We boys (four of us at the time) rebelled against the three railed sets that came out after that (or at least after we had our American Flyer for a few years.)
We lost interest as girls came along and we couldn't do anything else to a 4X8 sheet of plywood.
We had a tunnel, trestle, loading dock, village, trackless trolley IN the village, little people and landscaping everywhere (mirrors are ponds to the knowledgeable) and a ton of et-cetera's.
Logs got loaded with a switch onto a flat car and to get around the track a couple of times and be able to switch all switches and perform all tasks was a minor miracle.
SOMEthing was always going wrong
It was how I learned a great engineering rule .... every element is a potential problem and every addition is a potential leak
Paper route money went to the train set and there has NEVER been a locomotive so handsome as the "Super Chief" !
Beautiful video. I long for the days of dignity among all people, exciting travel and adventure.
Circa 1926 my (then ten-year-old) father was traveling from Washington, DC to Hopkinsville, KY with his ailing father. They were riding in a coach and a well-to-do married couple passed by and asked if they could take the boy on up to the dining car with them. It was a marvelous dinning car and was one of my father’s best memories.
His father was to die within months and the young boy went on to be a renowned neurosurgeon and had many a meal in fancy restaurants but nothing ever impressed him more than that dining car.
Bookmarked