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As a follow-up to Ted’s article and Toy we enjoyed through our childhood, several years ago I took a great interest in “0” gauge model trains which have a wonderful history dated back many years.
Every young Boy’s dream was to find a American Flyer or Lionel Train set under the tree on Christmas Morning. Well, that interest grew for me over the years, and now I’m collecting my own Lionel and MTH trains of an “O” size and throughout enjoying the hobby. Now, I just need to find a space in my house that I can set up my display on a permanent basis. I attended last weeks, Lindsay and District Train Show and much to my pleasure was a new club out of Guelph who specialize in “O” gauge trains! What a thrill and the hobby is as popular as ever. -
(quote and picture by Fred Schulz)
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TRUDEAU AS LEADER OF THE LIBERAL PARTY OF CANADA?
I AM NOT OF ANY POLITICAL STRIPE. NO ONE IN MY FAMILY CARRIES A CARD, OR ANY IDENTIFICATION, THAT POSITIONS THEM AS HAVING A SPECIFIC POLITICAL AFFILIATION. WE'RE JUST AVERAGE CANADIANS WHO ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT DEMOCRACY. ALL OF US FEEL, WE HAVE BECOME MUCH LESS DEMOCRATIC IN THIS COUNTRY, OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS. I HAVE NEVER BEEN A LIBERAL AND I HAVE NO ASPIRATIONS TO JOIN THEIR POLITICAL AMBITIONS TODAY. BUT I WOULD BE DISHONEST, IF I DIDN'T ADMIT TO FEELING, THAT THE ELECTION OF JUSTIN TRUDEAU, AS THE NEW LEADER OF THE NATIONAL LIBERAL PARTY, WAS A POWERFUL, CORRECTIVE STEP TOWARD RESTORING MY FAITH, OUR FAITH, THAT OUR LONGSTANDING VALUES OF FREEDOM, AND OPEN DEMOCRACY, WILL BE RESTORED AGAIN IN THIS COUNTRY…..JUST BY HIS PRESENCE IN OPPOSITION. THOSE WHO WISH TO DENY US OUR DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS, BECAUSE OF A POLITICAL AGENDA, NEED TO BE CONFRONTED NOW, ABOUT THE TRUE WILL OF THE PEOPLE. DO I THINK JUSTIN TRUDEAU IS THE MAN TO LEAD THIS COUNTRY BACK TO THE LEVEL OF DEMOCRACY, AT HOME, AND ON THE WORLD STAGE? I WILL LET THE GOVERNING CONSERVATIVE PARTY DETERMINE THIS OVER THE NEXT TWO YEARS OF OFFICE. THE INTENSITY BY WHICH THEY ATTACK MR. TRUDEAU, WILL TELL ME ALL I NEED TO KNOW, ABOUT THEIR DESPERATION FOR POWER, IN ORDER TO CONTROL HOW CANADIANS THINK AND ACT! I WISH JUSTIN TRUDEAU WELL, IN THE PURSUIT OF SOMETHING BETTER IN, AND FOR, THIS COUNTRY……A RETURN TO OUR ROLE AS A GLOBAL LEADER; NOT A DROP-OUT COUNTRY, HIDING BEHIND CLEVER RHETORIC, TO EXPLAIN TIME AND AGAIN, WHY WE HAVE DROPPED THE BALL …..SO MANY TIMES, IN SUCH A SHORT TERM OF OFFICE. SO HOW WILL THE TORIES STING BACK, TO MAINTAIN THEIR SLENDER HOLD ON POWER?
THIS IS NOT A SLIDE-BACK FOR ME INTO POLITICAL BLOGGING. BUT IT'S HOW I FEEL AS A CANADIAN…..AND AT TIMES, ESPECIALLY ON MATTERS OF THE ENVIRONMENT, ASHAMED OF HOW WE LOOK ON THE WORLD STAGE. WHAT I'D REALLY LIKE, IS FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE DAY, TO SMARTEN UP, AND PAY ATTENTION TO ALL CANADIANS….NOT JUST THOSE CARRYING PARTY AFFILIATION. THEY REPRESENT ALL CANADIANS, AND THAT'S WHAT I'D LIKE TO SEE, AND FEEL ABOUT NATIONAL GOVERNANCE. SO ANYTHING MR. TRUDEAU CAN DO, TO ADVANCE THE CAUSES OF DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT, WOULD BE GOOD FOR MANY OF US, WHO HAVE FELT HELPLESS AGAINST THE BULLIES.
