November, 2013 Update from Family Garden Trains<sup><small>TM</small></sup>


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Written by Paul D. Race for Family Garden Trains^TM

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November, 2013 Update from Family Garden Trains^TM

Note: This is the web version of a newsletter from the Family Garden Trains^TM web site, which publishes information about running big model trains in your garden as a family activity.

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In this Issue

By now almost every garden railroader I know north of the Mason Dixon line has stashed trains, buildings, and power supplies away for next year and is sitting inside waiting for the next Garden Railways magazine and making up Christmas lists. But my buildings are all still outside and wired up, and my trains and power supplies are close at hand. After all, we just completed our sixth Christmas-themed open railroad, known around here as Christmas Train day. And this weekend, relations with little kids will be coming to visit, so we'll be running trains again, weather permitting.

Back to this year's Christmas-themed open railroad - We'll have a report on the outcome in next month's newsletter, but this month we have a report on some of the things we did to get ready, including restoring lighting to several buildings we had to reconfigure before June's event. Our preparations weren't as laborious as they usually are, since we already had two open railroads this past June, in connection with the convention. But they're worth reviewing.

Once Thanksgiving is over, and things outside are "locked down" for the winter, our attention will largely turns to things we can do inside. I have some models to repair, buildings to clean up, and articles to finish. But I also have to inventory and starting finding homes for the garden train stuff I really don't need any more. After all, I've been collecting Large Scale trains and related stuff for almost thirty years. And along that journey, I've picked up some things I'll never use. A lot of things. So one thing I hope to get accomplished this winter is just to sort out the things I expect to use again and the things I don't. If nothing else, one of these days my children will thank me.

Which reminds me, keep looking for ways to bring young families into the hobby. Modern garden railroading really took off when it was discovered by Baby Boomers, many of whom had grown up with trains and only three television channels. Nowadays, it seems like our ranks are thinning faster than my hair. Trains are still "cool" with youngsters today, but so are about a thousand other things, including smart phones and X-boxes and 3-D TVs. Anything you can do to get the next generation, and the one after that, invested into the hobby now will keep our hobby from going the way of woodburning and macrame in ten years.

This year, our family was the only family that had an open railroad at all in conjunction with the big November NMRA show, and I'm not even in the NMRA! Does that mean that model railroading as a whole is going into a slow slide? Or does it mean that outdoor railroaders have more pigheaded determination than indoor railroaders? I don't know. But I still don't think garden railroading should "peak" until having a train in your back yard is as common as a pond or an outdoor fireplace. Keep the faith!.

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:

Preparing for Christmas Train Day, 2013 - Getting ready for our sixth annual Christmas-themed open railroad
Garden Railroading in Mid-Winter
For "Scratchbuilders": Scale Train and Building Plans from GR 1992-2006 - More ways to get in trouble this winter.
Hawthorne Trains Update - reminder that these charming On30 trains and their associated villages are going fast.
Don't Throw Out Those Dead Christmas Light Strands (Yet) - Free wire alert!
Thanksgiving Then, and Then, and Now a seasonal article from FamilyChristmasOnline.com, updated for 2013.

Preparing for the 2013 Christmas Train Day

We've been running trains outside in November for six years now, adding things like Christmas lights on all the little trees, trains for kids to run, and lots of Christmas music. For many of our friend and family, it's become a "jump start" to the holiday season. By the time you get this newsletter, we'll have already held the event, but the report on it will come in the next newsletter.

To see our preparations for the 2013 Christmas Train Day, please click on the following link:

http://familygardentrains.com/newbost/13_10_prep_for_christmas_train_day/prep_for_train_day.htm

To see information about Southwest Ohio and Greater Cincinnati Christmas-themed open railroads that have yet to happen, please click the following link:

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

Garden Railroading in Mid-Winter

For folks who actually get winter, this is a good time to "batten down the hatches."

If you leave your buildings or anything else out that could be damaged by kids walking over them, "stake out" your railroad so folks know where the boundaries are BEFORE you get a big snowfall.

