CHRISTMAS TRAINS - LETS SEE THEM!

@Oscale_Trains_Lover_ posted:

Well folks, it is that time of year again! I thought it would be fun to create a thread where we can share our pictures and videos of our Christmas trains, layouts, seasonal scenes, etc. All scales and eras are welcome to share!
For those who do not celebrate Christmas, I would love to see your Kwanza, hanukah, Boxing Day, etc trains.

Here is my modern Christmas freight train. The two powered diesels are MTH and the rolling stock is predominately MTH with some Lionel and K-line mixed in. I will post more pictures and videos in the near future.



Ho Ho Ho!

Bryce

Bryce, your photo/video is missing from your above post.

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Bryce, your photo/video is missing from your above post.

Thanks Arnold, should be there now.

Bryce

@Oscale_Trains_Lover_ posted:

Well folks, it is that time of year again! I thought it would be fun to create a thread where we can share our pictures and videos of our Christmas trains, layouts, seasonal scenes, etc. All scales and eras are welcome to share!
For those who do not celebrate Christmas, I would love to see your Kwanza, hanukah, Boxing Day, etc trains.

Here is my modern Christmas freight train. The two powered diesels are MTH and the rolling stock is predominately MTH with some Lionel and K-line mixed in. I will post more pictures and videos in the near future.



Ho Ho Ho!

Bryce

Gorgeous, Bruce, and I see you're hauling plenty of coal for those Christmas stockings! LOL, Arnold

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Gorgeous, Bruce, and I see you're hauling plenty of coal for those Christmas stockings! LOL, Arnold

Here is some of my Christmas Trains on my powered wall display..

@trainnerd posted:

Here is some of my Christmas Trains on my powered wall display..

Mucho gorgeous.

@trainnerd posted:

Here is some of my Christmas Trains on my powered wall display..

Patrick, that is fantastic!

@Oscale_Trains_Lover_ posted:

Patrick, that is fantastic!

Thank You

Here is a Lionel postwar 671 turbine pulling a string of Christmas-themed freight cars, with a couple of recently purchased auto carriers thrown in for good measure

Running some Marx for the Holidays! Where I got started. 

From my club running it to test it for our Christmas show this weekend

Here is a christmas train running at the clarksburg area model railroad club tonight 11/28/22

Great looking Christmas trains & layouts everyone!

Thanks for the likes on my video guys!!!

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Mucho gorgeous.

That is a great display.  Never thought about powering display tracks.

I've shared these photos before but they are still my favorites. I keep the same setup for each Christmas.

John

This is my Christmas train on my O & S ga. layout.  Each scene is 3' X 6' on each end of the layout with 6' bridges connecting them. The engine is my Lionel cab number 2026.

@trainnerd posted:

Very nice.  I do like the MTH cars like this but those LED strings are fragile.  Really like the way you displayed them.

Humble beginnings ... this is how we got interested in O scale trains. Eventually went from a dining room table oval to a 20x15x12 foot all Christmas year-round layout with pretty much everything MTH ever made in traditional sized Christmas/North Pole theme. It was a fantasy land that entertained elderly parents and younger grandchildren until 2019. The grandkids got older and the parents gone on, so sold off almost all of it save a string of Nativity flat cars that have gone back on a dining room oval layout. Enjoyed it all.

Part II of the story is that our interest in O scale grew and for everything Christmas we sold, something D&H, Central Vermont, Rutland, Bangor & Aroostock, Boston & Maine et al took its place. Getting ready to put up a layout to replace what we took down in 2019. Great fun, this hobby.

After taking a break for a few years, I put together my Christmas layout last week. This layout is virtually the same as past versions, but instead of the original Polar Express train, the FT Diesel I bought from @Mooner (funny he's the previous poster in this thread) makes its first appearance. The MTH vista dome car behind it is also new. To the left of the main track, and mostly out of frame, sits a Lionel Santa's Speeder, and the PE bumper trolley (also purchased from Mooner). This train is controlled with the MTH Z-1000, where the controller sits on a pedestal I made using a home theater speaker stand with a square piece of wood bolted to it.

I have some minor adjustments and additions I want to make, then I plan to make a short video as well. Just wish I could expand this layout a few more feet, but already pushing it in the small space I have to work with as it is.

@MartyE posted:

Very nice.  I do like the MTH cars like this but those LED strings are fragile.  Really like the way you displayed them.

