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Christmas Layout Photos

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Christmas Layout Photos
Posted by SchemerBob on Friday, December 7, 2007 4:49 PM
Does anyone here have photographs of their Christmas set-up? I think it would be interesting to see all of the different layouts you guys come up with. I'll post photos of my layout soon.
Long live the BNSF .... AND its paint scheme. SchemerBob
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Posted by vbkostur on Friday, December 7, 2007 6:35 PM

my really complex layout video...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=fuxPyetITEU 

(notice the "mountain" tunnel made from the box the UPS guy brought!) 

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Posted by EIS2 on Saturday, December 8, 2007 8:21 AM
 vbkostur wrote:

my really complex layout video...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=fuxPyetITEU 

(notice the "mountain" tunnel made from the box the UPS guy brought!) 

I love the tunnel.  That is the way my brother and I made every tunnel on our bare bones track-on-plywood layout when we were kids.

Earl

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Posted by RockIsland52 on Saturday, December 8, 2007 9:13 AM
 vbkostur wrote:

my really complex layout video...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=fuxPyetITEU 

(notice the "mountain" tunnel made from the box the UPS guy brought!) 

I was reading some older threads you would get a kick out of, and you'd fit right in.  In one thread all the guys were taliking about how their cats would hide in the tunnels.  And the other raged on about the ridiculous prices people pay for train boxes on ebay.  That box from the UPS guy could have been worth $5,000 on ebay if you didn't cut the holes and make a tunnel out of it.

Jack  

IF IT WON'T COME LOOSE BY TAPPING ON IT, DON'T TRY TO FORCE IT. USE A BIGGER HAMMER.

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Posted by Brutus on Saturday, December 8, 2007 9:57 AM

I had an HO set as a kid and that tunnel also brought back some fond memories!  I was thinking of doing that on our Christmas layout, but wrapping the box so it looks like the tunnel goes through the presents...

RIP Chewy - best dog I ever had.

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Posted by pbjwilson on Saturday, December 8, 2007 11:30 AM

This is last years layout. Very simple. This year we will be doing something similiar. Just got our tree last night. Brrrr, very cold last night.

 

 

 

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Posted by Jumijo on Saturday, December 8, 2007 12:40 PM

 

Make sure your train set is off when you water the tree! Whistling [:-^]

Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale

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Posted by envfocus on Saturday, December 8, 2007 1:23 PM

Here's our Christmas layout for this year.  We had to cut back a little Sad [:(], but its still fun!

Take Care......RJ (TCA 07-61869)
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Posted by USNRol on Saturday, December 8, 2007 1:33 PM

Here's some shot's of mine...

FasTrack layout.  Very large...(I'm still recovering from several years without ANY trains!)  I know many people may frown on overbearing Christmas layouts, but I don't have a permanent layout and we have the room in the living room sooo...

img520/7608/dscf0031hw2.jpg

Tree is going up today in upper left corner of the above photo.

img520/289/dscf0030kt1.jpg   
I hope to post more photos over the next few weeks...

Roland   

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Posted by RockIsland52 on Saturday, December 8, 2007 1:48 PM

Hey USNRoL

What good is the living room space if it's empty?  Looks like you will have to scale down on the size of the tree!  Most living rooms are simply receptacles for furniture anyway.  The trick is seeing if you can get away with leaving it up until St. Patrick's Day.........2009.

Jack

IF IT WON'T COME LOOSE BY TAPPING ON IT, DON'T TRY TO FORCE IT. USE A BIGGER HAMMER.

EJN
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Posted by EJN on Saturday, December 8, 2007 2:57 PM

Ah the joy of Christmas ..... Trains.

Thats one heck of a Christmas Tree Train setup Roland. Whats your other half say to that size setup.  My wife would laugh, nod her head and get lots of mileage out of talking to everyone about it. 

 They all look great.

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Posted by vbkostur on Saturday, December 8, 2007 3:32 PM
 Brutus wrote:

I had an HO set as a kid and that tunnel also brought back some fond memories!  I was thinking of doing that on our Christmas layout, but wrapping the box so it looks like the tunnel goes through the presents...

 

a tunnel makes it nice when it bedtime for the kids. you just say, "it's time for the trains to go night, night", as they slowly back into the tunnel and go to bed. if my son can see the train, i have no chance of getting him into bed.

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Posted by USNRol on Saturday, December 8, 2007 4:30 PM
 RockIsland52 wrote:
What good is the living room space if it's empty?  Looks like you will have to scale down on the size of the tree!  Most living rooms are simply receptacles for furniture anyway.  The trick is seeing if you can get away with leaving it up until St. Patrick's Day.........2009.

Jack



Last years setup (Tubular freight; no snow or buildings) WAS up till late February! Big Smile [:D] I was lucky.  Trre space was figured into the layout; picture doesn't show well but there's a good 048 loop in the corner in which the tree will reside.

 EJN wrote:
 Thats one heck of a Christmas Tree Train setup Roland. Whats your other half say to that size setup. 

She begrudgingly allows it since our daughters 4 and 2 find it pretty entertaining.  She won't like keeping little fingers out of the snow and buildings while I'm at work days...Buying the Dept 56 and Lemax things and making it a more decorative vs. trains only display buys me some slack!

Roland

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Posted by prewardude on Saturday, December 8, 2007 7:45 PM

Great pics, guys! Here's my little Standard gauge layout from a couple years ago:







 - Clint 

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Posted by Brutus on Saturday, December 8, 2007 8:11 PM
Great pics guys!

