plan.  I use Lionel's Fastrack Deluxe Double Crossing 5 ft x 10 ft with all O36 curves on the inner track.  I don't use the 90 degree crossings that come with the track.  Instead, I used two 10 inch straights to extend the track under the bridge and also used Fastrack trestles to elevate the crossover.  I also used four 1 3/4" pieces on the bridge to make up the difference for losing the crossings and improvising from the plan a bit.  The outter loop uses twelve O48 curves and just runs around the double crossing.  I used four O36 switches (2 left-handed to connect the two plans together and 2 right-handed to add the sidings.  Total measurment for the layout is 6 ft x 11 ft. 

Things are progressing slowly; very, very slowly (with it being the baby's first Christmas), i've found it hard to find time to work on the trains, but here's what I have so far...

Here's the one upstair (main tree)...

Here's the display downstairs... not ready yet.

Sam,

By all means, help yourself to my design.  That's what this forum is great for.  We all learn new things and take away new and interesting ideas from one another. 

It sounds like you a really big layout.  Looking forward to seeing some pictures soon.

Note the building to the right is in the shape of a caboose.

Here is my contribution.  It's wired to run conventional or TMCC, but I find myself always bringing up some '50s sets to run conventional.  No motorized vehicles allowed!

Some great pics in this thread guys!  I hope to have a great christmas display next year, but since I only started this hobby 3 weeks ago I will be happy with this little set-up for this year.  Bought all of these off of ebay in the last couple of weeks and I also have a ACLO Diesel #205 being delivered to me this weekend! Not sure what I'll do with that yet.

Here is my train around our tree.  I don't have a tender for the 2037 and the caboose and yellow hopper have damaged couplers, so they are parked at the station until I fix them.

DK81: Great , For only 3 weeks, I would like that under my tree any day. Thanks.

Last year we did a big 5x12 in the garage, this year was back to the 3x4 under the tree.  The North Pole & SnowFlake Express and the Rudolph Freight need to share!

Thanks Casey!  I'm loving this hobby.  I've been cleaning and repairing trains every night~

Here is my layout for this year.

I'm hoping to get some photos of the Christmas layout posted this weekend.  For now, thought I'd share a new to me (via GTW Ralph) PS-2 4-8-2 L-3 Mohawk now setup for and pulling the Polar Express...

-Sam

Sam, Your layout and engine look great! What did you use to re-letter the tender?

Ralph & Laura