pvc and rope light train

**Strother85** · 11-28-2011, 09:16 PM

Just finished my 16' long, 5' high rope light/pvc christmas train! Pics/video to follow...

**mschell** · 11-30-2011, 10:02 AM

Sounds great! Would love to see it!

**DaveJZ** · 12-01-2011, 08:08 AM

Begging to see the train as well....

**Jakeleg1969** · 12-01-2011, 08:28 AM

Yea!! Bring on the train....

Jerry in Louisiana

**Strother85** · 12-01-2011, 04:08 PM

Alright I finally got around to getting pics/video uploaded. The train was made entirely of 3/4" schedule 40 pvc, T's, 45's, 90's, and a couple of crosses here and there(the crosses are expensive so I tried to avoid their use..$2 each!). The wheels were made of plywood as I found it easier to cut circles with spokes out of wood than to bend/shape pvc. The rising smoke is 12 gauge galvanized tension fence wire bent to a "smoke shape"WP_000495.jpg WP_000496.jpg . The train is three separate pieces (engine, car, caboose) for ease in storage. The wheels are separate from the train for ease of storage and I will just zip strip them onto the train each year. The smoke is held in the air with a 1/2" pvc simple framework I made and the individual smoke pieces are zip stripped to this framework. On to the lights...All of the rope light used is 3/8" from menards that I got on sale for $6/18' for the solid and $11/18" for the chasing. Chasing was used on the wheels to give the illusion of rolling wheels and the smoke is made to look "rolling" via the 1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4 sequence as seen in the video. I used a few 6' green t-posts drove 2' into the ground to hold everything up straight. The train is 5' tall and 13-14' long. You will also notice the new mega tree to the left of the train