RE-VISITING THE LIONEL ENGINE THAT DIED - AND WHY THAT SUCKED
I GOT IT SECOND HAND, SO BUYER BEWARE
I DWELL ON THIS SUBJECT, PROBABLY MORE THAN I SHOULD, AS HAVING AN IMPACT ON ME AS AN ADULT COLLECTOR / DEALER. BUT NO MATTER HOW I TRY TO DISTANCE MYSELF FROM CHILDHOOD INFLUENCES, IT'S NOT POSSIBLE. IT'S ALSO, FOR THIS PURPOSE OF CREATING A BIOGRAPHY FOR MY FAMILY, IMPORTANT NOT TO HASTILY DIMINISH THE FACT, I WAS MOST DEFINITELY IMPACTED BY ALL ASPECTS OF MY CHILDHOOD IN COMPANY OF TOYS, GAMES, BASEBALL GLOVES, FOOTBALLS, AND HOCKEY EQUIPMENT.
EVERYBODY WHO KNEW ME BACK IN THE LATE 1950'S, AND 60'S, WOULD ATTEST THAT I HAD AN INTENSE CHILDHOOD. EVERYONE WHO KNEW ME BACK THEN, USED TO TELL MY MOTHER, "BOY OH BOY, IS TED EVER INTENSE." (A LITTLE BIT CRAZY, A LITTLE BIT ROCK 'N ROLL). HELL, I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT THAT MEANT, BUT IN RETROSPECT, I GUESS THEY WERE RIGHT. I PLAYED LONG AND HARD. WHETHER IT WAS WITH MY DINKY TOYS, PLASTIC SOLDIERS, (GERMAN AND AMERICAN - BECAUSE THAT'S ALL WE HAD FOR CHOICES BACK THEN), MY MUNRO HOCKEY GAME, BALL AND GLOVE, FOOTBALL, OR HOCKEY STICK AND TENNIS BALL; I COUILD PLAY ALONE FOR HOURS ON END, WITHOUT ONCE FEELING THE URGE TO BUG ANY OF THE ADULTS IN MY IMMEDIATE NEIGHBORHOOD. EXCEPT WHEN I USED TO TAKE SLAP SHOTS AGAINST THE APARTMENT WALL, IRRITATING HALF THE TENANTS IN THE BUILDING. AS FOR GENERAL ANNOYANCE OF NEIGHBORS, THAT CAME AFTER DARK.
POINT IS, I DIDN'T HAVE A LOT OF TOY OPTIONS, AND SOME WERE THE RESULT OF "FINDER'S KEEPERS," AND OTHERS WERE MADE BY SAVVY TRADES…..GETTING RID OF THE OLD STOCK, FOR "NEW" OLD STOCK FROM ONE OF MY MATES. I WAS A YOUNG WILL ROGERS, WHEN IT CAME TO HORSE TRADING. I KNEW WHAT I WANTED AND HOW TO GET IT…..WITHOUT GETTING INTO THE EXCHANGE OF CASH ON ANY BARREL-HEAD.
