An American Flyer Tale for Christmas - 2015 Edition

[Northwoods Flyer]

 

An American Flyer Tale for Christmas

              2015 Edition

 

 

Danny loved everything about Christmas.  He liked the preparations for the big day itself and he loved it when the preparations were all done and he could sit back and enjoy the way the house looked and smelled.  This was one of those times. 

Mom was out in the kitchen baking some his favorite gingerbread cookies, dad and his older brother were hanging greens and lights around the front porch, and his sister was sitting at the piano practicing carols for the family gathering on Christmas eve.  His job was to finish putting the last of the ornaments on the tree.  He had completed that task and he was sitting in his favorite chair with a mug of  hot chocolate admiring his work.

 

He thought that the tree looked exceptionally nice this year.  Several days ago a large sturdy box had been delivered by the mailman.  The return address said that it was from grandma and grandpa.  When his parents opened the box it turned out to be several dozen ornaments of various shapes and sizes and materials.  Each ornament was carefully wrapped in layers of paper and cotton to protect it from damage while it was being shipped.  A note tucked inside the box said that grandma and grandpa were thinning out their collection of ornaments and they hoped that these would find a new home with Danny’s family.

 

Opening each packet was like a mini Christmas.  There were beautiful blown glass ornaments with pushed in parts that reflected every bit of light.  There were stars and bells made of intricate filigree patterned metal.  One of the glass ornaments even looked like a hot air ballon with a blown glass basket hanging beneath it.  There were several shiney glass ornaments that looked like pine cones and various kinds of fruit and vegetables. A brown paper package tied together with heavy string and sturdy knots had a note attached to it in grandma’s beautiful handwriting; “Take good care of Spindleshanks.  He has a tendency to get into mischief.”

 

When dad opened the packet he chuckled and said “Hello Spindleshanks!  Where have you been this time?”  Danny smiled too.  He recognized his favorite ornament immediately.  Spindleshanks was an elf. He was dressed all in red, in a costume that looked like the one Santa wore.  The interesting thing about him was that when he lived with Danny’s grandparents he never seemed to stay in one place.  When Danny’s family stayed with grandma and grandpa he would be found in a different place each morning. Sometimes he would be on the christmas tree; other times he would be on the fireplace mantle, or on top of the refrigerator, or in the glass front china cabinet. Then there was the time he was found in the baking cupboard covered with powdered sugar up to his waist.  Once he was even found floating in the bathtub in a tupperware bowl.  No one ever seemed to be able to explain how Spindleshanks got from one place to another.  But everyone agreed that if he could talk, Spindleshanks would have some real tales to tell about his adventures.

 

As Danny sat looking at the tree he could see the mysterious little red elf looking back at him from the topmost branches of the tree.  Danny scanned down the tree picking out all of the new ornaments from grandma and grandpa until he came to the display under the tree.  Here was another one of Danny’s favorite things about Christmas; the American Flyer passenger train that circled the base of the tree.  When he as a very little boy that train had come home with his family after Christmas from his grandparents’ house.  Dad remembered it running around their Christmas tree every year when he was a boy, and now each year it ran around Danny’s family tree.  It was headed by a big powerful black steam engine, followed by three red streamlined passenger cars.  The engine had six big driving wheels and very intricate drive rods that always fascinated him as they sped around the oval of track.  Sometimes at night he would run the train with just the lights of the tree lit.  With his head on the carpet he would watch the headlight of the engine come racing toward him.  Suddenly it would pass him with the lighted windows of the passenger cars flying along right behind.  No matter how many times the engine and cars passed by he felt a thrill.  He wondered where all the passengers inside could possibly be going.

 

Today as he sat looking at the tree he decided to get the train running – just to make sure that everything was in working order.  He plugged the transformer into the wall receptacle and the red and green lights on the top sprung to life, and it began to hum softly.  He slowly moved the wooden handle of the transformer and the headlight of the engine and the lights in the cars began to glow. As he increased the power with the throttle the lights grew brighter and the engine began to move, and the drive rods began their familiar dance.  The engine picked up speed and soon the engine and red streamlined cars were speeding around the track under the tree.  Danny settled back into the chair and sipped his hot chocolate.

 

His reverie only lasted a few minutes before he heard his mother call.  “Danny, if you are done with the decorating I could use your help here in the kitchen.”  “Coming Mom.” Danny replied as he got up from the chair, turned down the throttle and pulled the plug out of the wall socket.  The passenger train glided to a stop centered right in front of the tree.  He took one more look at the tree with its decorations shining and lights twinkling and the train waiting beneath it for its next run.  With a satisfied sigh he headed off to the kitchen to help mom.  The rest of the day was filled with chores and a little shopping and preparations for the Christmas meals.  Danny didn’t have a chance to get back and enjoy any more time admiring his work that day.

