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Simple Christmas Tree Layout
The first two years we had large scale trains under the Christmas
tree it was a mess. I mean it was a neat thing for the kids (me) and all of our friends
that would come visiting during the holidays but it was actually a pain in the
butt to set up each year AND keep in operational condition. So, the birth of yet another
excuse to play with more train stuff... The Christmas Tree Layout! It's not much more than
a wooden base but each year setup is done in about five minutes and we can play trains when ever
we want, it also looks very nice with a well trimmed tree sitting over it.
The materials needed are: plywood, wood glue, nails, staples, a tree
mat, track and of course a little time.
To construct the layout:
- I first dug up a sheet of 1/2 inch plywood in the garage (I pack rat
everything) and cut it down to 52 inches in length. Keeping in mind that a circle of track 4
feet in diameter will be about 4 feet 4 inches (52 inches) in total diameter because most
track measurements are done by radius and the radius of a circle is generally
measured from the center of the circle to the
centerline of the track. Now my plywood was 48 by 52 inches (that won't work but wait
until later).
- I found the center of my plywood by drawing a big X on it
(lines going corner to corner make a perfectly centered X) and drove a nail into it.
A piece of string tied to the nail in the center with a pencil on the other
end makes a simple compass. The distance from the nail to the pencil was 26 inches. Once that was done
I held the pencil perfectly vertical and started to draw a circle on the plywood making
sure to keep the string tight so my line didn't go off track. The line will now
be my guide to cut the layout into a circular shape.
- I used a scroll saw to cut the roughly square shaped plywood into a very nice circle
with the exception of ending up with two flats opposite each other. This is
because the plywood was only 48 inches wide. To fix the flat sections I cut more plywood. This
time I used my compass (nail, string and pencil) to make 3 and a half semi circles on the
remainder of my plywood that were 3 1/2 inches wide and almost 48 inches long (a roadbed)
and cut them out with the scroll saw. I took those small semi curved piece's of wood and glued / nailed
them on top of my circular base (layout). By doing this I was able to correct the problem
of the base only being 48 inches wide. I also took a couple of small wood scraps and cut
them to fit on the underside of the new raised wood sections to fill in the original flat
areas of the base. Now I had a nice 52 inch circle with a raised roadbed to mount my track
on.
- I covered the bottom and sides of the base with some left over upholstery fabric to
help hide the wood from view and more importantly to protect the carpet
where the layout would be set up. The fabric was held to the base with heavy
duty staples.
- I "borrowed" a really nice Christmas Tree mat that
my wife had for the top. It was just the right size too. I laid it out flat on
the base and stapled it down making sure it fit tightly into and around the
raised roadbed areas giving it a good form fitting look. The wide ivory colored lace trim
on the mat (which the kids have
since torn off) hung over the edge giving the base an extra nice look to finish
it off.
- The last step was to attach the track. I just used some 1 inch
wire brad's to tack the track in place.
You can now walk all over the base, set the tree stand and
tree on
it for a sturdy surface and roll it away for storage.
We supply power to the track via a cheap Bachmann power pack. I soldered
alligator clips to the ends of the feed wire's so I can just clip'em onto the bottom of
the rails and un-clip'em when not being used to keep the area looking clean. The
alligator clips are small enough that they will pass under the track between the tie's so
you don't have to worry about the wires laying loose over the rails...
Yes, the top picture shows the layout with Bachmann track, the bottom picture
is the layout with with nice
new Aristo Craft track. The difference in track performance is unbelievable too. | 
JJ & C RailRoad