Train Dream: A post I deleted several times

[FJ and G]

Well, I got my courage up and will attempt to post some that's pretty controversial or considered frivoluous--namely, the dreamworld in which we devote approx. 1/3 of the day (dreams are something most of us don't discuss for fear of ridicule).

When we are asleep, the wheels are still turning--literally. Last night I dream't I was on the VRE and there was a tragic accident in which I fortunately survived Occasionally, I'll dream in 3-rail toy train. I've had several such dreams but failed to write them down as soon as I awoke and they were forgotten pretty quickly. And, I cannot recall if the dreams were in color or B&W.

The next time I enter dreamworld, I will have my digital camera under my pillow to document the moments.[:D]

[njalb1]

Last night I had my digital camera with me during my Dream Vacation!
Here is one of my pics![;)]

[csxt30]

Sometimes, after a good dream, I say to myself, boy, I can't wait to get to sleep tonight & continue that one !! I call those : " Serial dreams " !! [:D][:D] Thanks for the idea of bringing my new camera to bed with me, I'm going to make sure I charge my batteries !! [:D]
Thanks,

[thor]

QUOTE: Originally posted by FJ and G

Well, I got my courage up and will attempt to post some that's pretty controversial or considered frivoluous--namely, the dreamworld in which we devote approx. 1/3 of the day (dreams are something most of us don't discuss for fear of ridicule).
.[:D]

Good one! I really did have a strange train dream and I actually made a drawing of it the next day because it was so strange. I'll take a pic of it and email you it if you're interested!
It wasnt really THAT strange in terms of what it was about, it was more kind of bizarre like an Alice in Wonderland sort of thing.

Personally I dont think dreams have any meaning, in fact I'm pretty sure they're no more than the bods way of saying "Wake the heck up I have to go NOW!" but I could be wrong. Only as thats always been the immediate priority on wakeup I reckon that the dream mechanism is more likely a way of breaking out of the sleep cycle than anything really meaningful.

It was one of the best dreams I ever had because it was in full color with lots of detail!

At the time it was before my interest in model trains got re-ignited, so perhaps dreams ARE glimpses into the future? Or perhaps the dream sort of pushed the mental gear lever into the appropriate slot?

Anyway I salute you for bringing up an interesting and different topic.

[FJ and G]

Thor,

Icelandic fishermen, who brave the North Atlantic and take big risks, will, before each expedition, gather around and discuss their dreams. A bit superstitiious, perhaps, but it seems to steel their nerves.

Reg. trains, there have been a few times that dreams I had of trains were better than movies and I often wish I had kept a dream log.

[cnw1995]

I never seem to remember my dreams - except sometimes I seem to dream through a project - gathering the material,working through problems, etc, and wake up with a fix to something I must've been worried about. My son has told me he sometimes has dreamt about being very little and actually riding around the layout on a train. I noticed a little camera / transmitter in the MicroMark ad in the latest CTT for less than $60. I would love to get it and put it in an engine to have that same effect - 'course I would need a TV then, etc.

[Jumijo]

I had a weird toy train dream just last night - no kidding. No doubt influenced by watching the Sopranos right before going to bed.

In the dream, I was sent to some address to "meet some guys". When I got to the address, I saw that it was a Lionel trains dealer. There were a couple of no-necks in shark skin suits waiting for me. I smelled something fishy and hid out in the store next door.

Not the first Sopranos induced creepy dream I've ever had. But the introduction of toy trains into the mix was weird. Also, I know it was in color because I can still see the Dealer's Lionel sign glowing in the dark above the door.

I'd make a pretty bad wiseguy.

Jim

[Anonymous]

I often have dreams that feature trains, both real and toy. I actually started a topic about train dreams a couple of years ago on the Trains Magazine forum when I was more active there and the CTT forum wasn't the happening place it is now.

