October, 2009 Update: Trains-N-Towns<sup><small>TM</small></sup>


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Written by Paul D. Race for Big Indoor Trains^TM and Big Christmas Trains^TM

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

This newsletter is for people who like O scale trains and Christmas trains, including people who combine On30 or O gauge trains with collectible villages. It is produced in conjunction with the Big Indoor Trains^TM and Big Christmas Trains web sites.

If you did not get this Trains-N-Towns^TM newsletter through your own e-mail, and you would like to get the newsletters in the future, please join our Trains-N-Towns^TM 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.

In this Issue

Although Hollywood and other forces conspire to make each Halloween season more gruesome than the last, I don't let that ruin our efforts to provide family-friendly seasonal fun for our readers, our friends, and our own family. Dressing up in non-morbid costumes, eating candy corn, carving Jack-o-Lanterns, taking kids door-to-door in our neighborhood - why let the folks who are captivated by the macabre ruin these things for your family?

One relatively new Halloween "tradition" is setting out holiday villages with fall or Halloween themes. We are still nuts about Christmas villages of all kinds, as you can tell from past postings and many articles on our web sites. But so many great family-friendly Halloween village products and projects are available, that I can't help getting excited about spreading a little seasonal joy, through our web pages and at least a bit of home decorating.

And here's something else good about Halloween - no matter how gastly the ghosts and goblins are this year, the very next day is the start of an entirely different holiday season, one that reflects positive values. Yes there's a growing tendancy to "leapfrog" Thanksgiving and go right to Christmas, but I'll take Rudolph over Jason any day of the year.

And yes, in case you wondered, we are retiring the Halloween photos after this newsletter - in fact as soon as I type this - because I have to prepare articles and photos for the Thanksgiving and Christmas season in advance.

In fact, our most important article this month (and one of our coolest ever) is not a Halloween project at all. Its a tribute to the great old tinplate bridges that Lionel and other companies made to go with their toy trains in the early 1900s. Designer Howard Lamey has used this bridge with Halloween villages, with Christmas Villages, and with antique tinplate railroads, and it looks great in every setting so far.

Looking ahead, our project developers have some clever, original, and - as always - inexpensive projects in the pipeline, so stay tuned.

Once again, if you have an article idea or photo you want to share, please get in touch. Through our readers, we are constantly finding out new ways to enjoy our trains and towns.

Topics discussed in this update include:

New Article: Building the Tin City Bridge
New Feature: Tinplate Textures
New Feature: Halloween and Fall Textures
Reminder: Easily Bring Autumn to Your Railroad or Display Village
Song of the Month: Sloop Medley
New Feature! Seasonal Desktop Backgrounds

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

New Article! Building the Tin City Bridge

Add an eye-popping feature based on the classic Lionel Standard Gauge bridges. Works great with collectible villages, vintage O and S-gauge trains, On30 trains and more! Free downloadable plans, graphic files, and step-by-step instructions are provided.

Click the following link to jump directly to the article.

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

New Feature! Tinplate Textures

This section includes brick, shingle, siding, door and window patterns inspired by the tinplate buildings that Lionel and other companies made to go with their toy trains a century ago. Many of these have already been used in our Tribute to Tinplate(tm) series, which has been embraced by toy train buffs.

The Tinplate Textures page provides most patterns in three different scales to help you find the best sizes for your existing railroad or holiday village.

Click the following link for more information.

http://bigindoortrains.com/indoor_resources/tinplate_textures/tinplate_textures.htm

New Feature! Halloween and Fall Textures

A "last-minute" addition to the Tinplate Textures feature - this page features fun building textures in fall and Halloween colors. Design your own buildings or "tweak" our Spook Hill^TM or Tribute to Tinplate^TM structures with seasonal tones.

Click the following link to jump directly to this feature:

http://bigindoortrains.com/indoor_resources/tinplate_textures/halloween_textures.htm

Reminder: Easily Bring Autumn to Your Railroad or Display Village

This is not a new article, but just a seasonal reminder of how easy it is to make your model railroad or display village look like it is enjoying the fall season.

Click the following link for more information:

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

Song of the Month: Sloop Medley

This month's "Song of the Month," is a gospel arrangement of two classic sailing songs,"Sloop John B." and "What do You do With a Drunken Sailor?" Yes, the lyrics have been tweaked, but it's fun to perform and usually gets great response. Lots of guitars, flutes, claves, pennywhistles, and vocal harmonies. (See the Irrelevant Backstory section on the web page.)

To jump to the "Song of the Month" section of my music page, with links to this and other songs, please click the following link:

http://paulracemusic.com/prmusic.htm#song_of_month

New Feature! Seasonal Desktop Backgrounds

A week in North Carolina and two stops by pumpkin farms on the way back gave me the chance to take some great seasonal photos that will hopefully help put you in a mood for Fall harvests and bounty. I have resized them to fit most monitors (widescreens may have edges or show "stretching") and posted them for our readers to use as backgrounds on their computers. Since this isn't exactly train-related, I posted them on our sister site Family Christmas Online^TM. If all goes as planned, I'll add a few new backgrounds every season. Once you've opened a background file in your browser, you should be able to right click on it and select "Set as Background."

To jump to the "Seasonal Desktop Backgrounds" page, please click the following link:

http://familychristmasonline.com/other_resources/backgrounds/backgrounds.htm

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 autumn!

Paul Race

BigIndoorTrains.com
BigChristmasTrains.com
FamilyGardenTrains.com

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

http://bigindoortrains.com/trains_n_towns/09_09_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.

Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas Village Collection With Super Starter Set

Visit our BIG Train Store<sup><small>TM</small></sup> Buyer's Guide Pages

Add realism and interest to your O scale railroad or village display.

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Note: Spook Hill^TM is a trademark of Howard Lamey, North Jacksonville, Florida. Big Indoor Trains^TM, Trains-N-Towns^TM, Big Train Store^TM Family Garden Trains^TM, Big Christmas Trains^TM, Garden Train Store^TM, and Tribute to Tinplate^TM are trademarks of Breakthrough Communications^TM (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, 2008, 2009 by Paul D. Race. Reuse or republication without prior written permission is specifically forbidden.
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Trains-N-TownsTM, the Official Newsletter of BIGIndoorTrains.com and BIGChristmasTrains.com