scale rail posted:Mikey, do you remember that outside playland on top of the Emporium in SF? Don
Don,
I also remember the "Playland" on the roof of Emporium. When we were kids, my mom and gramma would take us first to Stonestown. Then...from there...we would catch a PCC streetcar downtown and go to Emporium. I think it even had a Ferris Wheel and it overhung the roof...so when you came around you were slightly over the roof's edge. Matt
OKHIKER posted:Arnold,
Thanks so much for starting this thread. I absolutely love topics like this because so many of the responses exemplify how significant the extraordinarily strong family bonds played in bringing Dads, Moms, children and model trains together. I think the references to fathers in particular are extremely touching because so often in our modern society they are so often overlooked in regards to their contribution to the family unit.
Like so many others who have responded my connection to toy trains began with my Father and Grandfather. My Dad passed away in 1953 at the tender age of 33 as a result of wounds he suffered during WW ll. I was only five years old at the time but I still have very vivid memories of my brother, sister and I crowding around the platform with the tree in the middle as my father put our Lionel 1655 and its associated freight cars through its paces. All of the lights in the living room were turned off save the tree lights. The effect was nothing short of magical. To this day I can still smell the sweet aroma of pine mixed with pungent aroma of ozone. What a trip. I still have the little 1655 and all of its cars and it runs just fine. I also have my Grandfather's Lionel and Marx sets from 1958. After my Dad died my Grandad continued the family tradition and ran his trains for us at Christmas time. As a result of their love of toy trains the seed was firmly planted within my psyche and it has never left me.
Before I went off to college my Grandmother and I boxed up all of our trains and she promised me she would not give them away to anyone, not even our relatives. After I was married and purchased a home in 1974 the very first thing I did was to retrieve those trains and with my wife at my side set up a Christmas layout. Ever since that year trains have always run under our tree. I still run my Dad's and Grandfather's sets at Christmas time with all of the lights off in the living room save the tree lights. It truly is a trip back in time. Sometimes I feel they are with us watching as the trains make their never ending circuit around the tree. Today my three Grandchildren, in particular my Granddaughter Charlotte, get a kick of running the trains not only on our Christmas layout but also on my year round layouts in the basement. So, this is what trains have meant to me; a strong sense of nostalgia coupled with a firm commitment to maintaining a tight knit family unit. In addition over the years they have provided me a great escape from life's daily pressures. Indeed, toy trains have been an integral part of my life and will remain so as I proceed down the home stretch of life.
What a beautiful statement. What I found most moving is what you said about your dad. It's because of men like him that we can be in the "pursuit of happiness" in so many ways, including enjoying the trains and the comraderie we have in this forum.
Hard to say, postwar items I wanted but never got. then I became a collector. What is hard to understand is that I could have bought some postwar cars, not engines they were too expensive, but I didn't and bought models. I guess where we lived in Kansas City, Kansas there were no HS in my area stocking Lionel trains
We love our toy train layout. It has become a healthy obsession, and diversion, for a couple of parents who take care of a daughter with a life long illness. Not looking for sympathy, or even complaining, but just sharing to say that the joy of having a layout can be a God-send from time to time. We aren't collectors, or really serious modelers, but our fictitious village with its various boroughs, all with trains running through them, citizens of the village some of whom our replicants of real family and friends, cars and trucks and buses, houses and trees...it's a wonderland for the whole family. My elderly mother (91) comes over on Sundays and struggles to remember what she had for breakfast, but always wants to see the train. The grandkids can't wait to come down and move around the character that is them to a new place in the village to create their own scene. A good friend, who owns big trucks in real life, can't wait to come over and fire up a diesel engine on the layout. And for me, when the chaos of real life escalates, I can always sneak down to the train room with a glass of Irish whiskey and make the world right with a flip of the switch. Well, the whiskey helps a little bit, too, but you get the picture.
Moon,
I'm glad your trains give you some relief from family obligations! It is good not young and old enjoy them as well!
