I have been collecting houses for my Christmas village for many years. Now my husband would like to incorporate a train into the village. I’m not sure what size/scale to use. I’ve tried reading up on the subject but am having a difficult time understanding it all. In general…the houses are about 8 inches tall and the little Christmas people are a little under 2 inches. I’m not going for a an exact scale since I know the people aren’t exactly to scale with the houses and whatnot, but would like to have a basic train set that fits well into the village. Any suggestions? Thanks.
If the train will be on the floor, there would be nothing wrong with an O or G scale setup. HO or N would be too prone to being knocked over.
David B
From what you describe, the scale closest would be “o” gauge. In the old days that would have been Lionel brand stuff. Now days, most are one half that size or HO which stands for half “O”.
Old Lionel is still available but it is now collectable and thus pricey.
I don’t know anything else to try.
Bachmann makes an O scale Christmas train set for the Bradford Exchange mailorder group. My wife got me one six years ago. It uses HO gauge track because the trains are meant to be what is termed “narrow gauge”, or a full-sized train that runs on rails placed closer together than they would be on the main railroad tracks you see here and there. The motif for my train set is the Thomas Kinkaid Christmas/wintery scenes, and is a nice enough train set, if rather expensive.
You might try Bachmann’s site no the www and look for what is called On30 gauge and find Christmas trains that should look about right for your collection of buildings.
Good luck.
The typical village pieces have different scales. My wife and I collect Dept 56 (with a few others thrown in). The pieces based on large buildings such as cathedrals are usually a smaller scale than the houses, that way the actual sizes tends to be close. Accessory pieces - people, streetlights, vechicles, etc. tend to be over sized for the buildings.
Most of the trains advertised for the different village lines are On30. These are trains based on smaller narrow gauge prototypes and fit well with villages especially those based on an older era such as the Dept 56 Dickens village or those with a whimiscal look such as the North Pole village.
S scale trains are about the same size and also look good with villages if you want a more modern/mainline look in your village. American Flyer is the traditional brand, but there are others.
Enjoy
Paul
Walthers has several holiday motif train sets, both On30 and G (larger) scale, in their November sales flier. No web site given, but if you Google Walthers you will probably hit it.
Walthers has been very good about shipping quickly if the item is in stock.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Hi debba,
Sounds like a perfect scene for a LIONEL POLAR EXPRESS train set! ( “O” scale) If you have any local hobby shops, you might check with them about buying one.
Older Lionel sets can be pricey as was posted before.I have 2 older Lionel sets (vintage 1935) and both still work fine! Valued at about $1,000 apiece.
TheK4Kid
New Lionel starter sets can be purchased for well under $200 and come complete with track and transformer (power supply). They are and have been the quintessential holiday train going back an entire century, and will match the “scale” of your buildings. The steam engines smoke and still have the same sounding air whistle as the ones made in you parent’s and grandparent’s time.
Three excellent sets are :
The Pennsylvania Flyer
The New York Central Flyer
or the ever popular, Christmas themed Polar Express.
Last year about this time, Lionel train sets started showing up at Target stores. This was an exclusive deal between Lionel and Target, so you wouldn’t find them at any of the other big-box discounters. The sets were very reasonably priced. I don’t know if they’re going to do that again this year, but if they do, it’s an opportunity to get a starter set for a good price. If you can wait until after Christmas, last year they put them all on sale for as long as they lasted, to clear out the inventory. I think they cleared them out in a couple of days at that price.
If you have a train shop (called a Local Hobby Shop, or LHS here) that’s convenient, they can order things from Walthers for you. Mine gives me a discount on the item below Walthers list, and I don’t pay for shipping. (I do have to pay sales tax, of course.) If the item is on sale, I get the sale price if it’s better than my discount.
Agreed. O scale sounds about right.
http://www.lionel.com/
http://www.atlaso.com/
http://www.discounttrainsonline.com/o-gauge-o27-scale.html
Here’s some links to take a look at.
O-scale people six feet tall would be 1.5". I would recommend the On30 trains from Bachmann. They make some great passenger cars that I always thought would look wonderful in a Christmas village.