TRAINS AND CHRISTMAS

and the child within

The following was posted on World Wide Wits End in December of 1998.

Trains. American Flyer, Lionel. Freight, Commuter, Amtrak, trolleys.

There is just something about trains and the railroad, no matter what the form, shape or size. I guess it’s just a guy thing, and for most of us, it all began one Christmas when we awoke to find a set running around a Christmas tree.

As we age, trains never cease to drive the imagination. As the Conrail freight rolls across Swarthmore Avenue, I still count the cars in tow, and imagine their destination, somewhere south. Some are headed for Florida, others, who knows. And who is stowed away in the boxcars?

To this day, I still enjoy riding the rails. My dentist is in Philly, so I park at the stadiums, and take the subway into town. When I worked in Center City Philadelphia, even though I did it every day, I was always amazed every time I went underground to find 8 tracks, with dozens of gates and train after train. I remember that I needed to get the 5:03, because it was one of the original blue liners. It was made of wood, and the windows would actually open.

When I need to do business in New York or Washington, I take Amtrak, even thought a round trip ticket is astronomically priced at about $80. And by the time I polish off a six pack in the club car, we’re talking about a C-Note.

But you get to see things from a train that you never see anywhere else. And the contrast between New York and Washington is startling. Going to New York entails a journey through North Philly, the American equivalent of Beirut. And North Jersey provides visions of land fills and Mafia body dumps that stimulate the imagination. The trip to Washington is just the opposite. You travel along waterways that are shipping lanes of the Delaware river and playgrounds of the fortunate on the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays.

Ahh, but I digress. Johno 4 is now two years three months, and Christmas is coming. I have work to do. Today I go to Loco Louies to get extra track, tunnels, and various other model railroad equipment. Today I get the wood to build the platform. Last Christmas, the extent of Johno 4’s involvement with the trains that ran around the Christmas tree was derailing them. But this year, he is old enough to become the engineer. I hope he let’s me play with the choo choos, just a little.