the smedley log - suburban scrawl

I wanted to see the trains

When I was young, we had a train set. It was an HO set with an oval track and some buildings and landscape fixtures molded to a large board that traditionally went under the tree every Christmas.

I used to love playing with those trains, even though my father cringed every time I got near the controls. He would often direct me to be more cautious with the speed of the train, especially around the bends, but try as he might, I had my own ideas about speed (as well as a budding fascination with derailment).

Every once in while, usually between Christmases, he’d take me with him to the hobby store to buy new cars, accessories, or parts for dysfunctional locomotives that I’d “help” him repair when we got back home. I always enjoyed the repair sessions, though I’m afraid I wasn’t much help most of the time. Still, I recall the experience fondly.

I don’t know what’s become of the old set. I know the old board was in need of replacement years ago, and I have no clue as the whereabouts of the power supply or the trains themselves. (I should ask my father sometime, I suppose.)

I was reminded of the train set this past Christmas when the son of a friend of mine was given a set by his grandfather. The thought of a grandfather setting up a train set with his grandson makes me smile.

I had thoughts of going with my friend to see a local model train display yesterday. I was expecting a call sometime in the late morning or early afternoon regarding when we’d go. The call never came – or should I say the phone never rang.

At some point between Friday night and Saturday morning I apparently turned off the ringer, so I didn’t realize when the call came on early Saturday afternoon. While I was putting around waiting for a phone call, my friend was probably wondering why I was neither answering the phone nor calling back.

If you’re reading this, I’m sorry for the mix-up. I really wanted to go see the trains.

We were a train set family too – and my maternal granddad was an actual train engineer (in a way – if you wanted to get into whose granddad had a bigger trainset, you’d lose). Both Mom and I like actual train rides a lot too.

And my friend’s son, who has a fisher price trainset is less into derailments and more into crashes. So your dad got off easy (as did Mom – of course, I’m not sure the offending child would have survived the crash…)

I loved model trains. When I was reading about you, I was thinking about the smell of those trains. I had one that made “smoke” by putting a little oil in the engine…and it heated that up and smoked. It was the same lube oil you used for the tracks.

Sadly, I don’t have any of my trains or HO cars, either. But when I was a kid, like you, the derailment was as exciting as watching them go. My first train set was under the Christmas tree when I was 8…very good memory of that.

i was never fond of the trains i saw on tv. maybe the few years apart in age that we are is what it is. i was a GI Joe and Transformers kid.

Ellen – I won’t try to get into a contest about whose locomotive was the biggest.

Frank – for me it was the smell of the burning electrical smell as the locomotives overheated on me.

Albert – part of it’s the age thing, though I did envy the kids with the GI Joes and Transformers quite a bit.

I remember my older brothers having a train set. I don’t recall getting to play with it much but I did enjoy watching them derail the cars. Why else would a boy have a train set but to watch the cars derail?

My husband used to have a pretty slick train set, but it got tossed while he was at college; he still mourns the loss.