Well, this all got started in some previous life experience working on the railro
ad somewhere in time, I get goose bumps hearing the distinctive style of the engineer's (me?) hand on the whistle cord pulling out a melody of long and short whaaaaiiling whistles, using skill and art to bend the notes through the night, echoing off hillsides and sent adrift by gentle winds, heard miles away...you knew the train was on time, and who the engineer was.So, there on the floor, barely able to walk I sit. Drooling at a sight in front of me: a white floor, and rising from it, a cone of bright colored lights winding up and up... and... a whizzing, clanging, clattering noise, that came and went... and came again, as it rounded the lights. Hypnotised by the movement and sounds of a mechanical contraption never seen before... it was silver and red, ran around at a dizzying speed, flashing by... pulling eyes, head and
the rest of me after it. Woweee..I was excited, and boyo boyo was it FUN. I was hopping up and down in my seated position. Then the miracle slowed ever more till it stoped. A long silver thing with holes, bent around and following two metalic ribbons on the floor, it stood silent. Dad bent down and twisted some thing on the side of that silver train many times, and.....HOLY COW!...it started to zoom around the colored lights again and again and again clanging and ringing a bell.... ding...ding...ding...ding...ding as it clattered, clickety clack around! This turned out to be my first train at a very young age and it was a wind-up O gauge toy train, probably made by Marx. It was the Holidays and the train was set up on the floor over some white cloth and a tree was at the center. That was a loooong time ago in the late 1940's.
A few years later, it was winter in Bloomington, Indiana ... and as I day-dreamed looking out an evening window, watching lazy big snow flakes falling silently... muffling the sounds and quieting all ... the big day was quickly approaching. There was an electric tingle of anticipation in the air, my parents had been oddly furtive and had been kind of getting me curious as to what was going on ... it sure was not their regular activity, they seemed a bit giddy and nervously happy...what were they doing? I had been put to bed, and admonished to go to sleep, the door was closed and ... I layed their wide awake.
An endless time went by ... climbed out of bed and went to the window wondering about the wide cold world outside ... slowly eyelids began to drift down, just about there, asleep. THEN, something startled me and brought me back to consciousness ... muffeled sounds of a softly ringing bell, then there was a kind of subdued metallic dragging, and I thought I heard ... was I dreaming?... a hushed distant whistling sound and more faint metallic rustling and again soft ding..ding...dings.
That was it! I had to find out what the heck that was ... snuck to the bedroom door, opened it very quietly and entered the darkened hallway... down at the end ... a light was beconing from under a closed door. The sounds were more distinct, and mom and dad could be heard softly whispering and laughing. OK that was all I could handle, just had to know what was going on behind the door at the end of the hall. I crawled as quietly as I could, with great fear and sure sense of dread should I be discovered ... the noise of my heart banging away in my chest must have been as loud as the now louder sounds of action ... made it to the door... pressed the side of my face hard into the floor, spying into the light under the door, to see what all the commotion was about, (would regret this later the next day). My eyes adjusted as I squinted, one eye closed to see...........
OH MY Gosh, gee whizz, woooowee, there were flashing lights and
moving gates and ringing bells, lighted houses, tracks with a crossing and switches and the metallic rushing sound of a steam engine and train cars racing around the track with smoke trailing behind, and then the best ... a whistle blew... my cheeks flushed, thought I was going to black out, my heart stopped ... I was so shocked, so happy, so surprised, so excited ......... and soooo stupid! It was just about the neatest thing my parents ever did for me, taking weeks of secrecy and effort, and their loving toil into the wee hours, and there on a plywood board on the floor, decorated to the 9's, was THE greatest present and surprise I could ever have imagined. A train set , with action accessories, scenery, lights, a mountain with tunnel, streets and of course a steam engine smoking away as it clattered around the layout.
I ruined it with my curiosity, spoiled their joy at a wonderful surprise, and kind of wound up very disappointed in myself. I slinked off back down the hall, and very, very quietly slithered into bed, having closed the door behind me noiselessly. I could not sleep ... how was I
ever going to be able to act surprised enough, on that great day of expectations?This was my first electric train set, and what a beautiful, loving and generous thing my parents did for me...it was grrrrreat! It is one of my fondest memories I have of my younger years and my parents ... all was well in the world and I felt loved and secure.
This electric train set was a Marx O gauge three-rail set, a steam engine that smoked, and beautifully lithographed metal gondola, boxcar, tank car and caboose, along with a 90 degree crossing and two crossing switches, making a figure eight with one side connected with the switches, there was a red flashing road signal with bell, a Girard station with whistle, a crossing gate that went up and down. And then the things my parents made like the mountain with tunnel, streets, houses with lights and grass. I wish I had photos...but all those material things have dissipated over time...the memories remain.
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