Echos Of Childhood Dreams

I'm sure, if you're a real train enthusiast, even if just a recent one, you can probably still remember your first childhood impressions of the rail roads. I certainly can.

As a young child, before I started school, I just had to go see the train as it rolled by the tracks near my grandmother's house. Luckily as I was growing up, I spent a lot of time with a very indulgent grandmother. She and I would run to the car where she would drive me down to the rail road crossing, and we would sit there for a full fifteen minutes watching the train rumbling slowly by. For some reason, I could always tell when the train was coming in the morning. I don't know if I could hear the train horn from such a long way away, or if I just had some sort of unconscious memory of the train schedule.

Of course, with my predilection, or perhaps obsession, of watching the freight train roll through town, someone got the bright idea to get me a train set.

I still remember the first one. As I was so young, they were wise enough to get me a large, rather indestructible plastic engine and cars. It wasn't an electric train. In fact, it was a mechanical key-and-gear spring mechanism, you know, the kind you wind up with a 'mickey mouse ears' key and let it wind itself down as it ran along the tracks.

The engine and coal car were black plastic, and there was a big yellow freight car, and a blue refrigerated car (non-functioning, of course) and a red caboose. The tracks were plastic, gray, and locked into place with a plastic tongue-in-groove joinery.

But for a long time, I put that love of those steel horses running down iron behind me. It hasn't been until recently that I have started to come back to the dream of building a great model train.

How about you? What do you remember from your childhood about trains?
Were they an early obsession, or did you grow into them later in life as you began to appreciate the various intricacies of this world?

Well, if you're new to actually putting that dream train into reality, you're not alone!

With enough patience and desire to get it out of your head and on track, so to speak, you'll be able to accomplish great things!

Need inspiration? Here's a very enviable MTH O Scale train layout video by Mario.
Look at the work he has put in to this great model! Not to mention the hours of video taping and editing he must have done to create this video!
I hope you enjoy it! I have, each time I watch it.


Until next time!