I THINK MY FATHER MUST HAVE BEEN THE SAME WAY, BECAUSE HE USED TO COME HOME WITH TOYS FOR ME, HE'D OBTAINED FROM ASSOCIATES HE WORKED WITH….AND NO, HE WASN'T A MOBSTER. HE WAS AN IRISH CANADIAN LUMBERMAN, AND HE HAD A LOT OF COLLEAGUES AND FORMER ASSOCIATES ALL OVER SOUTHERN ONTARIO. SO I DON'T KNOW HOW HE TRADED OR PURCHASED THESE SECOND HAND TOYS, HE'D COME HOME WITH, BUT I DIDN'T FEEL IT NECESSARY THEN, OR NOW TO HAVE THE PROVENANCE TO GO WITH MY MEMORIES OF SELECT PIECES. SUCH AS THE FIRST HOCKEY GAME I EVER HAD, WHICH OF COURSE HAD A HUMP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WOOD GAME SURFACE, WITH WIRE FLIPPERS LIKE A PINBALL GAME, AND A WHITE KNIT BACKING FOR THE GOAL NET. IT DIDN'T LOOK MUCH LIKE THE CONTEMPORARY TABLE TOP HOCKEY GAMES, BUT IT WAS SOMETHING MORE THAN I HAD. ED HAD WANGLED SOME SORT OF DEAL WITH A TENANT IN THE NAGY APARTMENTS, IN BURLINGTON, AND IT ENTERTAINED ME FOR QUITE A WHILE. THEN IT DISAPPEARED ONE MORNING. I DON'T THINK MY DAD WAS IN THE MOB. BUT THIS KIND OF STUFF HAPPENED, ALMOST AS IF IT HAD BEEN A "TOY ON LOAN," KIND OF ARRANGEMENT, FROM FRIENDS NAMED VITO OR CHECKY.
THE SAME THING HAPPENED WITH MY LIONEL TRAIN SET…..THE ONE THAT, IN MANY YEARS OF OWNERSHIP, ONLY DID TEN COMPLETE TRIPS AROUND THE SMALL OVAL TRACK. MOST OF THE TIME IT JUST SAT IN ONE SPOT AND OFFERED ME THAT ELECTRIC HUM OF POTENTIAL, BUT NO ACTION.
I WORKED AROUND THE FACT IT DIDN'T WORK
The beautiful Lionel train set, wound up in my possession, one Christmas morning, wrapped and sitting on a chair in our apartment living room. It wasn't positioned beneath the tree with the other presents Santa had deposited, on his late night visit to our house. I was probably suspicious at the time, why it was out of place, and gift wrapped instead of being open like the others Santa provided. In those days I didn't get wrapped presents as such, because I was informed, Santa was too busy to wrap everything he gave out, to all the good boys and girls in the world. I did think it was a little odd, when I unwrapped it like a boy possessed, and found a plain cardboard box beneath the fancy wrap, taped shut with "train set" penned on the top flap. I suppose that it did dawn on me that I had just been given a used toy for Christmas, that year, but when I saw the Lionel train set inside, the fact it had been used and enjoyed by someone else, didn't matter one bit. I was thrilled to be the new owner of a swell iron horse, made by the famous Lionel company…..known for decades, as the king of electric trains.
That moment, I neglected most of the other toys around the tree, concentrating on getting the tracks together, so that my dad and I could run the Lionel throughout the Christmas holiday. Now I have mentioned this in previous blogs, but this scenario repeated a number of other times in my childhood, such as the arrival under the tree of the "Eldon Road Race Set," in a box that was already destroyed, before I got the first layer of wrapping disengaged. I also got a used football helmet that when you put it on, well sir, it gave the appearance of "Jumbo" ears, the side flaps were so far extended from my real ears. I know my parents didn't have a lot of money in these years, of the early 1960's, and to me, as it should be, "a gift is a gift," and the fact someone gave it to me, made it special in childhood recollection. The problem of course, was that they didn't work, or had been cast off by someone else, because they either didn't fit, or were silly looking. I shared some of these sentiments, especially the disbelief, when I'd crank up the train power system, and watch it travel three feet and then stop (on its tracks). My dad would set down his egg nog (and rum), and fiddle with it as if he knew what was wrong. My father ruined a lot of electric appliances the same way, and my mother actually refused to tell him any appliance wasn't working properly, in case he decided to intervene. Merle would take it to the local handyman when Ed was at work.
