My lone American Flyer engine is my link to the past. Fond memories from a simpler time, Christmas, family and friends from long ago.
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PAUL ROMANO posted:
My lone American Flyer engine is my link to the past. Fond memories from a simpler time, Christmas, family and friends from long ago.
I am surprised Lionel has not rrissued this as UP 844.
Back to theme: Did take Mother to see the 844 go under North Beltway 8 when the 844 went to Brownsville TX. Steve Lee was on the cab. We were the only people under the bridge. As 844 passed the Control Point at Aldine he made the loco stink, err, smoke and blew the whistle. Made her day.
Arnold D. Cribari posted: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!
Take a Lionel PW car or truck. Freight. Made before 1955. Put noose next to it. The 2400 passenger car trucks have the same smell!
My train hobby means both Christmas and nostalgia. I got my first set in 1949, Christmas time, and I still run it around the Christmas tree. Why this is such a great hobby was brought home to me last Christmas when we had our first grandchild (not quite 2) visiting us and when she spotted the train running around the Christmas tree she literally jumped for joy saying over and over Papou's (grandfather's) trains. My son and his family live far away but thanks to facetime we see our grand daughter weekly and the first thing she asks for are the trains. I always keep an engine and a Mickey Mouse box car handy to show her every time. She is delighted and so am I.
Reading the above comments there are a lot of similarities, growing up with toy trains and living in areas with lots of real trains. I grew up in Dennison Texas, living on Gandy street, one block from the MKT yards. Our secret playground. My friends all had Lionel, or American Flyer trains and we had so much fun running them. Some of my friends had layouts custom built on ping pong tables, with loads of accessories...Wow, oh the fun...Of course, growing up, going to school, getting married, having kids, their educations, and Yes, back to the World Of Model Railroading.....The technology changes in the modern production of our model trains makes it even much more fun....So, to sum up this great Hobby, it involves woodworking, drilling, sawing, electrical work, planning, Reading, socializing, and the best part, interacting with others in the hobby....Our OGR Forum Friends, our train meet friends, simply our friends in the hobby. It’s our silent Psychologist, a true escape from the pressures of Life. Our own little dream world where we are The CEO.....Great thread....The common Denominator is of course, Our Friends in the Hobby.....
As my wife of 43 years died last summer, my collection of trains has been a way to divert my worry and my attention. I am scratch building a Milwaukee transfer caboose on the corner of the kitchen which she would have never allowed but it, along with my daughter, grandson, a few close friends and my three mutts help so much.
Dick
What my trains mean to me? Wow! Another great, thought provoking question, Arnold! Like many, I have liked model trains for as long as I can remember. Unlike many, no one gave me a train as a child. I saved my money and bought a Tyco HO set when I was about 12. My intent has always been that trains are for year-round enjoyment, since I did not grow up seeing a train under any Christmas tree. I used skills I had learned from my dad to build my own layout soon after getting a train. I finally took it down when I finished 2-year college and moved away.
I spent most of my 20s away from trains, but I always knew I would have them again. I do not feel a nostalgia for any of my trains; because of switching scales to O gauge 5+ years ago, I sold every train I owned in the past. I threw away the original HO set after discovering the cheap plastic had been damaged due to heat in storage. So it isn’t the individual model itself, it is the hobby as a whole that beckons me. I do still have some scratchbuilt N-scale buildings that I will always keep.
Now as always, my trains give me relaxation and the ability to get my mind off life’s responsibilities. Now with the Internet, I also get much needed time conversing with others who have similar interests. I have the ability to meet many of you in person at shows, meets, and at homes, where in the past I had no knowledge of any of you. I guess that is very important to me especially since no one else in my family has ever been interested in trains. They have all been accepting and encouraging, but don’t join in the interest.
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?
I have some New, Old, Stock (NOS) Postwar Lionel Trains that still have their factory smell. I recall seeing an old advertisement for a metal protectant called "Essotex" that featured Lionel trains. I wonder if that product is the source.
C W Burfle posted: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?
