What do your trains mean to you?

Innocence and fun.  Plus my Father's plant and family relatives lived along the Glidden and Flatonia Subs of the Friendly, that is, the SP.

At 6 I got my first train, a Marx.  With a 666 SP engine!  Remember the Pepe LePew smell of Marx smoke.  The growl of the engine.  I still have that set.  And the Wicked green bottle of smoke fluid.

Plus at 7 I road THE SUNSET from Houston to Schulenburg.

Lots of fun.  And I still follow the old SP now UP from H-town to Schulenburg when I can.

The layout above is nice.

Oh, I'm glad you brought up the smell of the Marx smoke. I am unfamiliar with that, but don't we all love the smells of our trains: the smoke from Lionel smoke pellets, and the smell of the Ozone from post-war engines that have been running a while.  Lately, I've been enamored with MTH proto-smoke with Christmas (pine) aroma.

I got my first train (American Flyer three rail) in 1946, I was two. I don't remember much about it other than there was a steam engine with a white box car. My Dad and his friend burnt up the transformer so I never got to run it. My love of trains really started in 1948, yes Christmas day with a Lionel freight set including a 2026 steam engine. From then on all I wanted was more cars, track, switches, bigger transformer and crossing gates. I got them one at a time for Christmas or birthdays. The O27 switches I got one day when my Pop took me to this great train store in Los Angeles and just bought them for me. Not a birthday or Christmas no real reason so it was a wonderful thing. They didn't have much money so it was special in a lot of ways. The store had a layout with Gargraves track and I thought that was amazing stuff. That's all I wanted that Christmas, Gargraves track. He came through. Also they had a 0-4-0 Lionel switcher on the layout. I didn't get that tell I was almost a teen. I thought the working coupler in front was the most wonderful thing. All my layouts have had Gargraves track. They even used a picture of my last layout in their adds. I have had trains in my life all my life and always will. Lucky I married a wife that had a Dad that worked for Southern Pacific. I'm also lucky to live three blocks from a narrow gauge steam train that did it's first passenger run in years last night. I work with them all the time. After all it's in my blood. Don

what do my trains mean to me?

entertainment for the public, as I run in a public club environment.

the ability to have fun playing, as I became an responsibly adult and had no time to play raising two kids by the time I was 21.

the ability to create trains that are fun to watch.

to learn skills that I had forgotten like soldering, wiring, design and other stuff.

For me, these trains are a way for me to make memories with my sons and connect with them.  How long will they be interested? I have no idea,  but we're off to a great start. 

Thanks, Don, for your wonderful description of your experience with your trains throughout your life. I especially relate to what you said about your Dad purchasing switch tracks for you even though it wasn't your burthday or other special occasion. My Dad did that for me when, on the spur on the moment, he took me to a local hardware store that sold Lionel trains and bought me a 626 Blue 44 ton center cab diesel switcher around 1961. It's still in great shape with strong Magnetraction. I keep all my Lionel engines with Magnetraction on tubular track to keep the Magnetraction strong. It is also very important for me to keep all my childhood trains in excellent operating condition.  I pay the best local O Gauge train repairmen to guarantee this! LOL

Pure escape and fun. It is a hobby that transcends time and generations. For me, also, a sense of nostalgia!

Well, there's the nostalgia factor, of course, and I've written at length about that in other posts. 

But speaking solely for the present, I see my trains as a kind of time machine, allowing me to create a window of sorts into another world, one in which railroading was all-pervasive.  I was born into the very tail end of that era, and with my own trains, I try to experience it as it was when it was in full power.

bigdodgetrain posted:

what do my trains mean to me?

entertainment for the public, as I run in a public club environment.

the ability to have fun playing, as I became an responsibly adult and had no time to play raising two kids by the time I was 21.

the ability to create trains that are fun to watch.

to learn skills that I had forgotten like soldering, wiring, design and other stuff.

Well-stated, and it sounds like you are a great ambassador for our hobby entertaining the public as a member of a train club that does public displays.

Wow! There is a very positive and profound spiritual dimension to this dialogue.

Deuce posted:

For me, these trains are a way for me to make memories with my sons and connect with them.  How long will they be interested? I have no idea,  but we're off to a great start. 

There is nothing more important than what you have stated!

Wonderful thread !!

I cannot imagine how I would have gotten through life's rough patches without the trains. It might sound ridiculous to someone not a train person. Train people understand. Life's ups and downs are rough. When things were difficult, I looked at the trains and I could create my own dreamworld where everything was fine.

