One of the coolest Christmas presents I ever remember receiving was my first train set. I don't remember the exact year, but I would guess it was some time in the mid 70's. It had a green engine, about 3 box cars, a flat bed with 3 removable tractors, an oil tanker, a caboose, and enough track to make an oval, and of course an electic power pack to make the thing run. I remember going out to a lumber yard somewhere to buy a large piece of plywood to nail the track to and setting it up on a table in my room (see photo below).
I remember a Christmas or two later, I received a second train set. This one was the ultra cool "US Army" edition which was all camo green and came with a flatbed with a removable tank on it, a car with a large cannon, a box car with doors that flipped down to revel two swiveling guns, etc. In 1980 we moved into a townhouse which had a basement, and I decided to set up my train in a large way. By this time I have collected all sorts of engines, cars, lots of track, buildings etc. My friend Lew and I started working on building the layout, including sculpted mountains and a complete town (see the accompanying colour photos of the layout as it was being dismantled). When we moved 3 years ago, I had to tear down my train diorama, as there was no way to move it. I took a few photos of the set up before I began dismantling it. I thought a few of the photos looked kinda cool in black and white.
The entire train set now sits in boxes in the basement of our new house, waiting the day my son Kaden asks about it and we can dig it out once again.
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