Clickety-Clack Christmas Trains

Funding for this program was provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting through ECN and by annual financial support from viewers like you. From the moment the nation's first passenger train pulled away from Baltimore's mount Clare station in 1830. The public has been fascinated by the railroad. Today. This love affair with trains is especially apparent during the holiday season when Christmas theme trains of every scale abound in the snowy landscape. Trains and the history of Dragons is a passion that touches all ages. The railroad to me was like a giant Santa's sleigh carrying everything that meant Christmas to me. I'm a creaky old man now but I still remember that beautiful Hiawatha. And I still cry a little bit because I don't know whatever happened to. All my life.

I can just remember going out. Being taken to look for trains watching trains waiting for a train. You hear the one where they call those two moments of expectation waiting and waiting. Then they arrive. What we're hearing about is a love affair. A. Love Affair. That people have with something that is not dead and gone but something that will always be with us. And even to this day. When you speak of the Lonesome Whistle in the night people are going to understand what it means even if they've never heard him mention. You. Every weekday. Just a short distance from the historic Mount clear station in downtown

Baltimore. More than 3000 commuters use the Camden line to get to and from work. Few have any idea how significant this route is and when you. Don't. Want. But today is special. Rail fans have risen early on this Saturday morning to take a journey quite literally back in time. Retracing one of the first railroad lines ever built in the United States. First time on a train for the first time. This is your first train. Why. Don't. You have fun today. Author historian Herb Harwood is along for the ride. In February 1827 the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was going to build Cobley the riskiest and most daring and largest scale project of its time. They didn't realize that.

They were embarking on our early 19th century version of what might be a Mars landing or a moon shot. Well I certainly want to thank you folks for riding with us today. OK right. Since there was no railroad knowledge in this country and very little in the world they had no idea what was going on told the trains. They had no idea what kind of bridges to design. They had no idea how sharp to make the curves how steep to make the grades. They had no idea how to design rolling stock. They had no idea how much this project really was going to cost and they really didn't know where the money was going to come from the B.A. railroad really was the brainchild of a number of Baltimore businessmen investors and politicians in order to try and compete with two canal systems which basically threatened to take away Baltimore's commerce have a big Erie Canal. And the plan the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal just to south.

Baltimore had to do something here was Baltimore the youngest and most aggressive and fastest growing city on the East Coast. But if what is going to stay in competition with any of the other east coast points Baltimore really had no other choice but to build a railroad. United States was while virgin territory for the most part these guys in Baltimore were going to build the Ohio River which was over 300 miles. They had to go. Winding up narrow river valleys. They had to go over the Allegheny Mountains which were 2000 feet by nowhere road had ever been built through that kind of territory before first 13 miles to be and probably were the hardest that they faced for many years they had to cut through these hills and they had to bridge the street. First problem is what kind of bridges do we build. They built very expensive stone viaducts. In fact the oldest railroad bridge in the United States the Carrollton viaduct which was built in 1829 a mile from Baltimore is being a museum.

And we're getting pretty close to the deep cut now which was the first big obstacle in the railroad. Here's where the cut began this year. It took them 18 months digging through this cut here sometimes working 24 hours a day. It was all very hard clay all hand labor. Now what about the train why do you like looking out the window. When I was growing up I was always looking out of the window fascinated me that. All the different kinds of houses that went by the different kinds of cars the hills everything is changing all the time. I kept me interested in a lot of other things like architecture and history because you just look out of the windows of the train. And you see history going in front of you. Now are coming up on radio and that's Kaline to Washington goes down that way.

But in 1835 going over the top is by a doctor that Thomas viaducts another stone Marvel built by the B.A. railroad designed by engineer Benjamin Latrobe. It was impressive by any standard the 600 and 12 foot long curved bridge rises 60 feet above the Patapsco River. It's eight arches are constructed of granite pulled from the local quarries when it was completed on July 4th 1835. It was the largest structure of its kind ever attempted in the United States and it still stands today with more than 50 trains passing over it daily. They decided that you know they wouldn't build wooden bridges they'd build these stone big heavy stone the permanent bridges that are lasting yet to do this day and they're lasting to this day. The only problem is it cost a fortune to build him and it almost bankrupting the company when Palfium was built basically by an Irish and German labourers Irish immigrants.

