Recalling the Fun of Model Railroading
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There is an interesting story about a man who once used to dream about operating his own personal and large model railroad set-up in a cozy corner of his home basement situated in Central Pennsylvania. He played around with his own innovative ideas about the designs and also taught his son and niece about the thrills of model railroading. The niece still remembers those cherished times she spent tending the railroad models.
The niece, though is no longer in touch with her cousin, she has never looked back after that initiation in that cozy basement onto the journey of model railroading. Her uncle shared all his well-kept tips and tricks with her.
One interesting factor that her uncle incorporated in his train set-ups was that he named his model railroad stations after the real stations that existed in Central Pennsylvania at that time. The uncle with his newfound train-loving niece was also able to procure some interesting rail accessories that highlighted the names of a few Central Pennsylvania train stations.
Well all these endeavors were undertaken in the pre-internet and the pre-computer era. It reminds me of those days in the 1960s when the audio technology had started making new advances and the music culture was at its peak. One popular model train manufacturer at that time, if I’m not wrong, the Bachman model trains, introduced a set up that made possible the announcements to be broadcasted whenever a model train made a stopover at any of the model train stations.
The niece and her enthusiastic uncle incorporated that train announcement system that mentioned the train stations in central Pennsylvania, into their own private setup. When working, it called out to the fictional passengers, for instance, the name of the Paoli rail station in central Pennsylvania where the trains coming from and going to Lancaster stopped frequently.
The uncle knew that his niece had been in the Paoli train station. One night he demonstrated for his niece his new audio equipment. As the little girl listened to the voice sounding from the model station, she heard that male voice mention “Paoli.” The little girl thrilled at the realization that an out of the way place she had visited merited mention in an imaginary train station announcement.
That little niece has now grown up to be an adult but is yet to meet an individual who dedicates himself/herself to his/her passion for the railroads as her uncle did. That same uncle used to once stay within a distance of 5 miles from a train accessories store that stocked everything one could imagine.
The uncle now stays in New England. That store which used to stock breathtaking model train accessories has shifted one block north and now sells photography equipments. It was an unusual tryst with destiny when the same niece who had once visited the old train store, checked into the new photography equipment outlet.
She remembers how her uncle introduced her to the fun of railroading. She suspects that her uncle would have also had fun with a digital camera. Perhaps he would have taken such a camera down to the corner of his basement where he had his model train set. Perhaps he would have taken pictures of his family taking part in the fun of model railroading.
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