Christmastime 2015 - a train for the Christmas tree

How iconic it has become to add to the Christmas ambiance by setting up a model train around the base of the Christmas tree. I've wanted to do this for years, but have always had my heart set on using a locomotive and a set of cars that date back to the late 1920s.

Several years ago I discovered some pre-war American Flyer O-gauge passenger cars marked with authentic Great Northern Railway logos and (most of them) bearing the "name-train" moniker of Oriental Limited. Over time I picked up over a dozen of the cars, nearly all through eBay auctions.

Over the past summer I finally got to searching for one or two operating American Flyer locomotives of the same vintage as the passenger cars I had been accumulating. I found two in short order, and took them both to Eastside Trains in Kirkland, WA, for servicing. Neither one required significant repairs (although one was not initially operating). Both were cleaned and lubricated, and they run fine.

A circa-1928 American Flyer 3112 box cab electric locomotive,
like the one I have and used in the video below.

As Thanksgiving neared (and with it, the pivot point on the calendar where the last morsels of leftover turkey are quickly disappearing and the Christmas decorations are going up in earnest), I went back to Eastside Trains and picked up a sufficient number of Fastrack curved sections to run a complete 5-foot diameter circle under our tree. I also bought an MTH RailKing Z-1000 transformer to power the train.

I laid down the track and hooked up the transformer. To accommodate the power cord for the Christmas tree lights, I put down a vintage O-gauge pressed steel tunnel that I had picked up in November at the annual Boeing Employees Model Railroad Club swap meet. The power cord lays over the tunnel so as to not interfere with the train and tracks.

I'm not much for "smart phones." They intimidate me to no end. They make me feel dumb. They're "smart," and me, not so much. "Oy vey!" as my Scandinavian forebears used to say. (that's a joke. Uff da!)

Anyhow, I finally figured out through trial and error (mostly error) how to shoot some video with my smarter-than-I'll-ever-be phone. I managed to download it to my computer, and edited the video by adding a couple of opening and closing frames and a sound track of the Glenn Miller Orchestra performing "We Wish You A Merry Christmas." If you are a fan of the Christmas standard "Christmas Story" that came out in 1983, you'll likely recognize this tune from the closing scene of the movie.

So, here it is, my first and fledgling effort at slapping together a video with my smarter-than-I'll-ever-be phone, and some video editing software.

And to paraphrase Glenn Miller and his orchestra,
I wish you a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!