10-vintage-toy-train-items-for-your-holiday-layouthttps://www.trains.com/ctt/how-to/timeless-classics/10-vintage-toy-train-items-for-your-holiday-layout/10 vintage toy train items for your holiday layout10 vintage toy train items for your holiday layout, as suggested by Classic Toy Trains Senior Editor Roger Carp.https://www.trains.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/ctt0700_switch-tower.jpgInStockUSD1.001.00timeless-classicshow-toarticleCTT2023-11-072023-10-2611304
Roger Carp suggests fun accessories for any age or experience level
10 vintage toy train items for your holiday layout
The holidays are fast approaching! If you’ll be setting up a display (or a permanent layout), Senior Editor Roger Carp has suggestions for 10 items to add for the most fun!
Lionel No. 154 highway signal
1. Lionel No. 154 highway signal – for once, its enormous height and out-of-scale proportions work to the advantage of this popular accessory. And the red lights that alternate when a train dashes by simply enhance its neat effects.
2. Noma No. 450 talking station – this battery-powered plastic station has the right colors (either green or red) to capture the spirit of the season. A push of the button on the roof starts a record of train announcements spinning for all to hear.
3. Lionel No. 45 automatic gateman – everyone, from the youngest toddler to the eldest scrooge, loves gazing at the metal shack by the track until the dutiful figure, clad in blue and always on the job, leaps out to greet a passing train.
4. American Flyer No. 577 whistling billboard – what a deal! With one easy-to-find accessory you get a whistle you can blow to your heart’s content and a nostalgic billboard showing a circus scene, an Erector Set, or Flyer locomotives.
Lionel No. 445 operating switch tower
5. Lionel No. 445 operating switch tower – more action set off by an old-fashioned contactor or an easily installed insulated track section. As your train blows by the tower, one guy steps forward and another bounds down the staircase.
6. Marx No. 2990 Oak Park station with horn and light – the lithographed details (yellow bricks and light green roof, plus a station sign) will delight all your guest. Then they’ll have fun blowing the horn installed inside the metal structures.
7. Lionel No. 494 rotary beacon – the more lights around a Christmas tree or Chanukah menorah, the better. With this reliable accessory, a beam of light turns endlessly. You can change the color of the plastic lens from clear to red to green.
Lionel No. 1045 operating watchman
8. Lionel No. 1045 operating watchman – another giant, he’s sure to bring back memories of displays from the 1940s. The figure is way out of proportion, but the elementary animation (an arm going up and own) still has lots of charm.
9. Colber No. 108 water tower – every Christmas display in the postwar era had a string of lights filled with liquid that, when heated, began to bubble. Colber incorporated that feature into its water tower, and folks still love to watch it go. Learn more about Colber accessories in this video.
10. Any trestle set – all the major toy train manufacturers offered sets of plastic trestles that gently carried the track up from the floor. Watching a plucky train go “I think I can, I think I can” as it ascends will never lose its appeal.
One thought on “10 vintage toy train items for your holiday layout”
I have a No. 97-82 Remote Control Elevator Dad got for me in the 1955’s. The cost at that time was $13.95! It was repaired by a gentleman who worked for Caboose Hobbies in Denver about 20 years ago. Unfortunately he died. The Elevator has some problems with the chains pulling the coal. I could just start taking it apart and mess with it but it would be easier if I found someone (or literature) that would give me some ‘pointers’. Any suggestions?
I have a No. 97-82 Remote Control Elevator Dad got for me in the 1955’s. The cost at that time was $13.95! It was repaired by a gentleman who worked for Caboose Hobbies in Denver about 20 years ago. Unfortunately he died. The Elevator has some problems with the chains pulling the coal. I could just start taking it apart and mess with it but it would be easier if I found someone (or literature) that would give me some ‘pointers’. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Bob Charles – deerfeathers@wbaccess.net