Christmas/Winter Trains & Layouts - LETS SEE YOURS!

I'm jealous. Nice job

@Oscale_Trains_Lover_ posted:

Well folks, its that time of year again! Many people are unpacking the trains for this holiday season, some are winterizing their existing layouts, while others are putting up displays for the public.

I thought it would be a great idea to create a thread to share our Christmas/winter/holiday layouts.  Your pictures can be as simple as a single Christmas tree on a summer layout, or an entire winter themed layout. All scales and gauges are welcome to post!



Luckily, my layout is winter themed so I have a valid excuse to listen to Christmas music year-round.




I look forward to seeing all of your layouts!

Bryce

That’s awesome! I’m hoping to get a permanent Christmas /winter layout going early next year. By the way Christmas music is always a good option no matter the season!

Here’s my little layout, Bryce! Your layout is amazing!

ALWAYS looking for high-quality, high-resolution photos of Christmas layouts for the 2022 issue of OGR. Keep us in mind and let me see what you come up with (photos already published online would not be eligible because I like to have original/fresh material for our paid subscribers).

@Artie-DL&W posted:

Here’s my little layout, Bryce! Your layout is amazing!

Artie,

You are too kind.

I love your layout! Who manufactured the buildings?  They don't look familiar.

Bryce

Bryce, they are St. Nicholas Square, I think, sold in Kohl’s. I bought them from my neighbor when he had a yard sale before moving. It was just what I needed for a Christmas layout.

Simple, yet elegant,…this year I had my carpenter buddy build an oval platform 5 inches off the ground, …..really stopped a lot of dirt from getting on the layout, (last year it was just a board on the floor) ….anyways, this is not something I’d attempt to build,….metal yes, wood no,…I am not a carpenter, nor do I wish to become one,….surround yourself with talented folks, and anything is possible….

Pat

,

@Artie-DL&W posted:

Bryce, they are St. Nicholas Square, I think, sold in Kohl’s. I bought them from my neighbor when he had a yard sale before moving. It was just what I needed for a Christmas layout.

Thanks for the info! I'll have to do some more research into their products. Anything pre-2010 is still hazy for me.

There are quite a few St Nicholas Square on my layout. I have their doughnut shop, theatre, public market, clocktower (as shown in my original post), winery, biergarden, and a few others.
One of my favorites is their stone church:



Bryce

Bryce, I think the church on mine is a little different, and not so ornate. If you enlarge my photo it’s upper left against the mountain. They’re all inexpensive compared to other porcelain buildings. I really like your layout’s detail.

Artie

While I have a layout in the basement,  I no longer have the space for a Holiday layout, I enjoy seeing these - keep em coming!

Pat, that oval layout as a setting for your tree is beautiful.

WOW! @NYC Fan did TW TrainWorx (@Traindame) make your layout? I remember them making a Polar Express themed layout some time ago.

Post-op restrictions flushed Halloween down the toilet so now I am HOPING they will be dropped early enuff that I can reprise the Christmas layout.

@bigboy25 posted:

WOW! @NYC Fan did TW TrainWorx (@Traindame) make your layout? I remember them making a Polar Express themed layout some time ago.

Yes, this was totally a Trainworx project. I had little to do with building this one.

Nobody makes mountains like my good friend Roger Farkash. All I did was give him the dimensions I had to work with and I added the "Night Sky" backdrop, the blue lighting and hand painted the 3D moon.

well, not really a layout due to missing space, but at least some Christmas romantics :-)

I always liked your NYC themed layouts, Skip, but that Polar Express layout is amazing. When I first saw your article in OGR, I was floored!

@Artie-DL&W posted:

I always liked your NYC themed layouts, Skip, but that Polar Express layout is amazing. When I first saw your article in OGR, I was floored!

Thank You Artie!

Good evening, here in Indiana PA we have a few individuals that get together and put together some layouts from different gauges.

Here are some photos from our largest Modern O Gauge layout with winter scenery.

Bryce! Nice topic and super layout! buildings are Nicholas square? Wow, and you planted a good number of trees!
awesome.

Great photos everyone! We put our tree and decorations up on the Friday after Thanksgiving. I’ll be back with some photos of my Christmas tinplate running under the tree shortly thereafter.

Already?  I'm still eating Halloween candy

Great stuff guys, jealous that I don't have head start.

