The first train I can remember vaguely was the train that my friend in Buckeye Village and I rode out bikes out to see as it crossed the road west of the housing area in Columbus. I can only remember that it was a steam engine and nothing more.
The next train thing I remember was being in the railroad station in St. Louis, probably going from Columbus to Emporia, Kansas to grandmother Edwards.
St. Louis Union Station opened on September 1, 1894, and was owned by the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis. Designed by Theodore Link, it included three main areas: the Headhouse, the Midway and the 11.5-acre (47,000 m2) Train Shed. The headhouse
originally housed a hotel, a restaurant, passenger waiting rooms and railroad ticketing offices. It featured a gold-leafed Grand Hall, Romanesque arches, a 65-foot (20 m) barrel-vaulted ceiling and stained-glass windows. The clock tower is 280 feet (85 m) high. Union Station's headhouse and midway are constructed of Indiana limestone and initially included 32 tracks under its vast trainshed terminating in the stub-end terminal. At its height, the station combined the St. Louis passenger services of 22 railroads. At its opening, it was the world's largest and busiest railroad station and its trainshed was the largest roof span in the world. As railroad passenger services declined in the 1950s and 1960s, the massive station became obsolete and too expensive to maintain for its original purpose.In August 1985, after a $150 million renovation, Union Station was reopened with a 539-room hotel, shopping mall, restaurants and food court. The hotel is housed in the headhouse and part of the train shed, which also houses a lake and shopping, entertainment and dining establishments. Omni was the original hotel operator, followed by Hyatt Regency Hotel chain and now Marriott Hotels as of December 2008.
In Norman Mark and I received our first American Flyer train set with transformer. As I remember we had a plywood 4x8 across our two dressers for the layout to be on.
A little American Flyer history: In 1938, W.O. Coleman sold American (Chicago) Flyer to Alfred Carlton Gilbert, a former Olympic pole vaulter who first made a name for himself in the toy industry earlier in the century when he created and manufactured Mysto Magic sets for youthful magicians. A few years later, his A. C. Gilbert Company also became the makers of Erector Set construction toys. The two toy magnates were just finishing shooting on Gilbert's game reserve in New Haven when Gilbert casually mentioned he was thinking about manufacturing toy trains. Instead, Coleman said he'd give his struggling American Flyer Co. to Gilbert in return for a share of the profits. Gilbert quickly agreed. Although popular, American Flyer was always the second-ranked brand to Lionel in terms of market share at the high end of the market. With Marx and a handful of other brands relegated to the low end of the market, Lionel and American Flyer shared premium status. A rivalry emerged between both companies' fans that continues today. Like Lionel, Gilbert was caught off guard by the popularity of HO scale trains that offered better realism at a lower price than its American Flyer S gauge products.
After we moved to Cruce street, a gentleman whose house was on the corner of Broad Lane and Boyd invited me to see his HO trains and I became an HO fan. My second job in Norman was working in the hobby store near the tracks on Main street. Of course I made very little money because I always had more train stuff on lay-a-way. I read Model Railroader from cover to cover and created dream layouts in my head and on paper.
Addendum: Found the gentleman's name in a letter my Mom wrote her mom April 1960:
"Mike went down to Mr. Reid's the engineering professor who lives by Porter's and is a great model railroader, last night -- went for a minute and stayed 2 hours. Came home with an armload of stuff that Mr. Reid gave him. He was still building kits and whistling his heart out when Gail and I went to sleep."
In the 50s John Allen began the creation of the Gorre & Daphetid Railroad which became what is still probably the most famous of all HO layouts ever created. Almost monthly there were new article about his phenomenal scenery with mountains and trestles and his hand made cars and structures. There is still today a very active group of John Allen fans who continue to reminisce over his greatness.
My next and one of the most memorable train events was going to Durango one week-end while my Dad was teaching summer session at the University of Colorado. The narrow guage passenger winds slowly up and down the Animas River canyon from Durango to Silverton whistling and blowing smoke and cinders through the valley air all the way. It is one of the most magnificent train rides and I will return someday with my grandsons to do it again.
I remember riding the Sante Fe from Lawrence home to New Mexico my freshman year at K.U.
and I also remember riding the Sante Fe home from Northwestern Medical School to New Mexico for Christmas break. Later in medical school after getting married I began doing some kit construction of HO structures without having any layout to put them on.
After Michael A. got to the appropriate age, I built an HO layout that folded up onto the wall of his room and had storage for the cars and engines on shelves on the enclosed wall. And as we speak, I have purchased a beginners HO set which is hidden in the closet for the appropriate Christmas for the grandsons.
One of my favorite C & W artists is Merle Haggard and he recorded an album called "My Love Affair with Trains". Hence the title for this segment.
~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
For anyone who has followed Merle Haggard's career over the decades, train and hobo songs seem to be recurrent in his work, no matter which decade -- or century -- he recorded in. My Love Affair With Trains is one of the last two records Haggard cut for Capitol in 1975. It is also is one of Haggard's trademark concept albums, upon which he pays tribute to and laments the railroads' decline as a centerpiece of American life. Haggard has made a life in music of charting the previous and its decline in the present. In between each track, Hag introduces the next, as these songs cover different historical eras. There's the stunning title track written by Dolly Parton; Stephen H. Lemberg's corny but nonetheless compelling "Here Comes the Freedom Train"; Mark Yeary's "I Won't Give up My Train," which he re-recorded later for MCA; Dave Kirby's "So Long Train Whistle" and "Where Have All the Hobos Gone"; as well as "The Hobo." It isn't only in the songs that Haggard chronicles the romance and decline of the American railroad; the grain of his voice is a lament, full of mourning and a genuine bittersweet grief -- Haggard grew up on the rail lines as his father worked them. Interestingly enough, the tune of Haggard's to appear here is "No More Trains to Ride"; he introduces it with a short reflection on how it had become damn near impossible to hop a freight to ride coast to coast. The oddest inclusion here is the Jerry Jeff Walker/Jimmy Buffett collaboration "Railroad Lady." Hag justifies its inclusion by saying it was stories like this that helped further the legend of the great Black Iron Horse. As Haggard's records go, My Love Affair With Trains may seem a bit quaint in retrospect, but its soul and emotion don't date. There is great truth in his performances of these songs, and like virtually everything he records, he tells the truth through these songs as he sees it.
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