Scrapiron Scher

I must tell this story. My Dad (God love him) could not change a tire or hit a nail. He finally got me a Lionel crossing gate for Christmas. His best friend and he tried half the night to get the gate to work right. They just couldn't he told me on the morning of Christmas. I saw the problem right away. They had the gate across the track. Not across a make believe road. It would come down and the train would hit it every time. Somewhere in heaven I hope he's not working for a railroad. Don

Scrapiron Scher posted:

Wonderful thread !!

I cannot imagine how I would have gotten through life's rough patches without the trains. It might sound ridiculous to someone not a train person. Train people understand. Life's ups and downs are rough. When things were difficult, I looked at the trains and I could create my own dreamworld where everything was fine.

Scrapiron Scher

Eliot, I had the exact same experience. Trains got me through difficult, stressful times.,Most people who are not into trains will not understand us, and may even think we are crazy.  The right attitude to have is: "Some people say I'm crazy, but I don't give a hoot."

Also, the truth is, we're not crazy, they are!

scale rail posted:

I must tell this story. My Dad (God love him) could not change a tire or hit a nail. He finally got me a Lionel crossing gate for Christmas. His best friend and he tried half the night to get the gate to work right. They just couldn't he told me on the morning of Christmas. I saw the problem right away. They had the gate across the track. Not across a make believe road. It would come down and the train would hit it every time. Somewhere in heaven I hope he's not working for a railroad. Don

Don, you and your Dad were a great team because you had the mechanical aptitude that he lacked. Great story.

I have always been around trains.Being  where I grew up and live.I could hear the seaboard coast line rail road from my house.And the first school I went to was right next to the train track.So I got to see the fast freight fly by.I had tyco train sets and other h.o. trains.Mth came along and allowed me to get into o gauge trains.And their way easy on my eyes.Also seeing late model steamers (Steam locomotives of the 1930 40s)pulling a long mixed freight.

 I was born with a train from Grandpa waiting. I wasn't alone in the family in that respect either. Trains were as much a part of family gatherings as the tree, eggs, fireworks, candy, or turkey was. Monpoly, Scrabble, trains.... Poker, Euchre, Trains.   Weddings, birthdays, trains... get it?

  It also means learning skills and taking pride. From the assembly pride of a preschooler to the assembly pride of an old guy learning a new trick. It taught me general physics, electrical, maintenance, and organizing. Switching excercises are puzzles; mind excercise, etc.  I.e., it was one of the better sources for learning to deal with problem solving as a whole.

They also taught loss when I was careless. 

There is some cultural nostalgia of shopping as a boy, but TV ads for Lionel were not prevalent or popular enough among local kids to have much nostagic feelings outside of our family.

   On top of that, they were great therapy when my health turned. And again a second time when it got even tougher. I knew the hobby as a daily thing was inevitable, but never guessed how much I would appreciate it in the way I have grown to.

  It doesnt happen fast or pretty, but these little O scale dreams are the ones I can still handle .

I grew up in the northeast Bronx in the 50s & 60s. We lived in an apartment building.

My 1st memory is being on my maternal grandfather's shoulder watching the EL trains of the Pelham Bay line.

My father's family lived along the 4 track New Haven main line in Larchmont, now separated from their house by 95....I remember trains whizzing by in McGinnis colors....and those silver and shiny washboard commuter trains......

The 1st thing the trains mean to me is sacrifice.....my parents had to sacrifice to get me a New Haven diesel freight set when I was 5 at Christmas 58. Still have, and it still runs as well as the day I got it!

I took out the train every year around the holidays until about 72-73, then the demands of school overtook them. By 1980, living in Baltimore doing an Internal Medicine residency at University of MD, I saw an add for a Greenberg show at Towson State...I went, and every childhood memory was rekindled.  I have been doing this continuously since then. With a young family and a job with 90-100 hour weeks, the trains gave me something to relax with at unplanned off hours( I take care of very sick people.....it was/is good to do something where the worst that can happen is a train derails)....but it was a solo hobby....

Circa 2000 and Myron's vision to start the OGR Forum and have the good fortune to have Rich Melvin moderate it.....it became a social hobby....all of a sudden, all of us who were speaking online realized we knew each other by sight, because we all would make the semi-annual pilgrimage to York....then the hobby really became a blast........my kids were growing and moving on, and I had more time for myself.

