Chicago Valley Christmas Layout. 2022

 

  For his first birthday my son received a Lionel Scout train set from his grandparents.  First run around the Christmas tree, it was expanded a bit each year until it reached it's present size.  

No longer running around the Christmas tree, it now gets it's own table 110" inch long table in the living room during the Christmas season.  This is very much an interactive layout. Every year my kids look forward to setting it up and they are free to pop in and change the arrangement of people, vehicles and trains whenever they want.

Most of what is above was expanded slowly via resale shop finds, and train show and forum bargains.  Nothing prototypical here, but we're going for a generally modern looking layout with compressed buildings and accessories, much of which is classic Plasticville. 

Without further ado, starting from the South end (right side) of the layout, here's a tour of the Chicago Valley Railroad O-Gauge Christmas layout.

In the Southeast corner, this mini toy dollhouse's shallow depth makes it sit nicely against the back.

Plasticville House and Hotel (sign coming soon) are just down the same street.

Most buildings are lit with the same kind of string of bulbs (two strings of 6) that are used for ceramic Christmas houses, but with LED bulbs for cool safe operations in these small plastic buildings

Across the tracks, the downtown square is a bustle of activity.

This Disney Cars "Flo's V8 Cafe" toy scales nicely with Plasticville size buildings and has 8 blinking "neon" lights.  A couple years ago I wired the battery compartment to the 4.5V adaptors I use for other accessories and it works like a champ.

The layout uses a mix of vehicles.  Most range from 1/50 to 1/43.    However, some larger trucks such as Semis, and Bus type vehicles are smaller scales, being around 1:64.  The Dow Tanker (from a family member who recently retired from Dow) below is one such example.

There are only a couple ceramic buildings on the layout, but when I found this "Aldi" a I knew I had to have it.  Currently running on battery power for lighting, it will get a wired connection at some point. 

Chicago Residents will note the "Turano" bread truck.  Turano is a venerable Chicago bakery and it's one of my favorite vehicles. 

Classic Plasticville Fire Department.  

My favorite Plasticville buildings so far, the Plasticville Hospital dominates the square.

The biggest indulgence this year is the Menards AMTRAK station.  I have many memories seeing this type of station on my travels as a child.   

Warning to potential purchasers, the board powering the 4 animated AMTRAK signs makes an incredibly annoying modulating tone.  Can be drowned out by running trains, but if your layout will sit unrun while illuminated the sounds might drive you mad.

 Currently I've wired just the main lights directly to a different power source.  Rewiring the animated signs to be always-on, will probably get a blog post of it's own.

Still, it can't be denied that it's a very nice looking building and there is no other similar model available in O Scale so I'm sticking with it. 

Moving Northwards along the front (East) edge of the layout we pass my children's favorite building and the largest house in town, an ERTL farmhouse. 

Next to the farmhouse is the Lionel Cafe. A nice classic piece that I hope to find or make a suitable sign for this at some point. 

At the end of the block is this classic Plasticville home.

Turning around and heading back up the street we pass the Church.  This one is quite warped, glue-stained and missing it's decorative windows so I'm planning to use it to experiment with painting the inside (to reduce glow) and outside, possibly permanently gluing it together and replacing windows.  A better condition complete kit is on the way now but this one will live on as part of my wargames terrain collection.  

The Police station is adjacent to the Church.  I have a few of the Welly brand CPD Crown Victoria Sedans and they may be my second favorite vehicles on the layout.

Heading around to the Rear (West) side of the layout, we find two fantastic resale shop finds.  Department 56 Lionel Train Shop and Diner.  

Keen Eyed viewers will notice the Airplane advertising decoration is a James Bond Jet and the Dark Knight and his Batmobile (Animated Series) are keeping watch.

The Mayor giving a speech was my daughter's idea.  Regarding the people on the layout, they are mostly a mix of cheap AliExpress 1:50 figures (on white chips) and Heroclix figures removed from their Clix Bases

Looking inside you can see people. I separated the cafe from it's base to access the interior.

The second station on the layout, this red building was an enjoyable restoration project. 

The final intact building on the layout is this Plasticville ranch home.

My son likes to have a construction lot on our layout, but this is the first year we've had a building under construction.  

This pedestrian bridge in-progress is made from "Girder and Panel" beams.

That's all very well and good, but of course it all really shines when illuminated.

Thanks for taking the time to visit the Chicago Valley Railroad. 

Happy Holidays, many blessings and a Merry Christmas to you and yours. 

Sincerely,

Karl