November, 2015 Update from Family Garden Trains^TM

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In this Issue

And here's a tip about getting ready for Christmas. Every year, starting in early December, I get deluged with e-mails from anxious, upset folks whose train set doesn't work when they set it around the tree. There are places to get some trains fixed, of course, but they're usually swamped the whole month of December. Folks don't want to hear that the only way they're going to have a train running around their tree this year is to buy one. But if you wait until the tree's set up to test out your train, you may be in that boat, too.

My longterm subscribers know that I post warnings like this every year; most of the anxious e-mails are from folks I've never heard from before. Some want to know my phone number so I can "walk them through" a repair of their train, as though it isn't my busiest time of the year, too. It may sound like I'm exaggerating, but last year I got so many "please save our family's Christmas" messages, that I didn't get through them all until about St. Patrick's Day, which is a little late to save ANYBODY's Christmas.

By the way, the main reason I took my phone number off the web page was that folks from all over the country were calling me on Christmas Eve wanting me to find them a train, and maybe deliver it to their house in the next thirty minutes like a pizza. If you're on my mailing list, you probably have enough trains already. But if you are looking to order anything specific between now and Christmas, don't wait too long.

Whether you are shutting your railroad down for the winter as you get this or helping set up a holiday railroad somewhere or just wishing you had trains, we're here to answer your questions as well as we can. And we wish you the best that each upcoming season has to offer.

Topics discussed in this update include:

• Christmas Train Day, 2015 - Report on this year's Christmas-Themed open railroad, including last-minute preparations, and photos.

• Garden Railroading in Mid-Winter

• Don't Wait Too Long to Order Trains

Christmas Train Day, 2015

Click on the following link to see our report, including some pretty nice photos, if I say so myself. In fact the title photo in this newsletter is one of the "leftovers" from the article. :-)

http://familygardentrains.com/newbost/15_11_14_train_day/train_day_2015.htm

Our event is over, but there will be two big Large Scale indoor railroads open for viewing in the region, and, come December, a VERY nice outdoor railroad on display in northern Kentucky, Christmas lights, Christmas trains, and all.

Click on the following link to see remaining opportunities to see big trains running this season:

http://familygardentrains.com/outside_resources/openhouses/christmas_open_houses_2015.htm

Garden Railroading in Mid-Winter

If you want to try to put up an outdoor railroad for the Christmas season, our Temporary Outdoor Railroad article will give you some ideas. It also will give you a taste what backyard railroad construction really feels like. Click the following link to learn more:

http://familygardentrains.com/primer/fence_posts/portable_rr.htm

If you already have a railroad in your back yard, is there something else you can do to add interest, like a raised loop with a coal or logging train at one end of the railroad, or a back-and-forth streetcar or industrial railroad operation you can squeeze in somewhere? Many garden railroaders in the 1980s and 1990s came from smaller scales and have the dream of replicating their N or HO empires outside with 30" coaches and 48" locomotives. But there's a lot to be said for modeling smaller operations as well, including the fact that the large scales of narrow gauge give you more room to personalize your figures and accessories.

In other words, even if you're stuck in the house, that doesn't mean you need to stay stuck in a box. Take another look at our planning and construction articles and see if there's something you haven't considered or tried yet, which might give your hobby a new "sense of purpose."

Of course there's always the "fallback" of maintaining your equipment, cleaning pickup wheels, cleaning buildings, etc. The following link will give you some suggestions for doing that effectively.

http://familygardentrains.com/primer/maintenance/maintain.htm

If you get a chance to clean up your buildings this winter, think about lighting the ones you don't have lighting for - there's a suggestion for a way to do that inexpensively in the following link:

http://familygardentrains.com/primer/lighting/almost_free_building_lighting/almost_free_building_lighting.htm

Or add a sense of period to your railroad with period advertisements, such as those listed in our Large Scale Signs and Graphics pages here:

"http://familygardentrains.com/resource/index.htm

Don't Wait Too Long to Order Trains

Large Scale Trains in Christmas Colors - These are perfect for big displays in bank lobbies, etc. And they are "jaw-dropping" around the tree.

To see the Large Scale trains that are decorated for Christmas, click the following link:

http://bigchristmastrains.com/ls_xmas/ls_xmas.htm

Large Scale Trains for Kids - There are several trains that work as well under the tree or on the bedroom floor as they work outside.

To see Large Scale trains that are designed to be kid-friendly, click the following link:

http://garden-train-store.com/kids_trains/kids_trains.htm

Large Scale Trains in Railroad Names -

To see the best currently-available recommendations, click the following link:

http://garden-train-store.com/begin/ls_starters.htm

O Gauge Trains in Railroad Names - If you click on the Amazon link for a Lionel train and it is low or out of stock, be sure to scroll down and see the "Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed" section, in case new trains have been added.

My favorite new Lionel train is the "Albert Hall' set, with the Great Western Railway (UK) locomotive that Lionel "borrowed" for the Hogwarts Express painted in its original green color.

To see the Lionel trains that are painted for PRR, NYC, UP, GWR, and other "real-world" railroads, click the following link:

http://bigtrainstore.com/o_gauge/o_gauge.htm

O Gauge Trains in Christmas Colors - This year, Lionel has more trains decorated for Christmas than they have ever offered at one time. Some of the units are already in short supply, though.

Click the following link to see Lionel's Christmas-Themed O gauge offering:

http://bigchristmastrains.com/o_gauge_xmas/o_gauge_xmas.htm

On30 Trains in Christmas Colors - Hawthorne Trains used to order specially painted On30 train sets from Bachmann to sell in "collections."

These come one piece at a time, except in some cases you can order a "super saver set" in which the first three "issues" come in the first shipment, and after that, the subsequent pieces come one at a time. To see which collections are still available, click the following link:

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

On30 Trains in Railroad Names - On30 is a great size for running with holiday villages, and it's a fun scale to model in regardless. Click the link below and scroll down to see the links for those products.

http://bigtrainstore.com/on_30/on30.htm

Hawthorne Village HO Sports Trains -If you've wanted to start collecting one of these sets and you've been putting it off, you should check now to see if your favorite team is still available. Several teams are not.

To see the sports trains that were available the last time I went through the list, please, click the following link:

http://bigchristmastrains.com/sports_trains/sports_trains.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, 2015, click on the following link:

http://familygardentrains.com/fgt_newsletter/15_10_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.