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During this time of year we have had requests to have a featured topic  where the membership could post their special holiday greetings and layouts.   So...here it is!!  Lets see how many we can post!!

The OGR family would like to wish all of you a safe and very happy Holiday season.  We thank all of you that continue to support our magazine through your subscriptions and advertising for without you, there would be no OGR!  Bless each and everyone!!

Last edited by OGR CEO-PUBLISHER
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OGR CEO-PUBLISHER posted:

Surely there are more posts to come???  Hope this is just a little early and we don't have a bah humbug!!

Most people are probably still working off their tryptophan stupors  

I won’t even make it home till tomorrow and it will probably be a week before I get to decorating. This year, I will finally break out a bunch of my Dept. 56 Snow Village houses for the layout (sorry... no tall buildings!!!). Pics will, inevitably, follow.

In the past I had a Christmas layout pretty well set up by early December.  However, this year is different after my total knee replacement last month.  We fumbled the tree up and the lights are on but that’s all.  I am thinking of just setting up a snowy diorama on the new layout I started this year.  At least I could put the Polar Express on the track for basically a static display.  

I’m looking forward to seeing this topic take off in the three weeks ahead.  Yes, only three weeks!

Happy Holidays everyone!  I think this year’s layout is our biggest yet. Thankful that our “kids” (in their 20’s) were here this weekend to help out.  Truly a family effort - which made it fun in building. Great posts everyone - fun to see all of the different trains, layouts, and posts to celebrate The Season.

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Two Hudsons making the circuits tonight: a post war ‘64 773 and the newer 783:

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Scenes around the layout:

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Here’s a short video:



Thank you Alan for starting a great thread and all you, your staff and the forum sponsors do for our hobby.  Happy Holidays everyone!

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Basement layout......2016.....

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Though it doesn't look it, this next layout is actually a Christmas layout......on the floor of my bedroom in the Bronx, either 72-73 or 73-74. It is significant in that it was my last layout, and the last time that I took out the trains until 1980 (this is about the time school really started heating up).

Nothing with trains until early 1980, when as a medical intern in Baltimore, I saw an ad in the Baltimore Sun for a Greenberg Train & Toy Show at Towson State. I went. The bug was rekindled, and I asked my parents to bring the trains down when they visited at Easter.  Trains ever since......

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Peter

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Last edited by Putnam Division

Great idea Alan. I would like to wish all my train friends a very Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah and a VERY happy and healthy New Year. We bought a place in Florida in mid-2018 and now spend winters here (not much sense spending the summers here). I miss the NJHR Christmas party and train show. And Trainstock and Springfield. But not enough to be back in the northeast in the winter.

Bob Bruno, a NJHR member, just passed. We had some club internal e-mails. Bob was a really great guy. I've periodically invited people to my house to play with trains, and have totally enjoyed doing that. The attached picture of "train guys" is from 2013. Bob is between John Scaravella and Dotty. He was always a pleasure to be with. Other people in the picture are Bill Parkinson, Erol (Locolawyer), Bob DeGuarde, Captain John, Alex, me (behind John), Carl, Dotty and Marty. As Mike Caruso says, all in front of my "wall of hats".

The other picture is of my grandchildren Theo and Rory having fun acting as train tunnels. Gotta have fun!

Gerry

Gerry's Posse #01Theo & Rory as tunnels 01

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Well ok, i cant start the trains until the tree is completed!   So here is the tree just finished.  I will then get some train shots in the next few days.

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Here is previous layout, well one side of it.

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A very happy Christmas to everyone and thank you all for your help and knowledge on all things O gauge.

We live in a great country and the people on this forum prove it!!

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Mike McCutcheon posted:

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Holiday Greetings forum friends.  The tree is up and the trains are running.    This was my gift Christmas morning 1973.   Lionel MPC Cannonball set.   ATSF 2-4-0 #8300 is still pulling fast and strong at 46 years old.

Nice!  I got the Lionel Cannonball set for Christmas 1973 as well, and still have it in my collection.

scale rail posted:

Bob, we took that car and three others across the Sierras about ten years ago. They were owned by a wonderful guy that ran them with Amtrak a few times a year. Here is a little video of that trip. Don

Must have been Mike Abernethy and his Zephyr Route Tours?  Mike still runs trips with various cars.  Although the cars you were on are now owned by the CVSR.  Mike continues work on restoring his Silver View dome observation. He has contributed decorative steel elements to CVSR'S Silver Bronco dome.

