Don’s been in touch with his Christmas model railroad layout…

“Al,

I have been a model railroader for a very long time. (since the late 50’s or early 60’s).

Like most boys, my folks gave me a Marx O-Gauge train set and things have progressed from there for the past 60 years.

As I sit at the kitchen table this Christmas morning, drinking my coffee and waiting for family to wake up, I decided to share some pictures of my model railroad.

The change over from bare benchwork to Christmas, started just before Halloween.

Thats when I start getting Christmas decorations out for the house and checking things over before I begin decorating a week before Thanksgiving.

It was then that my wife informed me, that the Christmas Village Tree would not be set up this year. Well, that was a good enough reason for me to focus on my layout. The only theme for the whole layout was/is Christmas.

I am not a professional by any means, I just enjoy Model Railroading and Christmas. So here are a few pictures of my layout. Hope you and your readers enjoy.

Merry Christmas,
Don,
Louisiana”

And if you are after more Christmas layouts:

Christmas model railroads

Now an update from Hall of Fame member, John:

“Hi Al.

Thought you might like another update.

I have completed structure #3 and did a quick mock up of how the exit to the fiddle yard will look.

Two more structures will finish this end, a pub and a residence.

Best,

John Reynolds”

A big thanks to John – his prevous pics on this are at the bottom of this post.

“Al, greetings from Dean from New Mexico.

I recently had to tackle the water features on my Scenic Ridge Railroad (the last big project for this layout).

I experimented with techniques and used a product called Mod Podge that is redily available from Amazon, hobby stores, or art stores.

Mod Podge is a PVA material that looks and behaves like white glue (Elmer’s).

As you can see, when wet it is thick enough to hold its position even on very steep slopes. It drys to a translucent reflective film that looks like water.

My procedure is:

1. Pour a soupy batch of plaster or hydrocal to give a flat surface on the bed where you want the water to be.

2. Tint it with dilute colors of brown and gray.

3. Use thin cottom pads (available in the ladies makeup section at stores) to increade the depth of water on waterfalls. Saturate the pads with Mod Podge or white glue. Dry.

4. Add 1 or more layers of Mod Podge, then let them dry.

5. With white paint and a dry brush, paint on simulated ripples on the water.

6. Seal the final product with Mod Podge sealer after complete drying.

Here are some final shots showing the results:

Cheers and thanks for everything you do for this hobby.

Dean.”

Dean’s last post is here, which touches on 3D printing, which brings us nicely to Joe.

Joe has only sent in one pic – but it made me think just how much 3D printing has come along:

“Christmas present from a retired US Army Command Master Sergeant.

3D printed Loc, tender, & .027 track.

Controlled by smartphone with forward camera, steam & light.

Joe”

If anyone else has been playing with these 3D trains I’d love to hear from you.

And seeing as we are still talkling about Christmas, is it too late to post festive layouts?

I know Christmas has been and gone, but it’s before the New Year, so I thought I’d squash a few more in.

I don’t know what it is about Christmas layouts, but they all seem to capture so much of what this hobby is about:

A big thanks to Dean, John, Joe and to Don for sharing his Christmas Model railroad layout.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you join in on the fun, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.