Lionel operator looking for place to talk about Seasonal Layouts.

I’ve been to 3 or 4 O-scale forums over the years, but they are either real dead or too serious about permanent collector’s layouts. I only set my layout up for 3 to 4 months a year and it’s my Christmas layout.


I tried to get something going here on TB in previous years and there just isn’t anybody interested enough to keep it going. I feel real stupid being the only one posting. And from the videos on YouTube there are a lot of people who are really interested and serious about their Christmas layout. I want to talk to those people, but I can’t find them. It sure would be nice to share info and ideas on Christmas layouts, but I just can’t find a place.

 

My Christmas train is either an N Scale set IN the tree,nor the3 rail on the floor.
However, mine goes around the tree, behind the sofa in the front living room, into
the dining room, around the table, back to the living room, and finally connecting back by the tree.
Train is anything from a single MTH galloping goose, to a eight/passenger train.
This year, it might be either Thomas and/or Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Express.
Might stay up for 2-3 weeks, maybe a month at best, the I gotta pull down.
Landlords (My folks), say it's time to clean up.
Fun while it lasts.

 

That's too bad. I'm doing mine now and I go all out, so mine will be up for a couple of months. Ive added a third train, the Hogwarts Express. trying to save as much as i can of the last layout, but its been a challenge to add a third track. biggrin:

 

That is interesting what you are doing there sleeper, I would like to see more.

 

Thanks for taking an interest.


I’ve done some experimental stuff with the track to quiet it down some. It was all screwed down to ¾” plywood and was very noisy. I removed the screws and glued the track which helped but was still noisy, so I added 2” white foam. The 2” foam was a big disappointment and caused me a lot of extra work, but I decided to keep it so that I can do more with the scenery like add a stream and different elevations for the houses.

I still had a noise problem and with the addition of a third track I really had to do something. I cut a trench under the track and inlayed spongy foam to absorb the noise. It does work a lot better but also presents another problem of securing the track and hiding the spongy foam. We found some 2mm foam sheets that we cut out a little bigger than the trench and glued it to each side of the 2” foam. Finding the right glue was a nightmare, but I do believe I got it under control now.



I built the back sides of the 3rd loop out of rough sawn pine and surprisingly enough it seemed to absorb a lot of noise on its own. I just painted it and I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m hoping that the paint doesn’t harden it too much as to interfere with its noise absorbing qualities. I have some cans of spray foam I’m going to spray under the wood if it is noisy. The front curved viaduct is made from thin strips of fur that I cut on my table saw and laminated together. I have another viaduct just like it on the 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] level and it doesn’t seem to have a noise problem so I’m not going to worry about it just yet.



Another thing we did was that I bought a carpet to go on top of our tile floor and under the layout to also absorb noise. And I’ve changed the layout support system. I had originally made ¾” plywood boxes to hold the layout up off of the floor and to use as boxes for storage and stored.

Well those boxes acted like drums amplifying the sound, so now I’m making legs. And since the layout is so huge and I can no longer stand on it, I’ve added 10 caster wheels so I can move it around to set the tree and whatever. The main load under the Christmas tree will have 5 wheels to support the tree and the other 5 will be spread around the outside corners. I would have bought more, but I cleaned them out.

I also have a harbor with a waterfall and I’m currently tiring to decide what kind of wheels I’ll use for it to tie it all together. I use the windowsills to support the back of the 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] level to save space and don’t want it too high.



Here is what it looked like last year.

 

Beginning last year I’m a seasonal Lionel operator. After searching in vain for the right deal on a mid-1940s Scout, I purchased a new Strasburg passenger set. My intent is to make a tradition of acquiring a new car or piece of scenery each year, and hopefully help to keep my daughters excited about model trains. This year I’m trying to find the (discontinued) Strasburg caboose so I can start collecting freight cars.

-Dave

 

Thanks Dave for responding.


After my first Christmas train I was pretty hooked on O scale. I bought a couple of Scouts from eBay I started a collector’s series of cars and trains.
Then I bought a Williams Amtrak passenger set and after a while I realized that I was getting off track from my original goal. My whole purpose was to keep the kids fascinated with trains and Christmas so I decided to keep with things like the Polar Express and Christmas Trains that the kids can identify with. I found that they were more interested in things they saw in the movies.


Last year I bought the Hogwart Train Set that was on sale and even though it’s not what I would consider a Christmas train, all the kids loved it.

And now I just discovered that Lionel came out with a Three Rivers Train Set with a Berkshire. I would not think of it being Christmas either, but if I had seen that, I would have bought it instead because it reminded me of my dad’s Christmas train when I was a little tyke. I may still buy it if I can get a decent price off of eBay.

An update on this years layout: I’ve been slowly working on my layout and I just setup my Polar express bridge. I need to custom cut each bridge pier because I have a small incline to keep the kids from driving too fast around the curve.