Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Copy Link
“Railway terminals are our gates to the glorious and the unknown. Through them we pass into adventure and sunshine, To them, alas, we return!”
~ E. M. Forster (1879-1970) English Author
Before moving to Georgia several years ago, I had a magnificent Lionel model train platform at my old home in Alabama. It was over 60 feet long, four foot deep, divided into four time periods spanning from the 1880’s to the 2000’s. Each period occurred in four different sections of the country, from the Wild West to coastal New England, and at the peak of one of the four seasons of the year (a snowcapped 1940’s Midwest city, for example).
Buggies, then Model T’s, then a Chevy Biscayne, or modern SUV would travel the mud, cinder, cement, and asphalt roads from one bygone era to the next. Biplane, zeppelins, propeller fighters, and Tomcats hovered above the vintage Plasticville forts, ranch homes, split levels, condos and mansions. I landscaped the layout myself; spray-gluing grass, foliage, gravel, telephone poles, billboards and graffiti-ed park benches onto plaster hills, prairies, and gullies. Hand-painted cavalrymen, cops, conductors, and commuters dotted the landscape in frozen animation. Crossing guards, delivery boys, kids skating on a tiny mirror. It was every big/little boy’s dream come true!
Artistry, escapism, bizarre projects have whiled away many hours with me, I even had a tiny Rueter Realty and Century 21 yard sign in front of the miniature houses (the “way out West” scene had a tepee but it was a FSBO). I (tearfully) sold it lock-stock-and-barrel when we moved away. You can’t stay in Plasticville forever. Progress and new life-chapters await….
I remember Plasticville USA every holiday season. There are more elaborate model train sets rolling in downtown department store windows, but not as symbolic or biographic as mine. There’s one at the Ritz Carlton resort in Lake Okonee that goes round and round in a boring circle. Still I linger…watching a black coal car, red caboose, or yellow antique trolley encircle those idyllic Christmas scenes with chilled, cheeky carolers, stopping occasionally for a pickup or drop off at the local depot. Clang-clang! Whoo-Whoo-ooo?
Christmastime is magical whether your bent is secular or sacred. It’s a time of “make believe” for everyone. Some suggest we celebrate Christmas all year round, since it’s the only time we give more than we get, and think less selfishly about other people. Soup kitchens overflow with free help during this time of year, and the Salvation Army has its biggest month. People (almost) dress up again. Some in Atlanta let me into their car lane! To suddenly transform from self-indulgence to overt good-deed-doing is quite a miracle if you ask me, especially if you’re a REALTOR seriously considering heading to that same soup kitchen as a patron. Whatever your personal motivation or position on life’s platform, we could all use more of this this do-good medicine than the single dosage that arrives in plentiful quantities come the day after Halloween. Unfortunately, real life seldom provides that overarching viewpoint I got from my landscaped time machine – a survey of life’s many alterations and pathways through the many seasons and places we’ve encountered, enjoyed, or endured. None of us live in Plasticville USA. The people around us move about, scurrying, chauffeuring, car pooling, arriving at stations here and there, or worse, running in perpetual figure-eights.
Take your own 30,000 foot view over the next few weeks. Is your “train” heading in the right direction? Or simply spinning in humdrum circles? I hope not. Get on board the CBC Excursion with me! WHOO!
~ By Marty Rueter
