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Planning a Christmas Open House, Part 1A garden railroad open house is what a recital is to a music student - an opportunity, not to show off, but to provide a sort of "status report" on your progress to interested parties. This year (2008) I am planning to have a "cold-weather" open house with a Christmas theme, my first ever. This will be the first of a series of notes on my progress and/or lack thereof. We'll start with a history of previous "open houses" on the New Boston and Donnels Creek."Note: Right now my only open house this winter is planned for November 8, from 1:00PM to 7:00PM. (Rain/Blizzard date is Nov. 15). If you would like to ask questions, learn more about our plans, sign up to come, sign up to help, or learn about other Christmas-themed open houses in Southwest Ohio this year please visit our 2008 Christmas Open Houses sheet. Previous Open Houses![]() In June of 2002, I had another open house, for participants in a National Garden Railway convention that was held in Cincinnati that year. We received a few visitors from all over the East Coast.
In November of 2003, I had my only cold-weather open house to date - it was associated with the NMRA train show in Dayton that month. Most of the visitors we received were from the East Coast - go figure. Although the trains were running and the buildings were still set out, most of the greenery was gone, so the railroad looked a little desolate compared to its summer months. Since then, I've added many more conifers and other evergreen plants, so the railroad still looks somewhat green all year long. In June of 2007, we had another graduation open house, this time to celebrate two daughters who had graduated college. Sadly, I had little time to prepare, and when I tried running my big, impressive trains, I realized that the roadbed had gotten too uneven to let them run. So we let the 0-4-0s and other small locomotives handle the chores. I then spent the rest of the summer trying to "fix" my railroad so I could run my big trains again.
In the fall of 2007, I did attempt to repair some of my buildings, and to get others ready that I had been working on. I had two more sets of Fischer-Price houses that had not yet been "converted," so I experimented with removing the pressed wood panels from those buildings. Unfortunately, the plastic parts of those buildings did not take well to the pressure, and began snapping apart, a hint of what would happen to the buildings that have already been exposed to the weather. So I'll have to wait to work on my "converted" buildings until I have time and tools to do it right. 2008 EffortsAlthough the MVGRS had some spring open houses, we had conflicts with each weekend, so I could neither see nor hold a "club" open house this past spring. Even if I had, there was no chance that I would have been able to run the big long trains, or put most of my most unique buildings on display. So I decided to try a September open house.By May, it was obvious that September wasn't going to happen. By July it was apparent that October wasn't going to happen. So I thought about trying to schedule another open house in conjunction with the Dayton NMRA train show in November. This close to the holidays, I figured it was time to consider including a "holiday" theme.
Louie had not only assembled these buildings in a professional manner; he had also mounted them on plexiglass bases, added street lamps, and created a wiring network that would make them easy to install. Louis also lives within a few miles of my father, whom I was planning to visit in October anyway. The buildings are all Piko storefronts, representing late 1800s or western structures, not exactly the period or place I usually model. But they were very attractive, and the notion of having working street lamps on a twighlight or after-dark open house was appealing. On the trip to see Dad, I bought the three buildings that I thought would blend in with my other structures the best. I probably should have bought them all, but at this time of year, costs for operating Family Garden TrainsTM and its associated web sites are high and income is low. (Bandwidth goes up, income stays flat). After setting the buildings out for a day to get an idea of where they might go, I took them inside and tested them out with a 12-volt DC power supply left over from an answering machine or something. They looked great. I figured out Louie's wiring system, took them outside and hooked them into my 12-volt low-voltage lighing system. Very nice. Now I sort of wish that I had bought them all . . . . Well, I may get back north eventually . . . Still to Go - Here are some things I'd like to get done in the next two weeks. What do you think?
So all in all, there's not THAT much on my plate in the next week . . . Conclusion and Best WishesAs we go through this process, we are getting things accomplished that we needed done whether or not we have a Christmas-themed open house. But when we started planning this project, we also felt that this would be an especially good year to give early Christmas cheer to our friends and family, to anyone who is able to attend, and to anyone who reads these blogs. If this has been an especially stressful year for you, you are probably hoping for this Christmas season to encourage you and to enrich you in all the ways that really count. Frankly, we feel the same way, which is one reason we keep trying to add to our reservoir of helpful and encouraging articles on our Family Christmas Online(tm) web site. The same hope for our families, friends, and readers is what started the "ball rolling" on our Christmas-themed open house project as well. In other words, if you take nothing else away from these articles, please accept the Race family's best wishes for a safe, happy, and blessed Christmas and New Year! Once again, if you would like to ask questions, be notified of future open houses on the New Boston and Donnels Creek, or learn about other Christmas-themed open houses in Southwest Ohio this year please visit our 2008 Christmas Open Houses sheet. Best of luck, have a great fall and winter, enjoy your trains, and especially enjoy any time you have with your family this season. Paul Race
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