Talk about the Good Ole Days

Hi Jeff, nice story and a great thread. I would also be interested to hear about those times.

 

Alex

Guy's had cool looking hats and clothes in the 40's; trains probably showed well, too.

 

Being in an environment of destruction and uncertainty, probably never did anyone any good; but, once those severe times were over, I imagine overboard living had it's time... then things probably softened to a more moderate way of life.

 

As you know, I worked in maximum security corrections, for a significant period of time; and, being exposed to personal threat/danger never does anyone any good. Not too many people enjoy feeling unsafe, and when that's your reality, you have to find ways to sooth yourself.

 

Great era to explore.

 

 

Rick

 

Here's my mom and dad.  He got his discharge from the Navy in October 1945, they were married in December, and here they are at their first house, February 1946.   He made it through the battle of Leyte Gulf, and a direct kamikazee hit on his destroyer, and life was ahead of them.

 

And that is one cool hat.

 

You guys might find this site of interest:

 

http://www.thefedoralounge.com...hp?10-The-Golden-Era

 

 

 

I was born in 1944.  All of the engines we saw coming through town were steam engines.  The real thrill was to see a rare diesel at that time.

 

I think the thing I liked best about those times is that there were no televisions, computers over cell phones.  My friends and I played outside all day long.  We played baseball, cowboys and indians, camped outside, built tree houses and forts and generally had a great time.  We had snowball fights and built snowmen in the winter.  In the evening my mother played cards or other games with us boys and we listened to a variety of shows on the radio.  

 

The farming area I grew up in was poor in terms of wealth, but rich in family life.  Many of my friends lived in basements or garages converted to living quarters.  Divorces were rare.  I only recall one neighbor and an uncle that were divorced in my entire childhood. Schools and churches were important in the community And teachers and pastors were respected.    

 

As Tom McComas said in one of his videos, "Those were simpler times".

 

Earl 

I also was born in 1944. Every thing was steam but the PE system in LA. All electric of course. I had a love for trains as long as I can remember but two things that stayed with me were very important at the time. One afternoon my Dad had some extra time and took me to a train station in LA. (We also went to Burbank airport and watched the prop airliners take off and land.) There was a Santa Fe diesel siting at the station. Now I was longing for a F-3 Lionel at the time. This was about 1952. I lived by the Lionel catalog. My Dad said what do you think? I said that's not a real Santa Fe diesel! It was a Alco PA and I'd never seen one.

The other thing I remember was sitting with my pop at a diner in Northern California. It was 1953 and we had just moved "up north". An engineer and fireman walked in and sat next to us at the counter. I was afraid to even look at them. They were talking about diesels. I finally said something like "they will never get rid of steam". They told me it was almost over for steam. I just couldn't believe them. The Lionel catalog was full of steam. This is Blackies Field where I watched trains. This is Blacky. All the kids loved him. There is a statue of Blackie now were we watched trains. He lived to be 40. 

Don

 

 

I could listen to these type of stories all day. My father was born 1944 and he could remember some steam and early diesel. He grew up in Pottsville, Pa. I am always amazed at how many rail lines were in town. The Pennsy, Lehigh valley, Reading Company and all the old bridges, trestles, trolley lines that are now a distant memory. I feel fortunate to have seen Conrail. . Lol

I agree, The forty's were great. I was a teenager living uptown on the east side of Manhattan. Those were great years 1943 to 1949.  

Jeff 

That is such a great thing to do.   I love talking to 80 or 90 year olds about their youth and young adulthood. Invariably, the railroad art on the walls of my exam rooms have uncovered many a railroad man.....steam engineers, firemen, conductors, roundhouse men and ticket agents........

Don't get me wrong, even the non-railroad people are fascinating to talk to. It's always a real treat! My advice is to always take the opportunity to engage these individuals in conversation whenever you can.  The changes they have seen in their lifetime are amazing.

