All Aboard for Christmas!

[stebbycentral]

 

Got the Christmas tree trains up and running.  Usually I set everything up piece by piece, but this year I thought I'd try my hand at creating my own homemade "All Aboard" panels.  For those of you not familiar with the concept it was an unsuccesfull American Flyer product from the 1960s, a variety of pre wired and sceniced panels that joined together to create an RTR layout complete with structures.   In my application the locomotive and cars are Bachmann On30 models, the track is Bachmann HO EZTrack.    The following sequence of pictures roughly describes the assembly process.

My base is 2ft X 2ft OSB on a raised plastic foundation.  It can be purchased at most Big Box stores, and is used for installing basement flooring over concrete.

I also found some textured white wallpaper to simulate snow. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Laying out the EZ-Ttrack prior to attaching to the board segments. The track segments are soldered together at the rails for electrical continuity.

I used short sections of EZTrack to bridge the gap between panels. These track segments are not soldered to the rest. 

 

The simulated brick roadway is sold for use with Christmas scenes.  It was glued to the wallpaper surface, with staples to hold it in place while the glue set.

 

The final assembly, with tree stand, and extension cords for lighting the tree and the structures.

 

For the most part the structures hide the cords, but on the one end I used a fake snow blanket to hide ones that couldn't be so easily disguised.

 

 

 

 

 

[LL675]

that turned out great!

[Penny Trains]

I like it!  Merry Christmas! 

[fifedog]

Looks good.  Hawthorne Village?  Cool idea with the wall paper.

[Sturgeon-Phish]

The layout looks GREAT!  Neat takeoff from the All Aboard Panels.  Beautiful work as always.

Jim