Christmas Trees, Trains and More


The floor part of the Family room Christmas is almost complete.

Lionel's Santa's Flyer and Lionel's Christmas Zephyr are making their rounds filling the room with the scent of Hot Chocolate from their smokestacks.

The wiring is done, and the lights are lit in the following buildings.
Church I cannot remember where I got it from or who made it.
Amtrak Passenger Station made by Lionel for the Lionel Collectors Club
Covered Bridge made by Lionel.
Home Depot given to me by my daughter Grace
Movie Theater "The Bells of Saint Mary's" is on the marquee. I cannot remember where I got it from or who made it.
Country Train Station with Christmas lights made by MTH.
Frosty the Snowman Station made by Lionel.
City Hall I cannot remember where I got it from or who made it.

The track is Lionel Fastrack. O36 for the figure eight and O72 of the outside oval.
The Trains are each powered separately by Lionel CW-80 Transformers.
The Lionel and MTH accessories are powered by a Lionel Power Max Transformer and a Lionel 1.8 AMP Accessory Transformer.

I still need to add a few vehicles and other accessories, but the hard part is over!

Tomorow or the next day I will edit this post with a list of all the add-on cars.

Edit: 12/6/23
The list of additional cars on the sidings,
Personalized Caboose made in the USA by Lionel. "Bruette Family Christmas Railroad"
Hershey's Christmas Kisses Boxcar made by Lionel.
PRR Christmas Gondola loaded with Christmas Trees and Wrapped Presents made by Lionel.
Personalized Boxcar made in the USA by Lionel. "Bruette Family Christmas Railroad Established in 2006"
Looney Tunes Christmas Party Flatcar made by K-Line.
Reindeer Express Agency Flatcar w/Trailer made by Lionel
Train on 2nd siding.
Animated Christmas Caboose w/Santa made by Lionel
PRR Christmas Ore Car w/Silver made by Lionel
PRR Christmas Ore Car w/Gold made by Lionel
The two trains I have running.
North Pole Central Christmas Pioneer Zephyr Set made by Lionel. Including the following.
Locomotive/RPO
Baggage/coach car
Observation car
Santa's Flyer Set made by Lionel. Including the following.
Santa's Flyer Christmas Music Boxcar
Santa's Flyer Lionel Peppermint Co. Three-dome Tank Car
Santa's Flyer Caboose
Three addon cars made by Lionel for the Santa's Flyer Set.
Santa's Flyer Reefer
Santa's Flyer Hot Christmas Cocoa Three-dome Tank Car
Santa's Flyer Animated Gondola
Additional cars were added to the Santa's Flyer train all made by Lionel.
Partridge in a Pear Tree Reefer made by Lionel. My first Christmas car.
Gondola with Presents made by Lionel.
Frosty the Snowman Boxcar made by Lionel.
That's all folks, for now. Look for further Edits as time permits.

The Christmas Village that sits on a Thomas the Tank Engine table is next.
Edit: 12/25/23
I finished the Christmas Village yesterday. The hold up was finding the little Glass Christmas Tree. I found it "right under my nose." The On30 Christmas Trolley made by Bachmann is running like brand new after a little track cleaning and oil. Not bad for a nine-year-old set!

My wife decorated the living room Christmas tree and the room itself today. Lionel's Polar Express is up and running, but I have a few Plug-n-Play accessories to add.

We are ready for Saint Nicholas Day!
 
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The Origin of Santa Claus.
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For some of us, the real Santa Claus.
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I got a big surprise when I went to bed last night. My wife put up and decorated a white Christmas tree in our bedroom. Like a little boy, I fell asleep looking at it.

I edited and added to post #41 If you are interested in more details about my Christmas adventure.
 
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Great Thread Louis!

Since today is the Feast of Nicholas of Myra,
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This is an Orthodox Icon of Nicholas...the man who's life "we" celebrate today. Myra, is located in the Western part of Asiatic Turkey. We forget just how large Asia is. Nicholas died on December 6, in the year 326 AD.
Advent 1 2023 JSW.jpg

Our Advent wreath and candles last Sunday.
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Molly hiding under tree. You can't see me. 😼
 
Bruette said:
One question, what is a Scottish breakfast?
Click to expand...

It does vary a bit but, to give a short answer, it’s more than one person can eat, and a lot of it is fried.

Typical ingredients are: eggs; potato scones; Lorne sausage, bacon; sausage; slice of haggis; tomatoes (grilled or fried); black pudding; mushrooms; Polony; fried bread or toast.

Me? I would be happy with a slice of toast and cup of coffee……
 
Bruette said:
Please feel free to post your Christmas trains, trees and more. I love Christmas and I am always happy to see pictures. Your Christmas photos and stories would be most welcome.
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WELL.... after 4 days of intensive cleaning, I finally have a blank slate for the 2023 Christmas Forest. Imagine this room (gym lobby) filled with the garden tractor, riding lawn mower, 4 push mowers, rototiller, lawn sweeper, garden cart, gorilla wagon. old tire (at least 3 sets) pin ball machine, six chain saws, various weed whackers, file cabinet, balance beam, table & chairs, two park benches, garden hoses in for the winter, left over roofing materials. And a myriad of other misc items that made the move but never got put away (6 bags of cement, roll of steel mesh reinforcement....)...basically floor to ceiling clutter.