 

peter

Keeping this train related, I'm blessed to be the third generation of railroad enthusiast in my family. My grandfather has long since passed on to Heaven's railway; however, my 80+ year old father still recalls his railroading experiences, both real and model, as if they were yesterday. The fact that I'm in the presence of someone who actually lived the experience and didn't have to read about it in a book or watch it on a video is awe inspiring. This is a man who spent Saturdays at Harmon, rode every mile of trackage of the New York City subway and elevated system aboard every type of car imaginable, covered the Third Avenue Railway System, rode New York Central passenger trains with steam pushers shoving up Albany Hill, experienced G5s on the LIRR, K4s and Baldwin double enders on the NY&LB and stopped traveling by train on business only when his boss told him he had to start flying to save time. In fact, on Thanksgiving day we had a conversation discussing the finer points of making reservations for NYC passenger trains. Lionel fans should hear some of his recollections of the early showroom layouts and visits to Madison Hardware...stuff CTT and the other magazines just can't convey.

 

If you can, take the time to search out some folks who've lived these experiences as has my father. Unfortunately, many of the legendary figures who've shared and inspired our passion for the rails have taken the last train home. The next time a veteran of the hobby is gracious enough to share time with you, pull up a seat and be sure to listen. It's something you can't put a price on.

 

To some degree, I find myself playing a similar role with younger fans now. Accustomed to today's SD70s, GE AC units and other modern giants, they become entranced when I share my experiences with GP9s and SD45s. It's not unlike the days when I, as a youngster, listened to my elders recall their days with steam!

 

 

Thanks for reading,

 

Bob         

I love listening to old men

 

I can remember vividly going to Union Station in Providence to watch my Dad board the New York, New Haven & Hartford train to New York, a trip he made frequently. That big diesel coming into the station in it's olive green with gold trim was unforgettable. I received my first Lionel train set during this time period, and yes they were great times to have been around.

 

Was it the best of times, though very good, I would have to say that every decade since has been filled equally with good times as well.

I was born in 1942 and still remember the whistle of the Central Vermont steam driven freight as it passed through town.  I didn't receive my first Lionel train set until 1954 because things were scarce during the Korean War.  I think my mother saved a  little bit each week from the family budget for a whole year (I'm one of six kids).  I think I appreciated the sacrifice made by my parents so I could own a Lionel train.  That set is still with me today pulled by the Berkshire 726rr as it rounds the curves on my layout.  I agree with other forum members when they express that it was a "simpler time"  It was also a time of difficulties for many of our parents.

 

RWH (Bob)

Born in 1944, I grew up in McKeesport and Duquesne, Pennsylvania. I'll share a strong impression with you I have of those childhood days, from the 40's into the 50's.

 

In those two towns, RR tracks were omnipresent, literally, in every direction you looked. In McKeesport, tracks ran in and out of the National Tube U.S.Steel works, diagonally, right across the main street (5th Avenue) of the shopping district. In fact, vehicular and pedestrian traffic were often stopped (nothing ever stopped what was needed for the mills) so that the trains could enter and exit National Tube from sources outside of town. As a result, if I was very careful and my parents were calm about it, I could stand on a sidewalk that ran parallel to the tracks, lean over a railing separating the sidewalk from the tracks in front of Loft's Candy Store, and reach out and touch the very slow-moving trains. I was esp. fond of touching the steam locomotives, which were black, sweaty, and sticky with grease or oil. They'd heave and spit and shoooosh as they lumbered along. And they shook the ground and rattled your chest. I loved that.

Frank M.

