Building a HO-HO-HO scale christmas tree layout

[dudeface]

I started on the station, I made these little steps and it's surprising how much bigger they make everything look. The pencil line is where the walls of the building will be.

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[dudeface]

Plywood finished cutting and painted white yesterday. Paint says 30 day cure time but it's dry at least, so we'll see.

[dudeface]

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I did this yesterday. I think I went a little bit overkill on this and I used up all the hot glue so I wasn't able to finish it. The E&GCT will have to wait until next year I guess.
Merry Christmas to the Americans here, and merry belated Christmas to all the Forumites in other parts of the world!

[drewzero1]

Wow, seeing the tunnel structure all together, that looks like a massive undertaking for an around-the-tree layout. If you've got room to store it and time to work on it, it could look really amazing by next year!

We've had two trains running around the living room all morning, an O gauge toy train set and some wooden track toys. I managed to sneak some of my 32mm stuff on as well when the Small Controller was preoccupied with other toys.

Merry Christmas!

[GAP]

Hey Dude,
That is impressive; lot of work has gone into that.

Have a look at how I made a tunnels and mountains on my HO layouts.
It might give some inspiration for a next Christmas build.
https://ringbalin.blogspot.com/search/l ... st%20Posts
https://ringbalin.blogspot.com/p/soft-rock.html
https://ringbalin.blogspot.com/p/homema ... liage.html

It is messy but the effect is worth it.

I am also considering making a series of tunnels using wire formers with wire mesh covered with cheap artificial turf.

[dudeface]

Thank you. I realized I didn't show you the back.

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The reason for the strangely positioned portals is that the workers got impatient and used too much dynamite. At least, it looks strange to me.

[ge_rik]

Very impressive, Miles. Must have taken you ages.

Rik

[dudeface]

'Tis not quite the season to start work on the E&GCT again, as I'm not a big fan of Christmas before Thanksgiving, but I'd like to finish it before we get our tree. I guess the snow we had must've gotten me thinking about Christmas, not to mention the fact that the music department at school is all decorated with lights and Christmas trees already. (I guess they're trying to put us in the spirit and make us want to rehearse for our Christmas concerts. Jeez, didn't think I'd be saying the word Christmas this many times in one post in November! )

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The plywood has been in the basement since last December, so the paint's probably pretty well cured by now.

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P.S. You've seen pictures from my old Lumia phone and the iPad Mini 4, but how 'bout a 2013 Microsoft Surface??

[dudeface]

I also made this snowplow a couple weeks ago out of an old tender and an orange juice bottle. The rear truck experienced unscheduled rapid disassembly when the same Surface took a dive off the piano and the plow was sitting on some track directly underneath it.

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[dudeface]

Today we went to get our tree, so I brought the plywood up and put it on top of some blankets and towels and stuff. Then I fastened the track in place with little screws on either side, got the trains to run on it, and screwed what there was of the tunnel down, then covered it with white towels. Then I had to mess with the track even more because the Bachmann 0-6-0 likes to jump off the track on its front wheels over the slightest imperfection on the curves. Eventually I got it to stay on for more than 2 minutes. Here's a video (with fun shadows):

This is the Bachmann Yard Master loco pulling the Bachmann White Christmas Express because the loco from that set (which is the same loco in different colors) is dead.

[drewzero1]

That's a good slow speed, track must be nice and clean

We've got EZ-track for my son's Bachmann Thomas and we run one of my Warbonnets with a few freight cars, but gotta keep it moving or it'll cut out over the weak spots.

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[philipy]

That is lovely slow running Miles, well done.

This layout really reminds me of my own layout from when I was about your age, including the white towels, although I used some old sheets
Back then Bachman didn't exist of course, and my trains were Trix Twin 3-rail with skate pickups and the running was terrible!

[dudeface]

That's a good slow speed, track must be nice and clean

I was surprised how simple that part of it was, I usually have to sand the rails a bunch... Doesn't mean there wasn't an afternoon's worth of other problems to fix...

[dudeface]

Back then Bachman didn't exist of course, and my trains were Trix Twin 3-rail with skate pickups and the running was terrible!

Well, actually Bachmann was founded in 1833... https://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa ... ivil%20War.
But I gather Bachmann trains were first sold sometime in the '60s.

[dudeface]

[philipy]

Well, actually Bachmann was founded in 1833... https://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa ... ivil%20War.
But I gather Bachmann trains were first sold sometime in the '60s.

Possibly so in the US, but, quoting world-of-railways.co.uk, "Bachmann Europe was established in England in 1989 with its initial Bachmann ‘Branchline’ product range catering for OO gauge railway modellers." so they would effectively not have existed in Britain in the 1950's and '60's.

[drewzero1]

Well, actually Bachmann was founded in 1833... https://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa ... ivil%20War.
But I gather Bachmann trains were first sold sometime in the '60s.

Possibly so in the US, but, quoting world-of-railways.co.uk, "Bachmann Europe was established in England in 1989 with its initial Bachmann ‘Branchline’ product range catering for OO gauge railway modellers." so they would effectively not have existed in Britain in the 1950's and '60's.

It never ceases to amaze me just how different the history and experience of different modeling brands are in different regions. Most of my Bachmann models are older than that, 70s and 80s vintage. At the same time I had never heard of (for example) Hornby aside from mentions in toy train history books, really only learning the significance of the company from watching James May talk about it on TV.