Christmas Trees, Trains and More - 2024


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This joyous third Sunday of Advent I am pleased to finally report a little progress. Sadly, I put away the Thanksgiving train. But like Frosty the Snowman it “will be back again someday.”

Joy swiftly returned when I arranged the Polar Express in lieu of the Thanksgiving train beneath the Christmas tree. I hope to post photos soon.

God Bless us Everyone!
 
Bruette said:
Progress on Christmas has been slow; my hands are not cooperating. The bulk of the work is finished, it won't take long once the pain subsides, I will regain some strength and dexterity in my hands. If everything is ready by Christmas Eve, I will be happy.
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Despite the ongoing issues with my left hand and wrist, I am pleased to report that progress has been slowly made.

The Track plan for the Family Room Christmas Trains looked perfect on AnyRail. But there was not enough clearance between the Polar Express and the Christmas Zepher. A little unconventional thinking and a few more small sections of Fastrack and all is well. Trains are up and running, but I still must add more cars to the Polar Express, Santa's Flyer and the siding track. The good news is the hard part is done!
 
Bruette said:
Despite the ongoing issues with my left hand and wrist, I am pleased to report that progress has been slowly made.

The Track plan for the Family Room Christmas Trains looked perfect on AnyRail. But there was not enough clearance between the Polar Express and the Christmas Zepher. A little unconventional thinking and a few more small sections of Fastrack and all is well. Trains are up and running, but I still must add more cars to the Polar Express, Santa's Flyer and the siding track. The good news is the hard part is done!
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Video? 😃😃😃
 
Ive been sidetracked again.

My wife, my little Angel, Angela, has broken her ankle. The doctors said it wasn't a bad break. I'm still wondering if there is such a thing as a good break. She has been fitted with a boot and has already seen improvement.

I'm amazed by all she does, did. I can't begin to keep up, but I'm trying. My motto: Do your best and let God worry about the rest.
 
PMW said:
Video? 😃😃😃
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Turn the volume down, the sound is awful! It doesn't sound like that in person. I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to making videos. It will be a learning process. Next step editing!

Not everything in the Family room is set up. The accessories must be reconnected and other trivial things, but all three trains are up and running.
 
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When we purchased our house, we were in a rush to sell the other two and ended up "just moving boxes" and storing them. Storing them in our pool room (floor to ceiling) that is. At Thanksgiving where we were very crowded with only 14 people plus 2 babies, we realized we were in serious trouble for the 32 we were expecting for Christmas Eve. Our solution, oh yeah, let's clean out the pool room. Yipes, we rented a container, move all the cars out of the garages, and started taking things from the pool room. 4 weeks later, Yup, we were still basically moving boxes Christmas Eve morning after working all night long. Managed the event, OK.

For Christmas day we only had 24, and reconfigured the room to feel more spacious (and I actually had time to get a picture). Three sets of trains were needed for the trees.

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My "new to me" Lionel RS3 in Christmas paint got duty on the bigger loop of tubular track. With the loco I got 12 of the Lionel yearly Christmas box cars. Originally I wanted to circle the one tree, run a single line around the room to the other tree, but my switch tracks didn't arrive until today (12/26). So the train got shortened to three box cars to fit the smaller loop.
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The presents that covered the tracks are gone, but the Lionel Winter Wonderland LionChief set remains. My wife got it for me for Christmas last year. So this is it's first time out of the box. The tank car coupler didn't want to stay coupled so I just fixed it into a knuckle closed position with a piece of bell wire.
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Bruette said:
That is a true Christmas miracle! Magnificent work, it looks beautiful!
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I say "we" did it. My wife's son came over and helped for 2 days, and her daughter for 3. My eldest son came over for a "day" 10 am to 10 pm., and we had 2 other folks help for 3 days each. We had so much stacked in there the cover over the pool has warped a bit by having too much weight on it.

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Little Caboose needs some black paint on the inside so it doesn't "glow".
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