I have some New, Old, Stock (NOS) Postwar Lionel Trains that still have their factory smell. I recall seeing an old advertisement for a metal protectant called "Essotex" that featured Lionel trains. I wonder if that product is the source.
It's the smell of the passage of time. 
Rusty
Dominic Mazoch posted:PAUL ROMANO posted:
My lone American Flyer engine is my link to the past. Fond memories from a simpler time, Christmas, family and friends from long ago.
I am surprised Lionel has not rrissued this as UP 844.
Because the Flyer Northern is an FEF-1, 844 is an FEF-3.
Rusty
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My trains are a connection to my Pop - going with him on many of his hunts at the train shows. Building our collection. He loved postwar Lionel & we would spend many hours reading the guides & learning about them. It was a way to connect w/ him. It was always our special bond.
The nostalgia - the smoke pellets, the ozone. The hum of the ZW. All these things take me back to being a kid a again, running trains on the 4x8 layout we built in my Grandmothers house b/c we didn't have room in our apartment in Brooklyn.
A connection with my kids - I wish my Pops was alive to see how much joy they get out of the trains.
Stress relief - sometimes, I just like to grab a cold beer & turn the trains on & watch them go. No troubles w/ politics or religion or anything else in Lionelville.
Mine are toys that I play with from time to time. I have all my original lionel pieces and my 1950s version of a wooden brio that used clothes snaps to connect them together.
But at the end of the day they are just toys. The prewar and postwar units will probably be working fine in the next millennium.
Mark Boyce posted:What my trains mean to me? Wow! Another great, thought provoking question, Arnold! Like many, I have liked model trains for as long as I can remember. Unlike many, no one gave me a train as a child. I saved my money and bought a Tyco HO set when I was about 12. My intent has always been that trains are for year-round enjoyment, since I did not grow up seeing a train under any Christmas tree. I used skills I had learned from my dad to build my own layout soon after getting a train. I finally took it down when I finished 2-year college and moved away.
I spent most of my 20s away from trains, but I always knew I would have them again. I do not feel a nostalgia for any of my trains; because of switching scales to O gauge 5+ years ago, I sold every train I owned in the past. I threw away the original HO set after discovering the cheap plastic had been damaged due to heat in storage. So it isn’t the individual model itself, it is the hobby as a whole that beckons me. I do still have some scratchbuilt N-scale buildings that I will always keep.
Now as always, my trains give me relaxation and the ability to get my mind off life’s responsibilities. Now with the Internet, I also get much needed time conversing with others who have similar interests. I have the ability to meet many of you in person at shows, meets, and at homes, where in the past I had no knowledge of any of you. I guess that is very important to me especially since no one else in my family has ever been interested in trains. They have all been accepting and encouraging, but don’t join in the interest.
Thanks, Mark, for sharing your experience with trains, which is different from many of us, and which makes it interesting. I have also noticed you are an active contributor to this forum, and a very good writer. I would not be surprised if you have contributed articles to the magazine.
Arnold D. Cribari posted:
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.
Arnold, stick around and you'll meet people you would never have met otherwise. If you ever make it up to Portland, look me up--TCA and forum members are welcome to visit us and see our collection and under-construction layout. Speaking of TCA, hopefully you can get back to York sometime soon!
John
aussteve posted:Mine are toys that I play with from time to time. I have all my original lionel pieces and my 1950s version of a wooden brio that used clothes snaps to connect them together.
But at the end of the day they are just toys. The prewar and postwar units will probably be working fine in the next millennium.
The next millennium? Woooo! That's 1,000 years!
No problem, we all know those prewar and postwar engines up to the mid 1950s were made so well and with such good materials that they will run just fine after 1,000 years.
BlueComet400 posted:Arnold D. Cribari posted:
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.
Arnold, stick around and you'll meet people you would never have met otherwise. If you ever make it up to Portland, look me up--TCA and forum members are welcome to visit us and see our collection and under-construction layout. Speaking of TCA, hopefully you can get back to York sometime soon!
John
Thanks John. Is that Portland, Maine or Portland, Oregon?
