Christmas village (part 3)

St. Jude the Obscure Catholic Church, the pride of Grant's Catholic community. I really like the effect produced by the blue spotlights. 

 The nativity scene figures were bought at Michael's, and are re-purposed for the village. Slapped the manager together out of scrap wood. Figures come from various manufactures for O scale trains.

Christmas Village (part 2)

First part of setting up the village it getting a general idea of its layout. As the village has grown the placement of the buildings has changed, and no two years have the same layout. The key part to this is having a very understanding wife that overlooks the expense entailed in creating a month long display.

Christmas Village 2013 (part 1)

Every year we put up a Christmas village. It started back in 1995 or so, and has grown in size until it now covers 2 full sheets of plywood.

It started out as a whimsical display, with no thought given to period or scale. I have attempted to make it all match O scale, or about 1/43. I have also tried to focus it on small town America circa 1959. This is my town of Grant, Indiana, population 43,167. Named in honor of the Union General and the 18th President, Grant is the county seat of Facetious County and was established in 1814, two years before statehood. It is located near the Wabash River. Originally named New Wertenburg, it was re-named Grant in 1878 after the death of its namesake.