Christmas layouts

[Terry Toenges]

I'm starting out on my Christmas display now.
Since I have all these health issues now, I'm giving myself more time. I was doing Bachmann On30 and HO trains but the past few years I've kept it pretty simple with just an O27 loop. I'm going to get more elaborate this year with a Bachmann HO train and a couple of Bachmann trolleys and an O27 loop around it all.
I was able to get my displays online now. I've rounded up all the pics I could find. There are a few years missing and I can't remember if I had a train around the tree those years. My wife said there's a couple of years that I didn't.
http://www.sarget.com/xmasdex.html

[Terry Toenges]

I was going to have the On30 trolley going through two reverse loops but I changed my mind and decided on just a loop to make the wiring easier. The HO trolley will be the point to point in the middle. In the back upper I'll have a loco and cars going around a loop.

[Terry Toenges]

It's coming along slowly but surely.

Got the Lionel track laid on the floor.

Got the snow down and the lights in. The lower level is done.

Getting it ready for the Bachmann tracks.

The two Bachmann loops are down.

[Terry Toenges]

Getting closer.

[Terry Toenges]

Mission Control - I used my wife's document shredder as a base. I cut apart some white cardboard boxes and taped them together and made a big box to slide over the shredder.
I taped the two power centers to the box with white duct tape. (One power center controls the trains and the other power center controls the lights and animated displays.) I taped a piece of white cardboard box over the top of the top power center.
I put two strips of velcro across the top of the power center. Then, I put strips of velcro on the bottoms of the train power packs.
The white tape on top of the Lionel one is so I know where to stop the throttle. I'm going to put a piece of wooden dowel under the tape as a positive stop and do the same with the other black power pack. That will prevent derailments by keeping it from going too fast. (My great granddaughter likes to play with the speed controls.)

[Terry Toenges]

I finally got it done.

[jonathan]

That is really nice, sir!

I enjoyed watching your project grow. Personally, I would be a serious procrastinator when it came time to dismantle the Christmas scene.

Regards,

Jonathan

[Len]

Lookin' good!

Len

[jbrock27]

Very festive!  Captures the spirit for sure

[Terry Toenges]

My daughter got video with her cell phone.
https://www.facebook.com/rhonda.douglas.161/videos/1355755484456966/

[Terry Toenges]

Thanks guys. It was a lot of work and it might be the last one I do. My back only let's me do a little at a time.
When I was little my parents used to take us downtown to look at all the animated windows at the department stores. Those stores aren't there anymore.
Doing it this way, I can relive those days on a smaller scale and share a little of the good old days with my grand kids and great grand kids.
Jonathan - I really admire what you are doing with your layout. That's such a massive undertaking and I wouldn't even attempt to try something like that.
I'm more about the whimsical side of the trains. Even my wife said we ought to let it stay up for a while. Usually she wants down right after New Year.

[jbrock27]

My daughter got video with her cell phone.
https://www.facebook.com/rhonda.douglas.161/videos/1355755484456966/

Don't know it is not accessible to me bc I am not a FB subscriber, but can't view this

[Martha]

As a person obsessed with a Christmas Village and a train running through it, this is fascinating !!! I have built my own (its posted someplace on this forum)  and every year I take it down, box it up and count the days til the next year. This year however I moved back home to NY to be near my family. And due to circumstances I won't be putting it up  so your wonderful layout has helped fill that void of not putting mine up. Thank you! Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas.

[Terry Toenges]

I've tried to figure out how to save the video from Facebook to my computer so I can use it but I haven't been able to do that. I'm going to take my own video and upload it.

[Terry Toenges]

I have videos up. The two "day" ones are with the house lights on so it's brighter and things are easier to see. The "night" one is with only the layout lights on and is darker. Once you click the link, it takes a few seconds to load.
If anyone is wondering, I used all 15" radius curves in order for this to fit in the space I had.
The Bachmann On30 2-6-0 with the gondola and the passenger car never had a hiccup traversing these curves and they run for hours at a time.
The HO 0-4-0 on top is one of the cheap Lifelike old time tea kettle locos that I had modified some years ago with two Bachmann old time gondolas and Bobber caboose.
The trolley is a Bachmann Brill trolley.
The lower one is cheap plastic Lionel loco with a couple of aftermarket cars I bought and a lighted caboose I got off Ebay. I was going to use my 4-4-0 General but I didn't want to take the chance of that coming off the track underneath the layout.
The bridge the trolley is on is one I had gotten in a big box of train "junk" that I bought off EBay years ago for a real cheap price. It sat in a box in the garage and I have never used it before and had no intention of ever using it, until I got the brainstorm to use it for this. I had bought the box of stuff just for the cars and locos that were in it.
http://www.sarget.com/files/cmas16-day1.mpg

http://www.sarget.com/files/cmas16-day2.mpg

http://www.sarget.com/files/cmas16-night.mpg