It is one of my goals to make it to York at one of the 2 shows there in 2018.
I grew up next to tweetsie and Spencer train shops. It’s in mY blood. My mom got me a Lionel as a kid and I lost interest. So first up the easy things. I enjoy collecting figures and horror memorabilia. So I’m a kid at heart so there’s that. I enjoy putting scenes together. It is somthing my wife enjoys too, the crafty part of it. I enjoy the train history behind my toys. Exspecially the SR. Now the deep stufff. And a well a gripe. I noticed last few times I was sad to leave Spencer shops. It is like a graveyard to past. Hisory rotting away that no one my age (29) gives a **** about. Everytime we got there I feel some force that the engines prevay to me. “ our fathers magic carpets made of steel” I can keep talking about but yea you get jist. Guess I feel I can honor them in some way in my layouts. Plus my kid is somewhat old enough to like them, which to me feels like it gives daddy the ok to drop the money on high end stuff.
each locomotive has a history and one day the new and well my generation won’t care. When I go into shops and talk to the good ole timers, I always get this look that I’m to young and sadly to late to the hobby
Pennywise11788 posted:I grew up next to tweetsie and Spencer train shops. It’s in mY blood. My mom got me a Lionel as a kid and I lost interest. So first up the easy things. I enjoy collecting figures and horror memorabilia. So I’m a kid at heart so there’s that. I enjoy putting scenes together. It is somthing my wife enjoys too, the crafty part of it. I enjoy the train history behind my toys. Exspecially the SR. Now the deep stufff. And a well a gripe. I noticed last few times I was sad to leave Spencer shops. It is like a graveyard to past. Hisory rotting away that no one my age (29) gives a **** about. Everytime we got there I feel some force that the engines prevay to me. “ our fathers magic carpets made of steel” I can keep talking about but yea you get jist. Guess I feel I can honor them in some way in my layouts. Plus my kid is somewhat old enough to like them, which to me feels like it gives daddy the ok to drop the money on high end stuff.
each locomotive has a history and one day the new and well my generation won’t care. When I go into shops and talk to the good ole timers, I always get this look that I’m to young and sadly to late to the hobby
Hang in there, Pennywise. Many of us old timers would love to bring more people your age into the hobby.
Speaking of horror memorabilia, you may be able to combine some horror into your layout. A few years ago, I went to a nice Halloween train display near where I live in Yorktown Heights, NY. They had some scary figures and scary scenes that everyone enjoyed, especially the kids.
Speaking of horror, I went through a sadistic phase as a kid that included tying figures (from my older sister's doll house) to Lionel track and running them over with Lionel locomotives. I got this idea from cartoons I used to watch where the villain (was it Dudley Doright?) would tie a girl to the railroad track. I also remember using string to make hangman's nooses and hanging my sister's doll house figures from a Lionel signal bridge. I didn't think of this, but another horror idea would be to take those dollhouse figures, tie them to a miniature chair, run wires from them to a ZW, and electrocute them!
My trains are a link to fond memories of my parents, Christmas mornings, and good friends. Christmas morning would find me coming down to our family gameroom to see that Santa had paid a visit on Christmas Eve. The undecorated tree we had put up the day before was all decorated, the 4x8 green platform with a loop of American Flyer track was in place along with all of the Plasticville buildings. I remember running that 326 engine for hours each day. After doing the same for my kids, I can understand why my dad was always so tired by Christmas afternoon.
My mom always encouraged my love for trains, whether the toy variety or the real thing. When I was young, she would coax my dad to pull over so we could watch the trains that would pass near where I grew up. Later, she would take me to the Greenberg train shows when they came to Pittsburgh. While she had my three older siblings to care for and my grandmother as well, she always managed to find the time to get me to the show. Even after I had left home and started a family of my own, she would always pull me aside and slip me a few bucks in the fall and tell me to buy something at the upcoming train show. I would protest and she would insist that I buy something for myself and to consider it my Christmas gift.