Ed would disassemble the metal tracks (which used to pinch my fingers, and hurt my hands trying to put them together), and stare at the ends as if trying to find the reason the electrical current wasn't transferring, to connect with the lump of engine, that refused to pull the three cars behind, including the coal car, passenger section, and the caboose. I had the economy "starter" Lionel set. That would have been perfectly acceptable if it had worked. This was, by the way, no fault of the Lionel Company, but more so the fact it was a second or third hand train set, my father had got off a work colleague, as some trade-off or other. So no matter how much he tweaked it, played with the transformer, and stared into the dark recesses of the "engined that couldn't," he would bluster and complain, about this and that, put it back on the track and try to fire-it-up like the official engineer working for the Lionel Company. No matter what we did, the most the train engine would comply, to the yelling and cursing, was a single trip around the oval. Finally, after one of these stop and stall adventures, he just looked at me and said, "I'll look at it tomorrow Teddy…..play with some of your other toys." He was a legendary procrastinator, like Pa Kettle….but he was my pop, and it was with the best intentions that he traded some guy for his kid's used Lionel train set. So I learned to adapt my play strategy accordingly. Yes indeed, I used to push it around the tracks instead, and incorporated it into my Dink Toy cityscapes, just as it was…….an ornament on silver rails.
That's how I learned to play with a lot of toys back then…..like my Eldon Race set that lasted through Christmas Day before it ran its final race. I found out later that Ed had picked this up at the local five and dime shop, and that it had been a return to the store, that was being sold cheap "as is." This was my first introduction to the true meaning of anything being sold in "as is" condition. I had quite a few products that fit this category, but I never complained about my parents being cheap or inconsiderate…..so I just blamed the company for not being able to manufacture toys that could stand up to the play-use of multiple kid owners. The Lionel trains set was a beautiful thing to look at, and I used to imagine it racing around the oval, passing through all the imaginary towns and villages on its route. I suppose I should have thanked my parents, in later life, for having given me toys, where at least half the enjoyment, came from the stimulation of my imagination. I don't think they would have taken this well, because they didn't like to be reminded of those days…..when understandably, they were having enough problems paying rent and putting food on the table. I just think, I would have handled it better, if they'd been honest with me in the first place, and told me that Santa re-cycled toys, and that it was an honor to own previously enjoyed toys.
I loved my parents and they tried the best they could under rough circumstances. I don't blame them for trying to cover the spread between disposable income and survival funds. I only ever blamed my parents, when, during my first year of university, they decided their son didn't need any of his childhood toys. I want to believe Merle (my mother) gave them away as a true act of charity, to those kids in our neighborhood who didn't have much of their own……and in our part of town, this was true enough. But I'm not sure what the kid who got my Lionel train set, thought when he or she went to all the work of setting it up, rail link, by link, only to have it buzz at them…..like it did all those years for me. Or the Eldon Road Race set that also hummed more than it ran. Or the Hot Wheels I had without a proper track. It was the loss of my Munro hockey game, with the teams of the first expansion, that I will never forget…..or forgive, as a part of my mother's generosity at my expense. I wasn't done with that game. It was my pride and joy. "Oh well," she said, when I confronted her, after finding my hockey table suddenly clear of its game. "You've got a girl friend now, and she won't want you playing with kids toys!" I stood there for a moment, trying to figure out a mother's logic for "all occasions," and I just nodded and walked away as if I had actually agreed with her. Bet most of us have similar stories, or at least tales of toys we loved, going missing in action……because apparently we got to old even for our own Neverland.
Thanks so much for visiting this blog today. We have just recently returned from a buying trip, and it was a pretty fair day for making good finds…….in old books, cookbooks especially, two nice original art pieces, some cookery bowls for the shop, fabric remnants for our crafter customers, and Andrew picked up a nice fedora for a blues guitarist, and some music related books he needed. Robert was busy in the recording studio today, so he couldn't travel with us. But as usual, it was nice to get back home to Gravenhurst, after a day hunting and gathering.
Please come back and visit again soon.
Take a few minutes to visit my Muskoka as Walden blogsite at http://muskokaaswaldenpond.blogspot.ca/
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