 

By the time his head hit the pillow that night he was exhausted.  The rest of the family seemed to fall into bed ready for a long winter’s nap too.  As he dozed off to sleep he was imagining what all of those folks in the red streamlined passenger cars might be anticipating when they arrived at their Christmas destinations.  It didn’t take long before he was fast asleep. 

 

Danny was never quite sure exactly how long he had been asleep before he became aware of the odd noise.  He could hear a rumbling sound coming from somewhere in the house.  His eyes weren’t open but as he listened he thought that it sounded like the rumble was coming from somewhere downstairs.  He opened his eyes to a darkened room, but as he glanced out his window he could see that the full moon was shining brightly and reflecting on a new snow fall.  He could still hear the rumble coming from downstairs.  He slid his feet into his slippers and headed for the bedroom door.  As he stepped out into the hall he could see a glow of light shining up the staircase from downstairs.  It looked as if someone had left the Christmas tree lights lit.  The rumbling sound was louder and definitely coming from the living room.  As he crept down the stairs the light grew brighter and the rumbling louder.  He recognized the sound; someone was running the train.  Who in the world would be up at this hour?  When he reached the bottom of the stairs he could see into the living room.  The tree lights were lit, and the train was running at an acceptable speed, but there was no one in the living room.  “How odd!” he thought.  He walked over to the transformer and was astounded to see that the lights weren’t glowing and the cord was not plugged into the wall. He rubbed his eyes, and looked again.  The train was traveling along the tracks with its headlight shining ahead along the track and the lights of the passenger cars shining out on the white cotton sheet that Mom had provided for a snow cover.  Danny got down on his hands and knees and lowered  his face to track level to look at the engine.  It came around from the back side of the tree and slowed to a stop just in front of his face.  He thought he could see movement and a flash of red in the cab.  All of a sudden a tiny figure jumped down from the engine and waved at him.  It was Spindleshanks!

 

“Danny my boy!  Its good to see you.  I haven’t seen you since last year when I filled your slippers with Hershey’s kisses.”  Danny couldn’t believe what he was seeing and hearing.  Here was his favorite ornament talking to him. (He wondered last year where those candies had come from.) Spindleshanks looked at him and said.  “Wow is it ever fun to run this train again. She still handles like a well oiled machine. Its been years since I had a chance to take her for a spin. We elves living at your grandparents’ house used to enjoy a peppermint schnapps as we had a nice leisurely ride in those luxurious streamlined coaches around the tree after all of our work was done on Christmas eve.  I was sad when it disappeared from around your grandparents’ tree.”

 

Danny had to shake his head back and forth to clear his thinking.  “Are you for real?  Are you really Spindleshanks, or am I just dreaming?  The red clad elf smiled a broad smile and said. “Of course I’m real.  Why wouldn’t I be?  Hey Danny, how would you like to go for a ride on the Saint Nicholas Special?”  “You mean this train?” Danny said with astonishment. “I’d love to, but I could never fit in the engine or the cars.”  “Oh I can fix that.” said Spindleshanks with a glint in his eye.  He reached down to a pouch on his belt and pulled out a fist full of something.  “OK Danny now take a very deep breath.”  Danny inhaled deeply through his nose and Spindleshanks threw a sparkling powder at him.  At first Danny could smell a strong scent of pine, carmel, candy cane and what he thought was wet golashes. Suddenly he had a strong need to sneeze.  And sneeze he did!  He reflexively closed his eyes as he sneezed and when he opened his eyes again he was face to face with Spindleshanks.  “What happened?” said Danny.  He looked behind the elf and he saw the big black engine and the gleaming red streamlined cars stretched out behind him on the track. The engine was puffing and making a slow deep sound like it was breathing.  Danny looked over head and saw the branches of the Christmas tree spread out far above him. “Oh my gosh! I’m tiny!”  “Actually you are just the right size to ride on the Saint Nicholas Special” chuckled Spindleshanks.  “Come on! Lets go for a ride!”  The elf grabbed Danny by the hand and pulled him toward the engine and then boosted him up into the cab. He jumped in right behind Danny and waved his arms around in a stange set of motions. Slowly the engine started to move backward.  “Whoops,” said Spindleshanks, “my mistake.  Its been a while, I’m a little rusty.”  He went through an equally strange set of gyrations and the engine started to move forward.  Danny grabbed on to the window frame of the engine’s cab and held on as the train with its string of cars picked up speed.

