TRAIN TIME: My 2020 Christmas Train Layout Pt 2 Progression of The Layout

 Here's a bunch of pics showing the progression of this year's Christmas layout. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

It started with the Lionel Wisconsin Central Highball Freight Set: track, transformer, train and all!

Years ago I bought a bunch of sheets of Lemax cobblestone street material. I cut it into 4" widths and made roads for Snow Village. Admittedly, they're not actually wide enough to accomodate the larger Marx cars I'm using here, but they'll be fine for the smaller O-gauge sized cars should I have a need for cobblestone streets.

It started when my oldest daughter got me an LED-lit acryllic tree from the dollar store. I waited too long to send her back for more and when she got there all the lit trees were sold out. Instead, she bought a bunch of these cheaper craft type trees. A serendipitous find! I luv 'em and they look great in what would evolve into the 'North Pole' area (BTW, that snow flossed tree was not a dollar store find)

Trees, trees, everywhere trees! 

The 'North Pole' has been fleshed-in. The two wooden buildings were also Target finds from last year.

Those candy colored trees are new additions from Target this year

An overview without the train blocking the view

The deer and Santa figure are cheap Christmas tree ornaments bought in Germany in the '80s

I had meant to buy some Lemax animations all along and once I got this North Pole skating rink, I was hooked! I ended up buying several more.

The gazebo turned out to be temporary - being replaced by Lemax buildings after my plans changed

A Scott and Bobbye Moss custom. The duo would take beater Marx buildings and re-purpose them for holiday use. I love what they did to this Marx Girad Station: snow, trees, figures, and all!

Out with the Wisconsin Central Highball Freight, in with the RMT North Pole and Snowflake Express!

I got this years ago and it has been featured in old Christmas videos of a smaller layout. It's a wonderful set that will fit in anywhere because of its small sized

Before and after...

...there is now trolley servide in town. Runs are short and fast, and dependable

The MTH/Railking Christmas Trolley is fairly new to the roster- perhaps only two years old now

Chnages to the layout happen daily

The Layout Grows

One day I was standing out in The Cave and mulling over the next round of changes when I turned to the right and looked at Tintown. "Hmmmm", I thought, "Why can't I expand the Christmas layout here?". And I did. The Marx Skscraper and the row of Pre-war German houses were moved off and the Lemax Carousel and other buildings placed down on the layout

First rendition of this area

A custom Marx engine and tender bought years ago on FleaBay

More Scott and Bobbye Moss creations: Marx flatcars decked out for the holidays

These two New Marx/Modern Marx/Ameritrains/Marx of Miami (hey, you pick the name you're more comfortable with) were ordered about a week after I brought out the custom train

The last two animations are in place

Snow Village now has a Christmas market with the addition of three Lemax stalls. I didn't take 'daytime' shots of these

I bought this at Target last year and now I'm regretting not picking up at least one more. In size it matches just nicely with the other Marx cars on the layout

Here you can see Tintown's Main Street finished. The Pre-war german tin buildings now replaced with cookie containers/houses from various manufacturers. The two animations in front right have awkward cords on them which have the 'on/off' switch, and those cords just hang out everywhere and get in the way of things. It would have been much better had Lemax just placed the 'on/off' switch directly on the units

Memories of Christmas Past

I got to thinking that there's been a lot of interest of late in vintage Christmases. The last few years have been so troubling, so depressing, that there is something soothing in looking at images of Christmas's long gone. Today on Toys & Stuff I'd like to share a glimpse of my Christmas past and you can see as well the seeds of my present day interest in toys. Enjoy!

1954

A trip to The Boston Store to see Santa Claus. The Boston Store was one of my mother's favorite stores. We shopped there for as long as I could remember and many years would have me telling Santa what I wanted for Christmas. Does anyone remember the Secret Santa Store (or something like that)? It was a place within The Boston Store set up to look like Santa's Village on the outside, and inside was a small store within a store. A secure place where kids could shop without their parents thereby allowing them to buy presents for Mom and Dad or anyone else they wanted. I seem to remember that the presents were placed in small cardboard boxes with handles on them allowing the child to just place the box under the tree without the need to wrap the presents.

1961

There's my newborn niece, laying down on a 1961 Sears 'Civil War Centennial' playset by Marx. The back of the photo says this picture was taken at 3AM! Wow, what a Christmas that must have been. The Marx Civil War Mansion featured this past 21 November is the type which came in this set.

1962

What we called the "Front Room" (to distinguish it from the Living Room). I hear people today complaining about how dry the real Christmas trees are. I've got news for you. Even back then I can remember my dad complaining about how fast the real trees dried out! I would finally purchase a fake tree in the mid-1970s - which I still have!! For many years, the smell of Christmas to me was that smell of the plastic tree.

The Nativity scene has a cardboard manger with plastic figures, a light and small music box that played "Silent Night".

That little boy in the lower right corner is me, and can you see what I'm holding? A Marx "Flintstones" playset! Neat!!

1963

Ahhhhh yes, Christmas just isn't complete without a fake fireplace for Santa to come down in! LOL

This is the Living Room with the Front Room just beyond.

My mother wanted so much to be a modern woman. Mid-century modern details could be found all over the house, but it was so difficult for her to successfully pull it off in a house built near the turn of the century.

1966

Looks like Santa has already made his appearance.

You may notice that the Nativity figures are larger than those shown in the 1962 photo. My mother had replaced the plastic figures with a set of larger ceramic figures she made.

I hope you enjoyed this little trip down memory lane!