Big Louie:

At the North Pole served by the Great Northeastern Railway, Santa's Workshop is either a Department 56 or Lemax building (I can't remember from several years ago) and has a large window behind which Santa is hard at work all year around. In the second photo, Santa's workshop is partially obscured by the North Pole sign.

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Another great North Pole building by Lemax to the left of Santa's workshop in the second photo is the toy factory. It has several moving parts such as a toy train running and a hot air balloon that rises and comes back down.

Happy Holidays to all.

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I'd like to take this time to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and I hope you had a great Thanksgiving too.  As for me, there will be no tree or decorations this Christmas, I'm still packing for the upcoming move.  All of our Christmas decorations have all been packed and put in the PODS along with all of my trains.  Maybe next year we'll be settled in our new home and I'll be able to put something down around the Christmas Tree.  In the mean time, I'm enjoying all that you guys have shown.  Alan, thanks so much for setting this up, it was a great idea.

Here is my Train around the Tree, though not seen is the Lionel Bluetooth Radio Tower. Those purple looking lights are bats, our One light strand isn't quite long enough for our tree, so we reused some Halloween Lights. That will probably be the extent of our tree decorating since we have a cat that likes to climb a tree and knock down ornaments. I would like to possibly next year do a bit more for the Layout around the Christmas tree, but this was kind of thrown together in a couple of hours at most.

OGaugeRR

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Here's where it all began

This photo gives little hint of all life had in store for me: Two head-on car accidents (neither my fault), an arson fire that destroyed all of my life's output as an artist (plus all the equipment, musical instruments, recording studio), a bankruptcy as a result, loosing my home to eminent domain (dramatically downsizing my trains), and then this past summer having my car totaled by a guy who was texting while driving (and also speeding). Given the extensive damage, I'm lucky I walked away from that with no injuries.

This photo above is special for me in more than is seen. I'd had taken my family archives before my fire: Multiple cases full of slides, photos, home movies. I'd had planned on copying everything and organizing it all. Instead, it all burned with everything else I had.

So the above photo is one of a very few that was salvaged, not being damaged beyond repair. I wish you could see the train, but you can see the 027 track around the Christmas tree and the transformer... Ah, the importance of the much derided starter set!

Life's lessons are sometimes hard, but I've learned to be content and appreciative for what I have - and that includes my trains... my perfectly scale 027 trains!

Even without the "latest and greatest," when I put my hand to the transformer, it's one place where I have some control in life.

So in my book, Merry Christmas is less about what you get under the tree, as it is being thankful for everything that is already around the tree.

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Will posted:

I am working on a tinplate layout, but here is a Christmas diorama from about 15 years ago and my days of more realistic railroading. Happy Holidays to all my old and future forum friends. Happy to be back.

Welcome back, Will! Those diorama photos are really very nice. Is the tinplate layout you're building Standard Gauge or O gauge? I am a BIG fan of tinplate!

5644F160-0FCC-4323-990A-30FD24D4DC0E7568C21F-8F02-4E5C-A719-B46F46D19097Losing my mind. My Christmas layout is stuck right now. My Lionel Gateman quit last year. I bench tested him at the time, and he worked fine. I decided to replace the wiring in the layout before I put it away. Everything looks good, but he won’t come out! I stole a platform from my basement layout, but I don’t like it in the front, so I can’t spread snow and detail the layout until I put something else there. Really running behind this year, and I am really going to miss my Gateman. 

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Scrambler81 posted:

5644F160-0FCC-4323-990A-30FD24D4DC0E7568C21F-8F02-4E5C-A719-B46F46D19097Losing my mind. My Christmas layout is stuck right now. My Lionel Gateman quit last year. I bench tested him at the time, and he worked fine. I decided to replace the wiring in the layout before I put it away. Everything looks good, but he won’t come out! I stole a platform from my basement layout, but I don’t like it in the front, so I can’t spread snow and detail the layout until I put something else there. Really running behind this year, and I am really going to miss my Gateman. 