Moon posted:We love our toy train layout. It has become a healthy obsession, and diversion, for a couple of parents who take care of a daughter with a life long illness. Not looking for sympathy, or even complaining, but just sharing to say that the joy of having a layout can be a God-send from time to time. We aren't collectors, or really serious modelers, but our fictitious village with its various boroughs, all with trains running through them, citizens of the village some of whom our replicants of real family and friends, cars and trucks and buses, houses and trees...it's a wonderland for the whole family. My elderly mother (91) comes over on Sundays and struggles to remember what she had for breakfast, but always wants to see the train. The grandkids can't wait to come down and move around the character that is them to a new place in the village to create their own scene. A good friend, who owns big trucks in real life, can't wait to come over and fire up a diesel engine on the layout. And for me, when the chaos of real life escalates, I can always sneak down to the train room with a glass of Irish whiskey and make the world right with a flip of the switch. Well, the whiskey helps a little bit, too, but you get the picture.
It sounds like your trains greatly enhance your life and the lives of everyone in your family.
It's my only chance to go back to a time and place I dearly wish I could have seen.
I model a 3-footer line, a fictional branch line of it, anyway. It takes place in the valley in which both of my parents grew up, when they were kids. Oh, how I'd have loved to have met and talked with my grandfather (a WW1 vet who'd had a hard life, a quick temper and was not to be trifled with, but who had a great sense of humor and dearly loved his family, I'm told) and oldest uncle (a transport/bomber pilot in WW2 who sadly died flying plane in the 50s). And to ride on a now ghost railroad that lives only in photos and memories.
Everyone has that one place/time they'd go to if someone showed up with a time machine and said, "Only one trip, ever. Choose." For me, it'd be to board a ET&WNC passenger train at Johnson City, TN and ride it all the way to Boone, NC and back. My layout takes place before a nightmarish storm wiped out a lot of that, but to ride the parts I've read about (and visited the remains of, decades later) in that timeframe? Man, what I'd give to do that just once.
My layout is as close as I'll ever get. When I walk into the room, I'm there. I've wanted this for almost all my life and I can't believe sometimes it's in that room. There are times I'll walk in there, and almost tear up just thinking about what it means to me, both for what it represents and what the physical structure of the layout itself means to me. Not only that, other than wiring, the curtains (thanks again, honey!) and track work, I did every single bit of it by myself. It's the greatest sense of accomplishment I've ever felt other than the day I pinned on my LT bars for the Army, all those years ago.
The only regret I have, one I have no control over, is that my aging parents (who will not fly or be in a car for more than a couple hours and live on the opposite corner of the continent) will never get to see it in person. I've never told them the crushing disappointment of knowing that (and I never will), but I must admit it's hard to think of sometimes, because in a way, I built it for them. Almost like the baseball field in "Field of dreams," I thought I was just building it for me, but now I realize that really wasn't the point.
Much like people declare once they have kids (a joy my wife and I were denied), they never realize how much they'd really mean to them, I never thought this layout would mean as much as it does, both for what I've done as well as what it represents.
It's cheesy, but it's true.
Our O Gauge trains are very special for many of us. Isn't it amazing how these inanimate tangible objects, originally intended for children to play with, have had such a profound impact on the lives of many of us? If Joshua Cowan (who started the Lionel Co. around 1901 with a cigar box electric train) knows about this, he must be very pleased.
Correction: it's Joshua Lionel Cowen.
I'm a high school history teacher (teenagers)!!! Need I say more? Teaching is not hard, it's just dealing with teens all day long, it wears me out, mentally. It is very peaceful and relaxing to spend an evening working on and operating my trains. I developed my love for the hobby at an early age. My grandfather had a big O gauge layout with a large collection of postwar Lionel trains. It was so great to go down into the basement with my grandfather and operate those trains. I actually inherited all of his trains, and they all still run. I pull the locomotives off the shelf and run them a few times a year (my layout is all DCS). I had an HO layout as a teenager, but life happened and I got away from the hobby for a few years. About ten years ago I started a layout in our bonus room just to run my grandfather's trains. That didn't last long, the layout grew and I started buying modern stuff and DCS. I have a couple of other hobbies, shooting handguns and riding my Harley, but the trains are what I enjoy the most.
p51 posted:It's my only chance to go back to a time and place I dearly wish I could have seen.
I model a 3-footer line, a fictional branch line of it, anyway. It takes place in the valley in which both of my parents grew up, when they were kids. Oh, how I'd have loved to have met and talked with my grandfather (a WW1 vet who'd had a hard life, a quick temper and was not to be trifled with, but who had a great sense of humor and dearly loved his family, I'm told) and oldest uncle (a transport/bomber pilot in WW2 who sadly died flying plane in the 50s). And to ride on a now ghost railroad that lives only in photos and memories.
