Christmas Village 2020 with Steam

Our 2020 Christmas Village! Let two steam trains guide you through animated Christmas shops, decorated homes, and the snow festival. Then up to Lookout Mountain with its ski slopes and mountain chalets. Finish your tour with a couple beers and a song at the local brewery, then wander over to watch and listen as the “Coke-‘n-Bud Express” engineer shovels coal, takes on water, and blows off some steam before shutting down for the day.
Most buildings are either Lemax or Department 56 collectibles. The “Dickens’ Row” buildings along the front edge are mostly Dept. 56 “Dickens’ Village Series” pieces. Be sure to see the comparison between the similar Lemax and Dept. 56 synchronized light-and-sound homes.
There are five operating/animated trains on this holiday layout:
1. Outside loop around village and through the mountain tunnel. This train is the Thomas Kinkade Christmas express, with a coal steam locomotive/tender, 12 cars each bearing unique Thomas Kinkdade paintings, and a caboose. The locomotive is fully functional, with synchronized engine chuff and remotely controlled headlight and sound (whistle, bell, various steam sounds, etc.).
2. Inside loop through the village. Affectionately known locally as the “Coke-‘n-Bud Express,” this train is a holiday beverage train for the villagers, with 5 Coca-Cola Christmas cars and 6 Budweiser beer cars, and a Coke caboose. The coal steam locomotive and tender have action and sound similar to the Kinkade loco. Both of the above two trains can interact between the inside and outside loops via track switches.
3. The villagers have their own Garden scale "Peppermint Express" model railroad, running down Main street and through its own tunnel under the carousel. It is a fully-functional diesel locomotive (DC, no sound) with 7 cars (peppermint and supplies, and a few "12 Days of Christmas" cars).
4. & 5. Two of the buildings have their own trains running around their towers. Yeah, maybe a stretch, but hey, they are animated trains!
The mountain is scratch-build and hand painted, with a waterfall, creek, rock wall trail, and full ski area on one side. At the base of the mountain is a sledding area with dog park, skating rink, and lots of activity.
The main two steam locomotives are customized versions of the Bradford Exchange’s collectible Christmas-themed train sets. I’ve modified the locomotives by converting each chassis to Digital Command Control (DCC) with on-board sound, for more realistic operation. For the nitty-gritty details on how I did this conversion, see my web page at:
sites.google.com/view/marksmo...
Enjoy the tour!

[@TheasChristmasVillages]

Really enjoyed watching this! Thanks for sharing. 😊

[@HCain]

Beautiful! I love this sort of thing. Wish the original train came with sound. It's so nostalgic!

[@tsanelkoto0810]

I love it so delightful and fantastic❤🎉❗

[@Imieitrenimodello]

Sure it's the most beautiful Christmas layout i have seen on yt..congratulations 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

[@danielboone3770]

Wait I love both Christmas trains!

[@petelinster7093]

Love your village. You have some good train and mountain magic going on. Done so nice.

[@Duweez586]

Wow 😮

[@chrisballon5636]

Super duper amazing as it BEST OMG what a concept🌲🌲☃️☃️❄️❄️🎄🎄👏🏻👏🏻

[@danielboone3770]

What a fantastic Christmas layout! I love it! Especially the Christmas train!

[@angelaeaglesbeauty3892]

You have everything set up so beautifully! ❤ Thank You for sharing!

[@user-xf7og8mr4x]

СУПЕР!!!СПАСИБО за видео зкскурсию! Всего Вам самого хорошего!!!

[@crashryanphoto]

Fantastic buildings in your village! Love that green Thomas Kinkaide locomotive. Very festive layout

[@simoncarrier8]

That mountain is AWESOME TO 👌🏼

[@63LindaLee]

Awesome job! Love all the different trains.

[@savannahraetan2575]

love this!

[@barbarab9438]

Your village and trains are gorgeous! Love the landscaping/terrain

[@tranhaoanh5337]

beautiful, I love it

[@michaeldupree4360]

Great layout! Merry Christmas 🎄🎁

[@aowi7280]

Pretty cool!

[@AndrewLawsonjughead67]

Cool😎

[@lonicompany5172]

Wouwouw very nice

[@D_Avila209]

Very cool

[@TheVillageCollector]

Great video to go with your awesome village. It has been chosen as a "Village Video of the Month" selection on our website, and will be featured on the "Village Videos" page starting May 15, 2022. Congratulations!

[@markhenrichs1252]

Thank you! You have a nice web page, with a lot of good information and links.

