Well, Bobby Growley was a lucky kid, lived in a large stucco two-story--probably a SEARS home from the Twenties--with a huge basement. For show and tell a kid had brought his MARX train set. Everyone was impressed. The locomotive was the MARX version of a CP Jubilee class without lead or trailing trucks. Some of you out there must have seen it back when. Anyway, on the walk home from school--no school bus to tote us the six to eight blocks--Bobby said, "That train was nothing. Come over to my house and see what I have." He didn't have to ask me twice. I was more than awed; I was hooked forever. That of course was coupled with the fact that every kid in the Minneapolis Public School system got a train ride to St. Paul and a view of the O-gauge layout in St. Paul Union Depot. This was kindergarten, and the trip was for mature first graders. Ours came the following year on the Forest Green and English stagecoach yellow of the C&NW "400". This was preceded by a ride to Marshalltown and back on the Chicago Great Western and a view that fall--October 1947--of the new GN Empire Builder resplendent in sparkling Omaha Orange and Pullman Green. After all that, I was an addict.
Tom -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] on behalf of Bob Werre Sent: Fri 9/5/2008 5:18 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: {S-Scale List} Smoky Mtn's philosophy Hey Tom, you big city guys! Heck we didn't even have kindergarden. My little town only had a handful of kids with trains, and only two of us had 'train tables'! One Lionel guy and my meager AF set. On the liability thing, I didn't eat any trains either but just to prove what kids will do...I had a little cousin that lodged the top from a Bic pen up his nose. It was there for a long time before trouble developed. I believe SHS has a warning on the box regarding age--good thing there's not a upper limit where they take our trains away as some of us might be getting close! Bob Werre, going home shortly to a meeting of the Houston S Gaugers and hopefully starting a Pine Canyon building kit on Saturday! > > > Ah, yes, the old liability issue. That is most certainly with us. I > recall, however, that I first noticed Lionel trains when I was in > kindergarten at Bancroft School in Minneapolis. Bobby Growley took me > to his basement and showed me a layout, complete with milk platform > and other operating accessories, the coveted Berkshire locomotive, and > cannot recall what else. It was all too glorious. A year or two later, > I became aware of American Flyer. Although I was quite young, I recall > no inclination to eat the train cars or locomotives. As a practical > matter, getting even a 6464 box car into the mouth, truncated as it > was, seemed an impossible task. Besides mother had supper waiting at home. > > A few years later, heated arguments arose at school regarding Lionel > vs. American Flyer. No one won the debates, but they sure were fun. > > Tom > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