In 2009-10, I had the good fortune to become a charter member of a modular group which has grown and prospered, adding to the fun.

As I look at retirement in the the next few years (I turn 65 next year), I cannot see the trains leaving the mix....

Peter

Not totally sure, but in general I seem to like old things and particularly enjoy them for their construction and complexity. It is satisfying to put one back together that is a basket case.  It also seems to allow me to realize and understand a time that I never saw, I grew up in the 70's.  I appreciate where we came from I guess.

Adriatic posted:

 I was born with a train from Grandpa waiting. I wasn't alone in the family in that respect either. Trains were as much a part of family gatherings as the tree, eggs, fireworks, candy, or turkey was. Monpoly, Scrabble, trains.... Poker, Euchre, Trains.   Weddings, birthdays, trains... get it?

  It also means learning skills and taking pride. From the assembly pride of a preschooler to the assembly pride of an old guy learning a new trick. It taught me general physics, electrical, maintenance, and organizing. Switching excercises are puzzles; mind excercise, etc.  I.e., it was one of the better sources for learning to deal with problem solving as a whole.

They also taught loss when I was careless. 

There is some cultural nostalgia of shopping as a boy, but TV ads for Lionel were not prevalent or popular enough among local kids to have much nostagic feelings outside of our family.

   On top of that, they were great therapy when my health turned. And again a second time when it got even tougher. I knew the hobby as a daily thing was inevitable, but never guessed how much I would appreciate it in the way I have grown to.

  It doesnt happen fast or pretty, but these little O scale dreams are the ones I can still handle .

Isn't it amazing how such a wide diversity of people can become so absorbed in model railroading, from pre-schooler to old guy as mentioned above. 

How about Neil Young and his son with cerebral palsy? I never met Neil, but have read articles about him and his son and how both of them are into O Gauge trains big time.  Their story is very inspiring. A handicapped child and a supremely gifted father playing together with the trains, equally engaged in it, and equally excited about it.

Putnam Division posted:

I grew up in the northeast Bronx in the 50s & 60s. We lived in an apartment building.

My 1st memory is being on my maternal grandfather's shoulder watching the EL trains of the Pelham Bay line.

My father's family lived along the 4 track New Haven main line in Larchmont, now separated from their house by 95....I remember trains whizzing by in McGinnis colors....and those silver and shiny washboard commuter trains......

The 1st thing the trains mean to me is sacrifice.....my parents had to sacrifice to get me a New Haven diesel freight set when I was 5 at Christmas 58. Still have, and it still runs as well as the day I got it!

I took out the train every year around the holidays until about 72-73, then the demands of school overtook them. By 1980, living in Baltimore doing an Internal Medicine residency at University of MD, I saw an add for a Greenberg show at Towson State...I went, and every childhood memory was rekindled.  I have been doing this continuously since then. With a young family and a job with 90-100 hour weeks, the trains gave me something to relax with at unplanned off hours( I take care of very sick people.....it was/is good to do something where the worst that can happen is a train derails)....but it was a solo hobby....

Circa 2000 and Myron's vision to start the OGR Forum and have the good fortune to have Rich Melvin moderate it.....it became a social hobby....all of a sudden, all of us who were speaking online realized we knew each other by sight, because we all would make the semi-annual pilgrimage to York....then the hobby really became a blast........my kids were growing and moving on, and I had more time for myself.

In 2009-10, I had the good fortune to become a charter member of a modular group which has grown and prospered, adding to the fun.

As I look at retirement in the the next few years (I turn 65 next year), I cannot see the trains leaving the mix....

Peter

Peter, your experience with trains is very inspiring and beautifully explains the inherent goodness in our hobby that is so much more than a hobby. No one does work that is more important than you have done: caring for very sick people as a physician. Thank God for model railroading so people like you can get a break, have some fun, keep your sanity so you can continue healing the very sick, and have a richly deserved and enjoyable retirement.

Dennis Holler posted:

Not totally sure, but in general I seem to like old things and particularly enjoy them for their construction and complexity. It is satisfying to put one back together that is a basket case.  It also seems to allow me to realize and understand a time that I never saw, I grew up in the 70's.  I appreciate where we came from I guess.

The sacred scrounger who finds those mangled and dead trains under the tables at train shows, and performs the miracle of healing them and resurrecting them! Bravo!

Nice topic Arnold.