Thank You...As for handling the cars with the LED Lights on them...i put on latex gloves to keep from your body oils ....that I was told that can effect them. Handle with Care

Here is the link to video of my Christmas set-up for 2022.  I believe it shows you can pack a lot of action in a modest 4' x 12' layout.

Christmas Train Layout 2022

It was December 1958.  A picture of Lionel's #2037 as featured on page 13 of the 1957 catalog (along with a thing called the Girl's train! ) had motivated me to save my allowance for most of the year and ask only for money on my birthday  - the target was $25 - the price as listed in the catalog when "the engine was sold separately."

  Every year during the Christmas season Rhodes department store at the Country Club Arcade carried Lionel trains and it was there I planned to go to get my engine.  Dad's travel to and from work took him past The Country Club every day and, unbeknownst to me, he had been checking Rhodes on each homeward bound trip.  One Friday evening he came home and said, "Rhodes has your engine and it is on sale for $17.50!"

The next day Mom and Dad took me over to Rhodes just as the store opened.  I went inside, found the train display and asked for "my" engine.

  The salesman pulled two cartons off the shelf (engine and tender)

...and there it was #2037 - price, as Dad had noted - $17.50.

   That was my big Christmas season train for 1958. We are now in the Christmas season for 2022 and old #2037 is still going strong

  -as a side note - I didn't get the 1958 catalog until the Rhodes visit - the price as listed that year was $35 so it looks like either Rhodes was having a 50% off sale or they had managed to do some kind of bulk purchase which allowed them to offer the engine for $17.50.

NOT going to run this one on my Christmas layout this year ...............

............NOT  O gauge

(  CP  Holiday Train , one of many video sites on the YouTube of the train running through places in Canada and the US. )   

2037 is “my” engine as well. Mine arrived in either 1962 or 1963.

Chris

LVHR

Here's mine, not as fancy as all the rest but I can sit and watch it for hours. . .

LCCA CARS ON MY LAYOUT

Slight change from last year.  New PS-4 Pacific pulling the load this time. Merry Christmas!  Christmas 2022

Here's  some Christmas cheer from the Free State Junction Railway.

@sinistar posted:

Hi sinistar:

Very good use of your small space!

What was your source for the snow covered mountains/trees backdrop?

Andre

@trumptrain posted:

Here's  some Christmas cheer from the Free State Junction Railway.

Hey..trumptrain...do you own any trump trains ?

@laming posted:

Hi sinistar:

Very good use of your small space!

What was your source for the snow covered mountains/trees backdrop?

Andre

Thank you. The backdrop is My Village Christmas & Winter Background. My layout utilizes two of them. What's cool about it is it has a different scene printed on each side. I got them from eBay several years ago.

Well darn.

I searched My Village's website, Amazon, and eBay, and couldn't find that set. Must have been dropped from the product line many years ago.

Andre

@trumptrain posted:

Here's  some Christmas cheer from the Free State Junction Railway.

These are some cool photos! What do you use for the snow?

The locomotive, a K-Line Great Northern MP15, and GN caboose from my first train set, K-Line's Great Northern Flyer, a Christmas present from ca. 1988-89, along with my three Lionel Christmas cars, presents from 2015.

My son's Thomas & Percy, along with his postwar log unloading car, gantry crane, and saw mill. The latter two are post-war reproductions.

@CaptJ posted:

These are some cool photos! What do you use for the snow?

Thanks so much!  I use a combination of Woodland Scenics snow and Fusion Fibre scenic material.  

Here is my 2022 Christmas Layout. Hope you enjoy watching, and Happy Holidays to all!

As I have aged the train under the tree has become less complicated, but the tradition continues.

Here are  some of the Christmas cars currently on the tracks of my layout…the animated Santa Caboose is a favorite!!! 🚂🎅🏻🎄

I just finished this new portable layout 55" x 100" and brought it up from the garage to the living room on Monday. I just got the MTH 11-5505-1 Christmas tinplate set about a month ago: new still sealed in the box!  I could not believe I found that set new, never opened.   The F-3 diesels arrived today from the Train Loft in Winston Salem NC.  They were a custom run for them from MTH with the Southern road name. MTH part numbers 20-21614-1 and 20-21615-1.  The ES44AC is MTH 30-20757-1 which I got from MrMuffins trains.  See video below.