Everyone has that one place/time they'd go to if someone showed up with a time machine and said, "Only one trip, ever. Choose." For me, it'd be to board a ET&WNC passenger train at Johnson City, TN and ride it all the way to Boone, NC and back. My layout takes place before a nightmarish storm wiped out a lot of that, but to ride the parts I've read about (and visited the remains of, decades later) in that timeframe? Man, what I'd give to do that just once.
My layout is as close as I'll ever get. When I walk into the room, I'm there. I've wanted this for almost all my life and I can't believe sometimes it's in that room. There are times I'll walk in there, and almost tear up just thinking about what it means to me, both for what it represents and what the physical structure of the layout itself means to me. Not only that, other than wiring, the curtains (thanks again, honey!) and track work, I did every single bit of it by myself. It's the greatest sense of accomplishment I've ever felt other than the day I pinned on my LT bars for the Army, all those years ago.
The only regret I have, one I have no control over, is that my aging parents (who will not fly or be in a car for more than a couple hours and live on the opposite corner of the continent) will never get to see it in person. I've never told them the crushing disappointment of knowing that (and I never will), but I must admit it's hard to think of sometimes, because in a way, I built it for them. Almost like the baseball field in "Field of dreams," I thought I was just building it for me, but now I realize that really wasn't the point.
Much like people declare once they have kids (a joy my wife and I were denied), they never realize how much they'd really mean to them, I never thought this layout would mean as much as it does, both for what I've done as well as what it represents.
It's cheesy, but it's true.
Lee, thanks for sharing your dreams that many of us can relate to: going back in time, seeing loved ones long gone just one more time, riding in that special passenger train just one more time, and sharing your layout with your aging parents who live far away.
You are so right when you describe your layout as a Field of Dreams. Every layout starts out as a dream, and then we build it, and the dream becomes true. Once built, the layout can be a dream machine, inspiring dreams in those who see it.
Field of Dreams happens to be my favorite movie. Moonlight Graham (played by an elderly Burt Lancaster) is my favorite character. He follows Ray Kinsella (played by Kevin Coster) to Iowa, and fulfills his dream of batting just once against a Major League pitcher. Then, the little girl in the stands starts choking, and Moonlight crosses the foul line, becomes elderly Dr. Moonlight Graham again, and saves the child.
And how about that final scene in the movie when Ray looks out towards the corn field, sees his dad (as a young man) walking towards him wearing catcher's gear, and Ray asks his dad if he wants to have a catch, and they have a catch under the lights on that magical baseball field.
I might just change my Popsicle stick Yankee Stadium on my layout and make it into an O scale Field of Dreams.
There was a cousin on my wife's side of the family, a loud LSU Tiger from Lake Charles, LA that teased everyone mercilessly, and usually spewed a constant stream of smart remarks and sarcasm to anyone in his sites. He went by the name Early Reiser. I stood to get it the worst from him since I was marrying his favorite cousin. Alice kept and trained his horses on the Texas ranch, and Early would come out to Texas every Spring and stay for weeks to ride his horses and help the family and neighbors work cattle. I was about to throw a wrench into that setup. As it turned out, while everyone else in the family dreaded Early's vocal Spring arrival, I got a complete free pass...Early was a railroad fan. Back in the day, Early's father had a heavy machine shop in Lake Charles complete with a spur off the KCS. Among their work was truing wheels for KCS steam locomotives. When he learned that I had spent some time marked up on the Frisco, had a few model trains, and several hundred pounds of books and papers, it caused me to become his "fair haired boy". Early never worked for the railroads, but he travelled many of the great trains of the Golden Era. We rode the SW Chief together in 2006 before he became terminally ill with Lymphoma.
I could write several pages on what trains have meant to me through the years, but the most amusing thought to share would be my taming of the Tiger from Louisiana with trains.