I grew up in Yonkers, NY in between the Putnam Division and the Harlem Division of the then New York Central and the then New Haven Railroad. The Hudson Division was not too far away, either. So, I was literally surrounded by trains. My dad worked in Manhattan and I always enjoyed a Christmas-time trip with him to the train stores down there. Every summer in the 1960's-70's my mom dragged me out to Western Pennsylvania, by train over The Pennsy. I still remember passing Horseshoe Curve many a time. So, I've been in a bit of a lifelong tug of war between the New York Central and Pennsylvania Railroad for many years now! 

I was out of trains for a few years and got back in the 1990's when my wife bought me a #2037 steamer from a local antique store. Thanks to getting reeled back in, I ended up writing a book on the Hudson Division and I'm just as proud of my articles for the Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society's quarterly magazine, The Keystone. 

Not sure how I became addicted to my prewar steam switchers, as my parents in the early 1960's could only afford a cheap plastic Lionel steamer and a Texas Special ALCO FA diesel. Steam locomotives on most real railroads had disappeared before I was born. While most "normal" people opt for what is available nowadays, I went backward in time to rescue a bunch of these prewar switchers, that first appeared in 1939, which was 21 years before I was even born. I think they offer just the right amount of detail and toy-like qualities, at least for me. Just to watch one running slow with its chunky rods moving is a bit mesmerizing. 

I think my switchers have been a good source of therapy for a stressful job and they were made in the US when craftsmanship was at its peak. If you ever had the opportunity (or maybe more like torture!) to take one of these apart, they are built like a fine German clock with just as many parts. Most of mine are going on 79 years as we approach 2018. They can easily go another 79 years, which I think is great. 

Tom 

Regarding the PRR, my mother did not drive, so in the late 1950s through the mid 1960s when we visited my aunt and uncle, Ruth and Bill Bruce, who lived in Pennington, NJ, we took the New Haven or NY Central to Grand Central Station. Then, after taking the Shuttle to Times Square, we took the PRR from Penn Station to Trenton or Princeton Junction.

Penn Station was a place of wonder. I loved everything about it: the heavenly light that poured in through the glass of the massive windowed ceiling; the dust (floating in the air inside the cavernous station) that was aglow from this heavenly light;  the friendly and charming porters that helped us with our luggage; the sight of the Tuscan red and Brunswick green GG1s exuding their awesome power; the cheese and peanut butter crackers and soda that we bought during the train ride (this was a special treat because those refreshments could not be purchased on the commuter trains to and from Grand Central Station); the pantograph and catenary that brought to life the GG1s like the lightning that brought the Frankenstein monster to life.

My aunt and uncle would invite us to their country club, Hopewell Country Club, where we would go swimming at the beautiful pool there. It was very close to the PRR tracks. We would be swimming or relaxing in chez lounges by the pool, and then hear the tumble of the trains approaching, becoming louder and louder. The coal hoppers and oil tanker cars went on forever! We would count them and be amazed at how many train cars were being pulled by the tremendous Diesel engines.

My trains are many things to me:

1: A tangible connection to my Dad, who passed away way too young in 2001. The majority of my trains were his, and I watched him build the collection as a kid, going with him on many of his "hunts," including going to York starting in 1979.

2: A great escape from the problems of the day. I feel very fortunate to say I love my work, but it's also great to have a means to escape, and for me a few hours in the train room helps keep things in perspective. Running my old prewar clunkers gives me a feeling of "everything is going to be ok." 

3: As time moves on, the trains remain important, but what has become more important is the circle of friends we have because of them.  Thanks to the trains, the TCA, and forums like this, we have met people we wouldn't have met otherwise, and for that I'm very grateful. 

John

Trains have been the one constant thread in my life the last 50 years. From the day I first held my Dad's Sears drill as a five year old to drill my first holes for switch wires right up until today, they have been the one continuos thread in my life. As a young teenager, my mother would take me to train stores all over Long Island to search out trains and tell me stories about her Lionel Winner train and life during the great depression. These are some of my favorite memories of her and I am so glad to have them as she passed away when I was 16. 

To me, trains are memories of friends and places, each one having its own story, but still part of this great thread of mine for the last 50 years.

Miketg 

BlueComet400 posted:

My trains are many things to me:

1: A tangible connection to my Dad, who passed away way too young in 2001. The majority of my trains were his, and I watched him build the collection as a kid, going with him on many of his "hunts," including going to York starting in 1979.

