The ride up to Lancaster this past Friday was less than great. It started with the GPS falling off the windshield, refusing to re-stick, and TS Andrea following us with drenching downpours. As we got closer to our destination Beatrice had the great idea to kill some time, have an early dinner, check in and stay in our hotel. Sounded fine to me..... and i just happened to know a place to kill some time..... The National Toy Train Museum in Strasburg Pa.
This museum is fairly new but the collection covers almost every manufacturer and just about every era and gauge of model trains.
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| HO Model RR Display |
Like most kids back in the 50's i always looked forward to December and the unveiling of the latest, greatest window display of Lionel Trains. For weeks before the display was ready we, my father and i, would thumb through the Lionel Catalog. I would pick out all the stuff i thought we should get for our layout and my father would just nod his head. It was quite a while before i realized that that nod didn't mean we would get it. Finally the day of the unveiling of the annual Lionel Display would get here. We would head down to Star Auto in Irvington (3 blocks away from the Lionel Factory on 21st St), and i would spend the next hour or so memorizing everything in the display.
the hardest part was waiting for Christmas morning to see what our new Lionel additions would be. One year was a gang car, one year a trolley, the big year was the New Haven "Little Joe" locomotive to pull our passenger train.
SOOOOO if you are in the Strasburg Pa. area, home to the Strasburg RR, Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, Choo Choo Barn, and the Caboose Motel, stop by for a visit to The National Toy Train Museum, and a nostalgic trip back to childhood..... i know i did.
Grenville
8 comments:
Our Grandson would love that!!
We very much enjoyed visiting all the train-related museums in Strasburg. Well worth spending a bit of time there!
Visited the big train museum a few years ago but this one wasn't there yet. My train was an American Flyer and it is still somewhere in my garage. There was a liquid I could pour into its smoke stack so it would puff smoke and the passenger car windows lit up. We had a 78 RPM record with train sounds to play while we were playing with the train. I may still have that, too.
Hi Grenville...My daughter had a train set when she was a kid and it got pretty big and ended up in the basement..and many years later it has been packed away in boxes blowing its whistle waiting for someone to put it back on the tracks again...maybe I should have a new hobby !! : )
Glad you enjoyed you day!!
I want to ride on a train personally!!
Grace
Oh, what fun!
I love trains. I grew up by a railroad track and have just had a fascination with them ever since. If I get up that way I definitely will stop in to the museum. Looks like fun.
I had a Lionel train set when I was a kid soooo many moons ago. My dad gave it to my cousin and I never had much to do with my cousin since (bratty). It was very old and heavy, I loved it.
I am so glad to have found your blog from reading Latanes "living life on Main street"
Happy Monday
Betsy
I had an 027 (I think that was it) and felt hard done by for not having an HO.
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