Soda machine, phone booth, and drinking fountain will stay because they are either too heavy to deal with or attached!
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Next scrub the floor and put down the "grass".
 
Iron Horsemen I had you in mind when I started this thread. I was hoping for pictures of previous Christmas tree forests. Now I'm excited to see new ones! The old ones would still be most welcome.

I love both the soda machine and the telephone booth! I have somewhere to change and get a cold drink! ;)

A water fountain is always welcome.
 
Bruette said:
Iron Horsemen I had you in mind when I started this thread. I was hoping for pictures of previous Christmas tree forests. Now I'm excited to see new ones! The old ones would still be most welcome.

I love both the soda machine and the telephone booth! I have somewhere to change and get a cold drink! ;)

A water fountain is always welcome.
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Previous pictures should be lurking on old threads.

Ha! I did expel the Dr. Pepper machine around the corner into the gym. It is smaller and weighs about 100 lbs less. I am going to incorporate the phone booth into the display. Have a large doll of a little girl `on a step stool on the phone to Santa. I wanted to hook up the phone to the live line and activate the dial a Santa for visiting children, but don't have time to do that. The phone line to the gym was tied to the schoolhouse at the street junction and was causing too much noise for the DSL, so I had it pruned off. Keep meaning to run an inside line after the DSL split but ... by now that is probably project 3745 out of several thousands.
 
Iron Horseman said:
Previous pictures should be lurking on old threads.
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One of the reasons I started this thread. I searched and asked others to search but we have yet to find our late friend, GarryCBQ's Christmas tree trains photos. It was a classic Lionel Christmas from the Golden Era. He had Post-War trains under his tree. Long before Lionel made trains specifically for Christmas.
Iron Horseman said:
probably project 3745 out of several thousands.
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You are not alone. My free time far exceeds the time needed for all the projects I want to work on. I'm happy to be making some progress again.
 
Last night Dawn and I were talking about our old house and the log fires we had.


Oh I love a log fire. Our old house was the one to burn logs.

Starting the day collecting the logs from the store in the old stable whilst Dawn started the fire going. Once alight I had the joyful job of putting logs on the fire through the day.

Days around Christmas were best. The decorations were up. Christmas trees in each room; real trees off course. Lights and more lights. Over the top some would say, but Dawn loves loads of decorations. Music is playing on the radio; Christmas music naturally.

It is evening, snow is falling, logs burn, the Christmas lights are twinkling. Our son has roasted some chestnuts, our daughter has made some broth. Settle down and tales being told. Stories handed down, of 1947, and of recent times. Dawn would open a bottle of sherry or port. A few snacks on a plate. All the time logs were added to the fire.



David
 
Bruette said:
One of the reasons I started this thread. I searched and asked others to search but we have yet to find our late friend, GarryCBQ's Christmas tree trains photos. It was a classic Lionel Christmas from the Golden Era. He had Post-War trains under his tree. Long before Lionel made trains specifically for Christmas.
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You mean like these?
https://modelrailroadforums.com/for...er-2020-coffee-shop.33037/page-41#post-495386
https://modelrailroadforums.com/for...er-2018-coffee-shop.30774/page-14#post-444010

I think the difficulty in finding them is they are not on a specific Christmas thread.

Well lookey here. I can cut and past from his old threads.
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Iron Horseman said:
WELL.... after 4 days of intensive cleaning, I finally have a blank slate for the 2023 Christmas Forest. Imagine this room (gym lobby) filled with the garden tractor, riding lawn mower, 4 push mowers, rototiller, lawn sweeper, garden cart, gorilla wagon. old tire (at least 3 sets) pin ball machine, six chain saws, various weed whackers, file cabinet, balance beam, table & chairs, two park benches, garden hoses in for the winter, left over roofing materials. And a myriad of other misc items that made the move but never got put away (6 bags of cement, roll of steel mesh reinforcement....)...basically floor to ceiling clutter.

Soda machine, phone booth, and drinking fountain will stay because they are either too heavy to deal with or attached!
View attachment 177890 View attachment 177891View attachment 177892

Next scrub the floor and put down the "grass".
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And now the grass is in.
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The Late GarryCBQ's Christmas Tree and Trains.

11/11/2018
GarryCBQ posted, "Here is our Christmas tree that my wife wanted up early. .... Of course, Lionel trains belong under a Christmas tree. I have had these trains for many years. I just added the Central Vermont boxcar."
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12/24/2020
GarryCBQ posted, "This picture is from a previous year. We did not put up our big tree this year."
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