@Leroof posted:

Bryce! Nice topic and super layout! buildings are Nicholas square? Wow, and you planted a good number of trees!
awesome.

You are too kind sir! Buildings are a mix of MTH, Lionel, Ameri-towne, Dept 56, lemax, St Nicholas Square, and a few others. I stopped counting after I hit 600 trees haha!

@Strap Hanger posted:

Great photos everyone! We put our tree and decorations up on the Friday after Thanksgiving. I’ll be back with some photos of my Christmas tinplate running under the tree shortly thereafter.

I look forward to it!

@dmestan posted:

Already?  I'm still eating Halloween candy

Great stuff guys, jealous that I don't have head start.

Mine is winter year-round so I can BBQ with Christmas music on

Bryce

@NYC Fan posted:

Absolutely Stunning Skip!

I might have to get some PE cars so my newly acquired Berkshire can pull them. She is not a model of 765 but of a loco closer to home (Apologies for the bad camera work, I free-handed it)

@Oscale_Trains_Lover_ posted:

You are too kind sir! Buildings are a mix of MTH, Lionel, Ameri-towne, Dept 56, lemax, St Nicholas Square, and a few others. I stopped counting after I hit 600 trees haha!

I look forward to it!

Mine is winter year-round so I can BBQ with Christmas music on

Bryce

Hi. Bryce. I forgot all about this and posted my Christmas layout on the switcher Saturday thread. Here it is -

Strap Hanger,

What sets are you running

Charlie

@Strap Hanger posted:

Hi. Bryce. I forgot all about this and posted my Christmas layout on the switcher Saturday thread. Here it is -

I love it! Tinplate trains and Christmas go together very well

@CPC posted:

Strap Hanger,

What sets are you running

Charlie

MTH 260e set with some add-ons (coal, cattle and gondola cars) on the outer loop and an MTH 256 with the matching red passenger set  on the inner loop.

————————————

Memories of last years set up, none this year as we only put that little tree in the bay window, no room for a train there.  Was on top of the dog crate last year, which we weened the dog from over the summer months. so its put away now.   AD

Mine and my wife’s first tree. The train set up was kind of thrown together this year. I told her next year it’ll be more elaborate 😬

+@Double Check posted:

Mine and my wife’s fir+st tree. The train set up was kind of thrown together this year. I told her next year it’ll be more elaborate 😬+

Max, looks great! I will need to get my tree up soon....

@Oscale_Trains_Lover_ posted:

Well folks, its that time of year again! Many people are unpacking the trains for this holiday season, some are winterizing their existing layouts, while others are putting up displays for the public.

I thought it would be a great idea to create a thread to share our Christmas/winter/holiday trains and layouts.  Your pictures can be as simple as a single Christmas tree on a summer layout, a single piece of rolling stock, or an entire winter themed layout. All scales and gauges are welcome to post!



Luckily, my layout is winter themed so I have a valid excuse to listen to Christmas music year-round.




I look forward to seeing all of your layouts!

Bryce

Gorgeous winter scenes, structures and scenery, Bryce!

Arnold

@NYC Fan posted:

Outstanding, NYC Fan!

@Leroof posted:

Bryce! Nice topic and super layout! buildings are Nicholas square? Wow, and you planted a good number of trees!
awesome.

I agree and believe you can never have too many trees on a layout.

@Doug W. posted:

Post-op restrictions flushed Halloween down the toilet so now I am HOPING they will be dropped early enuff that I can reprise the Christmas layout.

So much for wishful thinking, restrictions remain until the first week of Jan. May try to find some work arounds to get something together.

The MTH 19th Century Christmas Train

STANDARD & O GAUGE CHRISTMAS

Here's another Christmas train set around the tree from two years ago.  Most of the stuff was taken out of the box from 44 years ago when I lived in NJ.  Some AF accessories and a lot of Plasticville buildings from back in the day.  I liked to paint things back then.  I set this up so my 91 year old father could see all the stuff he bought us back in NJ.  The AF trains I have from 1958 will remain in their boxes.  That was his last Christmas and I'll probably never use this stuff again.  I have all new MTH and Lionel equipment now.

Here's my just-finished layout!

Haven't finished this years yet this last years .Will post this years later in week.

Great looking setups everyone! They are certainly putting me in the Christmas mood!

