Christmas Trains ! ! !

I've made some good progress on the Woodbury modules (sidewalks and trees) but in honor of the best holiday of the year (God's special gift to mankind), I wanted to highlight Christmas trains! Showing my age, I still vividly remember the great Lionel layouts the major department stores in Philadelphia used to set up for Christmas displays. I still get excited remembering them and trying to figure out which tunnel each train would come out of!

As a kid I would pester my Dad to set up the Lionel and American Flyer trains each Christmas. Both he and my uncle Fred would set up 4'x8' platforms (Fred's had the tree on his, while ours took up a good chunk of the dining room).

Unfortunately none of my 4 kids ever caught my love of trains but it was not from lack of effort on my part. I am still trying to fan some interest from our 12 grandchildren. I put up a Lionel train under our tree until my wife needs the room for presents:

 

I used to take a 2'x4' layout to work each year:

 

 

And I made 3 of my kids similar layouts for under their trees. I just cut a hole in one of the loops for the tree to protrude out of:

My youngest son was a big fan of Micro Machines growing up so I used many of his old buildings on his Christmas layout:

 

My oldest son lost his layout in transit when they moved back to New Jersey from Nashville (his wife is a talented singer) so it got replaced with a 6'x6' layout that I had made to take to work (until I realized it was too much trouble to cart in and set up):

Like I always said (temporarily forgetting my theology), it's not Christmas without trains!