# Show us your Christmas tree and train layout



## kb2rocket (Nov 13, 2016)

I know this post is a bit early but show us your tree n train when you it set up I'm just starting today


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## deedub35 (Jan 29, 2014)




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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

*Time for Decor*


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## NAJ (Feb 19, 2016)

This pic was last year at my Son's house when it was completed and the first time my trains had been set up and run in 40 years.
I made some changes after it came down last year and still need to do some track repair but cannot do anything until my Son gets the platform out of storage.
When that happens and it is setup with the tree I will share photo's of this year.


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## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

My Christmas layout doesn't quite fit under the tree anymore 

Still a few more tweaks to make, but it's had it's first public viewing for 2016


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## kb2rocket (Nov 13, 2016)

Wow just wow amazing


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## NAJ (Feb 19, 2016)

santafe158 said:


> My Christmas layout doesn't quite fit under the tree anymore
> 
> Still a few more tweaks to make, but it's had it's first public viewing for 2016


Standing...
:appl::appl::appl::appl::appl::appl::appl:


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## santafealltheway (Nov 27, 2012)

Haven't got the tree up yet.
and since the train under the tree seems to get kicked over EVERYDAY, I decided to put it up on the bar with an auto reverse.

Lego power! haha


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## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

NAJ said:


> Standing...
> :appl::appl::appl::appl::appl::appl::appl:


Thank you!


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## Lemonhawk (Sep 24, 2013)

You can add a few more :appl: from me Jake. Was there roller skating in the background?


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## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

Lemonhawk said:


> You can add a few more :appl: from me Jake. Was there roller skating in the background?


It's actually located in a restored 1928 movie theater in Detroit. Unfortunately I didn't really pan around or you would have seen the auditorium. The organ is one of the few left in the theater it was designed for and was installed to accompany silent movies. Because of the rarity of having one in the building it was acoustically designed for, the organ is the main reason the theater survives today and it is owned and operated by the Motor City Theatre Organ Society. All proceeds made from our classic movie series and rentals goes into keeping it up and continuing restoration. It's also an all volunteer staff since it is a non-profit theater.


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## NAJ (Feb 19, 2016)

Is the organ player also DCC controlled?


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## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

NAJ said:


> Is the organ player also DCC controlled?


Not quite


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## VegasN (Mar 14, 2016)

All wonderful Christmas setups. I haven't started mine yet. Will start decorating next month, or at least after Thanksgiving. I am waiting on some running locomotives in HO scale, and I will be using one of those for the Christmas Tree layout. My first one....I'm looking forward to it!!


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## kb2rocket (Nov 13, 2016)

Today I wanted to add my newbright G scale Christmas train under the tree this set is from 2000 and has been handle care and kept in a a/c environment but as I tried to put together the track it was breaking in my hands I guess I will hunt up some new track on line


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## kb2rocket (Nov 13, 2016)




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## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

My grandpa puts that same G scale set under his tree every year. I grew up playing with it and still get caught laying on the floor watching it go around on Christmas


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## kb2rocket (Nov 13, 2016)

It's not very high quality but it is enchanting


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## Lemonhawk (Sep 24, 2013)

Big theater organs are impressive. Glad there are people around that foot the fill to keep them repaired and working!


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## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

kb2rocket said:


> It's not very high quality but it is enchanting


No, my grandpa and I always end up having to work on his. One of the weak points is the tethers between the cars. A few of his are messed up and have broken connections.


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## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

Lemonhawk said:


> Big theater organs are impressive. Glad there are people around that foot the fill to keep them repaired and working!


While ours isn't necessarily big, it still takes a lot of knowledge and work to keep things functioning. There are no computers or fancy circuit boards involved. Everything is basically controlled by relays and air. Pretty amazing stuff when you consider how old it is. 

After being around that organ and working on steam locomotives for a living, you begin to appreciate how amazing the guys that designed that stuff were back then. Math and other calculations for the design were done by hand, as were drawings. We'd have very little in the way of technology today without the stuff our ancestors came up with back then.


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## VegasN (Mar 14, 2016)

santafe158 said:


> After being around that organ and working on steam locomotives for a living, you begin to appreciate how amazing the guys that designed that stuff were back then. Math and other calculations for the design were done by hand, as were drawings. *We'd have very little in the way of technology today without the stuff our ancestors came up with back then*.


I could not agree more. Craftsmanship is a dying breed. Like my furniture refurbishing, with cheap crap like Ikea, it's hard to get someone to refurbish older stuff.


