Half Remembered Trains

[Roger Bielen]

A train memory that keeps bugging me is of a 12"? gauge riding train at a, I think, Christmas park/land that was set up in, again I think, Little Falls, N.J. by the company across from the falls. I have vague memories of my parents taking me there to ride the train for a number of years.

Another is of Bamberger's department store in downtown Newark, N.J., there were a number of rides every Christmas and I'm not sure if one was a train that ran at ceiling level in their toyland.

These memories date back to the late 40's, early 50's. Anyone from that neck of the woods remember these?

[Anonymous]

Well, I have a pretty good memory and still own all the toy trains I had as a kid, so no half-memories there, but there are some other train memories from childhood that I wish I could remember more of. I've always been very good at recalling any train-related events from my childhood.

Now, this is going to sound crazy, but I think there may have once been an American Flyer S gauge train shown on Sesame Street. I can remember that there was once some segment on Sesame Street that had puppets in a house and there were different sounds. There was the sound of a train and one of them opened the door and a train ran through the house. Well, actually, it was probably just the image of a train shown moving across the screen. Anyway, I can distinctly remember that it had a black steam engine and tender, a maroon/red gondola car hauling some tall round things and a maroon/red caboose. As I'm picturing this in my mind, it seems more and more like an AF train. The round things in the gondola I think were probably canisters like those that were hauled in some AF gondolas.

I can also remember going to a museum when I was very young. I had in later years described it to my parents and they couldn't remember it. I now know that it was the museum in the town of Swan River, Manitoba because we recently visited it again a year or so ago. All the things I remembered were still there, except for one thing. I can remember going into a small white building. Inside there was a small display behind glass that had a large model of a UGG grain elevator. Beside the elevator was a G scale train on a straight track that came to a dead end at each end of the display. Unfortunately, the train was behind the elevator and you could only see one side of the display. I remember that you could see the front of a red and silver old-time steamer with a cowcatcher and funnel smokestack and the rear end of a yellow passenger car sticking out from either side of the the elevator. I distinctly remember that the display was at THAT museum. Perhaps they got rid it since I was last there.

I can also remember some Lionel trains that were on display in a toy store that was once in a mall in Regina. It was kind of a high-end toy store that sold things like Brio, Thomas and Playmobil. They also had some HO trains. Anyway, suspended from the ceiling were a couple of sheets of plexiglass with HO and N gauge trains set up on them. They didn't actually run, though. A lot of the trains were laying on their sides or were derailed. Also, on a shelf very close to the ceiling behind the counter, were some postwar Lionel trains. I can remember some plastic Scout-type steamers and an O27 observation car. I know my dad once asked if they were for sale and was told no. At some point, they got rid of all these trains. Later, they moved to a different location in the mall and then closed.

[Dr. John]

My half-remembered train is the first one I ever had - a Marx tin-plate wind up train. I always wondered if I only imagined having it as a 3 or 4 year old. My parents couldn't remember for sure until about a month ago when they found a picture of me playing with it. Sure wish I knew what became of it!

[Anonymous]

Not so much half-remembered trains, but half-remembered times running them.

I still have the set my father assembled for me when I was a baby. I've added to it, but never replaced it--and never will, barring some unforeseeable accident. However, the TIMES we spent together, when I was very small, stay with me in that way. I recall scratchy old Christmas records playing (it was a year-round layout, so I don't know why the Christmas music sticks with me), ginger ale in a glass with ice cubes, pretzels--a lot of odd little bits of random sensory data.

Shortly after my father died in 2000, I cleaned up the old set, which had sat idle for a few years, got the loco running, and started drinking ginger ale in a glass with ice. (I've never really cared for ginger ale--the force of the memories struck me when I realized I was regularly choosing it over flavors I enjoy more.) The same went for a lot of the other "routines" I remembered, like certain snacks and music...

My routines changed a lot when the trains became an ongoing interest again, rather than a visit to the "memory museum." But that first winter, the train and its village gave me about the best grief counseling possible, and the memories are definitely what got me interested in the NOW of trains, rather than just the THEN.

Paul

[FJ and G]

My memory is of an HO scale layout in a lower Manhattan store window a few blocks from the waterfront. I used to dream about that layout; wishing I could own one.

dav

[Anonymous]

Well the weekend is upon us again and we'll probably have a little more time to spend on the forums so I'll post a topic to think about. As you know many things seen in childhood leave a lasting impression on us long after we have forgotten what we saw. I was rather scared of live chickens and poultry in general that wasn't confined to a coop. Why? Because when I was just short of three years old our neighbor, Mrs Clayson, had chickens that were allowed to roam free. One of them PECKED me! I forgot the incident but I never forgot that I got pecked. How does this relate to trains? Well when I was 5 or 6 years old our neighbors, the Davises had a Standard Gauge American Flyer set under the Christmas tree. I only saw it for a little while, but it sure impressed me. I could have sworn it was pulled by an 0-6-0 switcher. I have pored over the available literature and I am convinced that AF never made a Standard Gauge 0-6-0. I seem to remember it had a bell but no whistle. MEMORIES LIKE THIS CAN TANTALIZE SOMEONE TO TAKE UP THE HOBBY. Does anybody else have half forgotten memories or impressions that tended to stimulate their interest in the hobby? Odd-d