A train up my tree?

[Anonymous]

Hello all.

First, let me say that I have never built, operated or even been interested in model trains until I came up with this idea. Then a co-worker told me that plenty of people had already done it and that there were even kits out there to do it. As I did a search of all the things people were doing with model trains I became interested.

Anyway, to my idea and a question. Has anyone ever heard of, made, bought or even seen a small train set which goes up and down the christmas tree? What I mean is something small enough to rest or hang from the branches of my christmas tree at home and have the train go around and around the tree from the top to the bottom and back again.

I tried to search for this on your forum, but I have no idea what to call this thing and couldn't find it.

Thanks for any information or ideas.

dave

[nbrodar]

You can usually find ads for it in MR around Christmas time.

Nick

[Anonymous]

never heard of it, is it z scale? not shure how heavy that is, never seen it in real life, only HO, O, and N, sounds interesting, wonder how much it costs, id love to have that on my xmas tree

[dgwinup]

Bachman made a Christmas tree set in N scale that sets up IN the tree. It just goes in a circle through the branches and not up and down the tree. I used Bachman's idea to create a tree-railroad using a horizontal piece of 1" foam as a base, shaped in a wagon-wheel configuration with the tracks installed on the outer circumference of the wheel. My tree is artificial, so I was able to install the wheel in the middle of the tree as I assembled it. A real tree would have to use solidly built sections with tight latches to hold the sections together.

It would be possible to do what you ask, but I don't think you would be satisfied with the results. To have a train circling the tree while climbing up and traveling down the branches dictates a small engine and few cars. Most engines don't have enough power to climb that steep an angle with anything more than a token sample of cars. The tracks would have to be fairly sturdy to hold their own position and a means would be needed to keep the tracks in place within the branches of the tree. Bachman, Life-Like and Kato all have track that snaps and stays together. Any of those products would probably work in a tree. You will have to build two spirals, one up and the other down, connected to each other at the top and bottom of the tree. The radii of the track would have to be VERY tight, especially on the inside spiral.

This is not impossible to do, just very difficult for not that much more satisfation than a simple circle in the tree would provide.

Of course, you could do it just to say that you did it. Sort of like Sir Edmund Hillary. When asked why he climbed Mt. Everest, he said: " Because it's there!". When your friends and family ask why your put a train in your tree, you can just say: "Because I could!" Lots of satisfation in that!

If you do this, post some pictures for the rest of us to drool over.

Darrell, quiet...for now

[Anonymous]

Thanks all for the info.

I will be looking for the ready made tree kits. I figured N scale would be the one. Just a few cars would suffice. It would be neat and keep my son's attention, not to mention the dog.

DG, your info about the set that makes a single lap around the tree gives me another idea. Mabey I could do 3 or 4 or these, each one smaller and have 3 or 4 trains circling the tree at different hights. mabey I could do one of each scale from the largest, on the ground, to the smallest, at the top. Oops! just let my idea out of the bag. Hope no one steals it! just kidding. knock yourself out if your interested.

If I do actually pull this off, I'll certainly post pics.

thanks again,

dave