Why We Put Model Trains Under A Christmas Tree
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ธ.ค. 2023
- Model trains and Christmas have been intertwined for over a century like Coca Cola and Santa Claus. Its a tradition to put a circle of track around the base of a Christmas tree and send a train on its way around it. But why? What brought Lionel and other model trains to be so closely linked to the holiday season? The origins date back over a century, when Americans relied on the train far more than they do now.
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For anyone who’s a train enthusiast, having any train set underneath a Christmas tree will make their Christmas complete!
Another reason is that parents often did not wrap presents years ago - they hid them until the kids went to bed on Christmas Eve night. The parents brought out the gifts and often assembled any toys - including setting up a train set.
I remember even as a kid growing up in Toronto in the 90s that Christmas model trainsets were sold at Loblaws grocery stores. I still remember all the cool sets they sold to this day. Trains and Christmas are the perfect pairing.
Anyone else remember/know about the series "I Love Toy Trains"? It was a big part of my early childhood and perhaps the main reason why I have an interest in model trains today (as well as Thomas of course). I'm going to have to wait until I have my own house before I build my own layout though.
I'm actually very lucky that both of my grandfathers had Lionel Postwar as kids, and they've passed it all on to me. I still need to finish servicing the old beasts though, since it's been decades since they've gotten any grease or oil.
Oh yes, also here in the Netherlands we took over that American tradition :) and I love it, my Marklin train is always running under the Christmas tree. Yes I know, I am a fully grown man 41 years of age but trains do have a special place in my heart, trains are cool. Very durable also, if you take a bit care of those realistic model train sets it lasts more than 1 generation. It is not 'diamonds are forever', trains are forever!
I don't think this is a very widespread tradition here in Germany. I probably got the idea from the film Polar Express, where at the very end the Polar Express model train goes around the Christmas tree. I always wanted to have one of these, but it's a little difficult in Germany. So German trains have been running around my Christmas tree ever since. I love this tradition, I couldn't imagine Christmas without it.
I got a Bachmann harvest express train set for Christmas of 2018, and it basically made me interested in trains as a whole. That cn gp40 and those three hopper cars were my prized possessions for years, until my dad and I started building a 4x8 ft layout, that we’re still working hard on to this day. It also made me discover railfanning, a hobby that I very much enjoy as well. and even career wise, I plan to work for the railroad in the future. One train set can sure go a long way.
This was incredibly enjoyable. Full of Christmas cheer. I received the model train tradition from my Fathers side who's mostly German-American. My Grandfather had a nice train set and my Grandmother would make fantastic Putzen's to go along with them.
I still remember my first Lionel train,it was the ready-to-play Polar Express,set it around the tree and played with it till Valentine's Day
Merry Christmas I got hogwarts express
Model railroading is the most satisfying and relaxing hobby in my opinion
I have ran my own G Gauge Lionel Polar Express Train Set around the Christmas Tree along with my HO Scale Trains too.
I did a double take on the Lego train at
I got my dad a Lionel train a few years ago. My family are train enthusiasts no matter what time of year it is, but Christmas is the only time he can get it out. The tree really is a convenient place to put the track without it being in the way.
Great video! Just want to add that the simplicity of early electric toy trains made them very durable. I run both O gauge and standard gauge tinplate trains - most of what I run was made in the 1920s and 1930s and still works as well as when it was new.
This why i love this tradition. When i was 8, my dad got me an 0-27 set that at first we set up around the christmas tree, My mom got mad and threw it away. So me and my dad dug it out the trash and hid it in my room. He built a layout for me a few months after my mom calmed downed. My mom threw it away cuz it was smoking..... It was a steam locomotive
I recall a 1980s Iarnrod Eireann/ Irish Rail Christmas advertisement which had two 1:76 or OO scale trains on a circle underneath a Christmas tree. One model train was an 8100 DART EMU with the other being an InterCity train with an EMD 071 class loco with mark 2 carriages. There was another version of the advert with the 8100 by itself.
A Christmas tree is NEVER complete without a train of some kind running underneath it. Whenever I go to someone's house and I see no train under it, I just shake my head. It looks so bare without it. I don't care if it's some cheapy battery powered one you can get at Target, it needs to be under there.
I am from Britain and we have a fixation with trains as well here in our own homes. We don't follow this practice of putting our train sets under our Christmas trees. I prefer to build my trainset as a big layout that dominates the living room floor for all the family to see. You Americans have a good way of making use of your Christmas tree with a beautiful train set. I think British kids didn't engage in having their trainsets running around the Christmas tree in a circle track because we didn't have many homes with electricity supplies in the 1900s. Most toy trains available then were clockwork operated so we didn't need it to be near a plug socket like that for our Christmas tree.