This year at the Southern Christmas Show, the Metrolina Model Railroaders club, gets closer to Santa Claus. WE HAVE BEEN MOVED and downsized! But no worries. You can find us in booth 31B just a few booths away from Santa Claus. With about 3 months of preparation time, we were able to come up with 2 new 4′ Christmas modules so that we can fit a smaller condensed size French Broad & Catawba railroad within the space allotted. When you shop at the Southern Christmas Show in 2023, come take a break and checkout all the new items we have incorporated into the Christmas Train Scenery on the layout. It is fabulous fun to locate the items on our Find-It Scavenger list (also posted with a QR code on a wall in our booth). The banner over our booth still says Olde Towne at the Southern Christmas Show. If you have trouble finding us, ask someone for directions to Santa Claus and from his booth you can find us very easily.

2023 SCS FBC Layout Opening Night 11-08-2023 at 5:51pm
Quick walk around Metrolina Model Railroader’s French Broad & Catawba layout on opening night at the Southern Christmas Show in 2023. This year, we have a much smaller layout than in previous years and we were moved to booth 31B very close to Santa Claus. We had to build 2 new 4′ modules in order to fit inside the booth as there is not enough room for an 8′ module. We built the exhibit in a little under 3 months.

5 Half-Mill Houses made for the French Broad & Catawba Southern Christmas Show 2023 Small Layout. This videos shows 5 HO scale Mill Houses that were built by Henry to show the insides of the houses. One of the houses features Cindy Lou Who sleeping in her bed and the lighted Grinch is coming in hovering over her about to kidnap her while her parents are asleep in the next room. Cindy Lou Who is a young, kind-hearted girl from the fictional town of Whoville in Dr. Seuss’s “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” known for her sweet nature and ability to see the good in everyone, including the Grinch, which ultimately helps change his perspective on Christmas. All of the homes are 2-bedroom houses, with a bathroom and kitchen in back. The door to the room on the left of each house is operational and can open and close. Behind the 2 rooms that we can see, is a hallway. Behind the hallway is a kitchen on the left side and a bathroom on the right side. There are furnishings in the bathroom. All the houses feature at least 1 bed in 1 room. There are pictures on the walls and other wooden floors in the rooms. The kitchens and bathrooms have 1950’s tile on the floors. The front of this module, including the landscape and all 5 houses were made by Henry. Everything for the 4′ module in this video was made specifically for this Christmas show and lots of club members worked to get this as well as the other 4′ module made in time for this year’s Southern Christmas Show. At least one of the industrial buildings behind the houses was donated to the club. Rick designed and built the remaining commercial buildings and the foreman’s mill house on the hill. Gary made the benchwork for 4′ modules. Joe and Gil did a lot of wiring on the modules. JT painted the tracks on the module. Andrew adorned the completed module with vehicles and figures. Many other things were done to this module by others as well. I ask forgiveness of anyone I left out by name and encourage you to send me your name and the list of your contributions to both modules. -Henry.