I had a similar issue with my Nutcracker Gateman, bench tested fine, but refused to open when installed on the layout.  It turned out to be the accessories post on the C-80 transformer quit working.  I swapped out the transformer and it worked great after that.

Samplingman posted:
Scrambler81 posted:

5644F160-0FCC-4323-990A-30FD24D4DC0E7568C21F-8F02-4E5C-A719-B46F46D19097Losing my mind. My Christmas layout is stuck right now. My Lionel Gateman quit last year. I bench tested him at the time, and he worked fine. I decided to replace the wiring in the layout before I put it away. Everything looks good, but he won’t come out! I stole a platform from my basement layout, but I don’t like it in the front, so I can’t spread snow and detail the layout until I put something else there. Really running behind this year, and I am really going to miss my Gateman. 

I had a similar issue with my Nutcracker Gateman, bench tested fine, but refused to open when installed on the layout.  It turned out to be the accessories post on the C-80 transformer quit working.  I swapped out the transformer and it worked great after that.

I had a CW80 that came with my original Polar Express set.  The accessories posts had no output.  Someone here on the Forum informed me you can turn it off and on.  I downloaded the instructions from the Lionel website and turned the accessories output back on.  I don’t remember what you do since I sold that set two years ago after buying the LC Bluetooth PE set with the snow on the car roofs, but you should be able to search for the manual on the website 

A quick vid of what we did at the redrockbill house this year. Not too different than previous years at this house, other than a few additions to consists and a simplified loop on the village set up (because hard wood floors do not play nice with middle age knees!). Hope everyone enjoys the video and that Christmas and the holiday season bring health, happiness, and joy to all!

redrockbill

 

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Merry Christmas to all!

Currently working on a larger video to share with you all soon, but in the meantime I'd like to show some of my photos, featuring perhaps the most Christmassy steam locomotive in operation today.

Simmering in Owosso, Pere Marquette no. 1225 awaits departure on the very first North Pole Express run this season.

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This shows well how dirty the Steam Railroading Institute lets her get. It definitely provides an experience like no other, though if it were my choice she would be sparkling clean.

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Now departing Owosso, the 1225 crawls across Main Street, past the old Robbin's Furniture Warehouse. This makes for one of the most timeless scenes on the line.

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For many, this is the money shot of the entire trip. Pere Marquette no. 1225 gallops through the small town of Carland in perhaps the most famous scene she goes through every year.

Two weeks after my visit, this was the site of a near-miss incident between the locomotive and a pedestrian who was standing much too close to the tracks. While this person escaped with only a torn jacket, it serves as a haunting reminder as to why rail safety is so important. Remember to stay a safe distance from the tracks when you're along the railroad, and to remind those you see that are too close to stay back!

Happy Holidays!

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Last edited by TrainMan1225
BobbyD posted:
VistaDomeScott posted:

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays ! 

The CVSR Polar Express and work keeping me too busy to set up a Christmas floor layout yet.   Here are a  few views from the CVSR Polar Express last week as we deadheaded to Akron.20191127_214802

Now those are darn way COOL handrails!!

I bet one can duplicate it with a K Line/ Lionel scale dome car and some smd LEDs along with exposed fibre optic cable!

Last edited by prrhorseshoecurve
Allan Miller posted:
Will posted:

I am working on a tinplate layout, but here is a Christmas diorama from about 15 years ago and my days of more realistic railroading. Happy Holidays to all my old and future forum friends. Happy to be back.

Welcome back, Will! Those diorama photos are really very nice. Is the tinplate layout you're building Standard Gauge or O gauge? I am a BIG fan of tinplate!

Hi Allan, long time no see. It's O gauge, using my Dad's original trains, liberally supplemented with purchases. Trying to use as much or all original equipment, all pre-war. Doing a lot of restoration!  It's just 4 x 6 but will resemble a Lionel catalogue layout of the period, but in winter. Just finishing some wiring, It won't get finished this year, but I will post some progress pics. 

I've discovered I love tinplate. It's more like the abstract art I make. All about arranging the pieces and balancing the color. Realistic modeling is very different- more about copying nature. 

prrhorseshoecurve posted:
BobbyD posted:
VistaDomeScott posted:

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays ! 