Bryce

Here's some shots of the permanent winter scene on my layout. Still a work in progress as I need to add customers to the tree lot, some skiers etc.etc.

@RickO posted:

Here's some shots of the permanent winter scene on my layout. Still a work in progress as I need to add customers to the tree lot, some skiers etc.etc.

Wow, this winter scene is stupendous! Out of curiosity, who makes those two trucks shown above? They would be a perfect addition to my winter layout, thanks in advance!

Bryce

@Oscale_Trains_Lover_ posted:

Wow, this winter scene is stupendous! Out of curiosity, who makes those two trucks shown above? They would be a perfect addition to my winter layout, thanks in advance!

Bryce

Thanks for the compliment! The Christmas tree truck on the right is a "Pine Peak Christmas Tree Farm" offering from Corgi. There are a few other Corgi trucks with Christmas trees. An "Ochs Tree Farm", as well as a" Starbucks" version.

The plow truck is a Matchbox collectibles "1954 Ford F100 Sinclair snowplow".

All are readily available on ebay. Its just a matter of waiting for your price.  In fact there is one of each of the trucks in my photo at a low bid of $9.99 at the moment.

Good evening, I attached a couple pictures of my home layout which is a winter scene all year round.

The railroad in the town is the Pennsy.

@RickO posted:

Thanks for the compliment! The Christmas tree truck on the right is a "Pine Peak Christmas Tree Farm" offering from Corgi. There are a few other Corgi trucks with Christmas trees. An "Ochs Tree Farm", as well as a" Starbucks" version.
The plow truck is a Matchbox collectibles "1954 Ford F100 Sinclair snowplow".

Thank you very much!

@MarkStrittmatter posted:

Good evening, I attached a couple pictures of my home layout which is a winter scene all year round.

The railroad in the town is the Pennsy.

Your layout looks wonderful! I really like the image of the Jordan Spreader


Bryce

Here is my last year's layout. I wasn't  able to put it up this year but I have items in a glass display.

I changed up the one end of the layout for this Christmas.  In previous years, it looked like this:

This year, I replaced the snow and generic greenery with structures and accessories from the Dept 56 O Little Town of Bethlehem and the related Holy Land series:

I left the base for the farm that sits there the other 10 months of the year.  I intend to add a few more accessories and to light the third building, but there's not much room for growth.  I continue to use the Nativity that my grandparents bought before I was born.

The scales are different, but how does that matter?

All is calm--how still we see thee lie!--all is bright, for this is a Holy Night.

Got my Charlie Brown tree up and a loop of O27 under it. Lionel 4050 Trainmaster transformer on extra low. Was going to put some PW on it but I can fit more Marx tin on that loop. Blasphemous, I know 😁

Christmas for me is really just another day. This will be the first one in almost 20 years that I haven't worked.

Uh-Oh It’s the BUMBLE!

@Chip posted:

Uh-Oh It’s the BUMBLE!

But does he bounce? What a fun scene!

Bryce

@Chip posted:

Uh-Oh It’s the BUMBLE!

Love this scene! Very creative!

No room for a Christmas layout this year, or room for my large tree for that matter, but I did create a small Main Street, featuring the obligatory Lionel Train store!

Finally changed over my Prewar layout over to this years Christmas layout…hope you enjoy it….I know I do!

Christmas get together at Z house tonight.  In case any one was wondering about the magic connection between kids and trains, check this out!!

The kids took turns with the lionchief remote.  The train got knocked off the track more times than I could count, didn't bother me at all.  Kids and trains are still magic!!

The older brother showed up on Christmas Eve! I think he was using Chesterfields!

Merry Christmas again!

Jim K

Rich,

How big is your layout table?

Thanks

Charlie

No kids.  We just put up a small under tree loop of track to remember past family Christmas gatherings.

Photos from Switcher Saturday

@CPC posted:

Rich,

How big is your layout table?

Thanks

Charlie

Charlie its a 10x7 table that I tried to maximize the space….Rich

Feel free to check out my brother's latest Holiday video card as well as his previous videos!

Toy Trains & Christmas Theme ~ 2021 Holiday Video Card - YouTube

Also, here's more photos of my layout!

A few more Christmas photos of my layout!

Rich,

Thanks

Charlie

@onetrackmind. Love those Lego modulars!  Looks like you have them all.

@onetrackmind posted:

Also, here's more photos of my layout!