[@TheVillageCollector]

Thank you for the kind words. Would you mind sharing what state you're in?

[@markhenrichs1252]

@@TheVillageCollector We're in Colorado.

[@petercoologeorgen9477]

Awesome layout. What type of transformer do you use?

[@markhenrichs1252]

For the trains, I use Digital Command Control (DCC). I use the NCE Power Cab (www.ncedcc.com/online-store/Power-Cab-Starter-Set-with-24-watt-110-240V-US-Power-Supply-p38322079 ) for both power and control, along with the NCE wireless remote control. I've modified all my locomotives to add DCC and sound. Details at sites.google.com/view/marksmodelrailroads/how-tos/convert-holiday-trains.

[@jinnloo2266]

Amazing! Does your thomas kinkade locomotive produce steam? If so, how do you do that please? Thank you!

[@markhenrichs1252]

No, no steam. Just sound.🙂

[@TexasRailfan21-RailfanRyan]

Awesome train how are you able to get a decoder and soundboard in that On30 mogul?

[@markhenrichs1252]

Basically, I just swapped the locomotive's shell with that of a new Bachmann DCC Sound-ready locomotive of the same Mogul type. Then I plugged in the Bachmann sound decoder (made by SoundTraxx) into the tender (speaker/DCC was already there). Details of the conversion steps are on my web site at sites.google.com/view/marksmodelrailroads/how-tos/convert-holiday-trains. I've modified the DC version of these moguls, but the time and effort of chassis modification and DCC decoder installation is a pain, and the discounted cost of the new Bachmann DCC version, even with sound module, is not that different from the cost of individual components needed to do the conversion on the original chassis. Details in the document above.

[@musicman8942]

As a long time model railroader I'm am loving this. So the larger stuff is On30 (Department 56 being O scale) but what is the 'garden railroad'? N scale? I have both sets of trains along with regular HO scale and this type of thing with both a 'full size' railroad and a smaller one for an 'amusement park railroad' has fascinated me for quite the while.

[@markhenrichs1252]

The "garden railroad" is actually Z-scale - I thought N was still a bit big, compared to village people sizes, and the On30 trains. I started with a "Peppermint Express" Christmas theme Z-scale set, then added some "12 Days of Christmas" cars. Micro-Trains publishes a "Micro-Mouse" Christmas car each year in Z-scale, so I add one once in a while. A fun and unique addition to any village - your Villagers need their own garden-scale model railroad, after all! ;-)

[@user-wh6bl3ei7e]

Wonderful set up.. I have a question just purchased a train set myself and having a difficult time to connect the carts together, I don't want to force and break it. Can you show me how to connect the carts. Thanks

[@markhenrichs1252]

On any model train set I've used, coupling the cars is pretty straight-forward and does not require forcing anything. Just set both cars on a straight piece of track, a couple inches apart. Make sure all wheels are set on the track correctly, and the couplers are straight (pointing toward each other). Then just push one car into the other car gently - they should couple securely without forcing them.

[@lapassion24]

Everything is beautiful but why the camera is shaking.. beauty though!!

[@franzh2403]

Wonderful , the two Locos between the lovely Houses !!!! Can you help me, how to open my Christmas Excpress loco. I want to install DCC with sound, but I found no screw to loosen the boiler of the locomotive. Greetings Franz

[@markhenrichs1252]

Sorry for the delayed response, I just saw this. If your Christmas Express loco is one of these Bachmann (Hawthorne Village), I have instructions for opening them up on my web site at sites.google.com/view/marksmodelrailroads/how-tos/convert-holiday-trains. This article describes how I converted mine to DCC. There is a .PDF document with more details at the bottom of that web page.

[@franzh2403]

@@markhenrichs1252 Hi thank you very much. My locomotive is already ready. I installed a smoke generator, two position lights in front, as well as a sound decoder and a controllable MP3 player with large speakers. I hope that if there is snow in December, I will upload a Christmas video of it. Many thanks for the detailed information. With best regards, Franz

[@markhenrichs1252]

@@franzh2403 - Wow, that sounds very ambitious and unique! I look forward to seeing your video of it in action.

[@simoncarrier8]

Another question Mark 🙏🏻🤷🏻‍♂️ That mountain is AMAZING did you make it or is it bought? 🤔

[@markhenrichs1252]

Thank you! I made the mountain. It is stacked and glued 2" thick blue building insulation foam sheets from the hardware store. I carved them with a hot wire knife, then added plaster rocks in places. I painted it with house paint, then dry-brushed browns and white for the patterns and snow. Water was done with resin and water effect products, using techniques like what are used in model railroading (see sites.google.com/view/marksmodelrailroads/rockies-diorama for an example and details).