The CVSR Polar Express and work keeping me too busy to set up a Christmas floor layout yet.   Here are a  few views from the CVSR Polar Express last week as we deadheaded to Akron.20191127_214802

Now those are darn way COOL handrails!!

I bet one can duplicate it with a K Line/ Lionel scale dome car and some smd LEDs along with exposed fibre optic cable!

Except fiber optic doesn't shine along the length of it, only the ends. You could try sanding it, I guess, but then the light would all just escape near the source.

Here is a video showing the trains around the family room Christmas Tree.  The Polar Express passenger cars’ lighting has been upgraded to LED strips using my version of GunrunnerJohn’s lighting module.  Probably won’t put buildings around this tree other than possibly an old Lionel No. 133 station I bought a battery operated string of blinking LED’s to decorate it with.

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Mark Boyce posted:

Greg, The PE cars with John’s LED kits look great!  I have enough of John’s kits to do my two sets of passenger cars.  I need to do the same as you 

Mark, thanks but I didn’t use John’s kits.  I did use his circuit design to develop my own PCB with slightly different components.  All of which is documented in other threads here on the forum.

I used to run the trains on the floor around the Christmas tree, through the village, and under the piano.  This year we placed the tree in a different location with no room for trains so I got the village up off the floor which made it easier to work on.  It's on a 4x8 sheet of plywood supported by cheap storage bins from the orange box store - simple and strong, and no need for fancy legs or framing.  Hopefully next year I can add a backdrop.

Merry Christmas to all.

Don

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Turns out it actually is beneficial to read the instructions once in a while.  This string of LED’s has an “on” setting where they flash for six hours, turn off for eighteen hours, turn back on for six, etc.  So, yesterday I turned them on and right about six hours later they turned off.  The LED’s turned back on this afternoon just a little later than expected.  

Captured the magical moment just for the fun of it .

 

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While digging out the little Lionel train station ornament (see the Christmas ornament thread for details) the box with a few second hand Snow Village buildings and accessories was the “next” one in the closet.  Somewhat simultaneously my wife and I said “what the heck, there is room for them under the family room tree.”  So I spent part of this morning getting them placed around the tree.  I will admit, they do look better than the No. 133 station all by itself.

More buildings.

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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.

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All the postings are great!  Griff, that video is most impressive!

 I managed to get some ceramic buildings out of the garage and arranged on a portion of my new layout I am building.  I will post photographs after I get the people etc on it.  I forgot to get the Polar Express our before my surgery, so it will take some doing , but not impossible.  Stay tuned!

I called my under tree layout the "Meeting of the Gauges and Eras"  It's a simplistice layout with just two loops under the tree.  The outer loop is O gauge Fasttrack.  Running on that loop is a minty 1946 Lionel 1400W set led by a 221 Steamer with 2400 tinplate passenger cars.  The inner loop of track is Lionel 00 Gauge.  On it I'm running a 1937 Lionel 001 Hudson and 1938-42 Lionel 00 Gauge cars.  Merry Christmas to all OGR subscribers.IMG_0205  

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Last edited by george


Received an early Christmas present this year!!! Special shout-out to Henning’s.
They ran a contest for a photo to use during the Holidays on the cover for their FB page. So I entered a photo of the Christmas layout that I did for a community project a few years ago. More than 60 photos were submitted and were then reduced to a top 10. The top 10 were then voted on by members and mine was the winner. So here is the photo being used on the Henning’s cover...and the prize, a 2019 Lionel Christmas Car that is pictured on my layout! Even at 75, I never get tired of stuff like this...Just sayin. 😉

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all!!! 🎄🚂🎅🏻

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Last edited by UKE KAT

We got a bigger tree last year so I'll need to build a new train platform. But in the meantime this year I used a bunch of leftover O-36 FasTrack curves along with a LH & RH O-36 curve that I hadn't added to the layout yet with some also leftover 5-inch and 10-inch tracks. It fits nicely around the 25 inch square tree stand and I do like the end result. Have a Merry Christmas.