I have to heartily agree that the 10 years following World War Two were the best years America ever will have.  My Dad, who died in mid October, and was a veteran of World War Two, Korea, and the Cuban Missile crisis had many discussions with me about the best of times.  America was at its industrial prime, supplying the world with essentially the best of anything!  You did not have to lock your doors, and neighbors talked with, partied with, and hung out with neighbors,  Parents looked out for ALL kids in the neighborhood.  People knew when someone did not belong in a neighborhood and was only there for trouble.  There were plenty of jobs for returning veterans, even if it took a few years to convert to a peace time economy.  This is quite unlike the situation today.  With a million or more veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan soon to be discharge (2013) there are few good jobs available.  Moms could afford to stay home, Leave It To Beaver was REAL!  People believed in God, went to Church, and had scruples and morals.  Expensive as they were, folks COULD have Lionel trains for their kids!  I could go on. but it would be like beating a dead horse.  This who did not live it cannot understand, relate to it, of for a large part, believe the times were really that good.  Pinkie anyone?

Just a few more things - you did not have to worry about retirement, health care for the most part, and had no need to have a clue what a 401k plan was or was for.  Doctors made house calls, and it was okay to discipline your children in a socially accepted manner.  I think stay at home Moms made all of us better citizens, and far more responsible, socially.  There really was less of today's excesses and abuses, due in a large part to the fact that such abnormal behavior was simply not tolerated or accepted!

Great thread---I love listening to the oral histories given by folks who lived the stories they share.

 

--Greg

Bob, your post reinforces my post.  I simply stated that living life like Leave It To Beaver was REALITY, not fiction!  I also lived like that!

Perhaps because you don't understand the Japanese culture of the 40's, and the terrors committed on all that they conquered leading up to the war, you don't comprehend the anguish President Truman had to go through and endure before he authorized that raid.  It was a very difficult decision, and actually resulted in saved Japanese lives as well as those of many other nations.  The alternative would have resulted in many more hard to believe but more horrible deaths.  Death from a bomb blast nuclear or not is generally instant, with nothing ever felt.  Talk to a few survivors of Japanese prisoner of war camps.  That was horror and atrocity!

About 10 years ago when I was in rehab due to my leg amputation there was a women there that was in her late 80's early 90's and I loved sitting in the dining area with her for hours after dinner and talking about her childhood and life back then. I also know that she enjoyed talking about those days as much, if not more, than I enjoyed hearing about them. She had grown up in the mid west and the one thing that stands out is her talking about digging a hole outside and literally burying food to keep it cold.

 

My mom always reminds me, when I coment about how screwed up things are today and how much simpler things must of been back then, she allways tells me to keep things in perspective. Yes, compared to life today they were simpler times, but during that time, the situations they faced in life were just as stressfull to them back then as they are to us today.

 

My mom and dad were born in 1938. As I am typing this I keep looking up and seeing my fathers prewar Lionel train that he recieved as a youngster. He gave it to me just before he passed away a few years ago.

 

My grandfather and great grandfather both worked for PRR in Altoona back then. In fact when my grandfather was a young boy, his father was killed when crushed between 2 freight cars while at work. His mother could not afford to raise him so a couple from thier church took my grandfather in and raised him. I have seen censous data about the family back then and he was classified as a border. One of the greatest things about the internet is being able to learn about ones family history. Kind of fun to sit down and look back........

Short story. I was also born in 1944. [must of been an outbrake of some kind] My grandfather was a Railroad Engineer for the C & A and that must have been the reason we [my brother and I] always had Lionel trains. My dad was a Army officer in the occupation of Japan 1949-50. My mom,brother and I were there also. We saw what the atom bomb did to those citys in person. In the fiftys at Christmas time even the grocery stores had Lionel train displays in Lakewood, WA. where we lived. I would not trade my time of growing up for any other time period. When my dad retired from the army he bought into a bowling alley in South Tacoma with my uncle Frank. Right behind his business was the NP shops. I would spend every second I could watching the work being done on the steam engines. The 2424 was mantained there. My grandfather ran that engine when it was the Four Aces and on loan to the C & A as a demo engine. [First steam loco to use Timken Roller bearings on the main drivers]

Hi all,

I just had to chime in on this topic but I'd like to get back to the good ole days of trains as I remember them from my childhood.

