An American Flyer Tale for Christmas
2016 Edition
More than anything Tim Lindahl wanted an electric train for Christmas. Not just any electric train though, it had to be an American Flyer train. But Tim knew that getting a train from Santa or anyone was impossible. Earlier in the year the government had shut down all toy production so that the factories could put all of their energy into making things for the war. Tim worried a lot about his Dad. Many of his friends’ dads had been called to go to war. He wondered what would happen to him and his younger brother and sisters, and their Mom if Dad had to leave. His father worked for the great big Post Office in Chicago; the one where the trains came right into the building and were unloaded. So far Dad hadn’t said anything about going to war and he didn’t seem to be worried. Tim tried not to think about it.
When he wasn’t busy with school or chores Tim kept himself occupied looking at the toy train catalogs that he had saved from better times. He had Lionel catalogs and American Flyer catalogs and catalogs from Sears and Montgomery Ward, but he found himself most often returning to the American Flyer catalogs. He would close his eyes and imagine what a sleek passenger train or long freight train headed by a powerful steam engine would look like circling the Christmas tree. He would imagine his hand on the throttle of the big black transformer sending the engine pounding down the track and t