My dad, who was always busy running his business(es) when I was younger, got in the act after he sold them and retired. I was shocked one year when he and my mom returned from Florida one winter and presented me with a American Flyer Wide Gauge set in the original boxes, complete with track and transformer. He was especially happy that the set was made the same year he was born, 1928.
Mom passed away in 2010 and my dad just a few months ago. Hardly a day passes without me reflecting on the hardships they both endured for each other and their family. When I run my trains or watch a passing freight from my car, I cannot help thinking of these things.
Add to those memories those of a good friend of mine and my family, a long-time pastor of a nearby Catholic Church. He was a giant of a man both figuratively and literally. He was a life long train buff and each Christmas, he would invite families over to the parish house and run his trains for the kids. He was known to give train sets out to families who could not afford one. The man embodied what a servant of God should be. I can still picture him kneeling on the floor, still wearing his vestments, running the trains of his youth for families with young children.
These are the things that make the trains valuable to me. Fads come and go, prices go up and down, but the memories triggered by running toy trains are priceless.
Tim
Arnold D. Cribari posted:Pennywise11788 posted:I grew up next to tweetsie and Spencer train shops. It’s in mY blood. My mom got me a Lionel as a kid and I lost interest. So first up the easy things. I enjoy collecting figures and horror memorabilia. So I’m a kid at heart so there’s that. I enjoy putting scenes together. It is somthing my wife enjoys too, the crafty part of it. I enjoy the train history behind my toys. Exspecially the SR. Now the deep stufff. And a well a gripe. I noticed last few times I was sad to leave Spencer shops. It is like a graveyard to past. Hisory rotting away that no one my age (29) gives a **** about. Everytime we got there I feel some force that the engines prevay to me. “ our fathers magic carpets made of steel” I can keep talking about but yea you get jist. Guess I feel I can honor them in some way in my layouts. Plus my kid is somewhat old enough to like them, which to me feels like it gives daddy the ok to drop the money on high end stuff.
each locomotive has a history and one day the new and well my generation won’t care. When I go into shops and talk to the good ole timers, I always get this look that I’m to young and sadly to late to the hobby
Hang in there, Pennywise. Many of us old timers would love to bring more people your age into the hobby.
Speaking of horror memorabilia, you may be able to combine some horror into your layout. A few years ago, I went to a nice Halloween train display near where I live in Yorktown Heights, NY. They had some scary figures and scary scenes that everyone enjoyed, especially the kids.
Speaking of horror, I went through a sadistic phase as a kid that included tying figures (from my older sister's doll house) to Lionel track and running them over with Lionel locomotives. I got this idea from cartoons I used to watch where the villain (was it Dudley Doright?) would tie a girl to the railroad track. I also remember using string to make hangman's nooses and hanging my sister's doll house figures from a Lionel signal bridge. I didn't think of this, but another horror idea would be to take those dollhouse figures, tie them to a miniature chair, run wires from them to a ZW, and electrocute them!
Correction: my wife, who was mortified by my last forum reply that I read to her (but she also laughed) reminded me that in those cartoons, Snidely Whiplash (he had a mustache), tied the girl to the track, and Dudley Doright saved her in a nick of time. On my layout as a kid, Dudley never made it in time. It's a testament to the durability of the Lionel postwar engines that they were never damaged by all those deliberate derailments, which included falling 40 plus inches off the plywood train board onto the cement basement floor.
Being into horror, you must love the train wreck that Gomez gleefully engineered at the beginning of the Adams Family TV show.
Arnold D. Cribari posted:Mark Boyce posted:What my trains mean to me? Wow! Another great, thought provoking question, Arnold! Like many, I have liked model trains for as long as I can remember. Unlike many, no one gave me a train as a child. I saved my money and bought a Tyco HO set when I was about 12. My intent has always been that trains are for year-round enjoyment, since I did not grow up seeing a train under any Christmas tree. I used skills I had learned from my dad to build my own layout soon after getting a train. I finally took it down when I finished 2-year college and moved away.