I remember riding in the car, a 30 something Essex,  every day with my mom who took my dad to the train station in Round Lake, Illinois to catch the morning commuter steam train to Chicago in the very early fifties.  I was always concerned that huge monstrosity would not be able to stop at the station and run into the autos trying to make it over the tracks just 50 feet from the engine.

I remember when that monster was replaced by a brand new diesel and that day I got my first train ride to Chicago and back with mom and dad,  probably about 1953.

When my parents divorced (yes, there was divorce) in 56,  my mother and I moved to Kansas City, Missouri.  I would spend the summer with my dad in Round Lake.

My mother would put me on the train in KC, tip the conductor to keep an eye on me and I would hit the observation car as soon as we rolled out of the station and stay there the whole trip.  500 miles of heaven to me.

I still remember the overwhelming smell of diesel exhaust while boarding and "de-training" in Chicago.  And I remember a lot of the male passengers were in suits and ladies in hats.

I remember I got $5 to spend for food while on the train and i would get a sandwich, drink and candy (Baby Ruth bar) from a lady walking thru the cars selling stuff from a tray hanging from her neck and have lots of money left.

Maybe it was just because I was a young boy but I remember everyone was friendly to me and I never worried about anything while on the train.

How I wish I could turn back time for just one of those trips now and get an adult perspective of train travel back then.  I took 7 solo round trips between KC and Chi-town and they are one of my fondest memories of childhood.

Sorry for bending your ears but it's about the trains...

I was born at the end of the '40's; Truman's second term, but after the "Dewey defeats Truman" headline in the Chicago Tribune (our local newspaper). Trains were everywhere on the southwest side of Chicago. I lived about 3/4 mile east of the Grand Trunk / CN mainline as it heads north past the 63rd Street Station (Chicago Lawn) toward Landers Yard at 55th Street and ultimately Dearborn Station. Grand Trunk ran steam until 1960 or so, so I saw everything from the big CN 4-8-4's to the little GT 0-6-0 at Landers

 

Our house was also a mile east of the main E-W runway at Midway airport, which, then was the main Chicago airport. Planes on approach from the east would basically fly right down our alley at several hundred feet elevation. We could sit at dinner in our kitchen and watch them come in; Connies and Super Connies, Convairs, and the DC-3's -4s, -6s in all the airline liveries. (As an aside, I have always had an interest in Archaeology, and I'm sure its because I was playing with my Tonkas in the dirt pile behind the house, and dug up a coffee spoon with "TWA" on the handle. How did it get there....fall out of an airplane? I still have it, of course.) I still have great affection for the planes of that era.

 

Being so close to Midway, we also would ride our Schwinns over to the Belt Railway of Chicago tracks, where all kinds of locomotives and freight cars would be moving to and from Clearing Yard. The freights were fairly slow, so we would scurry up the ladders on the freight cars  and walk across the roofwalks that boxcars had back then. Never got caught and no one was killed or injured. But, yeah, very, very stupid.

 

I was fortunate to grow up in a traditional family with Dad working and Mom at home. We ate dinner together every night. My folks bought a TV in the mid-50's; it broke, and my mother, thinking it was a bad influence, refused to replace it until the mid-60's. I had to go to my grandmother's (a block away) to see the Beatles on Ed Sullivan. I missed the Golden Age of Television, but learned to enjoy reading.

 

As for hats on men, my Dad always  wore a fedora. He was one dapper guy. I hope hats come back. He bought me my first Lionel train. RIP, Dad.

 

 

 

Great topic.

I was born early 50's, youngest of five children. My dad and brothers would watch steam engines in our neighborhood in Philadelphia, 5th and Hunting Park. One time my oldest brother and I was watching steam engines from a street bridge above the railroad. Below was some steam engines actively moving cars in and out of a siding. There was a fence made of black iron bars we were pressing against. I kept pushing my head between two bars until I finally pushed past the bars. When I relized I could not pull my head back past the bars I went into extreme panic mode. My brother often referred to that incident, it took a few strangers and my brother to push my head back past the bars. The good news is that memory of seeing those steam engines remain vivid in my memory I guess because of the incident. There were many times my dad and his two brothers would take us on train watching trips, it was awesome.