They had a lot of problems with them because the Irish were all fighting with each other as much as they were building the railroad. We're getting very close now to a good city which is the first 13 miles of the railroad 1830. They began the country's first scheduled passenger service out to catch the freight station. This is the original station. This is the oldest railroad station in America the oldest railroad in the country of course has to be at O'Hare. And this was the first stop on a road west from Baltimore to Ohio. Building was constructed in 1830 and remained in continuous use as an operating railroad station both for passenger and freight from 1830 when it was finished until Hurricane Ike in 1972. It started off being really a freight depot. Very short time later on when they started getting steam locomotives in the mid 1830s. It also became an engine Hamps.

They stuck their little grasshopper type steam locomotive in there to store it overnight. It wasn't until 1856 that they rebuilt the station for passenger. So it really has been in every kind of railroad service there is from the beginning until it was closed and made in a museum. The space was small but the story itself is phenomenal. Railroads changed America. They changed American. And it helped define us to be what we are where we would come and go because it touches our very business. One of the museum's highlights is an intricate diorama of the Beano railroads first 13 miles from the Mount clear station in Baltimore to Ellicott City. Complete with the orange grove mill. A. Quarry. The old really hotel. And of course the Thomas viaduct. But this isn't the only model train exhibit at the museum. Every fall. Tom Sellars Frank Vesak and a whole host of volunteers

construct a Christmas train layout whose design rivals the work of the bee in those early engineers. We'll get started in October rather and for all the Thanksgiving weekend there are a couple of years we were running right up on Thanksgiving day before we grew up and so it seems with locking horns and I don't think. We have understanding why we have to have understanding wise to let us stay up till 3:00 in the morning. They know where we're at. Frank and I both sit and designed to track designs. The initial design started as. And when it came time to do it we started conversing about it. We added the American flyers in the middle and we could staggered it up so that they actually gave us five loves. The results of what we did. There were a combination of your friends getting together for pizza and beer and we just kind of split up science expertise

would be more in the electrical and the son Biddle and myself is more of the scene. More extensive. You make the scene the more realistic. And everybody wants to get to finish. We have eight locomotives running in Streetcar. And a coal mine during this centennial span. I'd say we have maybe 50 75 piece of rolling stock will interchange them all the time. We do add something new to it every year. This year we added the lighthouse and then we had the hobo's got a fire going in the ocean. So we always had the animation to do as you this really with a saw with it. We decided to skiers and this year it's new. We do. We added quite a few new pieces. Every Christmas. People flocked to the elegance of the museum to peek into this tiny universe.

But few ever get to see the world. Beneath the terrain garden a cramped workshop full of train parts and tangled wires. Never seen any of the kids playground. It's made out of a brass wire into the shape of the ratio. That lead to different areas where the pivot points are taking your latched on an all star. And now we don't use paint mâché or anything like that anymore. Styrofoam is a lot easier for us to do our carving work. This year we just use the keyhole Salz and just went to it like kids playing mud pies. You got everywhere. It was in our SHOWBIZ our males in our hair down our clothes when we go home you take your clothes off to take a shower. It's everywhere. But the end result is very pleasing. To. Her grandchildren. Peter Grampound playing with little tiny furry. They have a heart attack. That's the whole idea of this whole Christmas going.

By feel like it's the. Time we come down here that's all we feel like is kid can do start with Iraq get in trouble like we did on the. Street there. The. Brain child is just an incredible way with their toy trains or real trains more human drama is played out in the platforms of where road stations on the stage of the world. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was built on a lot of pride. I think there was a point in its life where the B.A. railroad realized that it would never be the largest railroad in America may not be the most powerful so there being no railroad then plied its trade on tradition. People speak you know like an old family and they maintain that reputation and tradition throughout its history. The railroad experience in America cuts across racial and ethnic and gender lines from the very beginning. African-Americans worked on the

railroad until well after the Civil War. Blacks in Maryland generally were not permitted to have skilled trades on the railroad but the Pullman company Nationwide gave blacks a chance to work as Pullman porters and waiters simply because when your father worked there you went to work there and you brought your son to work there and it was a good place to work. My dad was a sleeping car porters worked for the Pullman company starting back probably in the 50s. I've been around railroads all my life. I needed a way to finance my education because I did not have any funds and they could not support me. So he was able to get me a job working as a sleeping cook order which I was delighted to do at Christmas time on the BNL very often you happy with mistletoe and the Greens and the reds are very off. You walk into that dining car and you see some kind of a tall guy and kind of just makes you feel like boy you know this is the spirit of Christmas time. He really had a fabulous publicity event every year where we got on the

