Christmas and Trains

Please accept my wishes for a deeper level of peace and spirituality during this Season, however that works for you. Personally, I will be happily and thankfully celebrating Christmas. For me, part of the Christmas Season is recalling memories linked to the celebration. Of course, not all of these memories have some sort of deep spiritual significance. That does not diminish the value of these memories for me, especitally those memories that include trains.

Like many of you, not only Model Trains but also One-to-One Scale Trains provide me with many pleasant recollections. When I was seven or eight, I did not even know what an electric train was. Do you remember that they were "electric trains" then, not model railroads. During whichever year it was, I awoke Christmas Morning to find a brand-new American Flyer NYC Hudson circling the Tree! I was hooked. I watched it go round and round for hours. Ultimately, my Dad built a table downstairs with a double main, added a diesel passenger train, so that my Brother and I had that electric train set that was the envy of all the kids.

The Full-sized Trains are not slighted in my memories, either. There are many scenes I can easily recall. I met my girlfriend at the time by getting on a Wabash Railroad train, one that she was on from an earlier stop, to meet my Mom and Dad further down the line. I rode out of Grand Central Station on Christmas Eve in order to travel all night so that I could once again be home; traveling thru upstate New York in a snowstorm is a memory that shall not fade. Once in a while on Christmas, I found myself alone, so I would spend at least a little time in the afternoon at the local depot, where I could hopefully see a train. Once a train did pass, the feeling of loneliness seemed to go away just a little bit.

I am thankful for all of those railroad "Right of Ways" that criss-cross my memories of Christmas. I am also thankful for being a part of the wonderful Railroad Industry. My wish for you and yours this Season is to be thankful, too.