I spent most of my 20s away from trains, but I always knew I would have them again. I do not feel a nostalgia for any of my trains; because of switching scales to O gauge 5+ years ago, I sold every train I owned in the past. I threw away the original HO set after discovering the cheap plastic had been damaged due to heat in storage. So it isn’t the individual model itself, it is the hobby as a whole that beckons me. I do still have some scratchbuilt N-scale buildings that I will always keep.
Now as always, my trains give me relaxation and the ability to get my mind off life’s responsibilities. Now with the Internet, I also get much needed time conversing with others who have similar interests. I have the ability to meet many of you in person at shows, meets, and at homes, where in the past I had no knowledge of any of you. I guess that is very important to me especially since no one else in my family has ever been interested in trains. They have all been accepting and encouraging, but don’t join in the interest.
Thanks, Mark, for sharing your experience with trains, which is different from many of us, and which makes it interesting. I have also noticed you are an active contributor to this forum, and a very good writer. I would not be surprised if you have contributed articles to the magazine.
Thank you, Arnold! I try to be an encouragement to anyone I can. Part of that is to try to write well enough to not be ambiguous or give the wrong impression. I have not contributed an article, but am open to it if the situation arises.
My first jump into o scale was collecting all the Lionel halloweeen locos. Al,most have all the cars released too. I have incorporated horror into my layout with a nice graveyard. Scenic express has Sasquatch and some aliens that are on their way. Half m layout is fall aswell.
cool ideals as well. I like the electrcution and OH YES on the Adams family 
Arnold D. Cribari posted:BlueComet400 posted:Arnold D. Cribari posted:
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.
Arnold, stick around and you'll meet people you would never have met otherwise. If you ever make it up to Portland, look me up--TCA and forum members are welcome to visit us and see our collection and under-construction layout. Speaking of TCA, hopefully you can get back to York sometime soon!
John
Thanks John. Is that Potland, Maine or Portland, Oregon?
It is one of my goals to make it to York at one of the 2 shows there in 2018.
Arnold, I went to York for the first time last month. It's a pity it took so long, since I live only a little over 4 hours away! John was on my list of people I hoped to meet, but missed seeing him! That's all the more reason to go back in '18!!
Pennywise11788 posted:My first jump into o scale was collecting all the Lionel halloweeen locos. Al,most have all the cars released too. I have incorporated horror into my layout with a nice graveyard. Scenic express has Sasquatch and some aliens that are on their way. Half m layout is fall aswell.
cool ideals as well. I like the electrcution and OH YES on the Adams family
If you stage an electrocution, consider using a locomotive smoke unit so that smoke comes out of the doll's head when you apply the power!
Arnold D. Cribari posted:Pennywise11788 posted:My first jump into o scale was collecting all the Lionel halloweeen locos. Al,most have all the cars released too. I have incorporated horror into my layout with a nice graveyard. Scenic express has Sasquatch and some aliens that are on their way. Half m layout is fall aswell.
cool ideals as well. I like the electrcution and OH YES on the Adams family
If you stage an electrocution, consider using a locomotive smoke unit so that smoke comes out of the doll's head when you apply the power!
By the way, I don't know how to make that happen with a smoke unit, but I bet some of the mechanical geniuses on this forum know how to do it.
PittsburghTim posted:My trains are a link to fond memories of my parents, Christmas mornings, and good friends. Christmas morning would find me coming down to our family gameroom to see that Santa had paid a visit on Christmas Eve. The undecorated tree we had put up the day before was all decorated, the 4x8 green platform with a loop of American Flyer track was in place along with all of the Plasticville buildings. I remember running that 326 engine for hours each day. After doing the same for my kids, I can understand why my dad was always so tired by Christmas afternoon.
My mom always encouraged my love for trains, whether the toy variety or the real thing. When I was young, she would coax my dad to pull over so we could watch the trains that would pass near where I grew up. Later, she would take me to the Greenberg train shows when they came to Pittsburgh. While she had my three older siblings to care for and my grandmother as well, she always managed to find the time to get me to the show. Even after I had left home and started a family of my own, she would always pull me aside and slip me a few bucks in the fall and tell me to buy something at the upcoming train show. I would protest and she would insist that I buy something for myself and to consider it my Christmas gift.
