My Best Christmas Present: A Toy Train

The Big Rail Work Train was my best Christmas present, ever!

I saw this commercial on TV and knew I wanted this train. When Mother asked what I wanted for Christmas, I told her the Big Rail Work Train by Marx.

We went shopping together and found it a Walter Brothers’ Hardware store in Menominee, Michigan.

Sometime after Christmas, I found out Mother told someone it was my reward for feeding and taking care of her chickens. It was my job. She did not care for them herself. I didn’t receive any allowance for doing that and other chores.

It was rare, almost unheard of, that Mother was nice to me, and I suspect that she told people the train was my reward for tending to the chickens, only to make her look like a good mother. She may have had an ulterior motive.

I loved that train and looked at expanding it and having more fun.

Since the toy maker Marx did not produce many trains, I switched to Lionel trains for additions to my collection.

Although Marx and Lionel trains run on the same O gauge track, their car couplers are not the same, and the trains are not compatible.

I ran both Marx and Lionel trains on my layout at the same time, separately, even though the cars wouldn’t couple together.

I enjoyed many years of happiness with that train set. That all changed forever, some years later, but that is another story for another time.

For now, I’ll remember those happy days before the train apocalypse incident and cherish those fond memories!

This guy is my age and received his Marx train the same year I did. He pulled it out of the attic and set it up.

Lionel Trains | Lionel Model Trains

Train World Lionel Trains | Lionel Model Trains

Lionel Trains – Sets, Rolling Stock, Gifts and More – Trains.com Store

Milwaukee Lionel Railroad Club

The Marx Train Vault – Preserving the Charm of Classic Marx Toy Trains

Vintage Marx Model Railroad Trains | Collectors Weekly

Marx trains history, 1934-1974 – The Silicon Underground