October, 2013 Update from Family Garden Trains^TM

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In this Issue

The first year I did this, it was because none of the other garden railroaders in the club were brave - or crazy - enough to schedule an open railroad in November, and the NMRA guys really wanted folks to have a chance to see a working garden railroad while the MVGRS garden train club's great display - set up at the show - was fresh in their minds. A worthy sentiment, don't you think? Then the next year, I was the only person who volunteered. And the next. You get the idea.

Sadly, this year, only five INDOOR railroaders were willing to have their railroads open for the "tour," and the club guy in charge of the tour decided to cancel the whole thing. For the indoor railroaders, that mostly means a little less vacuuming and one less night of going downstairs and turning on the light switch. But for the Races, it would mean canceling an event that we work towards all autumn, and which family and friends have come to count on to "jump start" the holiday season for them.

This year we had an open railroad in June for the National Garden Railway Convention, so I had certain things under control. But weeds still grow, animals still disturb the right-of-way, and so on. As a side effort, I spent many hours this autumn starting a brick patio where the swimming pool used to be. Hopefully we can use it during the open house as a place folks can sit and relax or watch the movie we plan to project on the screen we built for this purpose last year (maybe The General). Because a number of our readers have appreciated our landscaping articles in the past, we've added two new ones related to that effort.

One thing I had tried to do for the June, 2013 open railroads was to set the oldest part of the railroad up the way I had for the June, 2002 NGRC open railroad. That including rehabbing several structures, but I ran out of time to do one of my favorites - a Fisher Price Cape Cod that I converted into a farmhouse in the 1980s. While I was rehabbing it this summer, I thought it would be nice to have an article that focused on converting this structure to garden railroad use. Yes, they're getting harder to find, but if you come up with a similar building, lots of the tips and tricks apply.

So the lights are still going on the little trees, the Christmas-colored trains are coming out of storage, the kids' trains are getting set up, etc. I still have buildings to light, track to clear, leaves to rake, other entertainments to set up, but "the show must go on."

We're hopeful that this year's open railroad will be bigger and better than ever. If you can volunteer to bring snacks, answer visitor questions about garden railroading, supervise kids' trains, or passing out club brochures, etc., that would be great too - the more folks who help, the more fun things we can set up for the kids to do, and the more interest we generate in the hobby.

A Sad Note - Sadly, things aren't bigger and better for the Polk family in New Jersey - makers of AristoCraft trains and the Revolution remote control train system. By now you've probably heard that they are going to have to close up shop at the end of the year. It's a sign of the times, unfortunately, one more "small business" that never quite recovered from the "toxic assets" recession. Lewis, Scott, and your families, we will miss you more than you know. And we wish you and your employees the very best opportunities and future.

In a way, this is one more reminder not to take the people who help you enjoy your hobby for granted. Or the people in your life, for that matter.

Finally, please accept our wishes for a great rest of the year. And please enjoy any time you can spend with your family in the coming months.

Topics discussed in this update include:

• Trashbashing a Fisher Price Cape Cod ("Play Family" House)
• Pool2Patio - What to do with that big circle of sand when the swimming pool dies
• Paver Choices - To read before you start your next sidewalk or patio
• Houses for Garden Railroads - expand your communities this winter
• World Series Trains Still Available (For Now) - get a Red Sox or Cardinals commemorative train while you can (O or HO).
• Hawthorne Trains Update - A world-class series of commemorative On30 trains nears the end of the line. If you were ever thinking about one of these, don't wait too long.
• Christmas Train Day, 2013 - A "Save the Date" for our sixth annual Christmas-themed open railroad, with outdoor trains, kids' trains, snacks, music, and more.
• Garden Railroading in Early Winter
• Thoughts About Halloween, a seasonal article from FamilyChristmasOnline.com

Get Free Project Wire from Dead Christmas Light Strands

Click on the following link to go to the article:

http://familygardentrains.com/primer/lighting/wire/free_wire.htm

Houses for Garden Railroads

When we started updating our Garden Railroad Structures page for 2013, we realized that so many structures are now available, that it can be a bit daunting. So we broke "Houses" out onto a separate page. We plan to have "Industries," "Railroad Structures," and "City Buildings" eventually. But if you're tired of your residential neighborhoods looking like everybody else's, or if you're running short of ideas for your Christmas list or winter project list, take a look at what is available.