My dad, who was always busy running his business(es) when I was younger, got in the act after he sold them and retired. I was shocked one year when he and my mom returned from Florida one winter and presented me with a American Flyer Wide Gauge set in the original boxes, complete with track and transformer. He was especially happy that the set was made the same year he was born, 1928.
Mom passed away in 2010 and my dad just a few months ago. Hardly a day passes without me reflecting on the hardships they both endured for each other and their family. When I run my trains or watch a passing freight from my car, I cannot help thinking of these things.
Add to those memories those of a good friend of mine and my family, a long-time pastor of a nearby Catholic Church. He was a giant of a man both figuratively and literally. He was a life long train buff and each Christmas, he would invite families over to the parish house and run his trains for the kids. He was known to give train sets out to families who could not afford one. The man embodied what a servant of God should be. I can still picture him kneeling on the floor, still wearing his vestments, running the trains of his youth for families with young children.
These are the things that make the trains valuable to me. Fads come and go, prices go up and down, but the memories triggered by running toy trains are priceless.
Tim
Tim, what a beautiful expression of your all encompassing love of trains and your family.
What you said about the train layout at the parish house reminded me of a train magazine article. Ten or more years ago, one of the train magazines, it might have been OGR, featured a Presbyterian minister in NYC who had nice, good sized layout with scenery in his office at the church. I remember he had an ingenious way to operate his turnouts by remote control that did not involve electricity. He also made nice looking mountains using brown paper bags he painted. In fact, he had very clever ways to recycle stuff thrown away into the garbage by church members to make the scenery on his layout.
PittsburghTim posted:My trains are a link to fond memories of my parents, Christmas mornings, and good friends. Christmas morning would find me coming down to our family gameroom to see that Santa had paid a visit on Christmas Eve. The undecorated tree we had put up the day before was all decorated, the 4x8 green platform with a loop of American Flyer track was in place along with all of the Plasticville buildings. I remember running that 326 engine for hours each day. After doing the same for my kids, I can understand why my dad was always so tired by Christmas afternoon.
My mom always encouraged my love for trains, whether the toy variety or the real thing. When I was young, she would coax my dad to pull over so we could watch the trains that would pass near where I grew up. Later, she would take me to the Greenberg train shows when they came to Pittsburgh. While she had my three older siblings to care for and my grandmother as well, she always managed to find the time to get me to the show. Even after I had left home and started a family of my own, she would always pull me aside and slip me a few bucks in the fall and tell me to buy something at the upcoming train show. I would protest and she would insist that I buy something for myself and to consider it my Christmas gift.
My dad, who was always busy running his business(es) when I was younger, got in the act after he sold them and retired. I was shocked one year when he and my mom returned from Florida one winter and presented me with a American Flyer Wide Gauge set in the original boxes, complete with track and transformer. He was especially happy that the set was made the same year he was born, 1928.
Mom passed away in 2010 and my dad just a few months ago. Hardly a day passes without me reflecting on the hardships they both endured for each other and their family. When I run my trains or watch a passing freight from my car, I cannot help thinking of these things.
Add to those memories those of a good friend of mine and my family, a long-time pastor of a nearby Catholic Church. He was a giant of a man both figuratively and literally. He was a life long train buff and each Christmas, he would invite families over to the parish house and run his trains for the kids. He was known to give train sets out to families who could not afford one. The man embodied what a servant of God should be. I can still picture him kneeling on the floor, still wearing his vestments, running the trains of his youth for families with young children.
These are the things that make the trains valuable to me. Fads come and go, prices go up and down, but the memories triggered by running toy trains are priceless.
Tim
Tim,
What great memories you have of exceptional people in your life! You have been blessed!!
Arnold, If I remember correctly, her name was Nell.
Mark Boyce posted:Arnold, If I remember correctly, her name was Nell.
Your correct, Mark. I just googled it and found out the girl tied to the tracks was Nell Fenwick. You must be great in Jeapardy.
