ModelRailroader.com Reader Poll - December 4, 2003

[Anonymous]

Yes!!! I got my first train under our family tree the year after we lost my mothers Marx set from her childhood in a fire. I was seven at the time and for the next 12 years it was my honor to put that Tyco HO set under the family tree. It has been a long time since I moved from my parents home but this year my youngest daughter encouraged me to get back into model railroading. We have had a great time building our new N gauge layout. This past month we went to the train show in Indianapolis and bought everything we needed to set a beautiful village and train under our family tree. I hope it will be there for many years. We also are surprising my mom, we found a Marx set identical to the one we lost so many years ago. When she gets up Christmas morning she will find a wonderful surprise from Santa in her livingroom!

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Bergie

Will you have a model train running under your Christmas tree this year? Please vote then share your comments below.

Polls on Trains.com are not scientific and reflect only the opinions of the users who have chosen to participate. The results cannot be assumed to represent the opinions of Internet users in general, the readers of our magazines, nor the public as a whole. Bottom line, our polls are meant for fun and to stimulate conversation amongst our forum users.

[Anonymous]

My tree was put up a week ago. Underneath I've got running a Lionel standard gauge train pulled by a No. 38 electric, a Marx 6-inch tinplate train with KCS Fairbanks-Morse A-B units and a Lionel train with a No. 681 Pennsy Turbine. The two O gauge tracks actually go a ways beyond the tree, not just around the perimeter, so the presents go there beside the tree. I don't just have trains under the tree, though. I also set up a ceramic Christmas villiage layout on a door that I put on a table. I've got New Bright battery powered Dickensville and Rio Grande sets running on it. They're bigger than HO and smaller than S gauge, but they fit in perfectly with the buildings. Underneath that I've got two battery powered Christmas trains on the floor.

[CP5415]

With a very curious kitty & an adventurous 2 year old, a train under the tree would be doomed 10 seconds after it was set up, so I think I'm going to pass this year.

Gordon

[armchair]

Oh yes, the christmas tree. What a great excuse to buy a new On30 train set! It just would'nt be right without a train runnin' around it . Besides that the new fiber optic buildings are so neat ! The village is growing ! The grandchildren love the trains and I think grandma is getting into it too, as She set the village up this year. Have a Happy Holiday & A Hobby New Year!

[Anonymous]

The area we live in has deep railroad roots, so my son and I model HO scale CSX, and under the tree we'll have a Bachmann G scale Tweetsie (ET & WNC) train running. Model railroading is more fun when you can model lines appropriate for your area!

Jim and Matthew

[Anonymous]

It would be great to have a train under the tree as this was they way I received my first set when I was very small. A Tyco, Century 430 (CB&Q) with a few cars and caboose....some still running on my "plywood pacific" to this day! Anyhow, since we have been blessed with 4 children (girls 3 and 2...and twin boys just turned one and of course our little white dog, Buddy.....don't think it will occur this year! I just retired from 20 years in the military and as I am between jobs right now still enjoy working on my layout in our basement....as I write this a 20 car manifest rolls along flawlessly behind two UP SD-40-2s in the train room .....not under the tree, but the kids will make the journey downstairs to see the trains before ol' St Nick arrives!

God Bless you all and Merry Christmas!

[Anonymous]

Oh You MUST have a train under the tree , I will be running my HO Lifelike P2000 locomotive its modeled in Pennsylvania R.R. (G.P.7 phase 2) and a bunch of my Kadee box cars and Branchline trains "Blueprint series " boxcars and some Bowser P.R.R. (x31) turtle roof boxcars (which I adore) and a bowser n5c caboose with light kit installed and all the lost wax castings for the PRR style antenna system - I have a 7 year old son and he loves to run the train and is very good around it and parks it behind the tree when not in use , but the best part is watching him run the train late in the evening and seeing him slowly fall asleep that is contentment !
Cheers From western Pennsylvania

[Anonymous]

For the past 21 years LGB has been under the tree and this year is no exception. My 5 year old son will have his construction set running again this year. The conglomeration of most everything else will be running in the basement.

[alpreston]

What tree? The missus and I haven't put up a tree for years, since we spend most of our Yuletides at siblings' places, - and they tend to have presents under the tree, not trains. Putting a train under a tree just isn't part of my family's tradition.

[Anonymous]

I will have two G scale trains up with villages around two trees; an On30 Wonderland Express and On30 trolly with a Victorian village; an ETS metal O train running with my Fort Apache, Robin Hood, and Cape Canaveral setups to create my "Disneyland" (which I could never go to when I was a kid); two N trains on a dual-level layout; and a Z, N, HO, S, and O scale trains with buildings running on a board to show the difference in scale. I have been doing this now for five Christmas seasons since getting back into the hobby.

