Hello everyone, I am turning to this forum in hopes of getting some help before Christmas time. I have a completely enclosed in plexiglass outdoor model railroad Christmas display.I have run 5 trains and a trolly for the last two winters outdoors.They run anywhere from 4-5 hours a night with only minor problems. But the constant running of the engines for an extensive amount of time per night has caused some engine breakdowns. My solution to this would be to install some sort of push button controls with timers that would allow the kids to walk up and push a doorbell type button and allow the trains to run for a set period of time. Any help with this topic would be great. Trying to get it retrofitted to put out for Christmas. Thank you looking forward to any help.

Larry, Thank you for getting back to me. I like that Idea and I have a couple of those Remote switches. But I'm looking for a more permanent solution. I want to use some kind of Momentary contact switches that will trigger a relay and countdown timer. Controlling the amount of time that the trains will run. I would need to buy to many of the larger timers and remote outlets to do it the other way. But I like your idea! If all else fails that will be my backup plan. Thank you for the help and the links Larry.