Sizes and Scales of Halloween Trains - Although Christmas villages (often with trains running around them) go back more than a century, Halloween villages didn't really become popular until some time after Dept. 56® introduced their china and porcelain houses. Halloween-themed trains are even newer.

The good news for anyone who wants a Halloween-themed train for their Halloween village is that there are only two basic kinds of trains, but within those overall options, there are many great choices.

Before we break it down in more detail, though, let's take a look how the average size and scale of holiday village buildings has influenced what kinds of trains we use with them.

Holiday Villages and Model Railroading Scales

Most name-brand ceramic Halloween village buildings average between 4.5"-8" in each direction, with a few taller pieces being 9"-10". This makes them small enough to fit a nice village on a table-top, but large enough to be seen clearly.

When folks tried setting trains up with the earliest Dept. 56® structures, they decided that the buildings looked better with O gauge trains than with HO scale trains, the only other widely available choice at that time. But it's worth reviewing how model railroading scales and sizes "work" and how they relate to holiday village structures and accessories.

• O Scale and O Gauge - Because lots of folks have used O gauge trains with holiday village structures, newbies often get the false inpression that holiday villages are built to O scale. (Scale refers to the relationship of a model to the real thing.) That's not exactly true . . . .

  • Technically, O scale refers to trains and products that are 1/48th the size of the real thing. Model railroaders describe that relationship as 1:48.

  • O gauge train sets run on O scale track, but they are almost all smaller than true "O" scale, because full-sized O scale trains take more room than most people can give up for a train set. As an example, an 80' passenger coach modeled in O scale would be about 20" long and would require at least a 6'-diameter circle of track to run on. But the Lionel version is about 11" long and will run on a 3'-diameter circle of track. That's why I call Lionel train sets "O gauge" instead of O scale. On the box they sometimes write "O-27", but that refers to the kind of track they run on, not the scale of the trains.

    One kind of Halloween train is O scale - the Hawthorne Village® train collections we will discuss later - but they are all models of very small real-world trains, so they fit in wherever an O gauge train would, too.

• S Scale - The next smaller model railroading scale is S scale, 1/64th the size of the real thing. Hardly any trains are now being made in S scale (although American Flyer S scale trains were once pretty popular). But most O gauge train sets made over the last seventy years have actually been closer to S scale than to O, so it's a more influential scale than you might think. In addition, most holiday village buildings built since 1980 are closer to S scale than to O, and some have approached even smaller scales.

  In fact, project designer Howard Lamey, who designs free building projects for using with Halloween Villages and antique O gauge "tinplate" railroads has discovered that S scale buildings fit in both settings better than O scale buildings. So "S scale" is alive and well, even if "S gauge trains" are somewhat less, er, prominent.

• HO Scale - The next smaller model railroading scale is HO, which is about 1/87th the size of the real thing, or roughly half the size of O scale. HO is the world's most popular model railroading scale, but HO trains are too low in profile to look good with most holiday villages.

Based on that assessment, you'd imagine that the best trains for holiday villages would be O scale, S scale, or somewhere in between. It so happens that the ONLY mass-produced trains for Halloween villages fall into that range. Narrows things down, doesn't it?

Note about Accessory Scales - Before you get thinking that this is an exact science, you should know that most holiday village figures and accessories are larger than O scale. This keeps the figures from being dominated by the buildings and keeps the smaller accessories from getting lost in the clutter. This really has no practical effect on your options, but I just want to point out that these are guidelines, not "rules," and you are the person ultimately responsible for combining and arranging your trains, towns and accessories for the most pleasing effects.

Halloween-Themed Trains for Halloween Villages

Hawthorne Village On30 Halloween Train Collections Most of the Halloween-themed trains you can buy are On30 trains that are sold as collections by Hawthorne Village®, a Bradford Exhange® subsidiary. On30 trains are O scale (1:48), but they run on HO gauge track and tend to have much finer detail than most O gauge three-rail train sets. In addition, the line of On30 trains that Hawthorne Village trains are based on was invented to look good with holiday villages. So unless you already have trains in your attic, Hawthorne Village collections should be a consideration. One thing you should know is that these are "collections," not train sets, per se. That is, you order and pay for one piece at a time, starting with the locomotive. By the time you have received the third piece, you have enough track and a power supply to run your train, and usually other accessories besides. Most trains have at least four pieces, although some have more, if they're very popular. This also means that you should think about "subscribing" to the collection by August if you want the first four issues (the "whole" starter set) by Halloween, so every year I post an "alert" in my newsletter. Fortunately, these trains will work with most HO track and power supplies, so you aren't entirely "stuck" if you just have part of the train by Halloween. Recently available Halloween train collections include trains based on Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas, the Munsters, and the classic Universal Studios monsters, including Dracula, Frankenstein, and more. There were also Halloween village collections to go with all of those train collections. Sadly, those are all gone as of this writing, but we're hoping more trains will be available by this fall. Again, we will try to keep you updated in our newsletter

Halloween-Themed O Gauge Trains - Lionel's O gauge train sets, usually labeled O27, are actually a bit smaller than O scale - but this makes them are a good match size-wise for many holiday villages. Occasionally Lionel makes a halloween-themed train or car, such as the old-fashioned 4-4-0 locomotive shown at the right. These come and go, and I don't have any vendor links at the moment, but if you already own Lionel trains, it may be worth tracking them down. If you want to see an exceptional O gauge train set that works well with Halloween (and Christmas) villages, check out the Lionel O Gauge Harry Potter Hogwart's Express(r) train. To learn more about this train, click on the picture below.