My dad often told a story that during the war he and his two brothers were train watching and they were writing the engine and number they see on paper. A railroad detective arrested them and transported them to a police station for questioning. Because of war time they wanted to know why they were making records of trains.

They were quickly realeased after extensive questioning.

 

My dad came home from the Pacific in 1945. He had been a POW for 3 yrs and 9 mos and weighed in at 81 lbs as a 21 yr old USMC corporal. The doctors told him he would not live a year.

 

Thank goodness he proved them wrong and I came along in 1950 and by 1954 dad got me my first train, a Lionel. I could not have had a better father! I still miss him.

 

He and my mom bought a GI house in 1951. When I was 8-9 yrs old I would ride my bike to the IC yard in Jackson and watch them switch cars with a 0-8-0. I remember the friends I made there, other boys my age that came to watch trains too. I am still friends with one of them today.

 

Malcolm

"Talk about the Good Ole Days"

 

These are them.

 

Pete

By comparison to today and to the future outlook, my generation lived in the best of times in spite of the difficulties of The Great Depression and WWII. I was born on my Grandpa's farm February 1932 and only years later did I realize how fortunate I was to have lived on a farm during that rough economic time where one could feed themselves from the land and pray that enough cash could be produced from trading or selling grain and tobacco to pay the property taxes and buy shoes, mules, etc. 

 

The local Atlantic & Yadkin Railway of 4-6-0s, Combines, 2-8-0s and Cabooses was our link to the City and along with the telegraph to the rest of the outside world. During WWI my Dad worked on the A&Y Tie & Timber Gang and told of using a brace and auger all day boring bolt holes in the replacement trestle timbers. Everything came in via the local Depot whether ordered by the community general merchant, hardware store or mail order by catalog directly from Sears, Wards, Speigel, etc-----clothes, harness, implements, pressure cookers and of course Ball Mason Jars. The A&Y Depot Agent and his much used hand truck shifted the mail across the road only a short distance to the Post Office. In our little community of 395 folks[1940 census]on the Rural Mail route, at one time 27 worked for the A&Y. 

 

I rode trains often during my first 40 years beginning with a trip at six months old with Mom via the A&Y and N&W to Dennison, Ohio to visit my maternal Grandparents.[I was told that I fed and slept well on the train]. In addition to additional trips to Ohio and many local trips on the A&Y, in July 1949, at Navy expense, I boarded the Crescent to New Orleans and SP to San Diego and boot camp. I later made several rail trips cross country including when I was rotated from Korea in November 1952 and, when discharged in '53, I made a leisurely 8-day cross country trip on as many roads as I could schedule ending up on the Carolina Special from Asheville home to Greensboro and bus to my hometown of Summerfield. [the A&Y Ry was shut down while I in the Navy].

 

1961-67 I commuted over a dozen times annually from Greensboro on Sunday night via the Piedmont Limited into the Pennsylvania Station in NYC and return overnight on Friday via the Peach Queen. I could leave Greensboro at 6:30p and arrive NYC 6:30a, check in the Statler Hilton{ "Pennsylvania 6-5000"] and walk to work at 40th and Broadway---it was a great way to travel and sleep sans weather problems, Eastern Electras and LaGuardia.

 

During the mid-late '70s I commuted daily Morris Plains to Hoboken on the old Lackawanna Electrics--the 1918-22 versions with the rattan seats. 

 

"Nothing like it in the World" [NYC Marx Wind-up 1938].

 

John, You seem to be bent on proving "the old days" were basically the same as today. I think the main difference is that kids today have less need of having much imagination, and they certainly have a shorter attention span than kids of my generation (born in 1942). Read the book reviews on Amazon of young people's critique of books they were asked to read in school. A huge percentage describe a book as "boring".

