Although I recently purchased a dept 56 building myself–my first and only one–the Lionel train store one–I can’t help asking why they are such a big thing. i’ve heard numerous interviews–especially on Tom McComas Christmas videos, about how they are the best.
WHY?
They certainly aren’t very realistic looking. They aren’t to size, and I’m not sure how well they go with toy train accessories.
They don’t interest me, alhough I was given one as a gift for my layout. They are too unrealistic for what I have in mind. Although, I think they will look good for an “under the tree layout”.
Got the krispy Kreme on my layout, but I’m not really going for true hi-rail realism. I’m sort of doing a postwar style layout with a bit more realism thrown in.
I think they have a lot of charm and work with postwar acessories and buildings well, although the glossy finish bothers me a bit.
Mike S.
I have a large collection of Dept. 56 “Snow Village” buildings. They’re great, and work well in a toy train layout setting–O27 and S gauge, in particular–that doesn’t pretend to be anything else.
Different strokes for different folks. If you like them, you’ll like them. If you don’t, you won’t. And it really doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks, does it?
As Allan and others have stated, not the most realistic thing out there, but they work well for a look that is a little less than Hi Rail. Another benefit from these is that the wife likes them and it kinda helps bring her into the hobbie (lets me buy more trains). Even K-Line had the Lemax village buildings that work somewhat well with O-27.
Dennis
Similar ceramic and plastic buildings to those of Dept. 56 are everywhere - especially seasonally in the big-box retailers and discounters such as Big Lots, as well as the craft stores such as Michael’s - they carry Lemax - and hobby superstores like Hobby Lobby. Even Hallmark and drug stores - even the bigger department stores have similar items. Dept. 56 has a retail store in Chicago’s Water Tower Place - breathtakingly expensive to me - but seems to have everything they are currently making. Note the obvious: the Dept. 56 items in particular are fixed-time releases designed to be collectibles in their own right -you should see the subsidiary forums and websites about them.
Dept. 56 buildings have a distinctive charm and their collection is a hobby in itself. My wife does not care for toy trains but she does like the Dept. 56 buildings (in our case, Christmas in the City and New England Village). Her interest in the buildings provided a natural bridge to involve my trains. Thus, at Christmas each year we have a display we both enjoy. It’s not just hers, it’s not just mine - it’s ours.
To be sure, they are not inexpensive and they are not to scale. But I like them and will probably continue to but (used or on sale) at least one new building a year to add to “our” collection.
We have a fairly large collection D56 on our layout and we really enjoy them as do our guests. The lighting is subtle and the colors are more than acceptable. The biggest plus though is that it actively involves my wife with scenery building and I couldn’t hire anyone better than her when it comes to designing scenes and then building them. For us it’s a win win.
The only drawback I see is the size of the people, much to big and now my lovely wife also sees the problem, we will slowly retire those fun loving giants. The costs are, in our opinion, reasonable but then we are that point in our lives where we can finally afford those accessories.
If you want to take a look here’s our layout from the beginning to present. And yes, I’m reshooting the entire layout and should have a new album ready by mid May.
That’s a great layout. It’s nice to see what is possible w/ Dept 56. I always hear they’re the best, and I can see your family’s passion for them Thanks for the link and great pics.
Realism isn’t everything to all people. You can usually tell from looking at the paintings of most popular painters that it’s a painting, not a photograph, but that’s part of the charm.
The buildings represent a simpler, bygone time, and the lack of grittiness idealizes it even more perhaps. That fantasy factor is much of the appeal. And if you’re running prewar or postwar era trains, which also have a degree of simplification/sanitation (even American Flyer S gauge trains took liberties, just not as many liberties as Lionel and Marx), they look pretty good together. People tend to romanticize those trains too, so it’s a good match.
They’re out of place on a hirail layout, but if hirail isn’t your thang, it’s certainly possible to make a very attractive layout with them, as Jon so ably demonstrated.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go oogle his site some more.
I bought a ton of the Halloween stuff last year - I like the sense of humor involved, although I think there is room for improvement. Overall, I really like them and agree that they have a sort of story-book romantic appeal.
Thanks for the compliments guys, we appreciate it.
When we first began our benchwork I wasn’t quite sure how we would develop the different scenes but then we kept looking at the D56 buildings and it just kind of evolved. It was the perfect opportunity for my wife to show off her small collection of D56 and I agreed 100% plus she enjoys working in the train room as much as I do.
She’s kind of a “crafty” person, you should see our house at Halloween, Christmas and now Easter. I was away last week and when I returned it looked like her and the Easter Bunny had a huge party here, decorations everywhere. Never a dull moment around here, and for that, I’m grateful.
Jon,
Thanks for contributing to this string. As I have stated before, I am looking forward to your updated photos. If you get the chance to include your layout plan, that would be great too. Always a pleasure to see what can be done. I also like the idea of working with the wife. Mine has become involved in the hobby as well and I think the village sets were the main reason. We have small children and it is great for them to see Mommy and Daddy working together and having fun.
Dennis