"Nose-to-nose with the train"

[bfskinner]

Richard Kughn's thoughts on boys, men and toy trains. And not all that long ago, either:

"Born in Detroit in 1929, he moved with his family to Cleveland, later returning to Detroit and becoming a lifelong booster of the city. "We need to get rid of our negative image. We're so far ahead of most cities when it comes to cultural, civic and sports events. When people get here and see what we have, the response is 'Holy Mackerel.'"

"Lionel is without a doubt, a piece of Americana," Kughn said. "No.1: Maintain that name and the quality of the product. No.2: Better penetration of the market. Every kid must have a toy train under the Christmas tree. I don't care whether it is a boy or a girl they both should have them."

As soon as I could figure out where to plug in the transformer, I was down on the floor --- that's what's fun, to be nose-to-nose with the train."

--Excerpts from an article published just a few years ago in the Detroit News. [I have made a couple of minor punctuation changes.]  Full text and pics at

     http://info.detnews.com/history/story/index.cfm?id=202&category=life

For 11 additional photos be sure to click on the blue link located at the top of the article just under the reporter's name. Enjoy!