[@simoncarrier8]

Thank you 🙏🏻

[@sonns_g]

First of all, Kudos!! its a beautiful village setup with the trains. Q: I am an amateur at the villge and the train, but I would like to know, do your trains change tracks?

[@markhenrichs1252]

Thank you! Yes, my trains can change tracks. I have a track switch that allows either train (I usually have two running) to change from the inside (village) track loop to the outside (mountain/tunnel) track, or vice versa. Note that to do this with two trains on the track at the same time, I use DCC (Digital Command Control), which is a more complex (and expensive) system than what is normally used for such villages. However, you can use the same switch system on the more common DC-only trains, if you only have one train (locomotive) on the track at any one time.

[@sonns_g]

@@markhenrichs1252 Thanks for responding. I am debating between the Christmas express, Thomas Kinkade and the Lionel Flyer chief. Please correct me if I am wrong, Lionel trains are more customizable ( one can buy bridges, tunnels etc) hence the debate.

[@markhenrichs1252]

@@sonns_g I have no experience with Lionel, so I cannot give you a fair comparison. Certainly there are standard tunnel and bridge components for any O or On30 model trains, which would work for any of these O-scale train sets, including Lionel - only the track would be different. But if there are pre-built bridges with track specific to Lionel pre-installed, I would not know. For my tunnel, I just carved the tunnel to my needs, and added a standard pre-made O-scale tunnel portal.

[@sonns_g]

@@markhenrichs1252 perfect that helps a lot!! thanks

[@thomasc.1283]

What brands are those villages? Where did you buy them?

[@markhenrichs1252]

The village houses are a mix of Lemax and Dept. 56. Most of the Lemax were bought at Michael's Craft stores (some were Michael's exclusive). Many of the Dept. 56 were purchased locally at holiday specialty stores (no longer in business) or the local hardware store, as close-out specials. Some retired items were purchased used from ebay. Just whatever we found that we liked!

[@danedunford7250]

How big is your christmas layout?

[@markhenrichs1252]

The table top is about 5 ft. (1.5 meters) by 10 ft. (3 meters).

[@GenZod80]

Where do you get the roads from?

[@markhenrichs1252]

The asphalt mainstreet road was bought as a roll of adhesive-backed model road "tape" from a model railroad hobby store. Similar tape can be found on-line (like www.amazon.com/Walthers-Flexible-Self-Adhesive-Roadway-Highway/dp/B07CMHCCQX).

[@michaeldecker7275]

Is the bradford exchange a real website it looked a bit sketchy to me?

[@markhenrichs1252]

Yes, the Bradford Exchange (www.bradfordexchange.com/) is a well-known producer of quality collectibles, and has been in business for over 40 years (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bradford_Exchange). Their train sets (sold via subscription) are made specifically for them by Bachmann, a well-respected manufacturer of model trains for many years. I personally think some of their village pieces are better detail & quality than either Dept. 56 or Lemax. Of course, their prices reflect the quality!

[@lucaginetto4838]

Could you link me thomas kinkade train please?

[@markhenrichs1252]

@@lucaginetto4838 - The "official" web site is "www.bradfordexchange.com/products/49039_thomas-kinkade-train.html" - note that you need a subscription to get these new (takes many months to get a set). However, you can often get pretty good deals buying used, even as sets, like on eBay, etc.

[@pigsplayingpoker]

@@markhenrichs1252 You can call in to get sped up in a collection if they have inventory

[@simoncarrier8]

Hi Mark 👍🏻 What’s the green train 🚂 and scale?

[@markhenrichs1252]

The green train is the Thomas Kinkade “Christmas Express” train collection from the Bradford Exchange. The scale is On30 ("O" scale narrow gauge, running on HO track). It is the perfect size for most all holiday village buildings. The locomotive (made by Bachmann) is a model of a narrow-gauge 2-6-0 Mogul steam locomotive. The cars feature miniature winter and holiday paintings by the painter Thomas Kinkade.

[@simoncarrier8]

@@markhenrichs1252 thanks Mark 🙏🏻

[@lamarcuspowell7448]

Do you still have it

[@markhenrichs1252]

Yes. My video of our 2022 version is in the works . . .

[@burcuturkoglu8801]

🚓🚑🚕🚒 Ben yüzer

[@peterammann4500]

Eine grobe Verunglimpfung des Modellbahnhobbys. Pfui!