Letter to the editor: East valley reader shares a Christmas memory

Growing up in a small upstate New York village, the annual trip to the "big" city some 10 miles away was always a special treat each December. They had "department stores" featuring huge toy departments, Santa Claus and elaborate window displays. Most important to me was the one with a real electric train running through a winter wonderland of cotton. What kid, old or young, did not want one of those? My father had grown up on a small Southern Ohio farm, and I am sure that he never got much for Christmas except for something practical like a new pair of gloves or a pair of socks.

When he was finally successful as a small town doctor, I feel certain he vowed that his kids would fare better. I got my first Lionel train at age 4. I was almost too young to appreciate what I had. A second train followed three years later. Electric trains have fascinated me ever since.

As a career military member, traveling all over the world with a wife, four kids and a dog, there was never a lot of extra money for presents. We were stationed at NATO and Christmas shopping in a toy store in Brussels, Belgium, when I discovered the brand new line of LGB "Big" trains. It was 1968, but there was no way that we could afford them, and that idea was put on hold for some later time.

It was not until after my military retirement, a bit of luck as a freelance photographer in Las Vegas, and getting the kids through college that I once again discovered the "Big" trains I had first fallen in love with in Belgium. As it turns out, I am not the only one with the same addiction. I joined a group of fellow Las Vegas train enthusiasts, and together, we formed what is today the Las Vegas Garden Railway Society. Many members have outdoor train layouts in their backyards.

You can't go to a department store in Las Vegas to see electric trains, but you can visit a 60-foot-by-40-foot LVGRS layout decked out with Christmas decorations and running trains. One of our club members is Jim Marsh who happens to have a car showroom big enough to hold our big portable layout. He moves out the cars, and the club sets up the trains. It's free, of course, and only up for about two weeks in late December, but if you like electric trains, it is the only show in town.

— Charles E. McManis, Las Vegas