Member's Holiday Greetings and Layouts Here!!!

Merry Christmas  I no longer have to run my trains from the floor  1950/2019

Hump Yard Mike posted:

The above train and station were a Christmas gift from my parent in the early 80’s.  Still runs well today as shown under this years family christmas tree.

It is a LGB train set around my Christmas tree too.

I finally got this Gil Reid Hiawatha print framed that my parents gave me 30 years ago for Christmas.

The "Christmas Story House" Tremont neighborhood, Cleveland.Merry Christmas ! 

The Bumpas' dogs are all quiet, but the fragile lamp is proudly displayed!

TM Terry posted:

I wanted to wait until I received my new Menard's buildings before posting a pic of my Christmas layout (a simple O42 loop, single train service). I was waiting for Menard's Taco Bell to be delivered when they offered the new Strip Mall. I ordered the Strip Mall on Wednesday, the 11th, and it was at my door Monday evening, the 16th. Now that is fast delivery!

So, these two pics are my Christmas Menardsville layout.

What kind of track are you using here?

Merry Christmas All!

pennsydave posted:

Well, the Christmas trains are now up and running.  I hope everyone enjoys the season as much as i do, especially if my temporary track keeps passing electrons!

AMAZING !! Probably my personal favorite of all the layouts on this thread. Your attention to detail is tremendous. It makes my head hurt just thinking of the setup & teardown time required. THANKS for sharing! This should be a longer video on YouTube !

BurlingtonBill posted:

TM Terry posted:

I wanted to wait until I received my new Menard's buildings before posting a pic of my Christmas layout (a simple O42 loop, single train service). I was waiting for Menard's Taco Bell to be delivered when they offered the new Strip Mall. I ordered the Strip Mall on Wednesday, the 11th, and it was at my door Monday evening, the 16th. Now that is fast delivery!

So, these two pics are my Christmas Menardsville layout.

What kind of track are you using here?

Ross Custom Switches track: O42 curves and a 14.5" straight (measured) on each side.

My 2¢...

thanks. 
-Mario

Christmas morning 2019.

Sorry Team,

the best I could do: Ralphie arrives at the NOMA Town Station in time for Christmas!

Sorry to be so late on Christmas Day, however We wish you all the very best Christmas ever and a Wonderful 2020. I will go back to the beginning after I post a few pictures. Thank you OGR for this great forum. 

Merry Christmas everyone.  I'm really enjoying seeing all your Christmas layouts.

Waited til the last minute to post this year. Here's this year's Budget Lionel Around The Tree.   Less space than last year because for the first time ever it's off the floor and I didn't take advantage of the areas on the sides of the bay window when I cut the foam base.   Next year will be bigger....

The glow from walls of the buildings isn't as bad as the pictures appear, but I do plan on blackening out the walls inside the buildings. 

It's hard to read, but Chicago fans will appreciated the Turano Bakery truck parked next to the cafe.

This year's additions include:

-NYC GP7  Thanks to M. Mitch Marmell who hooked us up with a great deal!

-Some Ali Express people on white plastic chips

-Neat local train show finds include Stone walls and a Santa Fe Box Truck.

-2 Tone Vintage Ford Pickup

-DOW  Semi Tanker from my Uncle who just retired from DOW.

I'm hoping to also pick up a Menards IC boxcar or hopper tomorrow.  

Peter, Awesome Video,this reminded me of how we used to wake up on Christmas morning opening all our gifts and especially the trains. The music was fantastic and the scenes really cool, thank you for The Memories.... Merry Christmas.

Pennytrains, Amazing Video Of Disneyland, Wow, so neat, I will have to watch it a few more times to listen to your music, and just let your ingenuity and amazing layout, Christmas decorations and houses and people soak into my brain. Thank you very much. Wow. Merry Christmas 

A Blessed and Happy Christmas and Happy Holidays to Everyone in the OGR Universe!   Hope you all are enjoying the Season!!

Christmas day excursion

Merry Christmas everyone! BigRail 

Couple of days late to the party but nonetheless.

This year's layout was G Scale and under the tree for the first time in 7-8 years.

Having the Baby Jesus as the Drumhead was done intentionally.

Kevin, never too late!  I just took photographs of my meager setup this year.  I’ll post later.  I like your drumhead and observation car!!

Christmas 2019

Quite impressive'

A belated Merry Christmas everyone! I'm fairly new to this forum, this may be my first post. In October this year I started a pretty deep dive in the O scale department. I now have a complete MTH SP GS-4 4-8-4 Holiday Express setup. Nothing fancy, it just runs around the tree and to the other side of my living room. I re-started this hobby about 12 years ago. Back then I bought a Lionel O-27 Christmas set to put around the tree. I grew it a bit almost every year with a new Christmas themed freight car and some Lionel tubular track. No basement bench setup yet, that will come in time in our next house. For now, just November through January in the living room.  

(Edit..Dec. 28 17:15 EST) I just came back to see a few of the likes and reviewed my profile. I see now I joined the forum here back in November of '17. Boy how time flys. I'll have to post a video or two to catch up with you good people. 

Here is the video for my layout this year

Amfleet25124 posted:

 

Couple of days late to the party but nonetheless.

This year's layout was G Scale and under the tree for the first time in 7-8 years.

 

Very nice.  Is that the Target tin camper trailer?   Looks great. Did you do any work on it?  

