# Christmas is coming!



## Vincent (Jan 28, 2018)

Folks, I haven't been this excited about Christmas since I was a kid! 

On November 1, my railroad empire will be carefully cleaned and stored. I will finally have sheets on my 6' by 8' table.

Today I bought a very nice-looking Christmas train station and a small house. I have a large remote-controlled Christmas train, as well as a working battery-powered train I bought at a yard sale for $6 (one track is broken, however).

I was surprised to learn that I can buy low-cost ceramic Christmas village houses for about double what it costs to print one from the internet and glue it together. This will change my plans drastically.

The only model train shop in the state told e today that they have no N scale sets--I had wanted to buy my first N scale set for the Christmas display.

I have been buying junk Christmas items at the open-air markets, and it looks like my set-up will be pretty good.


----------



## Spence (Oct 15, 2015)

I'm glad your excited about Christmas and hope all goes well with your plans.


----------



## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

*Online shopping?*



Vincent said:


> Folks, I haven't been this excited about Christmas since I was a kid!
> 
> On November 1, my railroad empire will be carefully cleaned and stored. I will finally have sheets on my 6' by 8' table.
> 
> ...


 Vincent;

Can't you order N-scale, or whatever else you want online? 
www.modeltrainstuff.com seems to be quite a good source. One concern might be international shipping costs. When I mailed (by U.S. postal service) a small, lightweight, package containing 5 N-scale cars to Canada; it cost triple what domestic mail would have. I don't know if the same would apply when ordering from Mexico, but I suggest you ask model train stuff about shipping costs to Mexico before buying.

Traction Fan:smilie_daumenpos:


----------



## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

Yes it will be here soon, Vincent. I can't wait to see what you do for your Christmas layout. 

Have you thought about doing "Christmas Under Water," since you are doing that underwater one, too.?


----------



## DennyM (Jan 3, 2016)

I can't wait either. I'm even toying with the idea of a small Christmas depending if Train World still has the Lionchief HO Polar Express set at York. I should have grabbed one when I was there last time.


----------



## Vincent (Jan 28, 2018)

Lee Willis said:


> Yes it will be here soon, Vincent. I can't wait to see what you do for your Christmas layout.
> 
> Have you thought about doing "Christmas Under Water," since you are doing that underwater one, too.?


My Christmas lay-out will be from November 1 to December 31. On January 1, it will all come down. My next lay-out will feature an underwater train display. I THINK that I will have a Disneyland display on the other end, and a pirate set-up in the middle, but I'm not sure.


----------



## Vincent (Jan 28, 2018)

I got these at Walmart yesterday. They have holes in the bottom, but the LED lights they sold from the same display are too big for them.

I could use aquarium gravel to lift them, but the LED switches are on the bottom and that will make it difficult to turn on and off. 

I'm seriously considering buying a small string of twinkling multi-colored lights (the best kind), putting white bulbs in some of them, and pushing the white bulbs inside the buildings.


----------



## Vincent (Jan 28, 2018)

30 cents at an open air market. It seems to be the plastic lid to something. The figures are too solidly-attached for me to break them off.


----------



## Lemonhawk (Sep 24, 2013)

You find the weirdest stuff Vincent! I guess if I want to find that stuff here I need to go to more garage sales! Keep it up!


----------



## Vincent (Jan 28, 2018)

Lemonhawk said:


> You find the weirdest stuff Vincent! I guess if I want to find that stuff here I need to go to more garage sales! Keep it up!


Every junk shop. Every yard sale. That's how it's done.


----------



## Vincent (Jan 28, 2018)

Our unofficially adopted daughter (Her husband won't let us adopt her) bought me this schoolhouse to add to my Christmas lay-out.


----------



## DJTrains (Oct 8, 2008)

For years now I've been using the Christmas Village buildings and figures for my yearly Christmas layout.

My wife and our grandchildren (16 of them) all love what I do each year and that's more than I need to keep me going.


Each year I do my childhood 1958/59 Lionel 0 gauge trainset in our Christmas Village. Somehow my Christmas train table (4x12 feet with elevations this year) and vintage Christmas tree (1950's decorations/lights new this year) takes me back to 1958 when I was only 10 years old. To me, toy trains are all about remembering the past when (in my opinion) America was better.

The week after Christmas it all comes down until next year.


----------



## Vincent (Jan 28, 2018)

Three packages of Mickey Mouse Christmas decorations! These will be appearing in my Christmas train set-up, beginning November 1!


----------

