trains under christmas tree

[Anonymous]

Why do we put model trains under our christmas trees? How did this tradition start?

[Anonymous]

I SUSPECT BECAUSE WE'RE T0O CHICKEN TO DISPLAY SOMETHING AS
EMOTIONALLY SATISFYING AT ANY OTHER TIME...WHY IS IT ALRIGHT AT
CHRISTMAS? BECAUSE WE ARE ALL KIDS AT CHRISTMASTIME. WHEN WE WERE
RUNNING THAT TRAIN AROUND THE TREE IN ENDLESS CIRCLES,EVERYTHING
SEEMED SIMPLE,STRAIGHT FORWARD,UNCOMPLICATED,WITHOUT HIDEN
MEANING

[Anonymous]

All I remember was dad presenting us with the lionel which he played witrh that Christmas morning much more than we did. It was sort of a plan to show all three of us how it operated. I thought of the train more as dads toy altouh we each got turn athe controls.

[Jim Duda]

Well...I'm gonna guess that Mr. Lionel (the clever marketeer that he was) opted to display his new electric toy in a Christmas decorated store window (maybe even had it running around a tree) and the association of Christmas trees and electric trains was thus spawned.

Just a guess...
Jim Duda

[lionelsoni]

Somehow, I was never aware of the Christmas-tree train concept as a kid, although I was heavily into electric trains; I learned of it only as an adult!

[Anonymous]

I think toy trains have been under Christmas trees since they were invented. Probably back to the wooden days. How many images of Santa Claus include a toy train? ;-)

I have many fond memories of my dads Lionel set up under the tree when we were kids. Luckily I inherited the train so it is more than a memory. The train station still has traces of tree "flock" from the trees my family had in the 60's.

-Scott

[lionelsoni]

I lubricated it up and put my 253 under the tree the other day, pulling 4 607-608 passenger cars, the only ones that I have with the same peacock-and-orange paint.

Last night I briefly replaced the 1033 transformer by my model-107 reducer--like the train, about 75 years old. This is the first time since I bought it a few years ago that I have dared to use it. At first I thought I would have to replace the power cord and plug at least; but, after a close inspection, I could see only a little cosmetic damage. So I determined the polarization that the plug would have had, had it been polarized, and plugged it in so as to have the track at ground rather than 120 volts.

It and the train worked beautifully, smoother than any transformer (and got toasty warm under its asbestos heat shield, as expected).

I looked the prices of this outfit up in my 1929 catalog: Train and reducer, $27.40.

[SPFan]

I think space might have been an issue also. I recall, when I was growing up, our living room where the tree was put up didn't have a lot of extra room to set up a train set except around the tree.
Pete