Iron Ponies (1949)

[Music] it's the night before Christmas the families at the fireside and for the children the hour is one minute before bedtime [Music] of all nights of all bedtimes this is the most difficult for tomorrow is Christmas and sleep is not for youngsters who wait for surprises who conjure up fantasies of a giant tree glittering with lights and tinsel planted in an acre of bright new toys and so later when the children are in bed sleeping fitfully to be sure the scene is set the big surprise unfolded this year Johnny will get his electric train his iron Pony and mom and dad can't help but think of other Christmases other surprises are the childhoods it seems only yesterday to dad that he was bounding downstairs on a cold Christmas morning to find a toy train of his own nothing as slick as this of course but indelible in boyhood memory [Music] and now the staccato clicks on the rails and the gentle purr of the locomotive remind him of those fairly crude but wonderful model Kinnear Casey Jones jr. himself the old trains dad remembers have come a long way the stem-winder is the battery powered models and the first plugins with transformers that got so hot you could scramble an egg on him argon the toy trains of today have moved along with their bigger real-life brothers on the main line of American railroad Progress real trains have a romance all their all with names that are legendary and what youngster hasn't dreamed of highballing down the right-of-way at 90 miles an hour signal going full blast [Music] most folks never get to run a locomotive but with models they can run a whole railroad millions of Americans like William Gargan and Grover Whalen are toy trained fans here they see a remarkable innovation a real railroad type coupler which is operated by remote control it from its coupling and uncoupling of cars switching and operation of all gadgets while the trains of emotion the boss of this railroad takes inventory right from his remote control panel board here are some of the things he operates a conveyer type lumber loader [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] a new car with delivery right to the platform [Music] a cattle car livestock has to be exercised on route and this takes them out of the car into the corral and back into the car again a freight station with very busy and efficient baggage men [Music] a crack steam liner complete with vistadome observation car [Music] an automatic closing watchman who keeps motorists clear of the tracks [Music] then - there's a coal loader another operation with complete remote controls and a searchlight car the big eye for wrecking and repair crews if you should strike oil on your right of way you're covered by this derrick and pump [Music] and when you get to those big rivers just wait for the drawbridge working on this railroad is strictly a push button job [Music] designing this equipment requires considerable ingenuity and planning by model trained executives and engineers they maintain close contact with the railroads are quick to adapt new developments to the toy train field railroads encourage toy companies to adapt their design readily furnish blueprints and photos designers carefully study pictures of real trains and adapt them with fidelity to have plane specifications [Music] locomotives are particularly studied and whether it be a modern diesel or a rugged steam job the model will follow the design of the real thing [Music] building locomotives and flowers for full-size trains is a mighty productive Enterprise involving a highly skilled workforce massive machinery huge parts and great plants [Music] toy train building is a different story the plant is large so is the production but everything else is in miniature this Factory turns out eighty thousand pieces of track a day here are some more production figures twenty-five thousand cars roll off its assembly lines every 24 hours and every hour 250 diesel locomotives come off the line under their own power every conceivable gadget and accessory is produced in great quantity and in small size [Music] finished trains are subjected to wear tests run continuously until they break down check durability this railroad carries no passengers or Freight but keeps a lot of grown men busy there are another brand of hobbyist perhaps the most rabbit of all the train builders of the model club most of them were bitten by the railroad bug at an early age and never got over it the men who in daily life may be doctors lawyers businessmen or teachers play in a kids idea of fairyland everything trains track bridges tunnels landscape scenery and buildings is handmade there are engineers roundhouse men painters dispatchers and conductors [Music] schedules are scrupulously maintained and efficient operation keeps the line a model in every sense of the word [Music] and so on Christmas morning when Johnny and his sister come bouncing into the living room to behold the eighth wonder of the world it it'd be nice if they knew the story behind electric trains but of course it's Christmas and Johnny's too excited to be bothered with stories today it's an old old story Johnny and that goes for the part where pop starts telling you how to run ER don't let him you'll never get him away from her if you do well you've got your train young fella you can drive her anywhere you want to California south setauket or Timbuktu so take her away Johnny you're KC Jones the third [Music]