At age 76, I still pine for the 1940's when Christmas day was a kid's dream. Under the tree (Yeah, I know I'm Jewish, but wasn't Christ one of ours?) were many orange white and blue boxes with just one word printed on them and it was that word is what then dreams were made of.....the name, Lionel. It was this experience that drove me and most likely most of you folks into this hobby.
Most likely, I'll get a pair of gloves, belt, several pairs of boxer shorts, and of course a new wallet. Sure I'll be grateful and say thanks and hug my wife, but still I wish there was some kind of a model railroad thing to open. Wives often claim they do not know what to get a model rail who seemingly has everything, but what most do not understand... it does not make a difference whether we have a dozen or just one of what she buys. It is the thought and still a thrill (for me, at least) to again get a choo choo for Christmas. I hate giving her suggestions as then the surprise is sort of compromised.
Point.....If there is still time, suggest to you wife or partner, a train, railroad book, or kit... or even modeling tools. would be greatly appreciated, even though you may have a dozen of them.
Merry Christmas,
HZ
I'm not 100% sure but I believe my wife might be getting me one of the Bachmann Spectrum 4-8-2 Light Mountains and I think my parents will get me one as well but I can't be sure. I seem to be the only person in my family who likes using eBay so I tend to get the money from family members and I order it and have it mailed to their houses.
I do agree with you about telling them what you really want, it does take a lot of the surprise and wonder out of it but at the same time you won't end up with something that totally doesn't fit your RR. My mother is German and she loves giving me German things for Christmas and I showed her the Reynaulds website and I have a feeling that I will be receiving something from there as well (excited!).
Best wishes to you and everyone else in this forum!
Yep, getting a 6 car set of C&O coal hoppers ,sad part is had to order them myself
wife is scared to do the online shopping thing and refuse"s. But that's a good thing too though right?
Unfortulatly this year, I am not getting anything railroad related. Wish i could, but other things during the year took priority over the railroad.
Sean, the unknown train travler,
There will be a Norfolk Southern 86' double door boxcar nicely wrapped waiting for me under the tree. How do I know? Because like some others, I had to order it myself. That's okay though, because my wife wanted to get me something for my train collection, and that's always a good thing.
Tom
Pittsburgh, PA
I have more than enought trains right now so that is the last thing I would want. I did get many engines in prior years however
Jim
No. Which is why I got 4 Athearn Topeka cabbed GP-7's delivered c/o UPS yesterday; my Christmas gift to me. My birthday gift to me was a BLI ATSF 2-10-2.
I may sort of gret a train for Christmas. I pre-ordered a Broadway Limited M1a. It's not due till may but it's my Christmas Present.
Modeling the Pennsylvania Railroad in N Scale.
www.prr-nscale.blogspot.com
Merry Christmas, like this post.
I associate trains and Christmas a lot. I hope to get an Accutrack speedometer and I'm giving my son a cattle sound cattle car.
Richard
Swedish Custom painter and model maker. My Website:
My Railroad
My Youtube:
Graff´s channel
When I got back into trains maybe ten years ago, I felt like I was a kid again. All the family has things they can get for me now and I am the easiest one on the list to buy for. On Christmas morning I race down the stairs with my kids pushing them aside as I go. (not really)
Before Christmas I go on to PWRS website and make up a list of all the things I would like. It usually is about $40,000 or more worth of stuff. I print it off and they can pick and choose off the list. I get lots of little things that cost only a couple of bucks, that come in handy, but are things I would likely never buy myself. I have also recieved a Loco on more than one occasion. PWRS are great in the fact that even though the relatives are in there shopping for me, they still credit my Porters account with the points.
Last year I got $225.00 in PWRS gift certificates along with this haul.
Getting to be a kid again has made Christmas fun again. It makes getting ready for the twenty plus people we get for dinner every year a lot less work.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
It may ruin the surprise but I give my wife the shopping cart from my favorite online train store and it magically ends up under the tree on Christmas. This year she was real busy with her business and a trip to Seattle to see her dying father so I sent the order and paid for it and was home when it was delivered. We had great fun teasing each other about my opening it to make sure everything on the packing list was there. She said she could do that herself and I could just wait until Christmas to actually get my hands on the train stuff. In the end I am still excited to get train stuff for Christmas however it gets here.
Well I bought a Lionel Polar Express for around the tree (even though it's on a table near the tree so the dogs don't chew on it). My 3 year old grandson and I have already been running it. He loves to blow the whistle as well as start, stop, and reverse it.
Enjoy
Paul
Paul,
A house with a Xmas tree, dogs, a 3 year old grandson AND trains? I'm guessing you are going to have one the funnest houses on earth next Thursday!
Dave
I am. I'm getting an NCE Powercab, a SOU and N&W HH GP30, an Athearn N&W 1776 SD45, and a TCS Wow decoder. That's also because i'm still a kid.
Indianapolis Railroad - Indy Rail! Route of the Brickyard Flyer! Established 1976.
Almost forgot i was also given a new compressor for air brushing....