Update: 8Dec22 -  The video below was limited to 100MB.  I uploaded a YouTube video which shows the un-abridged version of the video. https://youtu.be/BZcnYaRKFpk

@trainnerd posted:

Here is some of my Christmas Trains on my powered wall display..

Wow, what a great idea.  I have a lot of lighted Christmas cars and this is a perfect way to show them, Thank you for a good idea.

@ConrailFan posted:

Here's mine, not as fancy as all the rest but I can sit and watch it for hours. . .

Not sure about that  "  not as fancy as the rest  "  but it sure takes me back so many decades ago when I got down on the carpet at Christmas and watched in excitement as the our first train set made it's travel around the tree . 

Thanks for sharing.

Here’s my SP Holiday Special running around the ceiling shelf in the living room/train room.

@NYC Fan posted:

Incredible Skip.  I'm amazed that you have enough NYC landmarks left to dedicate to a Christmas layout.

Patrick, I don't believe I've ever seen this view of your layout before.  Could you give some details on the building construction used on this row of buildings and how you came up with that gorgeous backdrop?

This was a Christmas present from my parents in 1954. I was 3 years old. I ran it under the tree every year. It’s still alive and well. I ran it at my layout open house. This is the old school Christmas layout I set up just for the occasion.

@Dynamo2112 posted:

Here’s my SP Holiday Special running around the ceiling shelf in the living room/train room.

I love that engine. I am looking for one of those...Railking or Premier. They are really hard to find...but I will keep looking. That is one fantastic Christmas train. I have a upper track near my ceiling too.

something simple this year for the tree

Department 56 Snow Village…🚂🎅🏻🎄

MTH Ives 1134, restored 1926 Ives Passenger Cars.

A few scenes from the modular layout.....

Merry Christmas!

Peter

@Jon G posted:

MTH Ives 1134, restored 1926 Ives Passenger Cars.

Beautiful work on the cars!  How did you prep them to get the paint to stick?

@palallin posted:

Beautiful work on the cars!  How did you prep them to get the paint to stick?

Strip in TSP, sandblast with crushed glass to roughen surface, then self etching primer before the final color (Charlie Wood’s paint).  The most time consuming part is hand painting the gold and ivory on the windows.

Thanks!  I would need someone to do the blasting for me (if I ever had to do it).  It is no doubt a key step.

A different kind of Christmas train - Lionel Christmas cars dating back to the 1980s...

Grandsons were here Sunday and got the Christmas trains out. Finally got the last one going yesterday. Gold P E has three blinks when smoke is on so we turned the smoke off.

Paula was running two of the trains last night.

We will try to get a video at some point but we aren’t there yet. Have to correct a track gremlin, switch some P E cars around, and move some trains to level two.

Our Christmas layout is on the kitchen table this year - LionChief +2.0 Pere Marquette #1225 pulling MTH Christmas Express Lines Baby Madison passenger coaches.

@th55 posted:

I just finished this new portable layout 55" x 100" and brought it up from the garage to the living room on Monday. I just got the MTH 11-5505-1 Christmas tinplate set about a month ago: new still sealed in the box!  I could not believe I found that set new, never opened.   The F-3 diesels arrived today from the Train Loft in Winston Salem NC.  They were a custom run for them from MTH with the Southern road name. MTH part numbers 20-21614-1 and 2-21615-1.  The ES44AC is MTH 30-20757-1 which I got from MrMuffins trains.  See video below.

Update: 8Dec22 -  The video below was limited to 100MB.  I uploaded a YouTube video which shows the un-abridged version of the video. https://youtu.be/BZcnYaRKFpk

Love the Christmas Tinplate train.  Just wished that MTH had issued a Tinplate engine and cars with Christmas lights.  Hey MTH's Rich Foster, bring back Tinplate!!

@Matt_GNo27 posted:

My son's Thomas & Percy, along with his postwar log unloading car, gantry crane, and saw mill. The latter two are post-war reproductions.

Today we revised the East half of the Christmas layout slightly. Putting the operating track at the sawmill right after a curve caused the pickup on the locomotive to short between the center rail and the operating powered-rail, so I added in a half-straight between the curve coming off of the switch and the operating track. This required reshaping the East-end of the loop and moving the crane yard further East.

The New Haven RR just delivered a load of Christmas trees shipped via CP Rail from just north of Quebec City.  They’re here at the NHRR’s  Vernon, CT yard, ready for unloading.  Ah, seasonal traffic!