Lionel FasTrack 5 by 5 X-Mas with Basic Track v1 - 3D

Lionel FasTrack 5 by 5 X-Mas with Basic Track v1 - track

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Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!! This year, instead of running an Ives Standard gauge passenger train around the Christmas tree, we decided to run my first train set that Santa gave me for Christmas in 1956. It’s the Lionel #1615 switcher steam engine with work train. The next year, 1957, Santa brought me a pair of Lionel 027 manual switches, and I added them to the oval to make a siding. The siding has a Lionel diesel switcher from the era with a gondola and work caboose. I added several buildings and things by Ives, Lionel, and other makers. 

Merry Christmas!

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Last edited by WP
George S posted:
MikeH posted:

I bought a bunch of Lemax figures at Menards.  My kids had fun placing them around the layout.  When I tried to give them pointers, they told me I was being bossy so I had to leave the room. 

I think they did a great job, or did you sneak back in and move them? 

Great layout!

George

Oh no.  You are right (and so were they ).  I couldn't shut up.  So I left and they did a good job! 

Scrambler81 posted:

0BAF2897-589C-4091-8D8F-0BB4FC1A034CEE8F1EE0-E268-4F1C-9534-C36A1A07A648711DF6DF-B750-46EE-874E-F0B780AAF782331241A2-7CA8-424B-932C-FA28DACB944A83E60DC1-5F99-401E-AB0F-C828FDCB1B7377665625-CFAD-45A4-B4AC-F3E952E5E0B42EC6FC1A-96EF-4002-B242-4D4AEC32323D0DDB4BC7-4AE3-4077-AF60-485DBC34151BF59DA1B3-5186-491E-BF64-2AE916718BEB5B376FAE-14DA-4122-9530-4DED2255CB6DCE227F01-8921-4E99-A83E-810101F0C2F76D50648F-4B46-4237-A15E-233E063ECD37A400A895-7B41-465E-B126-0CF3D781B9B4C908377E-DEEA-4A9D-B24D-0736163CC0A4D53F17A1-FD28-4953-9536-DB45D7D820EB65EE5087-27AF-4134-AA52-44A3DC1A02231DE34B78-A2AB-4407-891E-4E9AF724575C3A01B7CB-6B86-4206-B977-BFE10F766192D0190AC0-F5EE-443D-8252-6E727854D0D467877ED8-5B70-4341-946A-3A73901A08BAThe 2019 edition. Our dog, Pearl, has created a few challenges. I left out the Santa Pylon, as I am sure she would eventually take it out. For some reason, she doesn’t like bushes next to the Polar Express house. There has to be over twenty trees and bushes on there, but she kept stealing those two. She also likes to stick her nose in the snow. Then she exhales and blows it everywhere, so I have to do a lot of touching up. Still, that is the worst she does, so it isn’t a big deal.

 

VERY nice, Chris. You didn't forget the church (reason for the season) nor even SNOOPY ! Well-done !!

This is from an unknown author, and has circulated around the 'Net several
times, but it's appropriate for the holiday season.

 'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through my pike,
 Not a steamer was stirring, not even a Mike.
 My yard tracks invitingly empty and bare,
 In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

 The diesels were nestled all snug in their sheds,
 While visions of DCS/Legacy/TMCC danced in their heads.
 While I, in my blue-and-white engineer's cap,
 Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,

 When down in the train room, there rose such a clatter,
  I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
 Away to the basement I flew like an ace,
 Tripped over the cat and fell flat on my face.

 I stifled a curse meant for Chessie (the cat),
 And I muttered to no one, "I meant to do that,"
 When what to my wondering eyes should appear
 But an O-scale sleigh and eight Preiser reindeer,

 With an engineer driving, so lively and quick,
 I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
 More rapid than GG-1's, onward they came,
 And he blew a steam whistle and called them by name:

 "On Lionel!  On MTH, Williams and #rd Rail!
 On Kadee and Micro-Trains, Atlas and others!
 To the top of the mountains of Hydrocal plaster,
 Now dash away, dash away, dash away faster!"

 As dry leaves that behind a new Genesis fly,
 When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
 So in through the window the coursers they flew
 With the sleigh full of trains, and St. Nicholas too.

 And then, on my roundhouse, I saw on the roof
 The prints in the dust of each HO-scale hoof.
 As I drew a deep breathe, and was turning around,
 From beneath the benchwork, St. Nick came with a bound.