Most people turn their pond pumps off by this time. If you didn't put a net over your pond, be sure to fish the leaves out of it before it freezes over. Leaves left in the water to rot contribute to the buildup of carbon dioxide that will kill your fish faster than freezing. Also it's a good idea to make certain your fish have air to breath BEFORE the pond freezes. Our Water Features for Garden Railroads article has several suggestions for protecting your fish and pond during the cold months.

Click the following link to see more information.

http://familygardentrains.com/primer/water/water.htm

If you want greenery for Christmas decorations, this is a good time to get it. Okay, I did mention trimming a month ago. But now you have the perfect excuse for spending time trimming your miniature evergreens, which they probably need anyway. Our article "Tree for Your Trains" will tell you how to get the best appearance from your trees with the minimum of damage. And feel free to take any trimmings inside for decoration. Just take them out again soon after Christmas, and don't use any near an open flame. Click the following link for more information about caring for miniature conifers:

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

And in case you're tempted to try a "potted" Christmas tree this year, with the notion that you may be able to use it in the garden next year, click the following link to check out an article we wrote for the Family Christmas Online site about "real live" Christmas trees.

http://familychristmasonline.com/trees/real_live_trees.htm/real_live_trees.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

And to see our new page of just houses (residences), click on the following link:

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

For "Scratchbuilders": Scale Train and Building Plans from GR 1992-2006

Here's another way to plan for long winters' nights - Marc Horowitz, editor of Garden Railways magazine, has collected all of the scale plans that Ted Stinson designed for Garden Railways between 1992 and 2006. Marc is making them available as a service to fellow Large Scalers for $2 each. Freight cars, cabooses, coaches, water tanks, streetcars, and much more. Maybe you always wanted to build a certain project, but you've mislaid that issue. Or maybe you just want a challenge. These will give you one. They will also give you a great deal of satisfaction when you've finished. To see a list of plans, click on the following link:

http://sidestreetbannerworks.com/railways/plans.html

Hawthorne Village Update

Last month we published a long explanation for why Hawthorne Village's heirloom quality On30 trains are going fast. What we didn't cover was the villages. Yes, I know they're too small for garden railroads, but lots of folks on this list set up indoor holiday villages or Christmas railroads as well. The good news is over half of the Hawthorne village collections that were available at the beginning of November are still available. The bad news is that exactly one half of the Thomas Kinkade-inspired village collections that were available on November first are no longer available. Several other popular villages have sold out as well. Most of the trains associated with those villages are still available at this posting.

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

To jump directly to the Thomas Kinkade-inspired villages and towns, click the following link:

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

To jump directly to the Coca Cola-themed trains, which are also going fast, click the following link:

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

And for the sports fan in your family, you can always start an NFL, MLB, or NASCAR collection by clicking on the following link:

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

Don't Throw Out Those Dead Christmas Light Strands (Yet)

This is a reminder that dead Christmas light strands don't go straight into the trash. If you can find someone who recycles them that's great. (Sometimes Home Depot does.) But you can also get useful project wire from them with a little bit of elbowgrease. In fact, since I started doing this, almost every building on my railroad is wired and hooked to the lighting circuit using this stuff.

Click on the following link to go to the article:

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

Thanksgiving Then, and Then, and Now (Updated for 2013)

From Family Christmas Online comes an updated version of our article about the origins of Thanksgiving and similar harvest festivals. This year I've become aware of several attempts to rewrite history, including false claims that the 1621 feast at Plymouth never happened at all. So I did a little digging and added an update and some additional resources, in case any of our readers have been confronted with the same "urban legends" (to use a euphemism). The short version is that the surviving Mayflower colonists did have a feast in 1621, to which the Wampanoag were belatedly invited. Unfortunately, that seems to be one bright spot in a dark history. Many ill-informed bloggers would like to eliminate even that bright spot. I would prefer to let it serve as an example of how we should treat people who aren't like us. It's also worth noting that the Wampanoag and every other culture that ever depended on agriculture had also thanked their Deities for good harvests for millennia, so the "Pilgrims" were just following a tradition as old as civilization.

To jump to the article, please click the following link:

http://familychristmasonline.com/other_holidays/thanksgiving/thanksgiving.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 October, 2013, click on the following link:

http://familygardentrains.com/fgt_newsletter/13_10_newsletter_gr.htm

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November, 2013 Update from Family Garden TrainsTM