Technically last year's, but not much has changed.
OK, so, my first train around the tree was a Marx Santa Fe set, from my dad, who died when I was 7.
My current Christmas train, a Hawthorne Village thing, Green Bay Packer train, does not run around the tree, but on a seperate table.
I'll be setting it up this coming Christmas (2018), but here are a few pictures from previous times.
My You Tube
I use to run 0-27 old Marx tinplate but it was so loud I gave all the Marx stuff to a nephew for his young boy. It did not take much speed to topple those 0-4-0 metal engines.
Also gave him my 1970’s plastic Lionel 0-27. He is having a great time.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
That be the one....cute huh.
BobL609LEGO Holiday train
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This cute Christmas Train was on the Florida Lego Railroaders layout in the Tampa Train show today.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
For the first time the old reliable Bachman O gauge has been put up in favor of the LEGO Holiday train which runs on batteries. This makes my two granddaughters totally ecstatic and of course drives the dog nutz. Y’all Have a Happy, healthy and prosperous holiday season.
My daughter made me glue all the branches back on!
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Here's a Christmas coffee table layout I did 10 years ago...roughly 3.5' square, I used some Department 56 North Pole series "structures", a Bachmann ON30 0-4-0 Porter some 4-wheel Boulder Valley carriages. Foam based, Peco ON30 track and turnouts. It lasted a couple of years before we remodeled the living room and didn't have room for a coffee table any more.
Lionel trains are assigne to Christmas tree duty, and they do entertain cats.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
riogrande5761 BATMAN I trimmed off a few of the lower branches for a better view of the train. What is the date that photo was taken? Now tell the truth or shens!
BATMAN I trimmed off a few of the lower branches for a better view of the train.
I trimmed off a few of the lower branches for a better view of the train.
What is the date that photo was taken? Now tell the truth or shens!
riogrande5761Cat owners, what do you recommend?
When I was a kid we had slot cars which were on the floor and we played a little cat and mouse game of trying to drive past the cat before he could attack. Cats are usually only interested in objects when they are in motion.
I admit I've been lazy most years and haven't put a train around the tree, although a few times I've set up an HO train. Now for the past 4 years, my wife and have a cat so I would need a cat resistant train, which probably means Lionel or G scale, which I don't have at present.
Well, I do have one Lionel Hudson steam engine and tender that I got for Christmas at age 4 back in 1963. It has not been run probably since the 1970's and being that I was curious as a kid and liked to take things apart, the whistle in the tender is gone, and the steam engine is missing the pilot wheel set and it's looking pretty ragged. Basically it needs restoration.
I hesitate to buy one of those large scale Christmas trains because they look so "cheap", but might consider a Bachmann G scale. It's a conundrum but with a cat, I think something large would be harder for the cat to derail. Anything smaller and lighter probably is an exercise in futility.
Cat owners, what do you recommend? Being I just moved house, not sure if a train will happen this year but it's on the to-do list.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
BMMECNYC The main noise I have is wheels at track joints and turnout frogs and locomotive sounds.
I did at work - I took my son's old Lionel G scale Thomas to work and set it up around the tree. It mostly runs, which is a major achievement given that it hasn;t been out of the box in 23 years and it's been stored in a less than ideal location for the past 16 or so. The chintzy power pack it came with melted (literally!) about 2 weeks after I first got it all those years ago, so I used a modern MRC ones and the wires came off the lockon so I had to resolder that. ANd he's running with only 3 wheel pickup because I thought to take off the bottom cover and clean the wheels and pickup wipers, only to find out too late the wipers are some graphite brushes pushed against the wheel backs with long springs. Have all 4 springs, but one of the brushes hit the floor and vanished (office carpeting is the perfect color to hide a small piece of graphite). Annie works, but Clarabelle has a bogie sheared off smooth with the car floor - there is a boss molded (or sort of molded) into the floor piece, which holds a screw that runs though the bogie frame. On Clarabelle this is sheared off smooth with the floor, like it was sliced off with a chisel blade, like shearing off molded on grabs. Very strange, but that renders it pretty much unfixable.