Rob Leese posted:There was a cousin on my wife's side of the family, a loud LSU Tiger from Lake Charles, LA that teased everyone mercilessly, and usually spewed a constant stream of smart remarks and sarcasm to anyone in his sites. He went by the name Early Reiser. I stood to get it the worst from him since I was marrying his favorite cousin. Alice kept and trained his horses on the Texas ranch, and Early would come out to Texas every Spring and stay for weeks to ride his horses and help the family and neighbors work cattle. I was about to throw a wrench into that setup. As it turned out, while everyone else in the family dreaded Early's vocal Spring arrival, I got a complete free pass...Early was a railroad fan. Back in the day, Early's father had a heavy machine shop in Lake Charles complete with a spur off the KCS. Among their work was truing wheels for KCS steam locomotives. When he learned that I had spent some time marked up on the Frisco, had a few model trains, and several hundred pounds of books and papers, it caused me to become his "fair haired boy". Early never worked for the railroads, but he travelled many of the great trains of the Golden Era. We road the SW Chief together in 2006 before he became terminally ill with Lymphoma.
I could write several pages on what trains have meant to me through the years, but the most amusing thought to share would be my taming of the Tiger from Louisiana.
Great train story, Rob!
My parents were poor. We lived in a fifth floor walkup at 145th street and Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan.
I can't remember the reason, but my aunt and uncle, who lived in Thornwood, put me up for several days when I was four or five years old. The neighbor boy across the road had an American Flyer set and was nice enought to let me play with it too. I wanted one so bad. I hounded my parents somethin' fierce.
One evening when he got home from work, Dad had an American Flyer catalog. We pored over it for quite some time and I selected a mid-price passenger set with the understanding that it would be my only Christmas gift that year.
It was the only year ever I was allowed to open my gift on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas morning, and when I did I was in little kid heaven! Smoke, choo choo, air chime whistle (sounded like crap) and illuminated coaches running in the darkened living room accompanied by only the tree lights. Finally my parents had to insist that I go to bed.
When I got up Christmas morning and rushed into the living room to play with my new train I was astonished! There were many more packages under the tree with my name on them. A pair of remote controlled switches, a 90-degree crossing, and all the sections of track needed to build most of the 4x8 layouts in the back pages of the catalog. I couldn't believe it.
Those trains have been long gone for many years, but when I fire up my small Lionel setup in the garage I can't help but think of the sacrifices my parents must have had to make to get me those trains and I am reminded of their love. I only wish I could have realized this and expressed my tremendous appreciation while they were still living.
Pete
my trains mean alot to me my mom who passed 6 years ago supported my interests
trains provide a coping mechanism for when i encounter something scary
trains let me use my imagination though right now i am unsure of what i want and i don't model anything real and i like fantasy locomotives and railroads which one idea is using lego trains or having shawmut car shops build my motive fleet
the earth is not the only place i run train operations for example
Timar Interstate is a line in the DAL Universe a parallel universe to our DERN universe
the locomotives on TI are either Asket-Motive or Nera-Railcon engines that are massive futuristic versions of north American engines 15 5,000hp Asket-Motive AM-50CWX locomotives have been brought to earth and put to service on the Dellafave Southern and can be seen interchanged with the APWR
Asket-Motives are fitted with a type L5 horn and Nera-cons with L4's at the discretion of Billy Meier
so i basically view trains as a open canvas as you see above i like to make what i feel and hopefully i'll get to run it one day
paigetrain posted:my trains mean alot to me my mom who passed 6 years ago supported my interests
trains provide a coping mechanism for when i encounter something scary
trains let me use my imagination though right now i am unsure of what i want and i don't model anything real and i like fantasy locomotives and railroads which one idea is using lego trains or having shawmut car shops build my motive fleet
the earth is not the only place i run train operations for example
Timar Interstate is a line in the DAL Universe a parallel universe to our DERN universe
the locomotives on TI are either Asket-Motive or Nera-Railcon engines that are massive futuristic versions of north American engines 15 5,000hp Asket-Motive AM-50CWX locomotives have been brought to earth and put to service on the Dellafave Southern and can be seen interchanged with the APWR
Asket-Motives are fitted with a type L5 horn and Nera-cons with L4's at the discretion of Billy Meier
so i basically view trains as a open canvas as you see above i like to make what i feel and hopefully i'll get to run it one day
Far out future trains. So cool.
I can not say exactly what trains mean to me, my dad and I never set up a train around the tree, or anywhere. I bought my own HO Train when I was in either Middle and High School. It wasn't until the past couple of years that I really got into building a O-Gauge train layout. I would guess it is just something I built and created with my own mind and hands.
