Please share your railroad related holiday traditions

[dldance]

Each year my wife finds ways to work my collection of trains into her holiday decorations. There are wooden trains over the bookcases and ceramic trains on a table. My front yard has a lighted Santa train about 8 feet long and 2 feet high. And of course, the sidewalk crossing is protected by a crossbuck with flashing lights.

dd

[wcfan4ever]

Well for me, I like to head out to the former WC now CN mainline to catch a few trains in Neenah, WI. I have the highest respect for those who have to work on X-Mas and what a great way to show it on that day.

[jjlamkin]

I like to run my G-Scale "Live" steam locomotive, if weather permits. The steam really makes a statement when the temperatures are cold! The kids watch for about 1 minute and then go on to something else... short attention span.

[Anonymous]

i usually would be coming home from school in Oregon on the Coast Starlight to CA, but now that I moved back to CA, I am doing the reverse, taking the Starlight on the 24th, to Eugene. I am going to go see my girfriends family. I must say riding the Starlight around Christmas time is pretty cool!
Brad

[arbfbe]

For the past 26 years or so the railroad usually calls sometime on the holiday or the day before and I go to work. If we are turning on our rest I may get around to opening presents after New Year's day when things quiet down. I could take a week of vacation but usually let the younger guys with families have it instead.

[Anonymous]

Work, work, work...

Come January you could be on the beach...

LC

[rrnut282]

I talked my wife into placing the Christmas tree in the Dining Room which faces an open field and the tracks instead of the Living Room so that northbound crews going by can see it as they go by. It's meant to give them a little cheer as they go by since they're used to seeing only the backside of houses and factories.

[espeefoamer]

After opening presents with the family in the morning, I usually take a short turn on the San Diagan on Christmas[8D].

[Anonymous]

Ed King might know about this unique North Georgia Tradition that came from the Gainsville Midline Railroad. The old decapods had an engineer that could get the whistle on that old locomotive to sound out the first few notes of Jingle Bells for all the children on the downhill run into Athens. Now that's a railroad tradition, Southern Style. The fact of the matter is that I don't think that the engineer ever thought us kids would remember even as middle aged men remembering Oconee Heights.

[csxengineer98]

i collect the hallmark Lionel ornimants...i have them all..but the very first one.... anyone tell me where i can get the first one still in the box..and never opened? other then EBay...
csx engineer

[Richard A]

csx engineer,

Try this web site <http://www.hookedonhallmark.com/search.asp?keyword=Lionel>

Last time I checked, they had what you are looking for. Pricey, but the real Mc
coy. I too collect the Hallmark Lionel ornaments, but selectively, since I got a late start.

Good luck and Merry Christmas!

[jwinter]

A few RXR friends and I get together between the holidays and take a day trip somewhere to watch some trains. Every year we try to find a different place. Some of these places may not much action, but it's still fun exploring. Our range is anywhere from Northest Wisconsin to Northern Illinois in any kind of weather.

[dldance]

Please update us on your holiday railfanning[8D]

dd

[DPD1]

I usually head down to the L.A. harbor to check out the seasonal rush... Somehow I missed it this year though.

Dave
-DPD Productions - Home of the TrainTenna RR Monitoring Antenna-
http://eje.railfan.net/dpdp/

[halifaxcn]

The Lionel stayed away from the tree this year on the account of our 3 year old son. Outside I have the lighted train set that makes the smoke rings from the lights that my son wanted from Home Depot.

I also have the large Blow Mold plastic Santa Train engine and tender on the lawn. We have several train/RR themed ornaments on the "family tree", and some wooden train decorations about. My sons room has a cloth steam train with animals and Santa above his bed.

Miss having the Lionel under the tree. No train sets for my son yet, that WILL happen in Feb on his birthday (K-Line Construction set).

Wish all members and their family a very happy, safe 2005.

[jwinter]

We made our yearly trip on 12/29, but this year we stayed closer to home. Wisconsin Southern (WSOR) is expanding it's territory in my area, so we thought it was a good time to refresh ourselves with WSOR operations and their territory. We traveled from Horicon to Oshkosh. While we didn't see a lot of trains, we did see that the railroad has made a number of improvements, adding yards, imporving track, etc. This railroad is diffiently on the move. Hope they don't get bought out by a mega-railroad. I look forward to seeing their loco's in my area.

After we left WSOR territory, we caught some CN traffic at Neenah to round off our day.

[Anonymous]

I've got lots of Christmas train ornaments that get put up all over the house, plus lots of train ornaments on the tree. Underneath the tree I always have some vitnage trains running. This year it was a circa 1920 Lionel standard gauge set, a postwar Lionel UP Alco FA with a freight and a prewar Marx CP Jubilee steamer with a freight. I also always set up a layout at one end of the livingroom for my ceramic Christmas villiage buildings. The trains used in this one are New Bright battery operated trains that are somewhere between HO and S gauge. It had always been on an old door, but this year, since I've gotten more track for them, it was a 4x8 and I had two trains going at once.

[dldance]

Made a 6 day - 3000 mile drive from Austin Tx to SLC Ut and return. Saw over 40 trains. Highlights were the Potash Local near Moab Ut, an empty tra***rain descending Soldier Summit, and what I thought was a pair of west bound light engines west of Clovis NM that turned out to be a solid train of empty TTX cars.

dd