Don

Just finished my Christmas layout in time for this Holiday Season after much preparation!

Here's my contribution to this years Christmas Trains, with a modified PE and Hobo car.

Merry Christmas to all!

This is a 4 x 8 Christmas layout I put together with the kids last year separate from my larger permanent layout I'm working on as well.  Nothing much has changed for this year.  Just have to take the sheet off, add the trains and we'll be running again!

Hope you enjoy.  Merry Christmas!

Michael

Christmas Trains Times Two ...

I placed 35 DEPT 56 lighted porcelain buildings along three perimeter edges of the upper level of my home layout. All the buildings are from the North Pole Village collection, so there's a year-round Christmassy feature on the 15x19 feet, L-shaped layout. Three bump-and-go trolley lines serve that wintry zone. The dominant building is Santa's home in the SE corner. The tallest structure is a model of the Eiffel Tower; it is the "mast" that supports a flying Christmas blimp.  Pix attached.

During the holiday season, I also install a temporary carpet layout with FasTrak around the base of the tree for enjoyment of our three great grandkids and visiting youngsters. Four Lionel trains from the THOMAS series are available for the kids: Thomas, James, Percy, and Diesel. The kids operate those LionChief locos with hand-held controllers. My only regret ... I initially installed two FasTrak MANUAL O36 switches for economy. I may replace them with RC FasTrak switches (with built-in anti-derail feature) so the trains can automatically negotiate the two interconnected loops without risk of derailments at the switches. Pix attached.

Santa knows ... Christmas and toy trains go together like milk and cookies.

Mike Mottler   LCCA 12394

@coach joe posted:

Patrick, I don't believe I've ever seen this view of your layout before.  Could you give some details on the building construction used on this row of buildings and how you came up with that gorgeous backdrop?

Coach - this is part of my Westend section of Patsburg.   Westend is  an elevated section at the western most  end of my layout.  Two of the buildings in the row were purchased from a vendor at York.  The shorter one is an MTH building.  The building with the snow flakes decorations is an MTH building.  At the end of the row I used a mirror to create the illusion that the street extends.   The background is stock background.  I forgot who makes the backgrounds ( Scenicscapes?? ) but I've seen the same backgrounds in many train stores.  They are HO scale and for my layout are perfect for creating a forced perspective.  

The garden at Kenilworth this 2022 holiday season:

An annual tradition, never ceases to draw a crowd.

PD

Merry Christmas 2022

@Michael Cimba 040217 posted:

Beautiful video Michael.

How did you do the falling snow animation ?

With the snow , backround and music this has to be as good as it gets in a layout video for Christmas.

Thank you for sharing.

Here's my layout - 10 x 5 built off of two foam boards that connect around the tree.  Outer Loop is a combo of O48 & O60; inner loop is O36.  Loving my new NYC Mohawk and Vision Pig Stock cars!

2022 Christmas Train Garden - Merry Christmas

Youtube Link - https://youtu.be/FWL2eI13_mE

The new Lionel Ready to Run Christmas Light Express and add on box car

@Dallas Joseph posted:

Beautiful video Michael.

How did you do the falling snow animation ?

With the snow , backround and music this has to be as good as it gets in a layout video for Christmas.

Thank you for sharing.

Thank you so much @Dallas Joseph!  It was fun making this and the kids enjoy running the trains!  The snow animation was just a free video of falling snow I pulled off the internet from a video website that makes different animations and video effects (I can't remember which one).  I overlaid it on top of my trains video and set the opacity so the train video would show through the snow video.  And then I just set it to loop as many times as I wanted.  Glad you enjoyed it!

Nothing like Standard Gauge under the tree -

Cheers,

- Mike

I couldn’t resist bringing this 1940 Lionel beauty off the shelf and running it under the tree. This train was my first exposure to a train in 1941. It still works great!

Here's my spread for 2022. Aside from a couple DIY project cars, the lighted Fasttrack is the only new addition (and man do I love it!). Other than that, I just try to change up the consists here and there to get some different trains out of their boxes each year…

Nice videos and pictures.  It has taken me more time to get the Christmas changeover and even house decorating done while dealing with a sick pup.  I'll try to post something this week.  I exchange all the trains for Christmas themed and swap out some buildings and some scenery for Christmas themed as well.  It's hard to get it all done and make sure she is ok.

