All Aboard for Christmas

I got this book for my dad for Christmas, he is a train lover and I thought this would be a cute Christmas gift. The book contains a lot of interesting graphics and stories that relate to that era. With the stories and pictures my dad got re-live some of his past Christmas experiences and memories and it made me think about how the celebration of Christmas has changed a little since then.

This book offers a chance to journey back to the golden age of American rail travel (and model electric trains) against the backdrop of Christmas remembered and re-imagined. Beautifully illustrated and designed, gracefully written, and charming in every respect. A delightful time machine for anyone wanting to go back to Christmas Past, bring it forward into the present, or simply make that festive season last just a little longer.

I am nowhere near being a "train buff" besides admiring the odd model train layout and having ridden commuter trains, but this book is absolutely fabulous. The stories about working on the railroad at Christmas, or riding the train at Christmas, and other train related holiday memories are well-written and make you want to go back to those days. The paintings of trains in the snow are superb and it's great to read those wonderful old advertisements.

What a charming, evocative look at the way Christmases used to be -- people bustling home for the holidays, filled with brightly-colored packages and good cheer, alighting from Pullman cars at snowbound New England railroad stations. Today, we order our products online, grouse about the holiday traffic on choked Interstate highways, and suffer the indignities of overcrowded airports (anyone reading this try to get home for Christmas 2005 via ComAir or US Airways?). I think one of the reasons why we remember the Christmases past of the 1940's and 1950's so fondly is that people remained grounded to the concept of "going home" ... and the chief way they returned home was by being "grounded" to the rails, where an appreciation can be gained for the American landscape, cultural and linguistic differences, and regional distinctiveness. Today, our "big box" stores at a shopping mall in Maine appear little different than those in New Mexico. Yet there was a era when Christmas was simpler, purer, and -- I believe -- more genuine. This simple volume will take you there. I particularly enjoyed the childhood recollections of overnight journeys aboard Pullmans through the snowbound Vermont countryside and the poignant stories of Servicemen who spent their holidays on troop trains. This book seems destined to become a minor holiday classic -- for all of us who still believe in the essential double magic of Christmas and a train trip.

Author Jennison has accumulated many pictures and short tales about Christmas and trains, both toy and real trains. Artistic depictions of railroads in winter and during the holiday season are intermixed with many advertisements that lured customers to the trains at Christmas throughout the 20th Century. Most amazing of all, however, is the text, which is filled with stories about individual's love affairs with trains. I never dreamed that the Lionel train that came out every holiday at my home had such a rich history. If you were enchanted by the Polar Express, you will probably be taken by the many less fantastic stories of Christmas trains that Jennison has accumulated, each of which produced images for the participants as fantastic as any in the Van Allsburg book or the current movie...and the art reproduced in the volume will stimulate many to imagine their own train movies in their mind. A great book for getting in the Christmas mood.