Other Trains You can Use with Halloween Villages

Bachmann On30 Trains You can also buy "non-holiday" On30 trains made by Bachmann corporation, the company that makes the chasses and mechanisms for the Hawthorne Village trains. Bachmann invented On30 to look good with holiday villages, and one or more of them might look good with your Halloween village. To see Bachmann's current line of On30 train sets, click on the graphic to the right.

O Gauge Trains - As mentioned above, Lionel's O gauge train sets are a good match size-wise for most holiday villages. If you'd like to investigate non-holiday trains that would still be a good visual match for your halloween village, check out our Lionel Train Sets page by clicking the graphic at the right. In addition, the Lionel O Gauge Polar Express train set looks very nice with many Halloween Villages - it's actually realistic enough for year-round use, too. So if you have one of these, or have been thinking about getting one, it could very do "double duty" for you in the fall as well as the winter. To learn more about Lionel's O gauge Polar Express train set, click on the picture below.

Collectible Tinplate O Gauge - If you have an old O gauge set in the attic that runs, it may also work well visually with a Halloween village. My friend and co-conspirator Howard Lamey uses an ancient Marx set with his, with great effect. Of course you can't order these new, but stores like Trainz.com often have a few pieces to sell.

S Scale/S Gauge - American Flyer S gauge trains are very close to 1:64 in scale, which would make them a good match for most holiday villages. Again, most American Flyer trains are collector's items today, so you don't necessarily want to start collecting them just for that purpose. But if you already have a set in your attic, you'll see that the trains work well with collectible villages, except for one thing - American Flyer track circles are wide, requiring a 48" table. They did make a kind of track called Pikemaster which fits into tighter places, though.

HO Trains - As mentioned earlier, HO trains are not tall enough to look right with most Halloween village collections. However, if you have a set you want to try, go for it, it might work for you. Occasionally a manufacturer will make an HO train that is decorated for Halloween. These are usually meant to provide a seasonal accent to an existing HO railroad, not to work with a Halloween village. But, again, if you have one of these, give it a try. To return to the Halloween Trains and Towns Primer page, click here. Related Articles and Links As you know, Halloween villages and trains are at least a century newer than Christmas villages. So to help you get the most enjoyment out of your Halloween village and railroad, we've provided references both to historical holiday village information and brand new Halloween projects you will enjoy. We usually have a couple more projects in the works at any given time, so Join our Mailing List to be notified when new articles are posted. In addition, you can help by sending us project tips, article ideas, and photos of your railroads and villages. We want our pages to be as useful as possible to as many people as they can be. As the hobby grows, we all benefit. For more information about the centuries-old tradition of setting up holiday villages, check out the Family Christmas OnlineTM article A Brief History of Christmas Villages Introducing Spook HillTM, a series of free, 100% original Halloween building projects, enough to give you a complete Halloween village, including: The following Spook HillTM projects are currently available. We already have three more projects on the drawing board for 2009, but if you get started early, you can have a nice Halloween community by this Halloween. Shakey Pane Manor - the first building specifically designed for our Spook HillTM collection. Spook HillTM Station - The FIRST EVER model train station designed specifically for Halloween. Spook HillTM Water Tower - Any easy and unique structure to complement the Spook HillTM Station. Spook HillTM Billboards - The easiest Spook HillTM project to date - great for kids, works with almost any Halloween village. Howard's "The Frost is On the Pumpkin" project - the one that started it all. Bringing Autumn to Your Railroad or Display Village - How two easy crafts can make your model railroad or display village look like it is enjoying the fall season. Portable (Foam-Based) Indoor Displays - Using a foam-based portable scenic foundation to display your trains and towns to their best advantage. Easy Indoor Lakes and Rivers - How to get the effect of waterfalls, rivers, lakes, and streams on both temporary and permanent indoor railroads and display villages. Free Scenery Set Pieces - Add a vertical dimension to your holiday village for little or no investment. The technique can easily be adapted to all seasons. Easy Homemade Trees - How to make realistic and inexpensive trees using (mostly) natural materials. Winter Trees from Floral Picks- A quick and inexpensive way to add interesting textures to your late-autumn or winter setting. Desert Accessories from Playmobil Products - How repainting carefully-chosen toys can add fun details to a Large Scale desert landscape. Many of the ideas shown here will work for other scales as well.