Trains-N-Towns^TM, the Official Newsletter of BIGIndoorTrains.com and BIGChristmasTrains.com

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In this Issue

Welcome to all new members. To existing members: No, you didn't miss the April newsletter; life has just been very crowded. Also, we had a couple projects we hoped to have ready in time, but now we've pushed them back to next month at least so we could get a newsletter out.

One reason we're so far behind on train and town projects is that we spent a lot of time between November and March helping out with two high school theatrical productions, especially set painting and construction. I picked up several ideas that I want to try to apply to projects on our web pages in the coming months. So hopefully these pages will benefit in the long run. In the meantime, remember that creative activities in one area helps you to be more creative in other areas as well.

This month, glitterhouse designer and author Howard Lamey adds this year's last installment in the Sandy Shores^TM collection, a fun series of summer-themed "vintage cardboard village" projects that will make you reconsider leaving a village on display all year-round. Also, garden railroader Daryll Smith presents a tunnel portal project that can be adapted to any scale.

In the meantime, we're still planning future projects and articles, and doing what we can to keep our resources available for you.

Topics discussed in this update include:

• New Article: Build the Peach Cottage Beach House
• New Article from Family Garden Trains^TM - Building an HDPE Tunnel Portal
• Cost Savings Continue: Review Our Primer Articles

Note: As always, we have more articles in the works, so check our site often.

New Article: Building the Peach Cottage Beach House

http://bigindoortrains.com/primer/glitterhouses/seaside/pink_house/pink_cottage.htm

New Sandy Shores^TM Menu

http://bigindoortrains.com/primer/glitterhouses/seaside/welcome_to_sandy_shores.htm

New Article: Building an HDPE Tunnel Portal

Click on the link below for more information:

http://btcomm.com/trains/primer/bridges/tunnels/darylls_portals/hdpe_portal.htm

Cost Savings Continue: Review Our Primer Articles

I have to confess that I know many model railroaders with more linear feet of trains than they have working trackage. This is a good time to remember that it's not how many trains you have in the box that makes the hobby fun; it's how often you get to run them in a setting they deserve. And that part of the hobby can be very inexpensive and very personal, if you don't mind using some imagination and elbow grease.

This is also a good time to remember that most of the projects in our Primer section cost very little but can add a great deal of interest to your railroad or village. They include trees for every season, structures from lighthouses to log cabins, and many other scenery ideas that you can adapt to your own purposes.

As an example, the store fronts in our title photo this month cost modeler Tom Amara only a few dollars to add to his O gauge railroad - he printed the O scale building flats on his color printer and dressed them up, using suggestions from our Easy Street Scene article. (The photo to the right shows the same store fronts with a more obvious O gauge presence to give you a sense of scale.)

To jump directly to the Easy Street Scene article, click on the following link:

http://bigindoortrains.com/primer/buildings/store_fronts/store_fronts.htm

To jump to our Primer Article Index page, click the following link:

http://bigindoortrains.com/primer/primer.htm

Commercial Plug: Baseball Trains Available

By the way, these trains run on and include Bachmann Nickel Silver EZ-track, the same track used by Bachmann's On30 trains and other Hawthorne Village Collectible trains. So if you already have an On30 or Hawthorne Village railroad started, these trains will run on it (though they may look a little small).

And did I mention Father's Day is coming up?

To look for a train in your favorite team's colors, click the following link:

http://bigchristmastrains.com/sports_trains/sports_trains.htm

Okay, that's enough hints. Enjoy your family and your trains in the coming months, in that order.

Keep in Touch

Each month, we get more interest in this newsletter, in the site, and in the trains and towns we discuss. We welcome your questions as indicators of what we should be working on next (also, we always try to answer reader questions quickly). In addition, if you have any photos, tips, or articles you'd like to share with your fellow hobbyists, please let us know. The hobby grows best when we all learn together.

In the meantime, please accept our very best wishes for a great spring and summer!

Paul Race

BigIndoorTrains.com
BigChristmasTrains.com
FamilyGardenTrains.com

To view the Trains-N-Towns^TM newsletter for March, 2009, click on the following link:

http://bigindoortrains.com/trains_n_towns/09_03_newsletter_indoor.htm

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