Congrats on a superb magazine. The opening essay does an excellent job tracing how trains became part of Christmas tree traditions. The photos that accompany it are great, too.
Terry
Thanks for your kind words, Terry. The special-interest publication on Christmas and Electric Trains was a pleasure to research and write. Our art department made it look outstanding.
I wonder if anyone else on the CTT Forum has seen it yet?
Happy Holidays,
Roger Carp
Senior editor
Oh yes! VERY hard to put down! Fantastic job as usual!
Trains, trains, wonderful trains. The more you get, the more you toot!
Love it! Great issue!
Roger, I'll have to repeat what I said in Rene's blog when I picked up the special issue a month ago. It's a masterpiece! A real keeper and well worth the price!
Congratulations to you and all who worked on it!
I too want to praise the magazine Christmas and Electric Trains. In our home we have had Lionel Trains as long as I am alive, but do not ever remember them being under the Christmas tree. My younger brothers and I did play with 2 rail Marx windup trains and our parents were generous with toys and other gifts as also seen in the photos of others Christmas.
When I purchased this magazine just last Friday I couldn't put it down for several days. I had company this past weekend and shared it with them. It was well recieved.
Mr.Carp....Thank you for writing it.
AlanK
ps. Just lastnight I sat here and went over the 1956-1958 Lionel Catalogs. The trains just roll off the pages.
Well the holiday is upon us as we are only days away. I am surprised after my post of a couple days ago that no one else has chimed in on the magazine Christmas and Electric Trains. I believe as much as the trains one of the things I like about the magazine is looking at the Christmases in the pictures. They were in my life and representitive of good times; although 50 years ago the Lionel Corp. was soon giving up making trains. The black and white photos were more the norm of the 50s and early 60s, color was just coming in around our house. The tinsile tree with the spotlight and rotating three colors was my aunts tree. I was in my first year of college. I don't remember doing anything with my trains till 1974 again when after I graduated and before I got busy with work, discovered the Fundimension era and purchased the Spirit of 76 set. The pictures look like our house, our neighbors house, and other peoples houses I knew. When I think of the trains that were in our neighborhood, I wish I knew more about the hobby back then. One person I knew was already collecting, and I even got to play with trains like the Blue Comet as shown on page 12, but the engine was black. Then for a long time it was like the trains disappeared. It wasn't till the mid 80's that I started to attend train shows and you again saw the Postwar Lionel. HO had been more the norm.
So again, like the magazine, wish I could go back, but I guess that is what I like about it, the magazine transports us in time. Just looking at Plasticville has meaning.
Best of the hoildays to all.
alank I am surprised after my post of a couple days ago that no one else has chimed in on the magazine Christmas and Electric Trains.
Some of us did in the blog post Renee wrote about the issue back in mid-September: http://cs.trains.com/ctt/b/staff/archive/2018/09/13/christmas-is-coming.aspx
Say, I just noticed something. If any of you have the "Christmas and Electric Trains" issue handy flip to page 14, then look at the copy of "Toy Trains" magazine at the lower left. Is the man with the pipe a young Hal Carstens, of "Railfan and Railroad" and "Model Railroad Craftsman" magazines? I believe it is.
Compare it to this and see what you think...
Http://carstens-publications.com/about/cp_about-halcarstens.php
That's a heck of a cameo if that's who it is! Just about all veteran railfans and rail modelers know who Hal Carstens was.
Penny
I am just behind the times. I first saw the magazine in a Barnes and Noble a few days before I purchased it. There must have been some problem this year, since October I was inquiring about CTT not being on the shelf, and when the current issue showed up in December so did the Christmas and Electric Trains mag. I couldn't decide which one I was going to buy that day, and then went back to get the C&ET mag. The initials are like a railroad.
I really like the magazine for the reasons I spoke in my earlier post.
Have a great holiday and run some trains.
Alank
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