train station went through the dark of the night in December. Up to Cecil County where the holly tree was lighted. We got off the train and people sang carols and then somebody pushed a button and this big holly tree was lighted. I can't remember much about the tree. Remember a little bit about the music but I remember that train ride so well. My dad was a crane. He played track for the mammals for 40 years. One professor I was talking to some of my co-workers like oh my god what am I going to get my dad. And they happened to be model plane and they said that the man. Get him a model train. Christmas for fear and joy on his face when he opened up the box and I had bought an Amtrak model train. I find it flat. Stay tuned for a very very ride aboard an antique steam train that lets them. Know.

When. The. Christmas tree is going to. I really think this is such a wonderful documentary. Not only am I having a good time watching it but I am learning so much and I know you feel the same way. I'm a psych and I'm here with Mike Styer and we want you to stay tuned for more of clickety clack Christmas trains and of course we're going to be telling you how you can get a copy of this show a DVD in fact it's a wonderful celebration of railroading in Maryland. And it was produced right here at Maryland Public Television. We hope that it lights train lovers of all ages and boy train lovers are all ages. Sometimes I think I'm talking to children but then I find out that the fathers and grandfathers loved these shows made me more than their kids do. What better way to celebrate the holidays than to actually be able to sit down with your children or your grandchildren and enjoy clickety clack Christmas trains on NPT. We hope that you will please take the time now to call in

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Hello I'm Sam man I've I've been here working NPT for 30 years and one of the things that's made me most proud about this station is the commitment of making the programs about Maryland and the community. You probably won't see another special state railroader program about the state railroads or the Christmas Cardin's anywhere else on the television. We want to bring in more shows like this one. Like this one and that's why we're here today and ask for your financial support. The more people who get involved in this process today. The more local productions you'll see on empty. It's that simple. Please call now and support empathy with your generous investment and we'd like to remind you that you can contribute to any amount you might want to join in a basic membership level which is $35 for an entire year. That's less than 10 cents a day. You will receive the monthly program guide so that you know you will always know about the truth. Terrific

shows that we bring you every day. So please call us now at 1 800 2 2 2 1 2 9 2. And thank you. Remember we have all these wonderful shows here at Maryland Public Television and of course the collectibles. That title is Chesapeake collectibles gone but not forgotten. And of course our town Chesapeake Bay by the air. So for $200 remember for tickets to the Western Maryland scenic railroad and a click clack Christmas Train DVD it's very easy to charge Visa Mastercard Discover or American Express. You call the numbers on your screen or your place to online identity dot or Ria. Thank you very much you know during the holiday season you might be busy gathering and a gift buying sell. Is it wonderful to just sit back and get really into the true holiday spirit within that nostalgic program like clickety clack Christmas trains. Please call the number on your screen right now and

support the informative and entertaining programs that we bring to you. I know you're learning a lot right now about trains and our whole region but I hope you're doing it with your family because that's what we're all about. We are a place where you can safely sit with your family and your friends and your neighbors and see good wholesome programming that is entertaining and educational. We'll see you soon. As the real road took hold and expanded it led to profound changes in how people live. The railroad could take people and goods in one day. The distance it previously took a week or two weeks to travel. This was a change in the way we think about space and people recognize. That. The important innovation really was.

Even immigrants could afford $3000 a rail fare from Baltimore to Chicago. The B.A. gave Maryland its first experience with Standard Time. And started running trains and 18:30 everywhere along the line of railroad. It was Baltimore. Before then we'd had some and it was noon wherever you were when the sun was ahead. But the railroads moved more than people. They moved the merchandise that grew to be an important part of Christmas in Maryland and the United States Christmas. Well we grew up together. They were both products of the same time in the same place and the same people and they both gave us a chance to literally make America our own. By the turn of the century railroads were calling Christmas trees in by the millions from forests in Canada and the Northeast United States. Those boxcars many of them would come down in northern central and end up in the company's Bolton Street freight

depot. Today you won't find Christmas trees hold down the northern central but there's still plenty of holiday magic along the line. The Northern Central Railway is New Freedom Pennsylvania now offers excursions for fans who love to ride the route of history. For many. It is a trip back to their youth. And for the young it's something they dream about all year. Oh. Many children dream of growing up and running a railroad for one boy though the dream did come true. My interest in trains really started I think because my mother worked for the Erie Railroad when she was pregnant with me. But I really didn't develop a serious interest in France until I was about three. If anybody told me I wind up being the president of the railroad I would definitely have expressed some surprise. But now it seems like most natural thing in the world.