I can certainly tell you what my favourite train dream was, which was one of the best dreams I've ever had! The dream started out with me in an ordinary modern bedroom in a house. On the floor there was an LGB train set with a Stainz 0-4-0 as well as some little kid's toy trains. I left the room and then the dream somehow changed. I was no longer in a modern house, but rather an old abandoned one that I was exploring. I went down into the house's basement, which was damp and musty, with a cement floor and walls. Besides the usual stuff like a water heater, etc. there were a couple of crude wooden shelves along one wall. On the shelves were sitting an American Flyer K5 Pacific and tender, another O or S gauge steam engine without a tender and a small green tinplate caboose that looked German and had an NYNH&H script logo on the side. I then proceeded upstairs and went into a bedroom. It was full of trains! Inside the closet and also against the wall there were boxes stacked literally up to the ceiling (how they would balance like that, I'm not sure). These boxes were filled with late prewar and early postwar Lionel trains, accessories and track. The trains were mainly diecast steamers, maroon, brown and black freight cars and Madison cars. The trains were arranged rather haphazardly in the boxes. Unfortunately, I woke up about that time, so was unable to really go through the trains or take any home.

Here's another rather strange train dream that I had just a couple of weeks ago. The whole dream consisted of me reading a magazine. The magazine in question was an issue of Steam World, a British magazine I read. One article had pictures of German steam locomotives with British rolling stock. One picture I specifically remember was of two trains headed by such engines sitting at one of London's large stations. The article was about how sometime in the 1970's, a large amount of German steam was sent to work in Britain due to a motive power shortage. The other articles were anything but typical for Steam World, though. Another was about some O gauge rolling stock manufactured by Lima years ago, specifically a model of a British Saxa Salt wagon (like this http://www.slatersplastikard.com/Private%20Owner%20Photographs/slaters%207057s.htm ), except that it said something other than Saxa Salt on it, and a bright red Rock Island extended vision caboose. This caboose was longer than a normal one, though and had a lot of windows like a passenger car. According to the article, these two cars were manufactured exclusively for the Mexican market. At the time they were made, the popularity of model trains was declining and Lima was losing money. These two cars were so successful, however, that the company experienced a total turnaround as a result! A third article had pictures of things that had been dug up by the author in his back yard. They were a vintage tinplate model of a European tank engine, a slopeback tender of somekind, an iron horse's head and a portion of a metal plaque with some writing on it. All were completely brown with rust. There was a picture of an engine with a slopeback tender painted red with black and pale blue trim. This was apparently the rusty engine and tender as painted by the author in the paint scheme Santa Fe used on their helpers on the Moffat Tunnel Line. I'm fully aware that the Moffat Tunnel was on the Rio Grande, but in dreams things don't always make sense! Anyway, I spent quite a bit of time going through the magazine and the articles were quite interesting.

There are others I can think of, but that's enough for now.

[Anonymous]

Train Dreams are something I have occasionally. Here are some:

This is just the toy train portion of a dream.
There is a giant new shopping mall somewhere in the midwest in the future. I was trying to find my way through this big mall with many people and many shops behind doors like in a movie theater. I opened a large door and found an O Gauge train store. It was all O Gauge, not O Scale. There were at least 6 Beeps pulling trains and they were all decorated for the Grand Trunk Western. The rolling stock was only O27 sized rolling stock. The layout was U Shaped measuring about 14' by 8'. I looked up and realized that there was a second floor in the place. In a back room was a film projected on the screen. On shelves all around the room were just O27 locos and cars, mostly for CN and GTW.

Another strange dream I had was one about Double-Stack Container Cars that were now stacked with 3 to 4 containers in each well. It was a giant moving wall. Some of the intermodal wells on a second train were stacked with Tank Cars and Open-Top Hoppers. It was an extreme version of reality.

One of the more unsetting dreams I had was that a discovery was made that the house we were living in was stupidly built over an abandoned interchange track between mainlines where the track and ties were just covered with soil. In some areas the ties were hidded by pavement. The railroad did not announce that they need the interchange back. They just ran the Interchange Freight straight through the back wall of the garage, across the back yard, and to the mainline behind the house. Then the former secondary line behind the house went from a few trains a day to a very busy mainline with passing sidings. It was exteremely overwhelming.

Andrew Falconer

[Frank53]

I had a dream I was a teepee once, teh next nite I dreamt I was a Wigwam. I told a shrink, he said lighten up, I was too "tents"