 

The TV we got in 1949 was a great novelty, but my parents did not let us watch it all day (not that we could, with limited channels and broadcast time). My friends and I spent most of our spare time building club/tree houses, playing ball, taking bike hikes, playing in sand piles (drat those cats!) with toy cars and tractors, camping with other Boy Scouts (even in winter), building plastic or wood model kits. School was one mile away, that I walked to or rode my bike. Almost all families had one car, so Dad car-pooled to work so Mom could have the car 3 or 4 days a week. Our NJ town had a Lackawana train station, but there were only electric commuter trains running. I loved going to visit my Grandparents in Hollis, Long Island to watch the steam engines roaring by for hours on end. The dark side was polio, and the number of lives taken in car accidents (mainly caused by 2-lane roads forcing cars to have to pass each other, and lack of seat belts, which were pretty much unknown before 1957).

I grew up in NYC in the 1950's. It was a far different time and a far different place. My family was of modest means and I spent the first five five years of my life in Brooklyn Heights then lived in Bensonhurst until I got married and moved to New Jersey. Growing up in those simple easy going times was quite different that life today. We had one Dumont console B&W television, and one telephone in our home; because life was so simple it gave us lots of time to spend with family and friends.

As for trains, the subways had more lines and my "fabulous" Lionel layout was on a 5' x 9' sheet of plywood with a few accessories that sat on the floor of my moms sewing room each December. I had one one 2046 set and later added a 736 Berkshire. All of my friends had Lionel trains and we would go see each others layout and dream on. The Lionel Showroom was open, Madison Hardware and several other train stores were all on 23rd street in NYC (the train center). I would go there with my dad each Christmas to pick out another train item. You could buy trains anywhere in NY. Soon college came and my trains got packed away until I married at age 28. Now living in NJ I set up my 5 x 9 layout in the basement and rekindled my interest in trains. After meeting a new friend who was a train collector he introduced me to the train show held in Wayne NJ in a Firehouse rec room. Soon after I joined TCA and that hooked me back on the hobby.

I recall that the majority of people who attended the train shows back then were in their 20's, 30's and 40's. Today many of the same people now in their 50', 60's, 70's and 80's are still attending the train shows. I still enjoy the hobby and the great people that it attracts, but I often wish that the simple times were still here. While we had far less it seemed that people were happier back then and it was so easy to make new friends. I just hope that some in the next generation pick up the torch and keep this hobby going. I believe that they will.  

 

Guys,

Those are all interesting points of view you are posting. Me?

We got a TV in 1956 and all we could get was a New Orleans Station and our

local WLOX when it was on!!

I had my layout on the third floor of our home and I remember tacking cardboard

to the walls and drawing pictures of "towns" and hills and mountains etc.

Anyway our neighborhood did not have many children my age except for one

older man who had a large, well outfitted Lionel Train layout and invited me

to come look at it so I suppose that helped "fuel" the fire of this hobby.

I rode my bike to the L&N Depot to watch the trains coming/going to New

Orleans and in later years used to bike to the Bay of St. Louis bridge and go

out on the track to fish. You had to watch out for the Humminbird tho and be

ready to swing down below the trestle timbers to escape being hit.

I remember much more but this is getting to be too long a reply !!

Rufus/Bernard

I was born in 1943 in a small town of 4000 population.  It was the division point for the omaha railroad and dad worked for the railroad. 

He was a conductor and I can remember very well going with him to put more coal in the stove in his caboose.  You see he had two very good friends that tried to stay together with seniority bumping to keep an assigned caboose.  They took turns with the stove as they not only rode in it during the trains running but also slept in it during the day when laying over in sioux city waiting for the next night for the return trip back to town. 

He always had fresh sweet rolls and a coffee pot  and would make coffee and we would sit in the nice soft ex passenger car seats. both bay windows had in them.  It was a great bonding time for dad and I.  I would sit in the seat that faced the yard tracks and watch all the switching going on.  It was all done with a little 060 steam switcher at that time.  The big thrill for me is when one of the "big mikes" as dad called them 2-8-2 would go by leaving town with a time frieght.  They were big heavy usra mikados and looked so hudge after watching the little switcher.

