Christmas/Winter Trains & Layouts - LETS SEE YOURS!

Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays!

Christmas is a very special time of the year for those who love toy trains and Christmas. Wishing all a Merry Christmas and safe and Happy New Year.

We haven’t decorated at work for years, so I was pretty excited to not only decorate, but put a train around one of the trees - no matter how basic it is

With my efforts on the table top train and village I forgot the train under the tree.

Hey that's OK Mark...and who is the cutle little furry guy under the tree?  Best Wishes for a great Holiday

Don

Hopper full of coal for the people on Santa's bad list.  This year I had enough licorice jelly beans to load a hopper car.

@Don McErlean posted:

Hey that's OK Mark...and who is the cutle little furry guy under the tree?  Best Wishes for a great Holiday

Don

That’s Bentley, our 9-year old rescue, we have had him 3 years.  It took a while, but now he likes trains.  Best wishes to you and all!

www.youtube.com/trainbros89

My dad bought the green engine sometime in 70s ( yellow box) and he gave it to me at some point.   I have owned it as long as I can remember and it has a lot of miles on it.

The kids have really been excited about setting the larger G scale layout up.  It has been up since the weekend after Halloween.  They run it daily.

There’s Been a Visit with Grandsons and Additional track laid on the main line with a “Bypass” (is that correctly named?) that can be Powered Off for parking, refueling, and potty breaks….. lol

Also, plans for immediate construction 🚧 of a pedestrian crossing (apparently a person request requires immediate attention, along with a meeting….. about Why, there was not a meeting…. to pull building permits…. Prior to the construction of the additional track) meetings…… ah, well, grandson said “Papa said it was OK”.  All is good.

Congrats to all the great holiday layout shares by ALL! Happy Holidays.. 🚂

Christmas trees delivered by Railway Express Agency circa 1953.

A lite snow has fallen this morning.

Mike and Scott, the floor layouts look great!  I can’t make anything that extensive because I would be the first to trip over the track with my drop foot and cause a major ROW closure!  😄  

Pat, I knew there would be more trees delivered to Patsburg!!  Merry Christmas!

@Mooner posted:

The basic oval set up hasn't changed in the last 3 years, but the village gets a makeover with different trees, a new building or two, more people. Kept the Christmas layout up until the Super Bowl last year. Probably do the same this year.

@Mooner : love the makeup of that train!

- walt

Thanks for letting an LGB collector slide on in here (although I see I'm not alone). Peace on Earth and Goodwill to railroaders of all scales/gauges!

@trumptrain posted:

Christmas trees delivered by Railway Express Agency circa 1953.

A lite snow has fallen this morning.

Another realistic scene. What do you use for snow?

@Tranquil Hollow RR posted:

Another realistic scene. What do you use for snow?

In these scenes I used Woodland Scenics snow.

Picked up the two MTH LED cars from Al at Sidetrack Hobbies.  It was great to see him and actually walk into a train store! It's been a while!

Sunrise

Link to the video of this year’s around the tree layout.  
https://youtu.be/csTp8CtbETU?si=3vZfbxT9Jaou1Pej

Here are some more of my snow/Christmas pics.

I decorated this MTH building in memory of my mother whose name was Mary.  She was embodied the "Spirit of Christmas" around our house each holiday season.  She loved everything Christmas!  So here we have the Mary Merry Christmas Shoppe.

A few more from this morning with my newly acquired MPC ABA Southern F3s

O31, O31 1/2,  O42, O42 cut(1/2)

Merry Christmas from Florida! Here’s ours this year -

Here is our train garden this year.

The first photo is with Mr. chessiechick's Lionel Pennsy set that we've used under the tree since about 2012.

I didn't start collecting trains until January 2023, when I bought my Chessie engine. I've been collecting freight cars since then, but I haven't been able to run them since the basement layout is not built yet. So I was VERY excited to put them all on the train garden (except for the 2 that are too big). They fill up half the 4x8 loop! That's the second photo. (I was not so excited when one of the couplers opened and the engine took off and rammed the caboose, but thankfully no damage.)

Sorry for the poor quality - I was trying to post videos, but they were too large, so I just grabbed a still shot from each video, because I'm too tired tonight to get down on the floor one more time! Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

@Miggy posted:

There’s Been a Visit with Grandsons and Additional track laid on the main line with a “Bypass” (is that correctly named?) that can be Powered Off for parking, refueling, and potty breaks….. lol

Also, plans for immediate construction 🚧 of a pedestrian crossing (apparently a person request requires immediate attention, along with a meeting….. about Why, there was not a meeting…. to pull building permits…. Prior to the construction of the additional track) meetings…… ah, well, grandson said “Papa said it was OK”.  All is good.