My 5 almost 6 year old son like to see my trains going, and I do let him run my polar express set, that I am going to put around the tree this year, when/if we put our tree up. I am one also one of the younger ones from everything I have seen or read on this forum at 30 years old. I am going to put some things on my layout that are connected to my Wife's family. I have her Dad's N-Scale Trains, that I do plan on building a small possibly coffee table layout to put in the living room. If I ever get around to it.
Perhaps it is just seeing the Machinery in action on steam engines, since most of my Locomotives are steam engines. Perhaps it is just a way to escape from real life, running my own little empire, with Trains as the main mode of transportation.
tcochran posted:I can not say exactly what trains mean to me, my dad and I never set up a train around the tree, or anywhere. I bought my own HO Train when I was in either Middle and High School. It wasn't until the past couple of years that I really got into building a O-Gauge train layout. I would guess it is just something I built and created with my own mind and hands.
My 5 almost 6 year old son like to see my trains going, and I do let him run my polar express set, that I am going to put around the tree this year, when/if we put our tree up. I am one also one of the younger ones from everything I have seen or read on this forum at 30 years old. I am going to put some things on my layout that are connected to my Wife's family. I have her Dad's N-Scale Trains, that I do plan on building a small possibly coffee table layout to put in the living room. If I ever get around to it.
Perhaps it is just seeing the Machinery in action on steam engines, since most of my Locomotives are steam engines. Perhaps it is just a way to escape from real life, running my own little empire, with Trains as the main mode of transportation.
You have a great advantage as a 30 year old O Gauge model railroader, especially sunce there are not that many model railroaders your age. If you stay in the hobby long enough, you have a chance of ending up having a lot of our favorite trains.
There was a delightful pre-war train collector and operator named Ward Kimball who had worked for Disney as an animator (he made cartoons). Ward said with a smile and twinkle in his eye: "he who ends up with the most trains wins."
Ward is no longer with us, but he definitely ended up with a lot of trains and won.
Texas Pete posted:My parents were poor. We lived in a fifth floor walkup at 145th street and Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan.
I can't remember the reason, but my aunt and uncle, who lived in Thornwood, put me up for several days when I was four or five years old. The neighbor boy across the road had an American Flyer set and was nice enought to let me play with it too. I wanted one so bad. I hounded my parents somethin' fierce.
One evening when he got home from work, Dad had an American Flyer catalog. We pored over it for quite some time and I selected a mid-price passenger set with the understanding that it would be my only Christmas gift that year.
It was the only year ever I was allowed to open my gift on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas morning, and when I did I was in little kid heaven! Smoke, choo choo, air chime whistle (sounded like crap) and illuminated coaches running in the darkened living room accompanied by only the tree lights. Finally my parents had to insist that I go to bed.
When I got up Christmas morning and rushed into the living room to play with my new train I was astonished! There were many more packages under the tree with my name on them. A pair of remote controlled switches, a 90-degree crossing, and all the sections of track needed to build most of the 4x8 layouts in the back pages of the catalog. I couldn't believe it.
Those trains have been long gone for many years, but when I fire up my small Lionel setup in the garage I can't help but think of the sacrifices my parents must have had to make to get me those trains and I am reminded of their love. I only wish I could have realized this and expressed my tremendous appreciation while they were still living.
Pete
Very amazing story Texas..I could almost picture it Nick
tcochran posted:I can not say exactly what trains mean to me, my dad and I never set up a train around the tree, or anywhere. I bought my own HO Train when I was in either Middle and High School. It wasn't until the past couple of years that I really got into building a O-Gauge train layout. I would guess it is just something I built and created with my own mind and hands.
My 5 almost 6 year old son like to see my trains going, and I do let him run my polar express set, that I am going to put around the tree this year, when/if we put our tree up. I am one also one of the younger ones from everything I have seen or read on this forum at 30 years old. I am going to put some things on my layout that are connected to my Wife's family. I have her Dad's N-Scale Trains, that I do plan on building a small possibly coffee table layout to put in the living room. If I ever get around to it.
Perhaps it is just seeing the Machinery in action on steam engines, since most of my Locomotives are steam engines. Perhaps it is just a way to escape from real life, running my own little empire, with Trains as the main mode of transportation.
