I’m learning a very valuable lesson here as I have been reading the “Re: Oh Come On Now” thread and how I am disillusioned with the standard 4 x 8 oval.
As I sat reading I found myself drifting back to being a child and one of the highlights of Christmas was the annual pilgrimage to downtown Toronto and the old Eaton’s Store on Young St. Totally mesmerised by the Window scenes and Trainset that was set up for the season and then having my picture taken on Santa’s knee.
Some have stated it’s not just a train going around and around. It’s also the scenes that show activities and their ability to captivate the imagination that makes a truly great Model Railroad.
Sad thing is I don’t know of too many stores that have the “Christmas Train Set” anymore. Maybe this is where we’re missing the train.
yes the stores are promting ipods and all that kind of stuff now!! my christhmas list will be strictly train related (well except for the dukes of hazzard movie)
Yes Fergie there is a Santa Claus and he is comming in on a CSX locomotive.
May we allways have that wide eyed excitement of youth. And for goodness sake never grow up.
Fergie, you did that too eh, lol. Some of those stores had incredible displays. My favorite part of going to the Eaton’s Center was getting to play with all the new toys in the huge play area they had set up.
I remember back in 57-58, going to Macy’s and Gimbels in White Plains,NY, watching those trains in the window, but , as a 4 or 5 year old kid, those train displays looked like John Allens G&D, as you got older, either they got less detailed or you saw them differently.Train sets were the toy of the times back then,now …well ,we all know it’s not trains anymore.
Not very long ago, I had a flashback into memories of the past. Found a bunch of old brass track and set it up on the carpet just for fun. Then I turned to my locomotive collection and picked out the carpet monster. After much debate, an older Athearn got the call. Hooked up a couple of cars and let er’ rip. I even got so juvenile as to run it fast enough to fly off the tracks,[}:)] something I would never do to the “good” engines.[:I]
I must have done this for at least a couple of hours. Re-arranging track into and endless combination of fig 8s, loops, and stuff. Felt good to have no worries about “Does this look right?”. “Is that consist right for this era?” Kinda’ helps every now and then when you get tired of detailing locomotives and ballasting track. Shows you the real reason that you entered this hobby in the first place. Reason you ask?
Let’s see I was 11 the last time I went and that was in the early seventies. I sat on Santa’s knee and told him with glee that I had tried to be a good boy and if I could please have…
As I walked away I noticed Mom and Dad wink at Santa and with a big smile on his face I then relised “hey, he’s not Santa” he was our neigbour. Christmas was never quite the same.
Amen. Everyone who gets a twist in their drawers over pointless posts and forum etiquette and has a “don’t-ask-me-use-the-search-feature” attitude should print out your post and staple it to their backdrop. Maybe we all oughta.
Hi Fergie,
I use to go to downtown chicago with mom and got to see all the christmass stuff at marshfields. Then go home and dream myself asleep about trains and listen to treir passing by on 63rd and western right next door. Now for christmass I get the G scale out for the “kid” and run it around and around and around for kathy and me just to see how much fun it is. Almost like remembering what it was like to be that “kid” again.
With computer animation so advanced (have you seen some movies, lately?), there is very little that cannot be virtually represented. That may be the eventual undoing of our hobby…at least, I worry that it may be so. How can virtual imagery compete with the “laying on of hands” that is such an important part of our hobby? No, really, I want to know! What is it about GameBoy and X-Box and such that kids will spend all their waking hours engrossed, even going without food? About the only thing that will interrupt them is a full colon or bladder.
Unfortunately, Selector, from their perspective it can compete very well indeed. The artificial worlds in which they play are created in incredible complexity and detail totally without any personal effort on their part. The equivalent for us as MRR hobbyists would be being handed John Allen’s or George Sellios’ actual, real-world, layout and told to run it as we wished…and each time we did we’d find the scenery, motive power, and rolling stock would evolve further!
This potential for fun and entertainment totally without personal effort in its creation is a major consideration in today’s society. I’d venture to guess that if today’s game-worlds of digital imagery had to be created absolutely from scratch by the player, as one might a model railroad, then 99% of the kids playing these games would be looking elsewhere for their entertainment. Yes, I know that there are a small percentage of brilliant kids that are willing to apply themselves to an incredible degree in “creating” programs, hacking, or whatever, but their numbers are probably about as small as serious teenage model railroaders.
Yes[:)]! I remember when department stores had elaborate train layouts.One store had an American Flyer layout that climbed about 7 or 8 levels in a sprial then descend to ground level again.I thought that was awesome!
