Railway "Action" Figures

 Every Christmas at home, since I am a child, we have the LGB model train at the foot of the Christmas tree. We have been having it for more than thirty years. We also have from early on LGB train figures. This is the very first set we've had: the 5045 one. It consists of a mechanic, a hot dog/burher salesman, a waiter and a signalman (I thinik?). When Iw as a child, the waiter was my favourite figure, for some reason. These people lived many adventures on the railway, fighting villains and spies, going from place to place, they really are adventurers as much as railway or train staff. We still play with them from time to time. Sadly, we lost the waiter and we cannot find him anymore. If I can find an affordable one second hand, I might buy a new waiter one day.

Christmas Daze

Quick blog post to wish you all a merry Christmas! I am celebrating at home with my family, feeling very much like in a daze: I am spending the 25th as I did as a child and a teenager, playing with the model train, reading by the Christmas tree. The whole family is here, this is three generations now that contributed to this Christmas and the village at its base. Grandparents, parents, our children. My feeling is a cocktail of pride and nostalgia.

Le chemin de fer

Mon père a monté les rails du train LGB au sous-sol il y a quelques jours. Malheureusement, il ne m'a pas envoyé des photos des rails avec le train, enfin pas encore. Qu'importe: c'est un travail impressionnant. et encore, ce n'est rien: quand nous étions enfants, les rails passaient partout dans le sous-sol: le couloir, les chambres, partout. J'aimerais bien pouvoir y rejouer un jour.

Christmas Night Train

 First: Merry Christmas everyone. I am sharing today a picture taken by my brother PJ of the family's Christmas at night, with the train running at night. It's just so magical. I promised Wolfie we will be there next year.

Model Trains And Christmas (a brief history)

This YouTube video is about a year old, but I only found it yesterday. It is about the history of model trains and Christmas. It's a big part of my own family history and our LGB train (sadly LGB isn't mentioned in this video) is by far the greatest Christmas present my brothers and I ever received. We are now three generations of boys in it. I say boys, because when it comes to trains, we never really grew up. (And the outnumbered women in the family never really understood our fascination for it). Be that as it may, I found this video fascinating. Oh, and Lionel is often mentioned. That was my father's favourite brand when he was a kid.

The family's Christmas Tree

 I shared it in a post in French yesterday, but here it is today, night time version. My parents' Christmas tree. With the train and the Christmas village at its foot. The greatest Christmas tree. Wolfie and I really want to go there next year.

L'arbre de Noël, 2024

Mes frères et mes neveux sont chez nos parents (et leurs grand-parents) depuis hier. Le sapin familial est donc monté et je partage une photo ici. Wolfie et moi nous aimerions y être.

Halloween Passenger Car

 I might come off as obsessive, but I simply could not wait until October for this one: I saw on the Twitter account of : LGB hasa new wagon, a Halloween passenger car. I want it. I really, really, badly want it. It might be even better than the other Halloween trains they have made before. It is just so perfectly spooky, with its scarecrows and the witch in the full moon and the evil ghostly tree. Oh if storage space and money were no objections...

Le sapin 2023

De l'autre côté de l'Atlantique, ma famille a monté et décoré le sapin de Noël. Avec tout, y compris le village de Noël au pied de l'arbre et le train électrique. Mon père m'a dit qu'il était plus petit que d'habitude: il n'ont pas pu mettre toutes les décorations. Mais il est beau quand même. Petit loup et moi, on veut y aller l'année prochaine, sans faute.

LGB Locomotive

Sometimes life gives you nice surprises. Last week, we went with Wolfie to an activity centre. It was in one of the nearby(ish) big towns. The centre was a bit small, but Wolfie had lots of fun there. And daddy found out something he liked very much too: in the shop area at the entrance, there was a LGB train running near the ceiling. A single locomotive, but still. It gave the place an extra charm. I explained to the lady who owned the place our family history with LGB trains, a history that now has three generations. We had a conversation about model trains, she did not know LGB was such a high quality brand, only that they were quite expensive (that's why she has only one). I also learned where to buy their products round here now. Well, not next door, but not too far. So this locomotive alone was worth the visit.

The Christmas Train

 First and foremost: merry Christmas everyone! Been quite busy today so I haven't had time to blog until now. Although we had a fairly quiet day, as both my wife and I are sick. But Wolfie enjoyed himself a lot and made our Christmas joyful. But I don't want to be all gloom and doom, so I'm sharing a picture of the LGB train my parents have at the foot of their Christms tree, which for me is the Christmas family tradition. Wolfie saw it yesterday via Facetime. Even via video, it is still an experience. He remembers it vividly from his Christmases abroad. My wife summed it up perfectly: "It's three generations on the same train." (One of her great unknown lines by the way). So yes, this is truly for all my family, the Christmas train.