 

As the train rumbled along the track Danny grew accustomed to its gentle swaying, and the way it took curves with a bit of a lurch.  At first he was confused by the scenery.  It seemed as if the train was going through deep canyons, across flat prairies, and through cities with large and oddly painted buildings.  He also noticed that the train always made left turns.  It took him a while to realize that they were still on the oval of track under the tree and the canyons and large building were the wrapped  presents under the tree and the prairie was actually Mom’s new carpet in the living room.  How strange it was to see his living room and the tree from this perspective.  He looked over at Spindleshanks sitting in the engineer’s seat and watched as he pointed his finger at different contol levers and buttons and they moved as if under their own power.  Spindleshanks smiled at him and said  “Hey Danny!  Hold on to your britches.  We are about to go on a little side trip.”  With that he made more strange movements with his arms and hands and the engine plunged into a pitch black tunnel. It was so dark that the headlight barely illuminated the track ahead of them.  They rattled on through the darkness for what seemed like miles. Suddenly the engine made a sharp right turn, throwing Danny to the floor, and burst into a world full of light and bright colors.

 

It took Danny’s eyes a few seconds to adjust to the bright light after the darkness of the tunnel. The engine was traveling at a slower pace now and he could see that they were in a town with many houses and buildings and  street crossings that were protected by crossing gates with flashing lights and ringing bells.  “I thought you might like to see what a really fine layout looks like.” shouted Spindleshanks over the din of the signals and the rattling of the cars behind them.  Danny watched as trees covered with snow and a barn with cows and horses went whizzing by.  They chugged past a passenger station that said American Flyer Terminal Station on a sign with a host of people standing on a platform, and a switch tower with men looking out of the windows. Danny noticed that the people weren’t moving and he realized that they were small figures like the ones that he had seen at the hobby shop and thought of adding to their Christmas layout.  The layout had a small country church with a manger scene in front of it and a school that was obviously on break for the holiday season. They passed through street crossings for the main streets in the town and Danny could see that there were ornate street lights and many Christmas decorations on the buildings and in windows. “Wow is this ever cool!” he shouted to Spindleshanks. “I’d like to do this at home.”  “I thought you would like it.”replied the elf.  Danny was thinking of asking Spindleshanks if they could stop so that he could walk around and look at more things when the elf shouted “Hold on! Its time for us to head back.”

 

 

Once again Spindleshanks made a variety of motions with his hands and the engine plunged back into the tunnel-like darkness.  The trip back to Danny’s living room seemed to be much shorter.  As they arrived and began to circle the oval under the tree he noticed through the living room windows that there was a growing brightness in the sky. “Holy Cow! It must be just about dawn.” He exclaimed.   “Spindleshanks, what am I going to do? I’m the size of the people on that layout. My family will never understand why I am so small.”  Once again Spindleshanks chuckled warmly.  “Have no fear I can take of that.”  Reaching into the tender of the engine he picked up a large candy cane.  “Jump out of the engine quickly Danny and move away from the tree.”  Danny did as he was told and moved quickly away from the train.  With that Spindleshanks broke the candy cane over his knee and shouted “Misteltoe Magic!”  Danny blinked his eyes and suddenly he was full size again.  He looked around and saw that the tree lights were dark, and the engine was centered in front of the tree just where he had left it yesterday afternoon.  He looked up at the top of the tree and saw Spindleshanks standing in the spot where Danny had originally put him. He was sure that he saw the elf wink at him and then heard him say.  “Come back again soon Danny.  I have plenty of other adventures that I can take you on.  Merry Christmas!”

                                  Spindleshanks

 

 

 

The Saint Nicholas Express

(This set appears in the 1939 American Flyer Catalog)

 

On the layout

 

Merry Christmas

Enjoying the World's Greatest Hobby

Northwoods Flyer

 

 

[tinplatacis]

Excellentè, Northwood!

[Texas Pete]

More proof that toy train enthusiasts are a very creative lot.  Excellent work!

Pete

[Firelock76]

Great story, thanks for posting!  I think all of us have fantasized about what it would be like to climb into one of our own trains and run it "for real."

PS:  I just KNEW it had to have been an American Flyer O gauge unit!

[Sturgeon-Phish]

Greg,

That was wonderful! Thank you for the story and the pictures!

Jim

[fifedog]

A story to sip by.  Thanks Northwoods.

[cheapclassics]

Good evening all,

Great story, Northwood!   Really appreciated it.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

[Northwoods Flyer]

Thanks for all of the kind statements folks. I'm glad that people are enjoying reading the story. I certainly enjoyed writing this year's edition.

More photos of the Santa Express

Enjoying the World's Greatest Hobby

Northwoods Flyer

[PTC]

Excellent work!!!!!