Since you all seem to likes these types of threads, I will start one:
1967 Long Island New York...Thanksgiving.
My mother, myself, and father pile into his 1965 Chevy Bellaire for a trip to Queens NY to visit Grandma, my 2 aunts and uncles, and a cousin, who all live in a 2 family house there.
Thanksgiving baking has started in earnest and already I am preparing for yet another round of goodies to eat from Thanksgiving to Christmas.
When we leave the next day, my father says he is taking a shortcut so we can pass by "The OLD Railroad"....which I later found out was the old Rockaway Line that was shut down in the late 50's/early 60's(?).
The words - "The Old Railroad" makes this 5 year olds brain go wild with the aura of mystique, and as we turn a corner and drive along the old concrete arched Ozone Park station above us..I can see derelict signals and signal bridges...I BEG my parents to let me go up and have a look! They say NO...
By the time we reach the Morris Park shops and its OLD coaling tower, my jaw is dropped open and I am wide eyed looking at all the Long Island Railroad diesels.
When we get back to Long Island, my dear dad makes the mistake of telling my mother..."Well its after Thanksgiving, I guess we should put the train set up in the basement (finished)".
I hear this and come running in like a Cheetah on too much sugar begging "Please please now now!"
In less than an hour the old plywood sheet wrapped in green vinyl that served as the base of our layout is set on two saw-horses made from 2x4's.
Soon the sound of Lionel Trains and the smell of smoke fluid, my fathers pipe smoke and ozone permeates the basement, and after 2 hours of pure bliss, its time to go to bed.
Thus, from that time up to and thru Christmas and New Years, this scene will be repeated many many times with a constant stream of milk, Christmas cookies, and other goodies being provided by my mother. And of course, interwoven about several times during this period, would be trips to Sears to look at their layouts and buy an item or two.
Both my mother and father are gone now, my mother most recently as last September...she was 90 (had me at 40), but I swear I can still smell my Dads pipe smoke and my Moms perfume on those old Lionel trains boxes. I still have from both sets my parents bought me including all the accessories and structures my Dad assembled. Even some old lichen.
I wonder if Joshua Lionel Cohen ever dreamed that his trains would last a lifetime and more, as well as being treasured with so many precious memories.
