As I mentioned in my post about the Haunted Rails Engine & Coal Car, one of the things that always bothered me about the Haunted Rails train collection is the fact that Department 56 hasn’t produced a track for the train to run on. I’ve seen so many pictures and videos online of brilliant Halloween villages where the train is just sitting there on the grass next to a bunch of buildings. For my own village, I decided I just couldn’t overlook this detail, especially since the Haunted Rails pieces comprise a fairly large part of my collection.
The solution was obvious; I needed to build my own train track. It took several weeks, but it was a lot of fun, and I think the results were spectacular. Judge for yourself:
I’ve got about ten feet of track, including several angled pieces that can be put together in different orders to create different track shapes. I measured some of my Haunted Rails pieces to find the proper scale, and chose dark colors that I think fit well with the general color scheme of Department 56’s Halloween collection.
The track is constructed out of wood. There are three basic building blocks: a base, the ties, and the rails. All of the materials were purchased at AC Moore.
For the rails, I used 3 inch by 2 foot lengths of basswood, and used a razorblade to cut the width down to about two and a half inches. I spray painted these base pieces with Krylon Make It Stone Faux Finishing Spray in granite black, which provides a great textured look similar to asphalt.
For the ties, I started with popsicle sticks. I used a heavy pair of construction sheers to trim the rounded ends off, cutting each stick to 3 inches in length. After that, I spray painted them on both sides with Rustoleum Universal Advance Formula Spray Paint in hammered brown.
For the rails, I used thin strips of basswood, spray painted with a generic gray spray paint (I can’t recall the brand and already disposed of the can).
After that I used a hot glue gun to glue the ties to the base, and the rails to the ties. Finally, I sprayed the whole thing with a couple coats of Krylon Matte Finish clear coat.
I think these train tracks are the best piece of custom scenery I’ve built for my Halloween Village to date, and will really bring my village to life this fall. For anyone who has started collecting the Haunted Rails train, I highly suggest doing something similar to complete your spooky railroad. Unless, of course, Department 56 finally releases a track of their own in 2013!
56 Skeletons 