Thoughts on Model Trains and Christmas
By Getting Browning TCA#06-60653 Winter 2023 e*Train
I was bitten by the model train bug very early in life. I was just over one year old when the first one arrived at Christmas 1947. My father was a civil and highway engineer and as such, his mindset determined that since no revenue service railroad existed based on three rail main lines, for the sake of realism, our trains had to be two-rail in order to match the realism of “real” railroads. (I guess he didn’t include subways or elevated trains.) That left primarily HO scale, or the new S gauge offered by the A. C. Gilbert Company after World War II. Dad always liked new technologies, so he favored S gauge as the way of the future, or at least OUR train future together. That first train set in 1947 was an American Flyer 322 freight set. Even as a slightly over one year old, that smoke scent was as addictive as some powerful narcotic, and I was immediately hooked. I loved every Christmas, and the chance that my 322, “Smokey Joe” would be set up to run under the tree. While I loved running “Smokey”, I longed to have a nice passenger set to join up with him so we could transport people to different places as well as freight.
Christmas, 1953 arrived, and with it a shiny chrome 356 Silver Bullet Passenger set came to help “Smokey” expand on smoking up the house.
Christmas, 1955, the best of the best came along as the Santa Fe Chief Passenger Set helped our modest route modernize and enter the coming world order on railroads-dieselization! Those three sets were the basis for a lifelong love of model railroading, and particularly American Flyer S Gauge. In 1955 my father’s job also brought us to a larger house in suburban Maryland and with it the opportunity to build a full-time layout. That layout was a jewel, patterned and built from one of the AF books available at the time. It was built on two five by nine, half-inch plywood sheets, with two-by-two legs. It possessed the engineer’s simple, but totally efficient construction with not one unnecessary board. We kept the layout up for nearly ten years, adding an occasional accessory as time went on. In the mid 1960’s, with boys growing up, heading off to college or to a career, the trains had sat idle and unused for a long time. This prompted the decision to dismantle the layout and pack them away. The trains remained packed away for several years, through the passing of my father, and shortly thereafter, my mother. I remember vividly those days when my brother and I cleaned out the house so we could sell it, finding the boxes of trains just as I had left them years before. Little did I know at the time as I loaded them on the truck that the bug that had bitten me long ago in 1947, was about to infect me in an even worse way than before!
Over time, I opened the boxes and gazed at my old friends, in various stages of decay and disrepair. While I wasn’t evil incarnate as a child, I was, a typical boy and I played hard with my train friends over the years. After all, they were toys, and boys were hard on their toys. I made a vow to myself many years ago I would do all I could to restore my trains to operating condition so perhaps my girls would enjoy them as much as I did at their age (they did!). The 322 was the smoke in tender version and sometime around 1954 that unit finally quit smoking. While I can’t remember exactly what transpired at the time, “Smokey” would no longer smoke so it was now the job of the 356 to do double duty with the smoke. The first project I vowed to complete was to either replace the smoke unit or rebuild it, if possible. I was able to find an original unit in good working order however, at the same time I had the good fortune of finding nearly every part to rebuild the original unit so, I decided instead, to do that. Over about two years I worked on it, off and on. I was very pleased to complete that project successfully and “Smokey” now smokes as well as he did when brand new.
My 356 was in much worse physical shape as not only were there numerous mechanical repairs needed, the original chrome finish had deteriorated badly, and also needed to be refinished. Over another two-year period I repaired the broken mounting holes in the plastic shell, replaced the broken wheels, located and purchased original parts to complete the mechanical repairs. The final task remaining was to have the tender and boiler shells professionally re-chromed to match that of the original. The completely restored 356 turned out great, also looking and working as good as it did when it was new. I am now in the process of working on the Chief set, though it didn’t endure my abuses for as long as my two steamer friends. Over the years I have helped others repair or rebuild their AF trains.
In recent years, a good friend who owns a train shop lost his repairman and he asked me if I would help out with their repair service. In doing so I became exposed to other manufacturers and gauges, to include Lionel! As a lifelong Flyer guy, I’d never had any real interaction with the mechanics of Lionel Trains. As I became more involved with Lionel repairs and restorations, I developed a great respect for these wonderful trains. My late father, the engineer, would have been very appreciative of the fine engineering that was incorporated in their design. Maybe they weren’t truly “just like real railroads” but they were well designed and built, and I found them to be very easy to service and repair. I was especially impressed at how so few parts could service such a wide range of locomotives, especially the Lionel steamers.
It’s now 2012 and another Christmas has come and gone, I spent a busy two months again, helping the train shop out with repairs. I sort of became the de facto repairman for the shop as no replacement has been hired. No matter what the gauge or manufacturer, the more I work on them, the more I respect the great work of all of them. The old “camps” of separation-you are either a Lionel guy or a Flyer guy-are long ago dissolved and gone away. What remains is the love for the hobby, the respect for our fellow hobbyists no matter what they enjoy, and the joy we all share together in our hobby and mutual love for it.
In my leisure time I read the various articles in some of the train publications to which I subscribe. Many great tips on repair, restoration, layout design, etc., have been featured over the years. As the winter season approaches, many of these publications are ripe with articles written by folks about the thrill of receiving their first train sets at Christmas.
One common theme which stands out in these articles is the regret expressed by these hobbyists in having let their childhood sets get away from them. Many of the authors have purchased duplicates to run on their layouts however they still lament over the loss of letting the originals slip away. I feel truly very lucky and blessed to have my originals still in my possession. The feeling is indescribable as I watch them perform in such excellent manner just as they did so many years ago. While I have literally hundreds of cars, accessories, locomotives etc. these three by far will always be the standouts. As I prepare to pass them on one day to my grandchildren it is a comfort to know that they will perform flawlessly for them as they did for me, those many Christmases, so long ago.
Christmas is a wonderful season filled with memories and celebration, the wonderful memories of family and friends, both here and gone. Having my three old friends with us to enjoy, adds one more blessing to a season filled with many.
Funny thing, though-they still look as good as they did sixty some years ago!
I can’t say the same for the old man looking back at me from the mirror each morning as he shaves, that same old man that never grew up and still plays with trains!