RIP Chewy - best dog I ever had.

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Posted by fifedog on Sunday, December 9, 2007 7:47 AM

Since my trains no longer "fit" beneath my tree, I have to live vicariously thru you guys.  Thanks for sharing everyone.

Clint, it's simple, but I could lay on that carpet for hours watching that tinplate run circles around that pretty tree.

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Posted by dougdagrump on Sunday, December 9, 2007 10:51 AM

No snow or fluff for this year, little ones seem to like to pick at it and guess who spends time cleaning the fuzz off of and out of axles & running gear.Sad [:(]

Since these were taken the ceramic Christmas tree has been replace with four of the "Alpine Style" artificial trees, the other half likes them better but I haven't really made up my mind, yet.

Remember the Veterans. Past, present and future.

www.sd3r.org

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Posted by train lover12 on Sunday, December 9, 2007 11:02 AM
that is actually large compared 2 mineLaugh [(-D]
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Posted by rlplionel on Monday, December 10, 2007 9:22 AM

This year's oval under the tree layout.

Robert

http://www.robertstrains.com/ 

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Posted by dsmith on Monday, December 10, 2007 10:03 AM

I have expanded this years Christmas layout to include a second level, so now I can operate 3 Lionel Postwar Trains.  The layout is decorated with 50's and 60's toys.

  David from Dearborn  

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Posted by Wes Whitmore on Monday, December 10, 2007 10:15 AM
 vbkostur wrote:

my really complex layout video...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=fuxPyetITEU 

(notice the "mountain" tunnel made from the box the UPS guy brought!) 

Nice train!  I just got word that 2 of the 3 new OSU cars are not being released until at least January...Nothing like missing the shipping schedule twice...

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Posted by RockIsland52 on Monday, December 10, 2007 10:30 AM

Thank you all for the photos, and keep them coming!  It's great seeing the kids shots, and some of the really old and newer iron prominently displayed. 

I made the mistake of telling my wife they sell scented smoke drops and promptly got interrogated as to exactly what scents they had, since she doesn't like the standard odor so much.

"Gee, I don't recall all of them.  I'll run down to the train shop and check it out FOR YOU."  Ain't I a great husband? 

IF IT WON'T COME LOOSE BY TAPPING ON IT, DON'T TRY TO FORCE IT. USE A BIGGER HAMMER.

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Posted by Jumijo on Monday, December 10, 2007 10:37 AM

I've been meaning to shoot a photo or 2 of our "Christmas" train running on the Jumijo. Percy (in a Santa hat) pulling a hopper full of coal, A hopper full of snow and jingle bells, and a gondola full of Christmas trees. A red Lionel Lines caboose adds a nice touch at the end. But I've been too sick to fiddle with photography lately.

Jim 

Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale

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Posted by prewardude on Monday, December 10, 2007 6:41 PM
 fifedog wrote:

Clint, it's simple, but I could lay on that carpet for hours watching that tinplate run circles around that pretty tree.

Thanks for the nice comments, Bruce. Smile [:)]

 - Clint 

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Posted by PostwarMan07 on Monday, December 10, 2007 10:32 PM
John W
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Posted by RockIsland52 on Tuesday, December 11, 2007 7:14 AM
 fifedog wrote:

Since my trains no longer "fit" beneath my tree, I have to live vicariously thru you guys.  Thanks for sharing everyone.

Clint, it's simple, but I could lay on that carpet for hours watching that tinplate run circles around that pretty tree.

I hear ya fifedog.....about the space under the tree.  A number of years ago when I started pulling my stuff out of storage, I heard the same thing when my wife said there wouldn't be enough room under the tree.  Fact is, there wasn't enough room for all the presents, with or without the trains.  But a small set up is better than none, especially when you don't have a layout elsewhere for the time being.

She asked me to go out and buy a small plywould board as a base to set the tree on so it would be more stable vs. sitting on the rug.  I guess I overdid it because I came home with a 4 X 8 sheet, covered it with a white sheet, plopped the Christmas tree in the center, and set up the track,  Then I pulled out all of her "Christmas Village" pieces, many of which were lighted, and plugged them in.  

When she came home she was an unhappy camper at first nwhen she saw the trains.  But she liked the total concept of the covered board with the white sheet, the village, and the trains.  The trains stayed and the presents found a spot nearby.

And when family and friends came over Christmas Eve, and later New Years, she realized that I had created "the tradition."  No one spent much time away from the trains outside the living room, except to reload in the kitchen. 

The interest in trains bites nearly everyone.  I just can't seem to get the dogs to accept them.

Jack  

IF IT WON'T COME LOOSE BY TAPPING ON IT, DON'T TRY TO FORCE IT. USE A BIGGER HAMMER.

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Posted by kpolak on Tuesday, December 11, 2007 8:46 AM

Not quite complete, but some photos with the 2338 dressed up in some contemporary colors.

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Posted by GregM on Tuesday, December 11, 2007 8:49 PM

Pictures of our Christmas in the City Dept. 56 buildings and a loop of G guage from a couple years ago.

GregM
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Posted by clickmatch on Wednesday, December 12, 2007 2:12 PM

Ha ha this is awesome: "Screw presents we need trains under there!" 

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Posted by billbarman on Wednesday, December 12, 2007 7:45 PM
Great layouts all! USNRol, that is one heck of a layout!

"No childhood should be without a train!"

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