Polar Express lighting up the tracks passing the "A Christmas Story" house.   "It's a major Award!"...

Nothing fancy nor anything different from previous years. Just Christmas tradition at the ranch house.

Great looking Christmas Trains everyone!

Well, Christmas this year is going rather slow.  Progress was already diminished due to wife's medical condition when she went and fell and broke her ankle so now things are pretty much at a standstill.  She did get a giant plastic "boot" that looks like what the "Star Wars" storm troopers wear for Christmas however !   However I have loved seeing all the wonderful Christmas outfits and layouts that you all have posted,  It has really made my Christmas season more happy  So I guess I will just post a few from the past...sorry I couldn't get new ones.

Here is my first Christmas layout (really done by Dad and Grandad) in a house where I was born (demolished by the construction of the N.J. Turnpike about 1950) its from 1947  (I am from 44 )

Here is out Christmas train from last year, the Tree decorations were all made by my wife, they are sea shells from the beach area where we have vacationed, Tybee Island Georgia.

Here is my Christmas train, pulled by "old faithful" the Marx 400 plastic locomotive.  This gal was a life saver after my far more expensive Lionel loco refused to run after being put on the rails on Christmas eve...disaster averted!

Here is " that fellow from the North Pole" riding the caboose through the Christmas village

Here is a short video of the train in operation.

Best wishes of the Holiday Season to everyone.  Thanks to all of your on the forum for all the joy you bring to us with your pictures, stories, videos, and reply's  Merry Christmas

Don

Here is a “Slo-mo” of something I already posted this season. This seems like a good way to see every car in the wheel report.
Q:  why the Crazy Crystals boxcar?

A:  a Texas product near and dear to my heart…my sainted great grandmother took this product mixed in rainwater every day. My sisters and I still have the little green boxes in which the powder was sold.  We were amused as how the product has made a recent comeback in bottled form.

photo credit: stock photo

Christmas 2022 layout.

MTH  NATIVITY TRAIN  /  LIONEL POLAR EXPRESS  / LIONEL ELVES HAND CAR /  All Judy's yarn buildings .

New this year .........double amount of caribu  , Lemax ice skating feature  (  I took the liberty to make the sax and horn players become the Blues Brothers ) ,white fence on the upper level , more elves and more snow covered trees.      I think we have no more room for additions for the 2023  layout.

HAVE A FUN AND PEACE FILLED HOLIDAY SEASON EVERYONE.

Running some Christmas theme trains.   Blitzen ES44, NYC Pacemaker & MTH CP Holiday Train

https://youtu.be/-8V1st1MUrk

https://youtu.be/mO_nCtIqZFM

@Dallas Joseph posted:

Christmas 2022 layout.

MTH  NATIVITY TRAIN  /  LIONEL POLAR EXPRESS  / LIONEL ELVES HAND CAR /  All Judy's yarn buildings .

New this year .........double amount of caribou  , Lemax ice skating feature ( I took the liberty to make the sax and horn players become the Blues Brothers ) ,white fence on the upper level , more elves and more snow covered trees.      I think we have no more room for additions for the 2023  layout.

HAVE A FUN AND PEACE FILLED HOLIDAY SEASON EVERYONE.

Holy Caribou Batman! How many are there Dallas?

@Oscale_Trains_Lover_ posted:

Holy Caribou Batman! How many are there Dallas?

54 OTL.   Up from 24 since last year.

I can't slow Judy down.......she said the comment from the engineer in the  PE movie  was " there must be a hundred thousand maybe a million "  when the caribu held up the train.

Have a great and safe Christmas season.

Here is my "Santa Train". I posted this over in the video area but am repeating it here in case some of you do not look at all the folders.

Thanks for watching and Merry Christmas to all!

Donald

Have a great Christmas…🚂🎅🏻🎄

Our Christmas layout isn't very much.  Having cats, we are limited as to what things we can put on the layout.  You never know when a Catzilla is going to stomp through the layout.

I bought the Lionel Christmas Light Express this year.  Between the LED's on the train and the sections of light-up Fastrack, it is certainly fun to watch.

Here a few shots…

Hello guys. Here is another short Christmas themed video I just posted...

Donald

@MartyE posted:

What a great scene Marty.......and not enough words for the scene at the base of the tree.

Check out my brother's newest Holiday video card featuring our Lionel and MTH trains! Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pb8tNLbRKc