Latter on they got an sw7 diesel switcher to replace the steam and I never cared much about that.

I would also go to the 2nd floor of the div. business office to look at the seniorty board with Dad to see if he could bump someone off or if he got bumped.  They did this by moving little cards with there name on to the spot where the person he bumped spot and put the persons card at the bottom of the board.  /The bumped person would then go do the same thing.  The prefered trains were the branch lines that only ran on Mon - Fri and the guys got home every evening.  This of course was the jobs only the top seniorty men held. You see back then seniorty meant something and the railroad was not out to dump you like today.  Experience was very important to a railroad and they were rewarded with better jobs and pay.

When I was older and in college Dad was number 1 in seniorty and held the best job on a branch line.  During a vacation when I was home, I always went with him on a trip and when we went off the main line to a branch, where no spies where watching for anything they could critize you for, I would get to go up to the diesel and switch position s with the engineer.  He would go back and play cribbage with Dad and I would run the engine.  There was a fireman there that could change seats with me very fast in case someone came along and our speed limit was ony 15 mph.  That was a real high for me.

Dad did not want me to go railroading.  He had an 8th grade education and always felt inadequate because of it.  He wanted his son to have a college degree, so he always told me he would pay my full way to college and buy me a brand new car when I graduated.  I was always good in music so I became a band director and still am, presently in my 47th year of teaching.

I still know i would have hired out as a engineer and had agreed with the branch line engineer that I would train in with him as a fireman 1st.  Dad did not want his son in a profession as "lowley as railroad man"  Little did he know how poorly a teacher was paid.  When I started teaching in 1965 I made 5800.00 for 11 months and Dad was making 12,500 for 11 months with 4 weeks paid vacation.  He could never get over that, of paying 10,000 for my education to go make 5800 dollars. 

I could write on for hours of experiences with him but this is probably too long already.

 

I'll be 79 years old in March.  We lived in West Liberty, OH, eight miles south of Bellefontaine where the NYC System's St. Louis to Cleveland double main ran and then on to NYC and the Cincinnati - Detroit formerly Big Four (now NYC System), the Sandusky line, also after 1929 a double main, crossed. Each line had large switching yards.  The one on the south side of Bellefontaine could be viewed from a parallel county road that was slightly elevated above the year.  Dad would park and we would watch the little switch engines shuttle cars back and forth.

In late 1920's my Dad had worked as a timekeeper for the railroad as the Big Four line than ran through West Liberty was moved further west to eliminate a curve,modify the grade and become a two line main.  But the old line, now cut off and eliminated south of town became a 2 mile siding that ran north from town and connected to the new line.  This enabled the West Liberty Lumber Yard, Popps' Grain elevator and my Uncle John Craig's elevator to ship and receive grain,etc.

One day while young Dad told me that Uncle John had arranged for me to ride in the cab of the locomotive that was coming in about noon with some cars for the various businesses. I got in and rode as the switched cars around on the various sidings in West Liberty and then back up the long siding where we hooked on to the cars spotted there. I then continued to ride south on the main line to the new depot west of town where Dad met me.  Boy that was fun: struggling to get up into the cab, hanging one as the locomotive began to move back a forth, getting to hang out the window and feel an occasional small cinder strike my face, soaking up the smells of grease and coal smoke,etc.

I remember only one conversation with the crew.  After we hooked on to the train on the main line, they couldn't get the lever -- I think it was a wheel with a handle on it -- to slip the locomotive -- I wish I what kind it was --a Mikado perhaps --into reverse.  Finally the engineer took a hammer and said to me, "This is how you run a railroad, son."  With that he hammered the handle until it clanked into reverse.

