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Trains-N-Towns. The official e-newsletter of Big Indoor Trains<sup><small>TM</small></sup> and Big Christmas Trains<sup><small>TM</small></sup> - Bringing you news about O Gauge, On30, and Christmas trains, and the model communities they serve. This photo shows an O gauge railroad that uses ceramic buildings and runs OUTDOORS. Click for bigger photo. Return to Big Indoor Trains<sup><small>TM</small></sup> primer pageOn30 Display Trains
O Scale Accessories
O Gauge Christmas TrainsOn30 Christmas Trains

Written by Paul D. Race for Big Indoor TrainsTM

































































Trains-N-TownsTM, the NEW Official Newsletter of BIGIndoorTrains.com and BIGChristmasTrains.com

This is the "new-and-improved" version of the BIG Christmas TrainsTM newsletter, which unfortunately, we haven't sent out for a while. We changed the name because we discovered that lots of folks who started out using trains during the holidays were leaving them set up most or all of the year.

We also realized that there were few resource for people who got into the hobby this way. So we've started Big Indoor TrainsTM web site and the Trains-N-TownsTM newsletter to help non-railroaders who suddenly find themselves running and liking O scale and larger trains.

Our "mailing list" for this newsletter is based on people who were been getting its predecessor, the BIG Christmas TrainsTM newsletter. We hope you find this newsletter helpful, and if you don't, let us know what you'd like to see - that's how we learn and grow.

  • If you did not get this Trains-N-TownsTM newsletter through your own e-mail, and you would like to get the newsletters in the future, please join our Trains-N-TownsTM Mailing List

  • On the other hand, if you don't want to receive our e-mail updates, please e-mail me with a "Please Unsubscribe" message (worded any way you wish), and we will graciously remove you from our list.
  • Also, if you would like to subscribe to our free newsletter for garden railroaders (people running big trains outside), please join the Family Garden Trains Mailing List. By the way, you can subscribe to either, both, or neither, and we will just be glad to be of service, no matter what you decide.

Topics discussed in this update include:

New Resources for Folks who Like Big Trains

As we've already announced, we have been busy on behalf of folks who got started running model trains during the holidays and have grown more interested in the hobby. The following resources are in their infancy, but are showing signs of early strong interest:

  • BIG Indoor TrainsTM, a new web site dedicated to this hobby in all its flavors. The new site includes several "Primer" articles to get things started and we have several more in the works.
  • Trains-N-TownsTM newsletter, of which this is the first copy.

New Photos and Information about Collectible and Christmas Trains

Since our last update, we have received and checked out several products, including two products that represent the On30 model train and Hawthorne Village collectibles very well. I set them up, played with them, and I took closeups that show the quality that goes into these trains. All of the surprises were good ones, by the way. Two of the trains we examined recently include:

Father's Day Meets Halloween

Forget all of those Radio Shack(r) advertisements - what Dad really wants for Father's Day is a train. And why not start him out with one of the coolest, creepiest trains you can get ANYWHERE. New for 2007, we have started a Halloween Trains page (www.HalloweenTrains.com). These are the same collectible Hawthorne VillageTM trains that you see advertised in Readers Digest and many other magazines, with new photos and descriptions. They include train and village collections that feature:

In addition, many villages and accessories give your Halloween Trains appropriate communities to serve.

Why Start a Halloween Train or Town Collection Now? - Well, these are "subscription" collectibles. That means you buy them one piece at a time, and each piece becomes available about a month apart. If you start now with, say a train and a town, you will have enough of a train to run by Halloween, and enough of a village to give the train the setting it deserves.

Best of all, we've provided "blow-up" photos of the most popular product, so you can see what you're getting - something nobody else's site offers.

O Gauge Outside

Just as we started building the new BIG Indoor TrainsTM resources, we stumbled across a family in the Tucson area who runs "Big Indoor Trains" (mostly Lionel) OUTSIDE. They also use ceramic villages with them, although I wouldn't recommend using any collectible items for this - they have to repaint the buildings every year. If you can't imagine how such a thing would look, take another look at the photograph at the top of this page. Better yet click on it for a jaw-dropping blow-up. Okay, we're not recommending this, necessarily - there's a whole world of trains and towns that is specifically designed to work outside. But we thought you'd enjoy seeing what the Blessing family has done, so here's a link to a page describing the unique, but fun Anozira RR on our sister site, Family Garden TrainsTM.

Keep in Touch

We always try to answer reader questions quickly. Also many reader questions (and their answers) apply to other readers as well, we keep adding entries to our "Letters to the Editor" pages. You may find some interesting and helpful reading there.

Paul Race

BigIndoorTrains.com

BigChristmasTrains.com

FamilyGardenTrains.com

To view the newsletter for January, 2006, which combined the Family Garden TrainsTM news with Big Christmas TrainsTM news, click on the following link: http://btcomm.com/trains/fgt_newsletter/07_01_newsletter.htm

To read more, or to look at recommended Garden Railroading and Display Railroad products, you may click on the index pages below.

Home Pages
Reading Index Pages
Buyer's Guide Pages
Return to Big Indoor Trains Home page Return to Family Garden Trains Home page Big Indoor Trains Primer Articles: All about setting up and displaying indoor display trains and towns. Garden Railroading Primer Articles: All about getting a Garden Railroad up and running well Garden Train Store: Index to train, track, and other products for Garden RailroadingBig Christmas Trains: Directory of Large Scale and O Scale trains with holiday themes
On30 and O Gauge trains to go with indoor display villages and railroads

Note: Big Indoor TrainsTM, Big Train StoreTM Family Garden TrainsTM, Big Christmas TrainsTM, and Garden Train StoreTM are trademarks of Breakthrough CommunicationsTM (www.btcomm.com). All information, data, text, and illustrations on this web site are Copyright (c) 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 by Paul D. Race. Reuse or republication without prior written permission is specifically forbidden.
Big Indoor Trains(tm) is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

For more information, contact us.

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