Congrats to all the great holiday layout shares by ALL! Happy Holidays.. 🚂

Looks great. I went through a similar situation. Last year I layed track around the house and my wife was so ****ed because she tripped over the track so I had to put flashing LED'S  in the spots anyone would cross.

Tree house with snow:

@trumptrain  how do you remove all of that.  You post images of your layout here year-round and there's not snow in the off-season.

thanks - walt

We put a few ceramic buildings and a loop of 42-inch diameter O-27 track under the tree this year, replacing the boring tree skirt we use with the artificial. Here the baby Stephen Girard set rolls into the station a couple days before Christmas:

Merry Christmas everyone!

PD

@Strap Hanger posted:

Merry Christmas from Florida! Here’s ours this year -

Tinplate heaven

My favorite O gauge train...wish MTH would continue to make O gauge Christmas tinplate!

took a few more, this time featuring the 1977 Southern Crescent

BTW - The reason all my pics have been of this one general area is b c it's the only spot of the layout that is complete enough for photos

Re did the Christmas Layout this year.   New track, wiring, and freshly serviced switches.  Still waiting on a few operating. accessories to arrive.

@Rail Reading posted:

O31, O31 1/2,  O42, O42 cut(1/2)

Great "around the tree" design!

Peter

@trumptrain posted:

Christmas trees delivered by Railway Express Agency circa 1953.

A lite snow has fallen this morning.

Patrick......thank you so much!

This vignette evoked very special memories for me.

In the East/Central Bronx, along East Tremont Ave, north of an apartment development called Parkchester (where the Bronx DMV is now), the New Haven Line into the HellGate Bridge ran. On the site of the future DMV was a small freight yard. We (my Dad, uncles and myself) would go there to buy our trees off the boxcars. I had to be very young (maybe about 4-7 and consequently, 1956-60). What I remember are the boxcars selling trees; cold and snow; colored Christmas lights strung up on 2x4s; and, 55 gallon drums with crackling fires to keep everyone warm.....

Thank you, again!

Peter

@Putnam Division posted:

Patrick......thank you so much!

This vignette evoked very special memories for me.

In the East/Central Bronx, along East Tremont Ave, north of an apartment development called Parkchester (where the Bronx DMV is now), the New Haven Line into the HellGate Bridge ran. On the site of the future DMV was a small freight yard. We (my Dad, uncles and myself) would go there to buy our trees off the boxcars. I had to be very young (maybe about 4-7 and consequently, 1956-60). What I remember are the boxcars selling trees; cold and snow; colored Christmas lights strung up on 2x4s; and, 55 gallon drums with crackling fires to keep everyone warm.....

Thank you, again!

Peter

Thank you for sharing your good memories, Peter!!  Merry Christmas

Here are a few pics of my current layout.  I hope to start over on a new design this coming year.

Merry Christmas!

Looking good @PittsburghTim

I recently moved from NJ to NC and am working on a permanent layout downstairs. We spend winter in Florida but came north for a couple of weeks for Christmas so my Christmas under the tree layout is only up for a short time. Needed to keep it simple. I thought it was the right occasion to unpack some of my candy reefers and tanks.

Merry Christmas Everyone! You all have some awesome holiday layouts and I'm loving those red engines!

Mikki

@Mikki posted:

I recently moved from NJ to NC and am working on a permanent layout downstairs. We spend winter in Florida but came north for a couple of weeks for Christmas so my Christmas under the tree layout is only up for a short time. Needed to keep it simple. I thought it was the right occasion to unpack some of my candy reefers and tanks.

Merry Christmas Everyone! You all have some awesome holiday layouts and I'm loving those red engines!

Mikki

Mikki, what part of North Carolina?

Ron

Merry Christmas everyone.

Great photos and videos by all.

Here is the video of my 2023 layout.  Three hollow core doors and O-31 tubular track.  I forgot, however that the Lionel Hogwarts Express doesn't work on less than O-36 curves so I parked it for display purposes.

I'll post some still photos later.

Yup, the Welcome Back Kotter intro was intentional

Welcome back Kotter!  Very nice Kevin!