Similar to my story. I bought my first train, HO when I was about 12. I had HO and N scale, but switched to O gauge about 6 years ago, however I was about 55 at the time. I'm glad your son likes your trains!!! Our daughters didn't when they were little. Maybe they would have if I had O gauge back then. Keep busy with your son!!!
Arnold, Ward wasn't just a cartoon maker, he was one of the original nine "old men" that worked on "Snow White", directed Pinochio, worked on Peter Pan, Mary Poppins and many other features for Walt Disney. I always saw him at the Cal Stewart meets in Southern California. He signed my LP of his band "The Fire House Five Plus Two" and my Cal Stewart box car. His real railroad had the Grizzly Flat station. It was a set for a Disney movie that he bought. It only had three walls for filming. He finished it and used it for his home railroad. Disney wanted to buy it back but Ward would not sell. After Ward passed away it was moved to a small railroad on the Sonoma winery. Sadly, it burned down in the fire this summer. He was a very nice man. Don
scale rail posted:Arnold, Ward wasn't just a cartoon maker, he was one of the original nine "old men" that worked on "Snow White", directed Pinochio, worked on Peter Pan, Mary Poppins and many other features for Walt Disney. I always saw him at the Cal Stewart meets in Southern California. He signed my LP of his band "The Fire House Five Plus Two" and my Cal Stewart box car. His real railroad had the Grizzly Flat station. It was a set for a Disney movie that he bought. It only had three walls for filming. He finished it and used it for his home railroad. Disney wanted to buy it back but Ward would not sell. After Ward passed away it was moved to a small railroad on the Sonoma winery. Sadly, it burned down in the fire this summer. He was a very nice man. Don
Don, thanks for the information about Ward. I knew he was very successful working for Disney and had a tremendous train collection but did not know all the other interesting details you mentioned.
What I knew about Ward came from him being featured in the McComas and Tuoy 6 video set, and him being featured in train magazines.
Here's the station. I'm a history nut, Don
scale rail posted:Here's the station. I'm a history nut, Don
So sad it burned down on John Lasseter's property recently.
I thought it might be fun to resurrect this topic.
For me at this time, my trains remind me of a lyric from one of the James Bond theme songs: "All I wanted was a sweet distraction for an hour or two . . . "
Trains are certainly a very different sweet distraction than that James Bond song was referring to. But they do provide a sweet distraction for me, none the less, which I find very therapeutic.
How about you? What do your trains mean to you?
Arnold
Moonson posted:For me, they mean this, visiting here, again, for a few moments,
every once in a while...
FrankM
I'm the same way. It amazes me the clarity of the memories running trains brings back. Events and people I had completely forgotten about come rushing back to my consciousness. It's a lot like driving through your childhood neighborhood I suppose. Some memories are bittersweet, and in those moments I consider myself fortunate to have known (and loved) so many wonderful people. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have bittersweet memories, and my life wouldn't have been so fulfilled. When I am feeling down, this forum and my friends are only a few clicks of the mouse or numbers on a touchpad away. 
-Greg
the smell of pellet smoke and the newer liquid smoke scents. they also allow me a senior adult to go back to a simpler time that had many fond memories of childhood before the reality of santa clause took hold. a time of christmas morning and starting my diesel switcher up and the smell of never used yet 1958 electronics you cannot replicate that smell one has to live it. both the post war trains and the modern electronic trains let me enjoy them as intended in both past and current times. the post war trains take me to a time when Lionel, American Flyer & Marx were the toys of today I even had 4 years straight of windup trains this is what trains mean to me so many fond memories of playing with them ironically then as in now summertime interupted the play time but once the artic chill and snow hit only sledding was a close second to playing with my trains and still holds true now! great thread
Wow...some really touching postings...l have posted my history in the past, and should not be surprised so many of us have this sentimental family connection to our trains. When l stand in those small town cemeteries in another state, l silently, and sometimes audibly, thank them for the introduction to this and another life long hobby, and for everything else they did for my brother and me.
So, I guess you could blame my addictions on the Mom and Dad and Grandparents. My Mom is in the background. Dads holding the beer and cigarette. I was 8 months old in these pictures, Should be Christmas 1960. This is how my habit started. Not only that, My Dad had his AF 332 4-8-4, which I now have.
If anyone can identify the red pull train and the clockworks train, please let me know. Like I said above, Circa 1960.
