Memorial Day 2007

It's Memorial Day again. I was watching the wonderful parade here in Connecticut and a thought occured to me. Why do we have to designate our trains as prewar vs. postwar? I know it's convenient but it is kind of grim. We use one of the most dreadful experiences in life as the distinction or split between two eras of toy train production. I know the direction Lionel took was distinct after World War II but with all of the new prewar like tinplate coming out, maybe we should scrap the whole war thing altogether? I now have prewar MTH gear (pre-Iraq that is). Maybe I'll just go by the year of manufacture from now on. Toy trains (to me) have always been about the color and the excitement of travel by human beings. The idea of going places and seeing new things is what attracts me to all trains. Seems like whenever war and trains go together it is memorable but not necessarily happy.

Brings to mind a quote from Rod Serling (another hobby of mine, the Twilight Zone):

“The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs, and explosions, and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, ideas, predjudices, to be found only in the minds of men. For the record, predjudices can kill and suspicion can destroy. A thoughtless, freightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all it's own for the children yet unborn. And the pity of it is, is that these things can not be confined to the Twighlight Zone.”

And here is a little Youtube from today:



And a neat picture of something the army calls a "mule". It is one of my favorite military vehicles.














To my friends that are in Iraq; we miss you and come home safe. To my friend that was in the Battle of the Buldge in World War II - I will never forget you or your history. And to my family that died in World War II - I shall always miss them.

M