Click on the following link to see our "Houses for Garden Railroads" article:

http://garden-train-store.com/structures/homes/homes.htm

World Series Trains Still Available (For Now)

But the big news (big in more than one sense) is that this year Lionel introduced a handful of O gauge trains that commemorated a handful of Major Leage "major market" teams. No, my team isn't included, nor are the Cards. But the Lionel Red Sox trains are available now. They are selling so fast that it will be all I can do to get the word out before they are all gone.

The Lionel Baseball Trains have the largest steam locomotive they put in any train set and fantastic graphics. If you're a fan of the Red Sox, Cubs, Yankees, or Phillies, start at the followng link. (Some nice NASCAR-inspired trains are also shown there).

http://bigchristmastrains.com/sports_trains/lionel_sports_trains.htm

To see the Hathorne Village HO scale sports trains, which include the Red Sox, the Cardinals and the rest of the Major Leagues, as well as NFL, a bit of NASCAR and more, click the following link:

http://bigchristmastrains.com/sports_trains/sports_trains_anime.htm

Christmas Train Day, 2013

To learn more about our November 9 Christmas-themed open railroad and a few other regional Christmas-themed railroad activities, or to sign up to help in any way, please click on the following link:

http://familygardentrains.com/outside_resources/openhouses/christmas_open_houses_2013.htm

Hawthorne Trains Update

Between 2002 and 2008, Hawthorne Village trains made heirloom-quality train collections featuring art and iconic images from Thomas Kinkade, Al Agnew, Disney, vintage Coca Cola Santas, the original Rudolph TV special, and many more. Not only were those trains attractive and highly collectible, they also used frames and motors from Bachmann, the world's largest manufacturer of model trains. Bachmann incorporated high quality into each chassis; they also provided a lifetime warranty on the locomotive.

Sadly, in 2008, the mortgage fraud recession prompted Hawthorne Village to start ordering trains from another provider, whose trains are, frankly, not the same quality. I ordinarily wouldn't point that out, except that several of the most popular Bachmann-manufactured trains are still available as of October, 2013. Top-quality collectible trains like these have always been limited editions, but now they really are going to disappear, permanently, once the stock on hand has sold out.

I know this must seem like a hard sell. But every year we get e-mails from folks who waited too long to order a Hathorne Village collection and tell me that if I don't locate a set for them somewhere I will have ruined their Christmas. (It doesn't help when I try to point out that Christmas is about more than buying stuff for people.) But "unavailable" means you can't get them any more. It also means that I can't get them for you.

By the way, we have never gotten an e-mail from a customer who is disappointed with the product. I know I'm happy with the pieces I own. And, no, they're not for sale.

For more information on featured trains and towns, with links to other Hawthorne Village products, please, click on the following link:

http://bigchristmastrains.com/hawthorne_trains/hawthorne_trains.htm

Garden Railroading in Early Winter

Your sedums will start to fade in color -some even change color. They also may even appear to shrink a little as they go into "winter dormant" mode. However, their roots continue to spread during warm spells all winter long, so they should come back better than ever in the spring. If you have sedums that get several inches tall, like Blue Spruce sedum, you can cut them back now within a couple inches of the soil without hurting them at all.

If you need to prune any trees or bushes, this is a great time to do it - even your evergreens are semi-dormant, and pruning is less likely to bother them than it does during warmer temperatures. On my railroad, I've added plenty of evergreens, so that most of the railroad is at least some shade of green all winter long.

Click on the following link for tips on maintaining your evergreens:

http://familygardentrains.com/primer/plants/conifers/conifers.htm

And of course, you can always make "Christmas lists" of projects you want to have on hand for chilly nights.

Click on the following link if you want to see some fresh building kit suggestions:

http://garden-train-store.com/structures/structure_sale.htm

"Thoughts About Halloween"

To see this article, click on the following link:

http://familychristmasonline.com/other_holidays/halloween/halloween.htm

Keep in Touch

Finally, please let us know about your ongoing projects. Ask questions, send corrections, suggest article ideas, send photos, whatever you think will help you or your fellow railroaders. In the meantime, enjoy your trains, and especially enjoy any time you have with your family in the coming weeks,

Paul Race

FamilyGardenTrains.com

To view the newsletter for Septermber, 2013, click on the following link:

http://familygardentrains.com/fgt_newsletter/13_09_newsletter_gr.htm

To read more, or to look at recommended Garden Railroading and Big Indoor Train products, please click on the index pages below.