TRAIN TIME: My 2025 Halloween Train Layout

I haven't done many TRAIN TIME posts this year but I have been busy out in The Cave with the 3-rail O-gauge layout just the same. As well, I put up another Halloween display in the living room. I wasn't going to do one this year but my granddaughter said, "Opa, why don't you set up your trains for Halloween and you can use your Harry Potter stuff". Ummm, okay. 😊 So here it is. I don't have a LOT of Harry Potter stuff to flesh out a 4'x6' train board but I think it turned out okay and in spite of me initially not wanting to do a layout, I've had fun running it.

Ed

My Y'allTube video for this year's Halloween train run

Overview

It does look a bit empty - guess I'll just have to buy a lot more LEGO Harry Potter kits!! 😁

The Forbidden Forest

I have another LEGO Forbidden Forest related kit on the way and it should be here in another day or so.

Not having a proper Whomping Willow, my Flying Ford Anglia is caught up in a Playmobil Lion King playset tree.

Tucked away in the corner is the LEGO Room of Requirements. I really need more LEGO Hogwarts buildings

New for this year is the Lionel Halloween-themed Covered Bridge with artwork from Angela Trotta Thomas

The Village

The Gringott's coin bank was blogged in December 2023.

I have the LEGO 'Hogsmeade Village Visit' set but haven't yet posted it here on the blog. This is the backside to 'The Three Broomsticks'

Aside from the LEGO figures, these were the only ones I pulled out of The Cave

Dept 56 #48369 Rickety Railroad Station (2008)

Okay, well maybe Halloween is over but I still have some odds-&-ends to post. This was meant to be posted last year, but for reasons I can't fathom, Halloween came and went, I took photos and Y'allTube videos, but nothing got posted here on the blog! All I can say is, it's not easy being me! 😕 As a general rule, I prefer not to use ceramic or porcelain buildings for the Halloween displays - storing them takes too much space out in The Cave - but the layout was screaming (pun intended) for a train station and there were no suitable Halloween-themed paper or cardstock stations for me to build. This Dept. 56 Rickety Railroad Station fit the bill nicely as it had lots of character, flickering lights, and sound. The sound set consists of a ghostly train sequence at the station along with ghostly station announcements, and then the train departing and rolling down the track. If there's any detractor, it's the fact that the sounds are fairly loud with no volume control. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

Happy Halloween

 

Happy Halloween

 

Happy Halloween

 

TRAIN TIME: Amityville Horror House, Haunted Abandoned House #1, IT Well House, Psycho House Flats from PTF Designs

Nick Futules from PTF Designs is a well known YouTuber and maker of  'flats' for use on HO scale, S-scale, and O-gauge train layouts. 'Flats' are - as their name suggests - flat profile buildings for use as backdrops when one doesn't have room for a full fledged 4-sided structure. Some flats are made with details on the front, both sides, and top while Nick's flats are detailed on the front only (but the sides are colored). He makes his flats with 1/5" high-density foam, a photo overlay on top, and the perimeter cut out precisely to match whatever graphic is used for that particular structure. 

I started buying flats from PTF Designs a couple of years ago for use on my O-gauge train layout and then started fleshing out the Halloween collection with his expanding series of movie-based and fictional horror or haunted houses. While not all of his flats are equipped with LED's, these four are but I have yet to place them into a permanent type setting with all electrical hookups. Enjoy! Opa Fritz

Here's an example of a flat with detailing on front, sides, and top. Some firms offer more detailed pieces than this Menards warehouse.

Here's the four houses I currently have on this year's Halloween train layout. I now have another house on order and plan on getting yet another as funds allow. None of the lights are hooked up.

PTF Designs Amityville Horror House

8"W x 8 7/8"H

PTF Designs Haunted Abandoned House #1

8"W x 9 3/8"H

(There is a Haunted Abandoned House #2 in the series, but I don't yet have it.)

PTF Designs IT Well House

10 5/8"W x 8 1/4"H

PTF Designs Psycho House

8 1/4"W x 8"H

This shows one way of connecting the LED's - a battery box with ON/OFF switch (the switch is on the underside of the box in this photo)

TRAIN TIME: 2023 Halloween Train Layout - Pt 3 Ruh-Roh! It's Scooby Doo

I have two Lionel Halloween-themed train sets. An earlier post highlighted the Lionel Set #2123060 Hallow's Eve Limited Graveyard Route from 2021 which was on the track for a week and a half or so. Then it was swapped out with Lionel Set #6-85241T Scooby-Doo The Mystery Machine Set from 2018. I have to say that of all my train sets, the Scooby Doo is among the favorites. It has a spooky bell and dialogue featuring the voice of Scooby and an assorted ghoul or two - a very fun set indeed! Enjoy! Opa Fritz

The set includes an engine, gondola with a ghost chasing Shaggy and Scooby, a boxcar, and a lighted caboose.

The large box has the track, the small one is just a filler piece.