So sitting here thinking about the OL being in the hospital still I had completely forgotten that right before she went in we ordered our first train ever, the doorbell rang and there it was!
What excitement, it was like being a kid again at Christmas, the rich color of the packages, the divine heaviness of the boxes - full of physical suggestion that they contained some precious metal or hidden secret just waiting to be opened, the rich clean and antiseptic smell of the packaging… all this and I hadnt even got them open yet!
With hands trembling, hands that rarely tremble over anything less than the lowest or highest of life experiancs, I draw the boxes open - what color, what texture, what detail and still that wonderful heaviness even out of the boxes. The the shock at the size and over all physicality so removed from distant tiny pictures on a computer or the unassable personal determination of how heavy it would be in full scale. The new appreciation for anyone that deals in a scale larger or smaller than HO and puzzlement at how it can even be done! And then amazement, childlike joy and something missed for so long - a desire to -play-!
A quick desire to show the OL so off to take pictures but seems wrong somehow to just snap pics of them just sitting on the table, so a hasty arrangement on the hearth, the Christmas Air deepening as I do it… a few quick snaps and call the OL; she giggles and gasps her own small girl inside as joyed as my little guy is, we chatter and part.
Then fast off, back to the virtual world to show my new buddies; the images of all the times those friends, I’ve lost through time or growing up, gathered to show each other our new baseball cards or marbles or neatest ‘new thing’ now coming on hard…
You Sir are Hooked straight thru the gills, I my self am like that everytime I get a new Train, or structure for my as yet to be built Railroad. Revell in its newness and bask in the wonder of what is yet to come as you dive into the possibilities of you new pastime, And think just how nice those will look when they have painstakingly been weathered by the grace of your own 2 hands. You sir are truly smitten with the Rail Road Bug. Enjoy
SWEEEEEET!!! I used to have that train,but I sold it to help buy my first auto. Still kick myself to this day.
SCOTT- People on roller skates with swords. Now that’s a sport I’d pay money to see!!
Although as a Rio Grande modeler I’m supposed to think of Santa Fe as ‘the enemy’, I’ve got to say that I’ve always thought that the Super Chief was one of the most beautiful trains that God ever imagined. I can just imagine how turned on you are with that set–I’d be jumping up and down and wetting my pants like a two-year old! Congratulations. Now on to Route 66, the Santa Fe mainline and years of wonderful model railroading. CHEERS!!
Tom [bow][bow]
WOW!!![:D][8D][:O][;)] Sitting here reading your post I too got the feeling that you described…Very insperational…to see other people have the innerchild have the controls for a while…Hope you and your OL have much fun and enjoyment as yall can handle
Now that is a silly statement [:D]. This is the train of Hollywood and the Movie Stars. This isn’t just any railroad this is the Santa Fe. To the very end they didn’t let their crack passenger trains especially the Super Chief get dirty or “weathered”. They would even wash it off in route if it got a little grime on it. And they didn’t let Amtrak keep the name when Amtrak didn’t hold up to those same standards.
Even when washed in many photo there was still some grime and dirt that just didnt come off. Metal has this little thing called tarnish! Please dont exile me for my apparent mistake to mention the thought of touching the icon of americana.