L'arbre de Noël de la famille

Mon père m'a envoyé hier des photos de l'arbre de Noël monté et décoré par lui et mon frère PJ. Avec à sa base le train LGB qui est devenu sa marque de commerce, ainsi que le village de Noël qui vaut bien celui de bien des magasins. Nous l'avons développé au fil des ans. Dans un monde idéal, nous aurions été là aussi et petit loup ainsi que son petit cousin auraient contribué au travail de décoration. Trois générations sur le même sapin, ça a quelque chose de très touchant.

"Our" Christmas Tree

My brother PJ shared this picture of my parents' Christmas tree. It's unmistakable, with the icicles, the many, many decorations we gathered from everywhere, and, more importantly with its LGB train at its foot, and the Christmas village, which my dad built and developed over the years. Wolfie loves it. Two days ago, we did facetime with them and Wolfie could see it running around and it felt like we were there. He also interacted with his little cousin properly for the first time. I cannot wait to be there again, one family, so Wolfie and his cousin can be partners in crime and enjoy playing together around the Christmas tree. I still call it "our" Christmas tree, even if we are not here this year.

Notre train au diesel

On ne m'en voudra pas si je parle encore de nos trains LGB. Enfin je dis "nos" trains,mais les trains électriques de la famille, c'est notre père qui les a et s'en occupe. Donc, celui que vous voyez ici est (en fait il représente) un train au diesel et c'est notre toute première locomotive. Je vais toujours préférer les locomotives à vapeur, mais celle-ci a une place spéciale dans mon coeur, parce qu'on a joué tellement souvent avec lorsque mes frères et moi étions enfants. Ah oui, et petite note pour la fin de ce billet: le pont quant à lui est relativement nouveau.

The return of the family's trains

My father promised it to me and it finally happened: like last year, he finally set up the family's LGB trains (one diesel, one with a steam engine) and the railway network in the basement. He was also very happy to show it to his grandson and Wolfie and I had lots of fun watchingthe network running via Facetime. I hope my dad keeps them there for a long time, because it is more fun watching these trains than watching a movie, I kid you not. And it is even more enjoyable with an enthusiastic little boy, the third generation of my family to love model trains.

"Notre" LGB

Il y a quelques jours sur Facetime, mon père m'a dit (promis) qu'il allait monter les rails de notre LGB dans tout le sous-sol, comme il l'a fait l'année dernère. La photo ici dte d'ailleurs de l'année dernière. Je dis "notre" LGB, mais ce n'est pas exact parce que: 1)il y en a deux, et 2)c'est celui de mon père, en tout cas il en a la garde. Mais c'est le train "familial", alors je suis impatient de voir des photos et de le voir fonctionner en vrai sur vidéo. Et le montrer à petit loup, bien entendu. Ce n'est pas comme être là, mais quand même, ça fait du bien de le voir.

Joyeux Noël!

L'arbre de Noël chez mes parents cette année, où bien entendu nous ne sommes pas. Qu'à cela ne tienne, je le partae parce que pour moi c'est le sapin idéal. Je souhaite à tous mes lecteurs un joyeux Noël malgré la pandémie.

L'arbre de Noël décoré

  

Mes parents ont monté le sapin et l'ont décoré... Avec le train électrique et le village.

The family train on social media

'Tis the season to be... playing with model trains. And to be proud of a family tradition. I posted this picture of our family train at the base of our Christmas tree on this blog before. I also posted it a number of times on various social media, including on the Facebook page of LGB. Well, last year, the Facebook page actually used it in one of its posts! It was an honour. I think they did this because this picture and our train as well as our tree (or rather my parent's tree) perfectly embodies the spirit of the Season and of model train lovers during the Christmastime. In any case, I am sharing it again today.

The railway network in the basement

No, I am not talking about my own basement, because we do not have one in this house. My father, who has plenty of time to spare with his retirement and the current situation, has decided to set up the family's LGB trains and railways in the basement. He had not done so in decades, I believe the last time was in 1994. Maybe. And he made the two train sets work at the same time, so the diesel engine and the steam train. That was a first. It was a long time since we have had all the wagons on display and in use. And it makes for a very exciting time showing it to Wolfie on Facetime. We never get bored of out and it makes me both happy and proud to know thatnow the LGB train entertains three generations of our family.