This vintage 125 ton diesel locomotive makes quick work of the trip. Each of its cars is an authentic 1940s and 1950s era streamliner the cradle depart from New Freedom Pennsylvania which is just over the Maryland border it actually sits on the state line and runs literally down hill five miles from bedrock Pennsylvania to freedom. It was basically a very very small village until the mid 1830s when the railroad came through. This was the crest of the mountain. So the railroad had a station they set up the cities to service your locomotives to help shape the trains up the hill. The natural prep takes me back when this was an active rail and we

got the train from York Baltimore or from Baltimore. And I ran and. I went on a ride because in those days the train traveled the same track. By now. It's just great to ride a train over this rail. This particular line is one of the most historic in the country. It is actually the second railroad ever built in the country. It was chartered one year after the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad which was the first one and construction began one year later the northern central is perhaps most famous as being. Part of the route that Abraham Lincoln took on his way to get his birth in the fall of 1863 where Lincoln spoke perhaps the most influential few hundred words in American history. And to this day people along that railroad lines still speak knowingly of the Lincoln train and the effect that it had on the lives of their ancestors.

Perhaps that love of history also explains the tremendous bond between train lovers. When you follow trails the people that you meet are never strangers to you as you share your experiences where you've been on trains riding trains or conceived trains you find out they've been there. You may work with somebody for years and all of a sudden it slips out of their conversation that they might have been maybe about two or three years after we were married. And I started talking about how I like to go widescreen. And she said about out when she was small she'd asked her dad to take her down and say no right. So that's the way you found out about. Sometimes. I ride the train. My thoughts go back. To my childhood and the time we spent at the railroad tracks. What do you stand for the big to. We love the Kennedys couldn't read but we still have fun. When you ride with train. You're almost like a right. If you're on the front of

the train track you can see the track. When you're riding through you can see rock cut. That. A railroad had to break through to get this line. Back in 1838. And in fact. The reason that one rock got its name as a town is because those rock can't stop the progress of the railroad for nearly a year if they had to cut through that. And it basically was called Red Rock because it had very hard rock in the glen. That same rock is a major reason the railway endures this railroad is so all being built in the 1830s that those bridges are in many cases stone arches the rocks are all Pennsylvania fieldstone the amount of weight that they can support is almost incalculable railroading and railroad engineering was in its infancy and they overdesigned everything. Which is why this line has continued to exist for a hundred and seventy some odd years.

Is. The thing I like most about it you're seeing smiles on people's faces. That's what we're all about. Taking you back in time very. High in the mountains of western Maryland the legendary steam train the mountain thunder winds its way through the early winter scenery. It is a trip that trains have been making since the line was built in 1912. Today's passengers are excited children on an excursion with a very special guest. Once this railroad was the economic heart of the towns which grew up alongside it their fates inextricably with. The railroad that began with dreamers in Baltimore in the early 1830s quickly revolutionized Marilyn. But these

entrepreneurs built more than around them. They built a nation. Connecting far flung markets. With the railroads efficient distribution network. Now the noise of the outside world was seen. As the trainmaster. Valleys. Frozen in time. It all begins on this crowded train station platform in Cumberland Maryland tucked in the Appalachian coal country on the West Virginia border. Now the Western Maryland scenic railroad runs excursion trains up to 16 miles of track to Frostburg Maryland. The rain may have grounded Santa's sleigh but it hasn't dampened the passenger's enthusiasm. Oh OK.

You be a good girl. Oh God I pray for all that. I mean I know how it is up north pole and the kids when they come up here on vacation they're just all over the train. Now what would make you a happy boy on Christmas Day. That sounds like good but not long into the trip. We arrive at homesteaders curve a spectacular half mile long horseshoe band that offers a majestic view of cache Valley. Countertenors Kerr just west of Carmel in Maryland is going on with him while you carry on the Pennsy or the hatchery loop on the well known road landmark. This was a very strategic route from the Port of Baltimore to the Great Lakes. And is supposedly the most direct route that existed. Well I've been watching Trinkle five years old