I love the layout!

Well here it is December 23 and I finally have the trains around the tree.  Wife and I travel just before Christmas to our east coast family place where we all gather for Christmas and New Years...so the "tree" had to wait until we moved 1155 miles east from Texas.  Brother and I got tree up - actually he did most of that work and yesterday we unpacked the trains and got them running after a bit of a crises...see below.

Had the classic "Christmas Eve" type problem...my 1 year old, modern, brand new, highly detailed, expensive ($150 +), Lionel 0-8-0 made it 1/2 way around the oval and quit...NO RUN, NO MOVEMENT, NO NOTHING!!! After about an hr of playing "try this  then try that"  what to do?  I am over 1000 miles from my collection which would have had many substitute engines available.   Then I remembered a a 50 year old Marx set I had put up last summer for my young nephew to play with...So I dug out the 50 year old, Marx 400 plastic engine ($10) and put it on the track.  Like most all Marx, it runs, it moves, it pulls the train.  Then comes the imaginative part.  We realize that all the "sounds" (steam, bell , whistle, crew talk) are in the TENDER of the Lionel set...so my brother fabricates an innovative link to attach the Marx drawbar (tab / slot) to the Lionel tender (pin/hole) and it works.  So now we have the Marx 400 as motive power but all the sophisticated sounds of the Lionel set.  So here is our 2021 Christmas round the tree Train layout.

"Old Reliable" Marx 400 linked to the very sophisticated Lionel sounds tender.

The full tree - note since we are at sea shore almost all ornaments are sea shells...thanks to my very talented wife.

Here are a few residents of Christmas Town including the Coca Cola polar bear raiding the Coke machine!

Santa hitches a ride with the NYC we live in Waco, Tx so the "Dr. Pepper" car is required !!

The water tower , caroler's and more residents of Christmas town.

The 2021 "train layout savior" the classic, very common, and always reliable, Marx 400 plastic loco

Best wishes and Happy Holidays to All!!

Don

Here are my entries in the Christmas layout photos for 2021.  Finally finished the 4x8 overnight.  Still needs some work, but I'm done.  Not expending anymore energy otherwise it isn't fun.

I watched both Die Hard 1+2 in the background on the TV last night as I was finishing up the layout.

The Boy Scout lodge corner.  As a former Cubmaster and Assistant Scoutmaster (see my avatar) when my kids were younger, this is a staple on the layout

This last one is me running my HO Scale SEPTA train on the ceiling layout.

.

Unrelated topic, had many issues with the RealTrax this time around and it was very frustrating and made my videos almost impossible to film.  Thought about switching to Lionel's Illuminated FasTrack this year, but didn't.  That will not be the case 12 months from now.  Once I finish editing the cuts that I was able to do I will post my YouTube video here.

Here is my Christmas Project. It is almost done. All of the track shelves are powered.

Here is a short video of this year’s family Christmas tree layout.

https://youtu.be/RUViaHxg1gk

I finished the video of my layout mentioned above to here it is:

Here are some pics. It’s a little smaller this year due to Gunner the Labrador pup. Merry Christmas Everybody.

Some more images of the layout, wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas Eve!

Wishing Everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy/Healthy New Years!

I pulled an old radio show out of my archives and wanted to share it with my forum friends. In 1965 for Christmas Eve, Jean reads "Rattling Home for Christmas" by Grant T. Reynard. The poem novel is about a son coming home to the Midwest from California via trains. Shep uses lots of audio from steam engines and trains to add ambiance to this poem novel.  The story starts at 12:44 and continues at 20:40 after the commercial break.




All the best,
Bryce

Thanks To Everyone that shared their pics & videos from this years layouts ! 

Very late to the party here…but Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!

2021 Christmas train garden photos and video finally posted.  Chip, I'm going to steal that bumble scene  - very creative.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

https://youtu.be/6n5SwtEaOKw

OK I know I am way behind the power curve and most of you have already put away and taken down these Christmas layouts. Sorry,  but this experience was really unique and fun.  While packing away various Christmas presents and so forth from the Holiday season, I happened upon (sealed in a plastic bag) this relic from many Christmas' past.  It was the early post war 40's and Japan / Europe was recovering from the effects of the war.  Japan in an attempt to get its economy moving decided to create an industry for "paste board" products that could be made without any industrial infrastructure.  These products were exported in mass to the US where we used them for all sorts of things, but often when they were in the form of model / decorative structures, around the Christmas tree.  So here is the 1940's vintage Christmas Village house I found.

