Wordless Wednesday #485 - Merry Christmas from the Valley Local!

 

Wordless Wednesday #483

 

Christmas Past & Christmas Present(s)

If you read my post about Christmas Dreaming, you may have had a hint as to what this week's Wordless Wednesday was all about . . .

At the top is a copy of the very first track planning book I ever got. Unfortunately, the original was "weeded out" at some point over the last 40 years. But through the wonders of eBay (and a link sent by a friend - Bruce Wilson, I'm lookin' at you...), I was able to acquire as close to my original as possible - and even the correct printing - May 1982! This would definitely have been the same version I had all those years ago. And it just arrived 2 days after Christmas!

I pored over my first copy of that book for hours/days/weeks - and eventually, with the help of my dad, we built the Super Pretzel (Layout No. 110). No "Junior Pretzel" for us! (Layout No. 109). Mountains-in-Minutes "scenery" (essentially repackaged expand-a-foam) followed shortly thereafter and its oozing over the track - and everything else - gave me my first cold slap of reality in scenery making. But that didn't dampen my enthusiasm - especially when I could see a lowly local way freight shuffling cars into and out of sidings, going from town to town. At least in my mind's eye - imagination is as vivid as reality itself.

Unlike the "Blueprints" book, the Model Railroader is the 100% original real deal - January 1983 - the actual first model railroad magazine I ever bought, and which almost-single-handedly set the hook hard and turned me from a toy train runner into a model railroader. As you may be able to see from the worn pages and tattered binding, this magazine has been a faithful companion for going on four decades.

But enough about Christmas Past... As you can see from the pic above, Christmas Present brought me quite a haul. I doubt I was close enough to the top of the "Nice" list to justify such bounty, so Santa must've been especially understanding this year . . .

My level of sophistication may have increased and my focus may have narrowed in the years since I got my first Model Railroader magazine and track planning book, but I can attest to the fact that I'm just as excited about the hobby as I was back then - perhaps even more so. Unlike back then, I have space and resources to realize some of those long-ago dreams (though, alas!, lots less time it seems), and my skills continue to improve. 

I still dream of local freight trains plying their trade of "retail railroading" - but these days I can actually see some of that dream become reality. And that's a pretty wonderful gift all by itself.

Christmas Dreaming - 1982

I didn't realize it at the time, but forty years ago today I embarked on a lifelong hobby. And it was entirely by accident.

Among the many gifts my little brother and I got that Christmas morning was a computer and a train set. While I was into computers, all the attention was on the train - especially since it prompted my great-grandmother, who happened to be visiting, to tell us about my great, and great-great, grandfathers' careers on the old Illinois Central Railroad. I'd always been into history, but the combination of family stories and a fascination with miniatures was pretty compelling. The computer faded into the background as my dad and I "helped" my kid brother with his train set.

The limitations of a simple loop of track prodded us to find a local hobby shop to get more track - and maybe even some "switchouts." Once there, if I'd just been nibbling around the hobby before, once I saw my first issue of Model Railroader, the hook was now firmly set. I had no idea you could actually recreate history in miniature like this. I'd always been fascinated by museum dioramas, but these dioramas were way bigger - and had action! And you could create whatever world you wanted, limited only by your imagination.

Ah, the dreamings of a young model railroader - no matter his (or her) actual age. Subsequent weeks and months followed a pattern familiar to many: dreaming about layouts and track arrangements, being confronted by limitations of space and time, the uneasy detente with other things competing for one's time, money, and attention. . . Is there anything quite like those early days, when the future is full of possibility and, not unlike Schrodinger's cat, you're just as likely to create a masterpiece as fail in the attempt?

It's been 40 years today since it all started. The train set disappeared over time (although the power pack survives to light the Christmas layout, pictured above), my hobby pursuits have gotten much more sophisticated, and my ambitions more realistic. But every once in a while, I get another taste of the initial excitement I experienced all those years ago.

And a gift from my mom & dad around Christmas last year (actually, for my birthday, which is a week later), provided a huge helping  - just in time for this year...