I sent my wife the link to the walthers website for a k-d boxcar. Last I checked they're sold out. Will I be a lucky one? We'll see if I was good this year. I also asked for hobby shop gift cards from the brother-in-law. I want to try my hand at scratchbuilding.
Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all.
T e d
My wife and kids know me as someone who, over the years, buys trains on the internet, and also sells them occasionally. FedEx boxes and USPS boxes are frequently sitting in plain view when the kids come home from school. They know when daddy gets another train. The frequency of boxes containing trains appearing on our doorstep has increased lately.
If I happened to get a giftwrapped box under the tree, and after unwrapping it, it revealed yet another train, I strongly believe that my entire family would just roll their eyes and get up and leave the room!!!!
- Douglas
Doughless "If I happened to get a giftwrapped box under the tree, and after unwrapping it, it revealed yet another train, I strongly believe that my entire family would just roll their eyes and get up and leave the room!!!!"
"If I happened to get a giftwrapped box under the tree, and after unwrapping it, it revealed yet another train, I strongly believe that my entire family would just roll their eyes and get up and leave the room!!!!"
Sooooo , but true here too!!
Douglas
I'd rather give a list of things I'd like for Christmas that way I still don't know what I'm getting and I don't end up with a 1970s Frisco box car and a 2006 Ford Thunderbird on a 1950s inspired layout.
Modeling the N&W freelanced at the height of their steam era in HO.
Daniel G.
Howard:
As a friend (Mke Cohen) once said " Us Jews ought to be proud, how man times can you say that a local boy made good". Refering to Jesus.
As far as a choo choo for Christmas, I have two Kato 9-44CW's and an Atlas SD60M. They cost $40.00 each, which is a good price for thes engines.
I buy enough train stuff throughout the year that I would feel guilty asking for more for Christmas. However, in past Christmases I have received some pretty neat train stuff that was a suprise for me. The first was Bachmann's Hogwart's Express. That's what got me into HO from Marx tinplate. A couple of years ago my son bought me a C&O wreck crane with a working boom, and my wife bought me a CP tie car which fit right into my scheme.
I will be genuinely suprised if I get train stuff this year. However, I think I am getting something that at least smokes! I believe my wife and son have colluded to get me a new BBQ smoker! I could be wrong but I happened to read a couple of e-mails asking for advice on them, and there is a rather large box in the garage covered with a tarp. No, I wasn't prying. She sent the e-mails from work so I wouldn't see them, but her brother dimwittedly responded to our home e-mail despite her specific request to not do so.
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
I have an adult daughter with a sense of humor who knows I love my railroad. Last year she included five "mooners" figures in my presents so I created some scenes with cops or railroad personnel chasing them. For my birthday she gave me a cop handcuffing a suspect so I added a scene with them. I fully expect that one of these times I will have to figure out where to put a couple fornicating on the layout. Preiser has just about any off beat stuff you can imagine and she has discovered it. I did arrange for two Santa Fe GP7u topeka cab engines to show up. One from the wife will be wrapped under the tree, the other one has already left the box ,had a keep alive added and been programmed. That one is a gift to myself.
Marty C.
After a hiatus of (too) many years I'm just getting back into model railroading (HO)... so tat this point I'm still in the planning stage for layout....BUT....some goodies are coming just AFTER Christmas -- Alco 2-6-0 loco (B & M), GE 44-ton switcher, 40' freight car and caboose (Bachmann B & M)...Designing a switchyard now....once the plans are finalized, it's track, turnouts, signs, signals....fun stuff for the long winter days ahead!!:)
May your freight ALWAYS travel smoothly....and ON TIME!
Santa dropped off my GPS - 38-2 in Conrail attire for testing a few weeks ago. Seems he likes to shop at the Greenberg show after Thanksgiving. This Loco will formally enter service on January 3rd.
Joe Staten Island West
I still remember Christmas 1950. Coming downstairs, I found arrows with an above note....Christmas this way. They led me into the basement where on Dad's pike was a Lionel 773 Hudson and three Irivington redish brown pullmans with little bows on them..."Merry Christmas, son!" Of course after the excitement wore off and several loops around Dad's layout I was told I could play with them if I made the honor roll or turned 21...which ever came first. Those who have visited me and my Piermont Division layout over the years may have noticed the 773 and three cars in my upstairs display area. I finally got them in 1986....a long friggin' wait, but well worth it.
This is what I miss the most about Christmas, as it always meant trains. Of course over the years I turned this into a full time endeavor, but changed scales to HO.
Still civilians when visiting still equate trains with Christmas as some still ask if I set these up this time every year or do I take them down after New Years.
Oh well........
I will be ordering an Athearn Challenger for my train present. My wife says I should buy something I really want but don't need! This is just what she described!
-Bob
Life is what happens while you are making other plans!
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
I know I am getting a Huge PRR wall map but I bought it :-( I wish they would take all the hints, advice on I would like X,Y,Z... Oh well it is not for me anyway My girls make it fun. Just to see their faces.