As a small diversion for this holiday season, I decided to throw together a recreation of the first trains I ever played with.

This very small route is a recreation of the 0 gauge layout my late grandfather built to go under (well actually to hold up) the Christmas tree.

The buildings are not identical, and the sidings were added during my childhood, but the track layout and sometimes oddly placed accessories are all accurate.

A full size tree stood in a 3 legged tree stand that I’ve never seen another one of. The 3 pointy legs of the tree stand just fit inside the track-work, so all this took place below its boughs.

Very inaccurate is the cat. If you ever ran such a train you know they are VERY noisy, and my mother’s cat most definitely did not want to have anything to do with it!

On this Loop and Figure 8 combo ran a Marx train of cast plastic bodies and metal trucks

• 490 0-4-0 Locomotive.
• Penn Central slope back tender (odd road name for such I always thought).
• “Marlines” white boxcar with a gimmick to have the door open and a small man appear carrying a box.
• Pennsylvania lettered gray gondola.
• Penn Central red caboose.

Sometime around 1980 the two sidings were added using manual turnouts (the 4 originals were remote controlled). They each ended in a plastic buffer with a red lamp, showing when the siding was powered. Each could hold either consist, allowing one consist to be parked in a siding while the other was in use.

As the years passed, my interests turned to other things back in the 1980s, and this all faded into memory, but this year I decided to relive it and to share it with the community.

I have to say, running at around 15-20 mph and watching the cars whip around those sharp bends, or trying to keep up with the switches as I change from one pattern to another certainly brought back memories.

All that’s missing is that motorized buzz… and the smell of ozone!

Downloads