 He was dressed like an engineer from head to foot,
 And his clothes had that fine smell of ashes and soot;
 A bundle of trains he had flung on his back,
 And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

 His eyes - just like marker lights! Dimples, how merry!
 His cheeks like a Warbonnet; nose like a cherry!
 His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
 And his beard was so white; it would please Phoebe Snow.

 He puffed on a pipe as he refilled its bowl,
 And the smoke, it smelled just like bituminous coal.
 He had a broad face and a belly (I found)
 That shook like a tank car with wheels out-of-round.

 He was chubby and plump, and I wanted to shout,
 "Yes!  The man's got a route the UP can't buy out!"
 A wink of his eye as he passed near the door
 Soon gave me to know I'd have freight cars galore.

 He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work.
 He filled all my yard tracks; then turned with a jerk,
 And leaving an airbrush he'd found on eBay,
 And giving a nod, he returned to his sleigh.

 He pumped up the brakes, blew two blasts on his whistle,
 And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
 But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
 "MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!  KEEP 'EM ROLLING! GOOD-NIGHT!"

 High greens and clear track to all of you!

The layout has been up and running since the week before Thanksgiving. Finally got around to taking some photographs.

I got approval this year to expand it 1/2ft wide and 3ft longer. It gave me room for the 3rd loop. It helped that the grandkids love it so much.

I could not have done it without all the great info I have learned from this forum. 

Merry Christmas ,

Mark W.C7ED4FDA-0339-435F-9A64-15BD7799EE1F57459E88-4D3E-4D5C-9245-FCDB233B865C1E098B52-19E6-48CB-ACC0-FDC236188FA421F899D5-E445-4A57-9A5B-797E021550700F878E9A-E299-439E-9503-41154824944AD7CFF29A-BFC7-47DF-9EAE-1D51DB0F9D37E0A9EBA8-D1D6-47A8-A0B6-7C528820AD6AFA51C271-B7B5-462D-9A03-66F6FC6644494F6FBBF7-8037-4A51-8A04-49EE96931443DF16B7A8-AF94-43E0-AB97-C652358DF814568435FC-3724-49A1-A16D-90FBCDE262210C4BF234-597D-4769-A79E-DE78B58C98B9DC925B3C-97BE-4E94-B8F2-764788274F01

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Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!  Just a simple loop around the tree in our house this year.  Here are a couple shots and a video of my new Lionel D&H “blue dip” ALCo C-420 (custom-run by Forum-sponsor Mr. Muffin) hauling the “tree train”.  I also purchased two custom-run Lehigh Valley C-420’s from Steve and will post photos of them soon.

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Last edited by CNJ #1601

Merry Christmas from RMT!

These photos were taken in 2005 of part of the Christmas layout in our home that year....kind of went overboard a bit! A total of 4 mainlines as 3 separate loops and a dogbone, over 65 ceramic houses, cars and trucks, people, lights and some hand crafted buildings by my late father-in-law Mickey. Of course, it was all RMT trains (except for the Williams CNJ GP-7s, Kline CNJ Pacific and a Weaver CNJ caboose) operating the trackage. The tin Middletown station in the RDC photo was from my original Christmas layout many, many years ago!2005 Christmas Train Layout 0252005 Christmas Train Layout 0272005 Christmas Train Layout 037DSC01139Christmas Train Layout 032

2005 -1ADSC01220

Best wishes to all our customers and train friends...Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. May you and your families be abundantly blessed this Holiday Season.

Susie and Walter Matuch

                                         

 

 

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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.

DSCN0301

DSCN0300

What kind of track are you using here?

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.

DSCN0301

DSCN0300

What kind of track are you using here?

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

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.  

Last edited by Eilif

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. 

My_SP_GS-4_4-8-4

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Last edited by TheOReg
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.

20191225_111548

 

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. 

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.

20191225_111548

 

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.

IMG_2168IMG_2179IMG_2171IMG_2068

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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. 

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.

IMG_2168IMG_2179IMG_2171IMG_2068

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.

IMG_2168IMG_2179IMG_2171IMG_2068

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.

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:

100_1084

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

100_1087

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

100_1085

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:

100_1106100_1107

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.

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Last edited by palallin

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.

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

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