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Christmas Morning 1953 |
This photo from Christmas 1953 is the earliest photo of my trains. At this time I had two sets headed by American Flyer locomotives 322 Hudson and 365 Alco diesel PA and PB units. A 772 water tower, two 8B transformers and a fair collection of Plasticville structures can be seen in this photo. I still have the entire collection and more sets, accessories and plasticville have been added over the years.
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Christmas 1968 |
This photo from Christmas 1968 is of the first Christmas tree layout that Sharon and I shared as a married couple. We lived in a 12 foot wide mobile home and the layout consumed about half of the open floor space in the living room at only 25 square feet. The same two trains and as many of the Plasticville structures that would fit on the layout appear in this photo.
I had hoped to make a Christmas tree layout a family tradition as it was in my youth but, for various reasons, the next Christmas tree layout did not Materialize until 1992. See the photos below.
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Christmas season 1992 |
Christmas season 1992 found me unemployed in a house with a large living room. So with the little extra time that I had, I set up a Christmas tree layout. Unfortunely, the roll of film with the completed layout was lost, so this is all there is.
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Christmas 1992 Christmas tree layout |
Our Christmas tree with an elevated train layout. A Hudson (AF model number 322AC) is pulling an aluminum passenger train. |
CHRISTMAS 2013
In early December of this year the weather turned very cold and I was not able to complete the outdoor decorations of our house. Since the weather made it difficult to work outside, I chose to set up a Christmas tree train layout that I had wanted to construct for the last several years. Bananna boxes are strong, so they with a couple of surplus doors and styrofoam sheets for noise suppression made a good base to elevate the layout off of the floor. Since I am beyond seventy years old, this is easier than crawling on the floor.
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On the Outside track a model of an ALCO PA-PB locomotive (AF model mumber 365) is pulling a consist of three alumimum streamlined passenger cars. An Alantic (AF model number 302AC) is pulling a freight train on the inside track. |
The elevated layout made it easier to tend the trains when necessary. |
The Plasticville train station is set up on a corner of the layout. |
The first thing visitors to Plasticville encounter as they leave the trains station is a manger scene set up next to the church. |
A close up photo of the Plasticville village. |
There will be more photos of layouts on this page in the future.
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Bill, Christmas 2013 |
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