I have the little one hanging on my tree.  I generally am happy with the ornaments I have and not interested in adding more to my collection (that's more my wife's thing) but I saw it and had to have it. 

Happy Hanukkah to all that celebrate, hope everybody else had a great and Merry Christmas.  Wishes to all for a Happy New Year.

Eilif posted:

Amfleet25124 posted:

 

Couple of days late to the party but nonetheless.

This year's layout was G Scale and under the tree for the first time in 7-8 years.

 

Very nice.  Is that the Target tin camper trailer?   Looks great. Did you do any work on it?  

I have the little one hanging on my tree.  I generally am happy with the ornaments I have and not interested in adding more to my collection (that's more my wife's thing) but I saw it and had to have it. 

Yes, the tin camper trailer is from Target along with the pick-up truck. I believe the station wagon is from Target also but I can't remember.  Purchased all of them this season.

I tried something very different this year for around the tree, and ditched the big plywood trainboard.

Instead, I built hardwood sectional roadbed bases from figured maple, and attached Flexxbed foam to that.  Very happy with the results!  The layout runs much quieter, and I like that the modularity of the track is retained for expansion.

Daniel Raible posted:

I tried something very different this year for around the tree, and ditched the big plywood trainboard.

Instead, I built hardwood sectional roadbed bases from figured maple, and attached Flexxbed foam to that.  Very happy with the results!  The layout runs much quieter, and I like that the modularity of the track is retained for expansion.

Daniel, that is a great idea and well executed.  I really like your custom lock-on section.  Well done. 

Firewood posted:

Great layouts, everybody! All our best for Christmas and 2020! Forgive the improper bell stowage - Barrel Guy is hanging on for all he's worth...

The nice thing about holiday layouts is the ability to crank up the whimsy.... and also find a spot for those giant out-of-scale toys.....

Daniel Raible posted:

I tried something very different this year for around the tree, and ditched the big plywood trainboard.

Instead, I built hardwood sectional roadbed bases from figured maple, and attached Flexxbed foam to that.  Very happy with the results!  The layout runs much quieter, and I like that the modularity of the track is retained for expansion.

Looks very nice.  This follows a couple different methods for noise reduction-eliminate the part this reverberating and when in doubt throw more mass at the source!

MikeH posted:

Daniel Raible posted:

I tried something very different this year for around the tree, and ditched the big plywood trainboard.

Instead, I built hardwood sectional roadbed bases from figured maple, and attached Flexxbed foam to that.  Very happy with the results!  The layout runs much quieter, and I like that the modularity of the track is retained for expansion.

Daniel, that is a great idea and well executed.  I really like your custom lock-on section.  Well done. 

Thank you!  It was a decent amount of work, but now that there is a complete loop it would be easy to make a few more sections, like for turnouts.

I might do something similar to raise the transformer up a bit, and give a platform for control switches.

jhz563 posted:

Daniel Raible posted:

I tried something very different this year for around the tree, and ditched the big plywood trainboard.

Instead, I built hardwood sectional roadbed bases from figured maple, and attached Flexxbed foam to that.  Very happy with the results!  The layout runs much quieter, and I like that the modularity of the track is retained for expansion.

Looks very nice.  This follows a couple different methods for noise reduction-eliminate the part this reverberating and when in doubt throw more mass at the source!

Thanks, and agreed!  The foam and wood combination are working really well.  If the layout was on a hardwood floor I would add some felt feet to each piece to protect the finish, and that might also help with the sound damping.

Merry Christmas!

Finally, on  the evening of the 5th Day of Christmas, I can mange to sit down long enough to wish all my fellow OGR forumites a very Merry Christmastide and the most Blessed of New Years!

Since I change two sections of the big layout in the back room for the Christmastide, I thought I'd show both the way the sections look for the rest of the year as well as the Christmas appearance (for this year).

First, the farm on the bluff inside the loop across from Notch Junction:

Next a shot from about the same angle showing the whistle stop at Bethlehem:

Then, there is the bustling mining district of the town of Marmaros atop Roarke Mountain:

Here are two pics of the same town, one at sunrise, with the town well illuminated and the other at twilight so that the lights are visible:

You have to admire the hard-working townspeople:  they actually swapped the hotel and the train station across the square so that they could construct a city park with wildlife and a skating pond.

In another week or so, the Epiphany will pass, and the townspeople will once again rearrange their buildings to return to the rigors of mining and the bustle of commerce.  But, for now, the Christmastide still lays its peace and good will over the Earth, and the good citizens will keep Christmas' holy season remembering that Bethlehem is just down the hill on a bluff overlooking the White River.

May that same spirit infuse your Christmastide and remain with you throughout the year.

Daniel Raible & Pallalin, great work on both your parts!

This is my 9 year old grandson setting up his layout. I did not get a good shot of the finished product hopefully he hasn’t taken it down yet!

On the sixth day of Christmas, the weather outside is frightful (heavy cold rain)... so I finally got a chance to get down to the trains. I had to put together a jury-rig addition to the benchwork due to limited free space for adding some holiday houses to the layout (I’ve ordered a permanent shelf from Tim Foley and should get it after the holidays). I’ve already decided to build up the shelf when I install it so that it clears the elevated track.

So to all my fellow Forumites... Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, and a happy, healthy, and train filled New Year.