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

Hopefully the video link works...










http://vid1190.photobucket.com/albums/z454/2shaygetz/IMG_1068.mp4


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## NAJ (Feb 19, 2016)

shaygetz said:


> Hopefully the video link works...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Very Nice!!! :smilie_daumenpos:


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## kb2rocket (Nov 13, 2016)

Wow alot going on there nice


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## VegasN (Mar 14, 2016)

That is awesome shay! I am so hoping to do a Christmas layout this year.


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## Rip Track (Dec 15, 2012)

I love the Marklin thundering on the M track!


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

Rip Track said:


> I love the Marklin thundering on the M track!


A fortunate rescue from the dumpster...it was on its way there when offered to me.:thumbsup:

I just love the scent of ozone it cranks out, my children called it the "sparkle train" when they were young for all the arcing it does at each turnout...


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## Rip Track (Dec 15, 2012)

Yes, and the occasional lightning and smoke at a derailment.


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## VegasN (Mar 14, 2016)

Wow......sounds exciting.....


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## KcW (Oct 31, 2016)

This is what I have so far. I have a couple of Roundhouse locos, if I ever get them together. I replaced the magnets in the 2-6-0 Mantua, BOY HOWDY! did that ever make a difference. It wet from hardly moving to pulling 16 cars. It started slipping after awhile so I had to pull some out. I want to put a third track on the inside yet.


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## VegasN (Mar 14, 2016)

Sweet! Ahhh, you guys are gonna make me busy this weekend......


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## santafealltheway (Nov 27, 2012)

VegasN said:


> Sweet! Ahhh, you guys are gonna make me busy this weekend......


Whatcha gon' do?


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## mopac (Feb 24, 2011)

This pic is from 2 years ago. I don't have it set up yet this year.
Bachmann "big hauler" G scale. Runs good and chugs. I repainted the boiler.


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## VegasN (Mar 14, 2016)

Cool! Saw a few of those for sale in my area, seriously considered getting one, but just can't spare the cash at this time. So I am going to just use what I have for my first tree layout.


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## VegasN (Mar 14, 2016)

santafealltheway said:


> Whatcha gon' do?


You guys are going to make me move a bunch of (series of stars) around in my garage to access my attic, to drag all my Christmas stuff down, to set up the tree and a train.....hwell:


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## VegasN (Mar 14, 2016)

So, I did....


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## NAJ (Feb 19, 2016)

Very Nice! :appl: :thumbsup:


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## Tucgary (Sep 21, 2015)

Just a small layout now a days. Not much on crawling around under there anymore. But in the spirit of the Holidays at least a little something. Tucgary


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## NAJ (Feb 19, 2016)

Looks like Small Town America, liking all of these Christmas layouts.

Hopefully I will have pics of ours this weekend, will not be much in the way of houses, buildings, structures, we have not gotten that far yet and we have to be able to climb to the back of the platform to put the trains back on the track since the question I get asked by my 7 year old Grandson's is...
"How fast can I make it go?".


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## VegasN (Mar 14, 2016)

NAJ said:


> Very Nice! :appl: :thumbsup:


Thank you sir. This layout is actually a milestone layout for me. It is not only my FIRST Christmas layout, it is also my FIRST HO layout.


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## VegasN (Mar 14, 2016)

Tucgary said:


> Just a small layout now a days. Not much on crawling around under there anymore. But in the spirit of the Holidays at least a little something. Tucgary
> 
> View attachment 257433


Looks nice! I like the crossing. Gives the train a longer run. Damn. I have a 90 crossing.....why didn't I think of that....hwell: I'll do it next year. If I can.
I know what you mean about the crawling around under there. I just turned 50, and man.....it was a bit tougher this year. But your spirit showed thru just fine!


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## VegasN (Mar 14, 2016)

NAJ said:


> Looks like Small Town America, liking all of these Christmas layouts.
> 
> Hopefully I will have pics of ours this weekend, will not be much in the way of houses, buildings, structures, we have not gotten that far yet and we have to be able to climb to the back of the platform to put the trains back on the track since the question I get asked by my 7 year old Grandson's is...
> "How fast can I make it go?".


Can't wait to see it. 
The village buildings, my wife has been collecting for the 19 years we been together, this is only SOME of them. Usually we set up a big village on the bar. But this year, I HAVE TRAINS!! So I took the ones that fit semi well with the HO scale locomotive, and did this.

haha, my teenage son asked me that once, I asked him, "How fast can you run?":laugh: But that's teenage kids, grandkids are different.


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## ErnestHouse (Sep 6, 2015)

My trains are up all year and my layout's mountain has a built-in tree stand. Its the tree that comes at Christmas time. This year it has my restored 1666 Steamer and 2332 GG1.


This is it in action last year.


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## NAJ (Feb 19, 2016)

Very, Very, Nice!

