I've been asked again this year to provide a G-scale train to operate in a gingerbread village at the local hotel and conference center. I took this over last year after the passing of Bill Blankley who had done it the last couple of years. Among the huge amount of equipment we got from Bill's wife was the original Christmas train which was themed largely as an Auburn University train. It fit well and was a lot of fun. I made a few changes last year, removing all of the AU paraphanalia and painting the short flat cars that were used, then replacing the AU stuff. I also,with much help from my wife, converted three standard flat cars into Christmas cars. Oh let's face it, she did all the work and they look great. Power came from one or another of Aristo's Eggliners, one of the neatest (to me) little fantasy locos around. Reminds me of a very small diner actually. Anyway, we set it up the last day of November and ran it through New Year's Day. Attached is a photo of the whole thing. A couple of interesting facts I came up with one day: The train averaged 18 hours a day for 33 days. It ran about 3 mph. I figured it ran roughly 600 hours and went about 1800 miles give or take. The first Eggliner, which was on it's third year of duty in this capacity, finally gave up due to worn brushes. I couldn't figure out what all that black soot was on the rails and ties until it finally quit running properly. So now we know that an Eggliner is good for about 1800 hours or around 6000 miles in case anyone was planning anything. It was seen by about 20,000 people many of whom were kids under 12. I checked on the train every day or every other day and would stand back and watch the reactions of passersby. Everyone loved it regardless of age but the kids just ate it up. The gingerbread buildings were models of local buildings on the AU campus and there were nearly 500 hours spent making them. Although there is quite a bit of wear and tear on the locos I did this on a voluntary basis because in addition to being a lot of fun it can't help but promote model railroading in a very positive light. Now I just have to find a couple of replacement Eggliner power blocks before they all dissapear. Anyway, here is last year's setup and I'll post some photos of this year's when we get it built. I also hope to put a second train around a Christmas tree in the same lobby area using the original AU themed cars. Rick H. View attachment 58876 View attachment 58877
Well here is this year's Gingerbread Village. There are two more buildings than were used last year and a third that was built to a too-large scale was re-built in proper size. I added one car to the train, a candy car. Will probably add another next year and use a different lococmotive that actually looks like a locomotive and is painted as a Christmas train. Or I could just buy the Bachmann set up but I enjoy doing my own. When I set it up I left it running perfectly. You can imagine how I felt when I got a call about 5 pm that day saying the train wasn't running with the opening set for 530. I got there only to find about 150 people, mostly kids, watching the train not run! Cleaned the track again and the wheels on the Eggliner and all was well. I've been going by every 2 or 3 days and cleaning the track as there is a black buildup that gets all over everything. It's been theorized here that it is the motor brushes wearing and I can't think of anything el se it could be. No excessive wheel wear. One of the Eggliners stopped running properly last year and I think I need to replace that motor. I determined that the Eggliner is good for about 5000 miles before needing to be sent to the shop for overhaul. A couple of photos attached. Merry Christmas everyone!! Rick H.
