What’s New?
There are always new twists and challenges to the annual Christmas Village that I am privileged to erect in our current parsonage. This year, we decided to downsize on furniture a little and sold the big bookcase which has bordered the right side of the Christmas layout since we moved here. So I needed to invent a new treatment for the right side. However, I used familiar scene concepts in doing so. The street of shops in the back became longer so added a new Dept. 56 Dickens series bakery and a gas station. The homemade fencing that I picked up second hand at the train show combined with a lighted fence that I had not put up before, really added to the church and school scene on the right front. On the left side, a couple years ago, Cherie suggested that a log cabin would look cozy on the hillside. This year I found a Dept. 56 one and modified the slope just enough to add it in. I like the result.
More Pictures
I keep improving our Christmas village for a month or so and usually take pictures until I tear it down for the year a couple months later. But I took some early ones this year to share. I will try to post again using a better gallery block.
Track issues
A few years ago, I switched all my track over to Lionel FasTrack. I added a foam layer under it to reduce noise. But since I tear up the track and put it down again each year, and since the lower levels are on the floor and some parts get walked on, it is beginning to show wear. Occasionally pins break and subtle corrosion will prevent good contact causing a train to stop. I overcame these by a combination of soldering a wire underneath to bridge broken pins and applying an anti-oxidant product called Ox-Gard to joints. Also, the track pieces sometimes bend slightly from being walked on which can cause issues with keeping Thomas the Tank pieces hooked up. If detected before you put it down, they can be straightened.