[Anonymous]

We leave for Christmas with our daughter and family in southern Pa. and then on to Florida for 4 mounths. We don't have our own tree, so no train around it. We used to have a train running around it though. MERRY CHRISTMAS

[Anonymous]

Yup - just like every year, with hoppers and gons
that get loaded with beanie babies and other assorted
characters like Chucky from Rugrats and plastic
animals from my duaghters zoo set

[Big_Boy_4005]

100% Grinch here..... no tree, just trains

[riograndenut]

verry, verry much is the answer

The Lionel 1627S set which I got for Christmas in 1963 will be set up once again, along with four other operating HO gauge layouts in the other rooms.

Merry Christmas

[Anonymous]

Absolutely! In fact, the set wil be the 1950's Lionel trains that my father bought for the family as our first ever.

[crzink]

Yeah, but not under the tree. Too easy for toddlers and newborns to get tangled up with. It'll be up on a table. Not very "scale" as trains are HO, and buildings etc are various dollar store porcelain structures, but it is covered with (plastic) snow and looks "cute".

[1CGWFAN]

Our cat would make it impossible to operate a train under the tree.

[wacko63]

I am a died in the wool HO modeler, but, I inherited a LGB set from my non-model railroading younger brother. It has been running under my tree for the past 11 years and will continue to do so since it can take the abuse from the kids that I would never subject my HO models to. Besides, it's easy to set up and pretty much maintenance free.

Happy Holidays to one and all!!

[SteveRo]

No, because I have a new grand daughter this year and she just starting to crawl. I'm afraid she might want to get into the tree and train. But this reminds me of how I first got into model railroading some 23 years ago. My first-born (son) was born in November just before Christmas and I was all excited about Santa Claus coming to our house for the first time. Just prior to the holiday I was at K-Mart and saw a HO train set. Being all full of the Christmas spirit I thought it would be a great idea to have a train running around the base of the tree. I bought the set, took it home, and set it up. I spent more time holding my newborn son in my lap and running that train around and around that tree. Go***he memories I have of that very special Christmas. Well, needless to say, I was bitten hard by the model railroading bug and that first train set evolved into a very rewarding hobby that I enjoy to this very day.

Merry Christmas to all!

[Anonymous]

It's not beneath, how about across the room around and beneath the free standing wood stove? (Which hopefully will not be needed untill after Christmas.) [:D]

[Anonymous]

of course i will have a train under the tree! Before we got married my catholic wife asked jewish me if we could have a tree. i said yes as long as can have a train under the tree. thirteen years later, the train and tree are together. its not a question. happy holidays.

[Anonymous]

I've got one of those Harry Potter oval layouts; I wait for the cat to get near and/or crossing over the tracks and then WHAM, I punch the throttle. "...Houston, we have lift-off.."

[terrytrain]

Yes I will for the second year in a row. I bought a G Scale Bachmann starter set last year, the Clementine Mining model. I got an extra Ore Car and my wife filled both Ore Cars with tiny wrapped presents and tiny stuffed animals. I placed a Santa Claus railroad fireman on the steam locomotive. The whole family enjoyed the sight of this Christmas train running around the tree. My two cats watched, but did not touch. This year we have a new, younger cat and have no idea if the train will get safely by him. G Scale equipment is pretty sturdy, so I'm not too concerned.
Merry Christmas to everyone!!!!!!!

[Anonymous]

I have a 5 x 6 layout in the living room, although it won't be under the tree, it will be near it. Now if I could get rid of the tree I would have more room for trains. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

[AggroJones]

I don't even celebrate X-mas, so that makes it a no.

[Anonymous]

I've actually bought the supports for an elevated simple layout for my HOn30 trains that will circle the tree and take advantage of a bow window ledge about 14 inches above the floor. After days of thinking about the details I had some excellent advice from a fellow at Home Depot. I'll be using some spare 1/4 inch luan (sp?) to form the platform and supporting it frequently with some 1 inch dowels. I hope the grandchildren will be happy to play with this layout off the floor.

[Anonymous]

I've got a G scale train running under the tree which is on an elevated platform, and O scale trains running on the floor that use the elevated platform as a tunnerl. So I guess I have trains under trains under the tree! Now if I only had that basement.......

[Anonymous]

O, S and HO in concentric cirles and a layout in the basement, we're ready for Mr. Claus to bring some new Trains.

[Bobwright]

Half of the old ping pong table gives nice space for the tree bolted on or near the center with three HO train loops. I run the center loop in the opposite direction of the inner and outer loops.