Chris
Moonson posted:For me, they mean this, visiting here, again, for a few moments,
FrankM
Wonderful picture of you, Frank. Your delightful posts on this Forum and your great love for this hobby show that you really haven't changed since the time that photo was taken. Arnold
What a beautiful thing for you to say, Arnold (!) I am honored by your approval and pat-on-the-shoulder. Thank you, very much.
FrankM
Jayhawk500 posted:So, I guess you could blame my addictions on the Mom and Dad and Grandparents. My Mom is in the background. Dads holding the beer and cigarette. I was 8 months old in these pictures, Should be Christmas 1960. This is how my habit started. Not only that, My Dad had his AF 332 4-8-4, which I now have.
If anyone can identify the red pull train and the clockworks train, please let me know. Like I said above, Circa 1960.
Chris
Chris, your post reminds me that when I was a little kid, my Dad would put his L&M cigarettes in my red gondola and operating log unloader car. A few years later, when he was about 50, he would give up smoking cigarettes cold turkey, and never smoked another cigarette again. Arnold
@Jayhawk500 The one with eyes, no idea. The track units I can't see clear. But the hoss, and it's "a mighty fine hoss" 😂, is a Marx I'm pretty sure (I had one too. Same red outfit as well! Woolworths if I recall right.[I recall stuff from about 6-8 months old, some more than others, but I make Mom gasp at times]) If those white sticks aren't the remains of a sugar binge, I'd suspect them to be Marx parts included in most train sets. Maybe a fence or sign posts etc. I hope that helps your hunt.
With trains, it's so nice to come home after a hard day's work.
Even if you have no energy left to do anything with the trains, it's so nice to know they are there, making your home more like heaven. Arnold
Arnold D. Cribari posted:With trains, it's so nice to come home after a hard day's work.
Even if you have no energy left to do anything with the trains, it's so nice to know they are there, making your home more like heaven. Arnold
So very true Arnold.
MELGAR
Not sure how I missed this topic the first time around, Arnold. An interesting question.
For me, except for a little nostalgic value of some of my childhood pieces, the individual trains don't really have a lot of meaning anymore.
As time has passed, the trains' meaning has shifted greatly. They started out as simple toys, but by the time I was in my 30's, they came to define who I am. Because of enterTRAINment at Mall of America, I have shared my love of trains with thousands of people. Unfortunately, that venture was very costly and short lived, but I did not give up on trains when it failed.
It has taken about 20 years, but I have basically tripled down on that accomplishment. Today, I'm building a real railroad in O scale, based very directly on where I live. As I said earlier, it is no longer about any single train. It's about having a realistic fleet of engines and cars, and moving freight and passengers all over the country, even though the railroad is just a tiny section of the real world. The end goal is to hold realistic operating sessions, with a good sized crew.
Since a very young age, friends and family have marveled at, and encouraged my love of trains, and the creations it has produced. It's an unusual lifestyle, but it's who I am, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Arnold D. Cribari posted:Jayhawk500 posted:So, I guess you could blame my addictions on the Mom and Dad and Grandparents. My Mom is in the background. Dads holding the beer and cigarette. I was 8 months old in these pictures, Should be Christmas 1960. This is how my habit started. Not only that, My Dad had his AF 332 4-8-4, which I now have.
If anyone can identify the red pull train and the clockworks train, please let me know. Like I said above, Circa 1960.
Chris
Chris, your post reminds me that when I was a little kid, my Dad would put his L&M cigarettes in my red gondola and operating log unloader car. A few years later, when he was about 50, he would give up smoking cigarettes cold turkey, and never smoked another cigarette again. Arnold
After looking at the picture again. (and you are correct, It's hard to see) I would venture to say those sticks are telephone poles, I think. Now that you mention Marx's Hoss train it very well could be. This was a set. When my brother and I were about 8 years older, we had a Marx 027 set we got from one of the neighbor kids. I think my brother still has it.
I did a quick search of the net for Marx clockwork trains. I found this one and it brings back memories. If memory serves me and it's beginning to fail me, these would throw sparks as they went around the track.
More than my ex-wife, at least.
I suppose it depends upon which trains we're talking about. I've spoken in this thread and elsewhere about the nostalgic connection I feel for mt postwar trains.
But my scale trains are my attempt to re-create in miniature the period of recent American railroad history that I find most interesting -- the Transition Era, which I define as 1935-1955.
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