But hey, I said I was bringing a train for around the tree, and I did, and it mostly works.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I set up a simple oval with an old Cannonball Express set.
My girlfriend bought the mat (and the scenery) and there are table pads under that. I would not recommend running directly on carpet because you are more likely to get lint or fibers into the moving parts.
It is kind of loud. It does create background noise if you're trying to watch TV. You just have to run them when it's ok to make the noise.
This year I'm running Lionel postwar. Sometimes I put the prewar American Flyer O around the tree. Every so often I run an HO, but my daughter gets to choose what we run.
BATMAN I trimmed off a few of the lower branches for a better view of the train. The thing logged a lot of hours without incident.
The thing logged a lot of hours without incident.
Looks like you need to clean the track now .
Can we get some pictures of trains under the tree?
Gary
I have multiple trains and normally rotate whats on display from year to year. Two of the trains (The M & M and the Hanukkah Train (Sans Candles) are on display year round.
The others which range from plastic to a Walt Disney monorail go round the tree.
But not this year because of the move no decorations came out. Instead my Christmas present this year is a new home for the SIW in a ground floor accessible apartment with laminate floors.
Joe Staten Island West
I run one of my three Target Greatland Express trains around the tree every year. My wife had to correct me though when I was taking them out this year and there was only two sets. She said don't you remember you gave one of them to the neighbor kid Aaron. I guess I do remember I think he was pretty happy.
I haven't set it up around the tree yet. We had a really mild early winter in Minnesota. Less than 2 weeks ago it went from 60 degrees one day to a five below wind chill the next day. My surgical knee has been jacked ever since. I'm hoping it'll feel better soon and I can crawl around on my hands and knees and set my train up. Here's a picture of my favorite one by the fireplace
Holiday Wishes Track Fiddler
PS That's some funny stuff Batman. Your tree reminds me of the pathetic one on Merry Christmas Charlie Brown. I'll be needing some trimming on my hedges next spring. Don't leave your number.
I tweeked the Christmas train layout just before Thanksgiving. Knock on wood, I think I've solved the derailment issues that plagued us last winter. I also cut and placed 2x4's under the hard board at set intervals and that helped with both the physical running of the train and the noise that it produces tremendously. Even though I ran feeder wire and jumpers down most of the length of the layout, I do have one little section of the far end that has a little electrical conductivity issue. I need to pull out the ladder and soldering iron to resolve the issue. I could add a new set of droppers, or just solder the rail joint connectors together. Either way, not a fun process 10' in the air. lol.
Also, the boy INSISTED that the Polar Express be under the tree this year.
I have a Hallmark Lionel train ornament set around a miniature tree. It didn't run but it's a nice display.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
Yeah, color me nostalgic. I always put down a circle of track around the tree and run the train that I got for Christmas when I was 8, (and graduated from "toy trains"). Its Gilbert HO, the little gas electric critter, (looks like a 4 wheel diesel switcher with side rods) with 4 cars plus caboose. And yes, on the wood floor it sounds like a rock chrusher.
I had to explain to my two grown sons that "back-in-the-day" the train around the tree was THE ionic gift for a young boy.
"Oh", they said.
Jim
No I do not. Not that I have anything against it, I just do not do much decorating for Christmas. I put up the tree, and that is about it.
Sorry to be a Scrooge on this thread.
I always have a train under the tree! This year is the prewar American Flyer Royal Blue set.
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I have a Christmas tree train but it's on display out in my shop and doesn't get used anymore.
As for the noise problem of the OP. I'd think a tree skirt made of a thick fabric should do the trick to quiet it down a bit.
Lone Wolf I have the opposite side of the coin. I kept my Seaboard Coast Bicentennial locomotive my grandfather gave me so many years ago. It's all that's left of the set all beat up sitting on the fireplace mantel.
I saw a replacement set on eBay for very cheap. I kick myself in the back side every time I think about it. I should have bought it.
Come to find out they are not a dime a dozen.
Regards Track Fiddler