2: A great escape from the problems of the day. I feel very fortunate to say I love my work, but it's also great to have a means to escape, and for me a few hours in the train room helps keep things in perspective. Running my old prewar clunkers gives me a feeling of "everything is going to be ok." 

3: As time moves on, the trains remain important, but what has become more important is the circle of friends we have because of them.  Thanks to the trains, the TCA, and forums like this, we have met people we wouldn't have met otherwise, and for that I'm very grateful. 

 

John

Thanks so much, John, for sharing the above. I feel that many of us have had similar experiences, or aspire to do so.

I only joined this on line forum on or about November 9th, so I may be the newest kid on the block here. Also, in order to do on line tricks like attaching photos and inserting links to train songs, I had to bug my 31 year old daughter and  29 year old son to teach me these tricks over this extended Thanksgiving holiday weekend. I had to beg them to teach me these techy tricks, and they begrudgingly, but good naturedly, obliged. LOL

I also had a great connection to my Dad through trains and a need to escape through trains as John mentions in his first two points, but outside of my immediate family and a few local friends who are train collectors, I have not had a circle of friends like the ones John describes in his point # 3. However, I aspire to # 3 and am hopeful of achieving it through this fabulous on line forum.

My train collector friends are good guys and I hope to introduce them to you down the road. They have a lot of trains, some are fine repairmen, but they never get around to building a layout and running the trains they collect even though they say they will some day do that. But that day never comes. So I have been a relative loner as a train operator.  I find my friends talking about building a layout, but forever procrastinating about doing it, very frustrating. I have a funny way to compare this with a normal, red-blooded, heterosexual man's romantic interest in a beautiful woman, but I will share this comparison with you folks when I meet you in person, but not on this forum because it's a bit crude, and would not be appreciated by our terrific new publisher.

My train collector friends often go to York. I went to York once about 2O years ago with my wife and two young children. I loved it, but my wife and kids unenthusiastically tagged along for the train show. However, we all had a good time at the TCA museum, riding on the steam train through the Amish country where the pretty young Amish woman flirtatiously smiled at me, the PRR Museum, and the Choo Choo Barn where my wife graciously let me spend a whopping $150 on the baseball figures now on my layout.

I've always wanted, but have never had, O Gauge train friends, who love to design and build layouts, make realistic scenery and run trains. I believe I have finally found that through this on line forum.

Miketg posted:

Trains have been the one constant thread in my life the last 50 years. From the day I first held my Dad's Sears drill as a five year old to drill my first holes for switch wires right up until today, they have been the one continuos thread in my life. As a young teenager, my mother would take me to train stores all over Long Island to search out trains and tell me stories about her Lionel Winner train and life during the great depression. These are some of my favorite memories of her and I am so glad to have them as she passed away when I was 16. 

To me, trains are memories of friends and places, each one having its own story, but still part of this great thread of mine for the last 50 years.

Miketg 

Mike, thank you for your beautiful statement about precious connections you have made to family and friend through trains.

Arnold, I think these stories would make a nice on going feature in the magazine. Don

scale rail posted:

Arnold, I think these stories would make a nice on going feature in the magazine. Don

Don, I agree. Once this topic has run its course and everyone gets a chance to contribute, it could be the subject of an OGR article or, as you suggest, an ongoing feature of the magazine. 

Anyone interested in being a co-writer with me of such an article or feature? Here's a wild idea: maybe we can have 10 such co-writers! I'm a pretty collaborative guy so co-writing is a possibility.

I have always loved trains beginning in 1957 when I got my first train. The reason I love trains has changed through the years. Now they remind me of parents and brother now gone. They remind of times when life was a blank canvas and now when the picture is nearly finished. We are all lucky to have a train for a friend.

petrifiedagg posted:

I have always loved trains beginning in 1957 when I got my first train. The reason I love trains has changed through the years. Now they remind me of parents and brother now gone. They remind of times when life was a blank canvas and now when the picture is nearly finished. We are all lucky to have a train for a friend.

Dear Petrifiedagg:

Your beautiful, moving statement leaves me speechless. Thank you for sharing it, and remember always that all of us on this forum are your friends too.

OK, there are two other smell stories:

1.  I would come home with a steam engine from a meet.  She would ask:  Does it stink? (CF Marx smoke comments above.)  So to her all smoke units "stink".

2.  I have smelled the trucks of cars and the frame of the Lionel C&O 624 NW2.  They have a smell all of their own.  What causes ir?

