Santa Claus, that is. Thanksgiving of 2004, I set up my Christmas tree layout, and my Lionel Santa Claus air traffic tower (Santa's sleigh flies around the tower) wouldn't work. I took it to my favorite hobby shop, and my guy told me that the drive gear was broken. It took like 10 months to get the part, and then he managed to break the new part when he installed it. :rolleyes: Another year later, I just stopped in to scan the shelves, and there it was! He finally got it back together! Had this happened anywhere else, I would have gone ballistic, but George has treated me so well over the last 9 or 10 years that I just couldn't go off on him. However, if I had gone another Christmas without Santa, somebody was gettin' hurt! :thumbsup:
LET THE HOLIDAYS BEGIN!!

I like happy endings!

Do you run any special Xmas trains, like the Polar Express?

Sorry for the delay, I was out last night.
Our Christmas tree is mounted in a layout that I built for our first son, and the train he got for his first Christmas was the WWII Troop Train, so that has become our Christmas train. Last year Santa gave the family a Polar Express set, and I've since added the two extra cars that came out last year. I will be picking up the Chocolate car and the other accessories next month when they are released. I will run that in the basement along with my younger son's Santa Fe Freight set, and the Troop Train will retain it's spot under the tree. I have also picked up every add on car for the Troop Train, so that is a nice, long train.

Cool train, and holiday green, too!

lets see some pics

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l279/scrambler81/100_0017.jpg
http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l279/scrambler81/100_0018.jpg

These are from 2004. I'm not much of a photographer, but you get the idea. The sides of the layout are all capped in oak, and I stained it to match my wife's dining room set. I would hide the dining room table in the basement for two months, so I figured that the layout should look like it belongs. There are electrical outlets at the base of the tree, and a switch at the front near the train controls, so we can work the lights from there. I have two more outlets under the platform, just in case I ever need more power. I try to add a new accessory each year, haven't decided what will go on this year. Of course, just having Santa back will make it like a whole new layout. My 3 year old won't even remember that tower.

BTW - This is my old house. It now goes in my living room, and there is a lot more room. We'll be upgrading to a larger tree this year, and the smaller tree will get set up in the basement for the kids.

...The sides of the layout are all capped in oak, and I stained it to match my wife's dining room set...There are electrical outlets at the base of the tree, and a switch at the front near the train controls, so we can work the lights from there. I have two more outlets under the platform, just in case I ever need more power. I try to add a new accessory each year...Of course, just having Santa back will make it like a whole new layout...
That Statue of Liberty really makes the scene! Interesting track design, with plenty of switches, lights, and routing possibilities for the train. :thumbsup:

Yeah, Lady Liberty and the Santa tower were the first two accessories I put on it, so she's been there since the beginning. I was thrilled when I found that track plan in a book - you can see that the layout pretty much fills the dining room, so it was perfect plan for the space I had available. The track where the locomotive is sitting is insulated, as is the stubby siding that goes behind the Garfield house on the right, so I can leave a loco there and turn that section off. There is also an activation track there, that works our mail car and my rocket launcher.

Wow.....

i love you layout....those lionelville building really can make a layout look very very good.....i like the army train....i like how simple the layout is but how good it looks....you got switches going on and gatemen.,....that hobo thing tower thingy mrbobber is awesome...i have a hobo theme in a part in my layout because my favorite train is the hobo train....i cant find it though

Just got off the phone with my train guy. The 022 switch right behind Garfield got broken last year, the wife must have kicked it while decorating the tree. Anyway, it's becoming almost impossible to find the regular Lionel track now, everybody wants the FastTrack. George just called to let me know he got 4 switches on consignment, and they look near new. Thank goodness, now I can have it fixed before I set it up on Friday. :thumbsup:

i love the fastrack.....i like the mth track to......but i just like the regular track because its affordable but its so cheap....it breaks bends and the pins inside then limited you in many ways such as not allowing you to do an S curve....in the LIONEL forum we had a short discussion about track