Arnold D. Cribari posted:Arnold D. Cribari posted:Pennywise11788 posted:My first jump into o scale was collecting all the Lionel halloweeen locos. Al,most have all the cars released too. I have incorporated horror into my layout with a nice graveyard. Scenic express has Sasquatch and some aliens that are on their way. Half m layout is fall aswell.
cool ideals as well. I like the electrcution and OH YES on the Adams family
If you stage an electrocution, consider using a locomotive smoke unit so that smoke comes out of the doll's head when you apply the power!
By the way, I don't know how to make that happen with a smoke unit, but I bet some of the mechanical geniuses on this forum know how to do it.
I’m in the middle of make a dead corn field with scarecrows atm lol
My layout brings back memories with a young me and dad at Christmas time running train. Today my layout has become more than a nostalgia items but a means of recreation, and relaxation. Since everything on my layout is scratch built, (except trains) it can be said that my layout is my artists easel.
My trains mean that my dad was setting them up for Christmas 1945 after his return from Europe after going to the Emporium in San Francisco and buying a set with 224 E and extra track and Gateman,they couldn't get me away from them.
Mikey
Mikey, do you remember that outside playland on top of the Emporium in SF? Don
Dennis LaGrua posted:My layout brings back memories with a young me and dad at Christmas time running train. Today my layout has become more than a nostalgia items but a means of recreation, and relaxation. Since everything on my layout is scratch built, (except trains) it can be said that my layout is my artists easel.
Dennis, I also like to think of a train layout as a work of art, and with the motion of the trains, a dynamic work of art. People with artistic talent can create very special things on a layout. Many of us have a hidden artistic talent that is not discovered until we build a layout. Clarke Dunham hires very talented artists to help create his beautiful model train works of art. The train display at the Botanical Gardens in the Bronx, NY also has buildings and structures made out of natural material from plants and trees that are amazing works of art.
Pennywise11788 posted:Arnold D. Cribari posted:Arnold D. Cribari posted:Pennywise11788 posted:My first jump into o scale was collecting all the Lionel halloweeen locos. Al,most have all the cars released too. I have incorporated horror into my layout with a nice graveyard. Scenic express has Sasquatch and some aliens that are on their way. Half m layout is fall aswell.
cool ideals as well. I like the electrcution and OH YES on the Adams family
If you stage an electrocution, consider using a locomotive smoke unit so that smoke comes out of the doll's head when you apply the power!
By the way, I don't know how to make that happen with a smoke unit, but I bet some of the mechanical geniuses on this forum know how to do it.
I’m in the middle of make a dead corn field with scarecrows atm lol
How cool!
PittsburghTim,
I absolutely loved the story about your parents and the trains. I am sorry for the loss of your dad recently. I also lost my mom several weeks ago and I will always remember her starting me with trains in 1952.
I hope the trains will always be meaningful to you. Keep those memories.
Eliot
In the answer to THE OP-------FUN.
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.
Don,yes I remember the outside play area on top of the Emporium and then we would go to Penny's and look at Flyer,then to Macys and they had trains but I can't remember what brand.Then there was Jack Colliers which later became Bill's Terminal,a great era for trains.
Mikey
I like my toy trains and enjoy very much running them, especially at the shows and see the kids smiles light up when they see the trains, having said that I am not overly attached to any of this, as they still are just stuff and it isn't and never has been about the trains. It has been for me the relationships, at the shows, friendships made, people ive met here on the forum and at train meets and shows. If some one came around at the show and offered me a reasonable offer, I would walk away from the trains in a heart beat. I have seen to many dealer friends that are tied to their trains, and even had one woman tell me that when her husband leaves this earth that she wants me to help her get rid of all his "stuff". It truly has become a burden for them and I feel for them. The are good people and years of accumulation have taken a toll on their time money and health. I help when ever I can. I even have helped them sell items at shows., Hopefully their kids are not left with a bigger burden to take care of when they are gone.
This is a fun hobby and when ever it becomes a burden I will walk away. Keep on playing with trains, as that is what they where built for!!
Popi
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