There are no markings about the manufacturer on this except on the bottom is a stamp "Made in Japan" and in pencil, a price 10 cents!

I thought this was neat, then I happened upon a picture of our Christmas tree layout in 1946 and to my utter amazement found a surprise.  There is the house, or at least a similar one!! So not only is this fellow a relic, but he just might be MY RELIC!

Well best wishes to all.  Belated Holiday Cheer if I missed you earlier.

Don

0 scale lover,  I believe you and my wife colleen must be related somewhere down the line.  Ha Ha Ha.  Cheers Jim

In about 1959 my dad bought me a set with a ZW and a 2358 Great Northern EP5 (don't know how he afforded it there were already 8 kids) but on Christmas morning I woke up to the set around the tree with about six of those same type of houses.

@jim mcclain - Thanks for your comment on my house.  Yes, those pasteboard (Made in Japan) houses were popular as under the Christmas tree village components for many years.  Certainly through most of the 1950's.  Your story must be a wonderful memory.  I know I got the Santa Fe A-B-A and the 25xx "Silver..." passenger cars around 1954.  While I was thrilled at the time I didn't know until I did some price/inflated $ research recently what a tremendous financial outlay that was at the time for my parents.  I don't know how they managed to afford it.   I guess we were just incredibly lucky kids at the time.

Best wishes for Christmas in 2022!!

Don

There are so many outstanding Christmas displays and thank you for sharing them. A general observation would be that we all got started with our interest in trains as part of our childhood anticipation of Christmas. I had not anticipated a Christmas scene but now I’m thinking how can I not.

My question is: Which buildings, Dept. 56, etc. match up closest to the scale?

Thank you, Jay

I have been setting trains around my tree since I got married in 1982. Almost finished this years will post hopefully in a few days. But I have been using Dept. 56. Don't know how close to scale they are but they look nice.

Thank you Jim, that’s what I wanted to know, close to scale.

Jay

It is that time of year again folks, let's see those snow-covered layouts!

Here is Main St. on my full-time winter/Christmas layout. I'll try to get an updated, panoramic shot in the near future as a decent bit of work has been done on the layout

Wow! I had never seen this thread before, originating in 2021. Fantastic photos and some of you go all out. Very nice.

Here's a few shots of my winter-themed layout that will be 12 years old this Christmas.

Well, we travel about 1155 miles for Christmas so the layout gets done at that location and not here so its fairly simple.  Here are some "Christmas" like scenes from our layout at home and other places.

The citizens of Small Town have started to get the town tree ready for decoration.  McDonalds already has their tree on the sidewalk.

Here is an interesting fellow, returning from summer vacation in Florida but trying to hitch a ride to the North Pole.

Here are some new Christmas houses that should make it to the layout this year.

Hey look at that, looks like that fellow managed to get a ride from the Central !

Everybody around town is buying and bringing home their tree.

Best Wishes

Don

Same well built layout since ‘21, …..but new flooring, and Century Green paint on the walls,……don’t tell Ms. Tammy it’s Century Green!….it’s teal green ….right??…..

Pat    

Here's some of my Christmas/winter train scenes.

I never had an 0 gauge Christmas layout; but here is my rock garden Christmas layout that I set up in Brooklyn for 35 years.

Not as 'snowy' as those above, but here's one that I did on my 2022 Christmas layout.

- walt

These 2 ceramic trains are 'family' trains.  Each car has a name of my 2 kids, their 4 kids, and me on both trains.  The smaller one is supposed to be tree ornaments.

Some photos of the Fezziwig Railway.

It appears how this special FasTrack has poor connectivity. It would not run my RailKing hand car, and barely runs the caboose hop.

My boys are enjoying the trains! 😃 The Lionchief remote control locomotives are great. I use a power brick with a PM-1 and CAB1 to set voltage at a reasonable max speed and let them have at it. No flying off the tracks!

Here is my little video from last year.  Turn up your speakers if you would like to hear the music.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ET...Q&feature=shared

The new puppy wants to play trains.

High Plains 3 Railers at the Boulder County Fairgrounds last year . We will set up again this year with even more rides, more snow and more lights.  Don't miss our Christmas search and find!