Looking forward to seeing this years.


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## VegasN (Mar 14, 2016)

Cool! I would be interested in seeing the differences between last year and this year. Seeing as how its a static display that he adds a tree to (very clever idea by the way), I would presume the layout itself is unchanged. Just scenery and such.


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## kb2rocket (Nov 13, 2016)

Bravo well done nice video


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## RonthePirate (Sep 9, 2015)

Gary, you made 027 look really sweet. And the only guy/gal with a crossover in his layout.

As i posted somewhere else, I gave my 20 year Christmas tree veteran Red Comet by Bachmann to my grandkids this year. So I have no Christmas layout this year. (sniffle, sniffle)

Postscript to that is, I get pictures soon of them opening that package, it arrived yesterday to them in Austin, TX.


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## VegasN (Mar 14, 2016)

Sweet. I hope they love it and keep it running for many years to come.


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## 9daytonas (Dec 15, 2015)

I posted this in wrong location initially. Our temp Holiday Layout for 2016. Kids love it. Sorry about quality, vid uploaded in low def.


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## VegasN (Mar 14, 2016)

Nice job


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## time warp (Apr 28, 2016)

VegasN said:


> Thank you sir. This layout is actually a milestone layout for me. It is not only my FIRST Christmas layout, it is also my FIRST HO layout.


 Looks good, VegasN. Nice to see the HO running. Interesting how it goes from pieces and parts to magic!


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## Smokinjoe52 (Nov 8, 2013)

Here is my 2016 version. You can see a tiny part of the tree on the left.


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## ErnestHouse (Sep 6, 2015)

There's something to be said about manual switches... NO WIRES ON THE CARPETING!


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## Smokinjoe52 (Nov 8, 2013)

They are not manual switches. The MTH DCS system is hidden behind the tree. All switch, power and acc. wires sink nicely into the carpet under the track. There are 6 wired switches in the layout, 2 power connections, one at each end of the loops, and 3 acc. connections. All the cables have connectors on each end, so they can be connected/disconnected easily, and the wire bundles rolled up for next year.

-Joe


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## 4G-Man (Jan 2, 2014)

Very nice :appl:


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## Smokinjoe52 (Nov 8, 2013)

*The part you can't see*

unless you look closely behind the tree. DCS components and power supply stacked on plywood bases and connected together. Can then be moved as an entire unit.


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## RonthePirate (Sep 9, 2015)

VegasN said:


> Sweet. I hope they love it and keep it running for many years to come.


Thanks, Vegas. I think they will. Going one step further, I hope they either build on that set or start a new model railroad of their own.

They were here a year ago from Texas. Of my grandkids, Jacob, the older one is like I was. Inquisitive, but not destructive, loves to build and learn.
My kid told me Max, my other grandkid is not allowed to touch the trains.
Scary..................


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## ErnestHouse (Sep 6, 2015)

VegasN said:


> Cool! I would be interested in seeing the differences between last year and this year. Seeing as how its a static display that he adds a tree to (very clever idea by the way), I would presume the layout itself is unchanged. Just scenery and such.


Well currently, I have the downsized variety but back in the day ... this one *DID* get taken down .... about MARCH!


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## Tom_C (Jan 8, 2016)

Here's a different video than I posted in another thread last week.


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## Chiefmcfuz (Dec 30, 2008)

Simple loop at moms 










Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk


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## VegasN (Mar 14, 2016)

Tom_C said:


> Here's a different video than I posted in another thread last week.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSqLJdWKE2A&feature=youtu.be


Looks very nice.


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## VegasN (Mar 14, 2016)

ErnestHouse said:


> Well currently, I have the downsized variety but back in the day ... this one *DID* get taken down .... about MARCH!
> View attachment 260017


hahaha......march.


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## VegasN (Mar 14, 2016)

Chiefmcfuz said:


> Simple loop at moms
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Simple loop, but looks good.


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## NAJ (Feb 19, 2016)

The only thing added from last year was a Church.
Still experienced power issues and derailment issues due to track and rolling stock.
When I suggested that we make a smaller simpler layout so I did not have as much to try to maintain in a short time period of time I was told "No, were not doing that, you will become obsessed, it is fine just the way it is."
So I said...
"So what your telling me is that the only platform I should worry about running perfectly is the one at my house?".
The answer was "Yes"
I really can't argue, I beg them to get it out of storage in December and it stays up for two weeks and then it is gone again.
So, guess we will just look for some more stuff to make it look Christmassy and leave it at that.


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## NAJ (Feb 19, 2016)

Here is a video to go with the picture above.
Enjoy!!!


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## time warp (Apr 28, 2016)

Fun,Fun! Thanks NAJ!


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