Yessir - that, my friends, is a bona fide Campbell's Soup train set, "Limited Edition 1982" - exactly like the one from that long-ago Christmas. Over the course of time, I'd forgotten what the cars looked like, but the red and white F7 diesel was instantly recognizable. Of course, it's more than just an old train set - it's wonder and dreams and possibilities distilled into metal and plastic. It's a reminder of my entry into a hobby that's given me a chance to meet people from all walks of life from all over the world, that's provided hours of stress relief (while sometimes inducing stress), that's helped me develop a number of different skills - many of which I've been able to use outside the hobby.

Most of all though, every time I see it - especially now that I have it set up around the Christmas tree - it reminds me of being full of hope, anticipating wonderful possibilities, and looking forward to the future. And isn't that the essence of being young, if not chronologically, at least young in heart?

Here's hoping this Christmas that you're able to capture and hold on to the joy and wonder of the season, to be a kid again - if only in your outlook - and to enjoy time with family and friends.

And if someone you know gets a train set for Christmas, beware - you may just have a front row seat to the start of a lifelong passion.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

 

Christmas on the NHRR

 

A Few Words About Wordless Wednesday #380 - Christmas 1982/Birthday 2022

Hi all and Happy New Year from the Valley Local!  Here's hoping you and yours are safe, healthy, and happy despite all the current craziness.

Doing fine here, all things considered. Just not getting enough layout time lately (though who really does?). But all due to good things - lots of cool activities kept us busy in December, along with visiting family in South Carolina over the holiday, and even getting to celebrate my birthday with them - albeit a bit early.

Which leads me to today's post...

Since posting this photo last week, I've received a few comments and questions about it. So here's the rest of the story...starting during Christmas, 1982. . .

That was our first Christmas in Connecticut, after having moved up from West Virginia. I was 13 years old and got my first computer that morning - a Timex Sinclair 1000. And my kid brother Jeff - having turned 8 years old the previous summer - got a Campbell's Soup Train set by Life-Like.

I was quite a history buff even then and my great-grandmother was spending the holiday with us. The train set prompted recollections of my great-grandfather's (and great-great-grandfather's) career(s) on the railroad and I found the combination of family history and modeling pretty compelling. Suffice it to say, the computer faded into the background as my dad & I "helped" Jeff with his train set. And when he lost interest in it, I quickly adopted it.

The following days and weeks saw my dad and I searching out all the local toy stores and hobby shops (remember them?) for additional track and equipment. I even remember picking up my first copy of Model Railroader (January, 1983 issue - Whit Towers' Alturas & Lone Pine on the cover). I still have that magazine. Seeing all the fantastic modeling showed me what could be done with that train set - and I was thoroughly hooked.

As you might have noticed . . .

Fast forward 39 years to Christmas, 2021.

The only thing left of that old train set is the power pack which I use (perhaps appropriately) to power the Christmas layout I display every year. The engine & cars were long since traded off, sold, or upgraded to newer, better equipment. We only spent that one Christmas in the house with my first layout (Atlas' "Super Pretzel"), but the hobby survived moving, college, marriage, law school, and career.

On the last night of our visit with my folks, just a couple days after Christmas, we celebrated my birthday a little early and I got one big present from my mom & dad. As you may have already guessed, it was the Campbell's Soup Train set you see in the photo which my dad found on eBay. After I opened it - and the initial shock wore off, and the significance soaked in, I joked that this gift might just spark a life-long hobby.

Heh - it certainly did.

Thanks mom & dad for my very own train set - and thanks to my kid brother for letting me take adopt his almost four decades ago.

Wordless Wednesday #380 - Christmas Gift, 39 years later...

 

Wordless Wednesday #379 - Christmastime

Here are some pics from my Christmas layout to put you in the holiday mood. Hope you enjoy them and hope, even more, that you and yours have a Wonderful and Very Merry Christmas!

Wordless Wednesday #378

 

Wordless Wednesday #377

 

Merry Christmas!

Here's wishing you and yours a most wonderful holiday season,
a Very Merry Christmas,
and a much better New Year!

Throwback Thursday - Some Images from Christmases Past

Merry Christmas Eve!

Wordless Wednesday #344 - Christmas Layout

Here are some pics from my Christmas layout to put you in the holiday mood. Hope you enjoy them and hope, even more, that you and yours have a Wonderful and Very Merry Christmas!