Memories. Dad didn't always put his Lionel's up at Christmas, but the older I got, the more often he did. And at Christmas, when we visited all my Grandparents, I knew my Uncle Jim would have his train board under their tree. Laying on the floor watching his 2020 circle the tree, and watching for the Keystone on the front. Firing off the Rocket Car and finally hitting the Exploding Boxcar. All these trains, and Uncle Jim's train board are under my tree now.

Sitting at a crossing, and watching the train go by, watching for the different Heralds.

Arnold,

   In my case it was the actual start to my NASA/Martin Marietta Engineering Career and it is also my way of keeping my Father & Grandfather's Christmas Tradition alive, to pass down thru the family. Our O Gauge Train Layouts are an intricate part of our Christmas family Tradition, passed down thru the generations.  This year we celebrate our Christmas Tradition in a new home where I am able to have my own Train Room.  It will be slow going at 1st due to the expense of moving, however the permanent type layout will be built a little at a time over, many months/years. I am in the Engineering Planning stages at present and am looking forward to beginning actual physical construction.  I know my Father and Grandfather are watching with interest as their Christmas Tradition continues into the future.

PCRR/Dave 

Me and my Grandpa B 1949/1950 at Christmas Time - Memories to last forever.

Dominic Mazoch posted:

OK, there are two other smell stories:

1.  I would come home with a steam engine from a meet.  She would ask:  Does it stink? (CF Marx smoke comments above.)  So to her all smoke units "stink".

2.  I have smelled the trucks of cars and the frame of the Lionel C&O 624 NW2.  They have a smell all of their own.  What causes ir?

Dominic, I have no idea re #2, but #1 is hilarious!

Steamer posted:

Memories. Dad didn't always put his Lionel's up at Christmas, but the older I got, the more often he did. And at Christmas, when we visited all my Grandparents, I knew my Uncle Jim would have his train board under their tree. Laying on the floor watching his 2020 circle the tree, and watching for the Keystone on the front. Firing off the Rocket Car and finally hitting the Exploding Boxcar. All these trains, and Uncle Jim's train board are under my tree now.

Sitting at a crossing, and watching the train go by, watching for the different Heralds.

The perfect toys/models to delight children and adults of all ages: the trains, the gateman, the Plasticville structures, etc.

Pine Creek Railroad posted:

Arnold,

   In my case it was the actual start to my NASA/Martin Marietta Engineering Career and it is also my way of keeping my Father & Grandfather's Christmas Tradition alive, to pass down thru the family. Our O Gauge Train Layouts are an intricate part of our Christmas family Tradition, passed down thru the generations.  This year we celebrate our Christmas Tradition in a new home where I am able to have my own Train Room.  It will be slow going at 1st due to the expense of moving, however the permanent type layout will be built a little at a time over, many months/years. I am in the Engineering Planning stages at present and am looking forward to beginning actual physical construction.  I know my Father and Grandfather are watching with interest as their Christmas Tradition continues into the future.

PCRR/Dave 

Me and my Grandpa B 1949/1950 at Christmas Time - Memories to last forever.

My God, Dave, if anyone in the World is qualified to build the World's Greatest O Gauge Train Layout, it's you!

I'd love to see it when it's built and trains are running on it.

Incidentally, your connection to NASA reminded me of a recent idea I had to attract young adult hobbyists that I decided not to share in this forum for fear of blowing people away, but now I will. What about modeling trains on the Moon, Mars, Europa (a moon of Jupiter), or two of the moons of Saturn whose names escape me at the moment.? One such moon of Saturn has geysers of water; another moon of Saturn has liquid methane on the surface that can support life. The idea is to have model railroading on these celestial bodies that humanity colonizes in the future. How is that for a far out idea for future layouts?

Steamer posted:

Memories. Dad didn't always put his Lionel's up at Christmas, but the older I got, the more often he did. And at Christmas, when we visited all my Grandparents, I knew my Uncle Jim would have his train board under their tree. Laying on the floor watching his 2020 circle the tree, and watching for the Keystone on the front. Firing off the Rocket Car and finally hitting the Exploding Boxcar. All these trains, and Uncle Jim's train board are under my tree now.

Sitting at a crossing, and watching the train go by, watching for the different Heralds.

The perfect toys/models to delight children and adults of all ages: the trains, the gateman, the Plasticville structures, etc.

Very simple.  They're a 65 year extension of my childhood.  Heck I even took an "N" Ga set to Viet Nam.