I guess I got screwed. I delivered an afternoon paper, so the trash was all picked up by the time I hit my route after school.
I wish I had a dollar for every time I've heard someone complain about how his mom threw his trains out when he was in the service or away at college. If all those stories were true, the landfills must have looked like York, but some of those stories are undoubtedly true.
Back then, few people saw Lionel trains as collectibles. They were simply toys. When Junior outgrew them and moved on to cars and girls, they were fair game for mom to throw out or give away to a younger cousin.
Thankfully, my mother saved my trains (and my baseball cards, too).
