Model trains were one way my dad tried bonding with me and my two brothers, and they were also a way for him to isolate himself from us. My grandmother would routinely trash my father's possessions when he was young, stuff like baseball cards and comic books, so I suppose the psychological profile writes itself. He'd gift trains, collect them, even build them with X-Acto and balsa alone in the kitchen; he'd subscribe to relevant magazines he'd read in his bathroom; he'd take us to conventions and hobby stores I found confusing and dull. While we all liked trains, only one of us caught the bug. (That brother is a pilot for famous people now and once bonded with Rod Stewart on the subject.)
Lego was MY toy: modern, plastic, primary-colored. It has such a privileged position in my brain I've been dreaming about finding discontinued sets in stores since the 1980s. (I always wake up before I can get to the cash register.) Still, the little dramas of childhood mastery over the world that Lego enables has to be much like those my dad enacted with trains. It may even be an inheritance.
"They were never cheap, but they are now—sixty years later—luxury goods, kept out of reach": Looking at the prices on the Lionel website...good God. Even fragrance is more budget-friendly. Glad I stuck with Lego. "The length of track did not matter": I never had that level of equanimity as a child. With so many toys, Lego included, I was always acutely aware that whatever I had, it could always be bigger and gnarlier and just plain MORE were it not for the upper limit of what my parents would tolerate buying. Of course by the time I could spend my own money on expensive hobbies, those totalist fantasies had long ceased to be interesting.
I always feel as joyful as 5 year old when I see model railroads in HO scale. And how perfectly you described the difference in sizes – indeed I too have always thought that HO is the one, perfect in detail and overall. A model of Orient express is still and probably will always be a childhood dream. As well as Mallard locomotive..
San Diego Model Railroad museum has a rather splendid set-up that includes the wooden trestle bridge across Carrizo Gorge on the old San Diego and Arizona Eastern line. I always wished that they'd added a little drama by including a desperado climbing up it carrying a stick of dynamite. I also enjoy some of the modern cattle cars with their perfect reproductions of the graffiti shown in accompanying photos of the full size unit.
Felicitous as always, thanks. Reading how models start and stop too quickly gave me a whiplash of memory: scalextric cars and their instantaneous on/off, forces that would kill any living driver, small or large.
I love model trains and real trains. The best train journey I've taken was on the Flamsbana in Norway, from Flam to Myrdal. Beautiful small older train traveling through some gorgeous scenery. Train journeys in Switzerland sound amazing, too.
We were below middle-class, we couldn't afford trains but I would spend hours creating a "parade' out of all of my toy cars, cowboys and indians (plastic) and other household objects. This was at around age 4 or 5, I was obsessed with creating the right amount of 'floats' per foot and also I'd toss confetti all over it and make it look like it was a real parade.
I'd absolutely forgotten about that until I read your post. Thank you
Model trains were one way my dad tried bonding with me and my two brothers, and they were also a way for him to isolate himself from us. My grandmother would routinely trash my father's possessions when he was young, stuff like baseball cards and comic books, so I suppose the psychological profile writes itself. He'd gift trains, collect them, even build them with X-Acto and balsa alone in the kitchen; he'd subscribe to relevant magazines he'd read in his bathroom; he'd take us to conventions and hobby stores I found confusing and dull. While we all liked trains, only one of us caught the bug. (That brother is a pilot for famous people now and once bonded with Rod Stewart on the subject.)
Lego was MY toy: modern, plastic, primary-colored. It has such a privileged position in my brain I've been dreaming about finding discontinued sets in stores since the 1980s. (I always wake up before I can get to the cash register.) Still, the little dramas of childhood mastery over the world that Lego enables has to be much like those my dad enacted with trains. It may even be an inheritance.
"They were never cheap, but they are now—sixty years later—luxury goods, kept out of reach": Looking at the prices on the Lionel website...good God. Even fragrance is more budget-friendly. Glad I stuck with Lego. "The length of track did not matter": I never had that level of equanimity as a child. With so many toys, Lego included, I was always acutely aware that whatever I had, it could always be bigger and gnarlier and just plain MORE were it not for the upper limit of what my parents would tolerate buying. Of course by the time I could spend my own money on expensive hobbies, those totalist fantasies had long ceased to be interesting.
Ha! My father did take an interest but soon gave up when he realised how much it would cost to build something impressive…
Thanks for the lovely remembrance. I am old enough to remember the toy trains and the magic they carried for us when we were children.
I always feel as joyful as 5 year old when I see model railroads in HO scale. And how perfectly you described the difference in sizes – indeed I too have always thought that HO is the one, perfect in detail and overall. A model of Orient express is still and probably will always be a childhood dream. As well as Mallard locomotive..
San Diego Model Railroad museum has a rather splendid set-up that includes the wooden trestle bridge across Carrizo Gorge on the old San Diego and Arizona Eastern line. I always wished that they'd added a little drama by including a desperado climbing up it carrying a stick of dynamite. I also enjoy some of the modern cattle cars with their perfect reproductions of the graffiti shown in accompanying photos of the full size unit.
"...and gone over the hill to the adult world of collecting, a quest with no end." Ugh, fine. I'll stop buying perfume. You're right, as always.
Felicitous as always, thanks. Reading how models start and stop too quickly gave me a whiplash of memory: scalextric cars and their instantaneous on/off, forces that would kill any living driver, small or large.
Thank you! Scalextric was another marvel, I never had one...
I love model trains and real trains. The best train journey I've taken was on the Flamsbana in Norway, from Flam to Myrdal. Beautiful small older train traveling through some gorgeous scenery. Train journeys in Switzerland sound amazing, too.
Thank you for the well told story Luca.
We were below middle-class, we couldn't afford trains but I would spend hours creating a "parade' out of all of my toy cars, cowboys and indians (plastic) and other household objects. This was at around age 4 or 5, I was obsessed with creating the right amount of 'floats' per foot and also I'd toss confetti all over it and make it look like it was a real parade.
I'd absolutely forgotten about that until I read your post. Thank you
What lovely souvenirs, beautifully expressed!