Since this is getting long, I will post again sometime with a couple of more train stories from the late '30s and  early '40s.  Dick 

Dewey, I lived In Dennison in early 2000  that depot still stands as does the turn table pit. they just recently tore down the water tower

 

In the depot they have an N scale layout of how the dennison yard looked back then.  pretty neat.

Admittedly off topic, but a question for coloradohighrailer... Do you type your posts in a text editor, and then import them into the forum?  Just asking because the formatting and line-breaks in your posts make them completely unreadable.  Just sayin... 

 

David

Aren't we all romanticizing the past by liking Toy Trains?

These stories are so interesting.  Like George said, I can read them all day.  Thank you all for sharing your memories.

 

I spoke with my dad this morning (born in 1938) and the one train story he told me was that the steam engines would occasionally cause fires in the woods along the track, and this made for great huckleberry picking in the next year or two!  They were quite poor, my grandfather was a coal miner, and they would sell the huckleberries for some extra money.  

You're living the good old days right now , enjoy them while you can. 

As a high school teacher (retired,) I would offer the observation that "the next generation" is constructing its own (wholly unique and very, very, very different ?) version of society and of what constitutes a good life. From my admittedly limited range of vision, especially geographicaly and socio-economically, and in a few other subjective respects, I can honestly admit I am not sure what the younger generation is about, or how good the good ol' days actually were. Perhaps, it is too soon to tell?

 

Some of the younger folks with whom I have conversed, within our family and the parish, seem surprised or even unfamiliar with what I reference when I mention certain aspects of religion, or patriotism, or even ethics; some of their stated morals and approaches to inter-personal relationships seem oblique to my own. I listen, not argue, and I figure it's their business where they are taking this country, their own lives, and the world at-large, for a place and time fifty years hence (just as I am fifty years separated from my 1944 birthyear,) because I am not sure my generation is even a cog in that wheel. I am, however, increasingly certain a wholly different society is being constructed right around us.

 

My words and thoughts here are certainly not criticism of any younger generation. I have spent my professional life being nurturing and in-service to young people and thoroughly enjoyed every day of it. I only offer description and/or conjecture about what I sometimes see and feel around me. I certainly would not offer any generalities about the good old days, the "bad" old days, or the present, or future days ahead.

 

As far as our hobby is concerned, I hypothesize that the writing, no matter how subtle or slow-moving, is "on the wall," but those musings are left for my betters, here, who have - I am sure - very strong theories in this regard. To me, the inverted "Pyramid" explained by a previous Lionel leader is painfully obvious.

 

I suggest that we enjoy our memories - not matter how rose-colored they may be - enjoy or hobby while we are able, and enjoy what happens next.

 

This much I can say for sure. I am gleefully happy and deeply grateful I grew up in my hometown in the greater Pittsburgh area during the 40's, 50's, & 60's, and that I enjoyed almost all of it. Having had (and fully recovered from) polio, and having  lost my father when he was 41 and I was 10 (and never fully recovered from), were the lone exceptions. The rest was wonderful. Happy. Safe. Kind. Full of friends and lots of penny-candy and triple-decker Isaly's ice cream cones. Oh, and there were those wonderful Lionel trains, too.

 

Just some thoughts.

Frank M.

 

my car, friends, and I planning a "get-away" in front of our highschool in 1962...

 

...grade school days, circa the 50's...

 

me really, really happy...in the 40's...

Born in 1941 there were plenty of trains in my home town,we even had a train tunnel under a couple of our main streets and under an alleyway, close to our high school. The train track areas were our daily hangout when we were young. Seen Steam Engines and Diesel's. You must remember this was a common thing back then. Things were definitely different back then. I was 2 years in the U.S.N. before I found out that there was such a thing as marijuana. Maybe times are better today for everyone, what choice do you have?  I for one would surely like to revisit The Good Old Days. Not to say I am not enjoying relaxing running my trains and making new Gondola loads or working on the layout. Also if I went back to revisit the good old days there would be no Legacy or Remote Control.(wait a minute, that just woke me up). Regards to all, Young and Old. Casey.