Dayton’s during the war years. Lionel and then I saw HO. It was a love affair that was reborn this spring. It is hard to say which is most important to me, playing with the trains, or playing artist and trying to reconstruct some scene that I love. I enjoy all tha variety of what is important to you guys and gals. I am glad that some of you seem interested in what I like. This is a great sport and this is a great forum, even you guys who like to fuss a lot.
You guys are lucky to have been around when train sets were the number one Christmas toy. I’m 19 and my deep love of trains was unique when I was growing up. What’s really scary, though, is that even in my lifetime stores are selling fewer trains than when I was young. When I was a kid, I would always eagerly await the Home Hardware and Sears catalogues. I would always go straight to the train pages when they came, paying scant attention to any of the other toys. Home Hardware had at least three different HO sets, plus a selection of extra engines, cars and accessories displayed on a full page (possibly even one and a half or two pages when I was quite young). As the years went by, the amount of trains decreased. Today, they are down to a single Life-Like set that takes up only a small space on the edge of a page. The Sears catalogue always had a train page with one or two HO sets, a G scale set (either a Bachmann Big Hauler or a battery operated set) and sometimes an O gauge battery operated set. Today, trains are gone completely! There is not a single real (i.e. not for toddlers) train set in the toy section of the Sears Christmas Wishbook. Also when I was a kid, in addition to starter sets, Toys R Us had a good selection of extra cars, track, buildings, figures and other accessories year round. The last time I was in a Toys R Us, these items were no longer on the shelves, the only trains being a couple of starter sets. How are kids supposed to get interested in the hobby if there aren’t any trains for them to be exposed to?
I’m definitely unique for someone my age in that I don’t have the slightest interest in video or computer games. I’m sure there are plenty of 6-year-olds out there who are more tech-savvy than myself. As mentioned, the implication all these gadgets have on young children is a very negative one. It’s not just model railroading we have to worry about, though. I once read an article that talked about how how video games, etc. are taking a bite out of the sales of
Sad but true, the big retailers are not doing the displays like they did years ago! I remember traveling up to Chicago and seeing a large scale steam loco and freight cars in a store window, I pasted my face to the glass and asked my mom and dad to get me one! Heard the old saying too, We will see what Santa brings you from them. I was 5 at the time and it was a few more years before I got my first set! I had a blast running over my sisters Barbies at rocket speeds, she would scream here head off!
As for now, I dig out the AC Gilbert set I got from my dad years ago and let it run around the Christmas tree every year. Have to spend a day oiling and cleaning things up on it, but it runs great and our freinds and family enjoy it.
I have my large layout to tend to in the winter months, and thats my escape from the house, and I enjoy the hobby.
These animations in movies might be some great computer work but I think I could live another lifetime without ever seeing another… If I see one more talking, dancing dog or cat, I’m going to barf. I’m not going into what I think it is about the xboxes that keep them so engrossed… I don’t feel like having that fight right now…
Sask_Tinplater. Don’t feel bad… I’m 41 and have never seen a department store train setup… I do remember the sears christmas catalogs from when I was a kid though… Several pages of trains, slot cars, and other toys… Every department store did carry trains and other toys, even if only at christmas time…
Oh well, Changing times I guess… Seems [V] sometimes…
oh yeah ! i remember those train displays at eaton’s , and it wasn’t just the big downtown store that had one , the Don Mills mall Eaton’s had one too . going there to see the layout was almost as much fun as opening gifts on xmas morning [:)] i remember my disappointment the year i went looking for the layout and there wasn’t one , xmas just wasn’t the same .
about vitrual worlds … having just come off a 3 year addiction to Everquest (evercrack to us addicts) of playing 25+ hours a week i can tell you that virtual worlds are very compelling and easy to get hooked on . i finally made the decision to quit and get started in model railroading , something i’ve been dabbling in for 20+ years without really jumping in . someday soon i’m even going to start building a layout hahaha
I grew up in Chicago also and enjoyed those Christmas trips downtown to the Loop. It was a fun childhood experience to see those trains running on the layouts set up in several of the department stores. That was one more element that hocked me on the hobby.
Yes I remember going to the now defunct Woodwards in Edmonton Centre (shopping mall) to look at the train and roadracing set ups as well as the Bay’s window displays on Jasper Ave. There always was a huge crowd of kids and the young at heart at all of them, can’t say that I’ve seen comparable crowds near the video game stores and displays. Outside of hobby shops and clubs, train shows you don’t see anything like that anywhere around here.