and as. Children we always told that the Western Maryland Route which was the main line. You steam locomotive were being invested millions of dollars in a newer diesel. And yet the western world seemed to achieve better speed and better schedule for the mountains and being loaded with their more sophisticated diesel locomotive. Western Maryland railway not to be confused with the Western Maryland scenic railroad which is. Built on the old Western Maryland railway and in part. That. Turned into a. Major competitor of the piano and it was a. Good effect a railroad. And each day it did get to be an hour run for its money. To think about it. Here you have water and coal and you can make something move with it to. Eventually even steam power wasn't enough to sustain the railroad. No longer the transportation force it once was in its heyday. The railroads still draws a

crowd but for different reasons. It's more like what. A grandfather has than before. Right time. And now the younger generation. Comes along and like that it is something I never thought like yesterday. And once they would go up on I know. They mentioned they want to go back again. Generations of families work the rails. Mountain thunders 22 year old fireman is a fourth generation railroad. My dad always take life. And I remember. When I was still really young like four or five I can vaguely remember that on my grandfather's lap while he was still an engineer on the banjo. That's we're riding with him. Part of it probably. They always say like what. Passed down in your genes. It's a change of scenery every day and every day you go out there. You never had. That. Saying.

That Frostburg the engine moves onto the turntable and is ready for the return trip down the mountain. Is. It. Passengers from many states are testimony to the you're. Riding. A train. That is a. Piece of history. When. You're young at heart. Yes right. Oh yeah. Oh. Oh said the. Girl. Even Santa knows there's a time for trains and a time for slayers all the way back. Getting up and all that you know getting loaded up and all that. And the reindeer like Boy that's where I got my ride. Well they're are a in the crowd in this day of

rest of the time. What is this mountain thunder. Say choo choo. That's. Crazy. You go. No matter how old you are. A ride aboard Mountain Thunder with Santa makes a Christmas memory of. Last. Lifetime. You ready. Ready. Let's Go. I'm high. I saw someone. Driving the

train. That train. Most people my age are doing something in retail. And you ask me what I do I say oh I drive a train and that always gets a different kind of response. One of the brightest spots around during the holidays is at the Baltimore Zoo where 500000 twinkling lights sparkle during the annual zoo lights celebration. The zoo as it is affectionately known. As trainloads wide eyed visit this zoo impressive like this. I. Like when you come around the one bend and all the lights just out and you can see them really brightly. Because I liked most about the train is all the little kids are very cute little things. Even on a night like tonight with temperatures well below freezing. Train engineers a the air looks forward to the daily ritual of preparing and driving the

scale replica of the 1863 C-p Huntington where we work nights on the train. We come in about an hour before the zoo opens around 4:30. We catch the train three tracks to check the oil that sort of thing right down the train at the end of the night we put the trains away and sweep up the zoo. The ride is actually five minutes and 35 seconds on average. Over the summer. When. You. Go. Around. And around. Average five times around the track you know to check. Back. Another engineer who knows the track equally well is really pervasive. Some of this who choose original owner. You arrived in the summer of 63 and I was there when it came and was one of the first people to work on it it was part of our family at that time. I'd heard just about everything from selling tickets driving the train. The mayor has almost everything that happened at. One time.

Rick's mother remembers the ribbon cutting ceremony for a attorney. I will cry. I am for. No one can be right. True. They had the mayor and the governor and they took a ride and there were many camera a lot of shooting a lot of political hay was made because it was a big thing. But. By the time the zoot you came to Druid Hill Park ridable scale Tran's had been around for nearly 100 years in the mid and late 19th century in Great Britain people with country stage began building large scale model trains or small scale real railways. When you look at these ridable model trains for runners or cranes and Z-frame reinforcements they would roll around these countries states and these British noblemen and some

noble women would come out in the ride and build these things and have a find buyers. But today you don't need to be a noble to offer board a ridable scale training. Everybody can enjoy the simple pleasures of the zoo. You. I think it's just the whole experience is like sitting somewhere with someone's clothes traveling looking at things relaxing. My favorite sound the train makes a. Causes role really. Awesome. It's really. Beautiful clicking. Sound. The kids love the tunnel. Everybody loves it. Or you blow the whistle and it would echo on everything all the kids would scream and holler. They have to take charge. Well. After the day is over and I go home at night I can still sort of hear the murmur of the train and I can still sort of feel the vibrations. On Sunday nights and the take off especially when I would be warm. The people would come back in the 60s there were no gates. It was wide open. People came to the zoo

whenever they felt like it would be not unusual. Right. I fell. On the train. Among the passengers who enjoyed the early days of the zoo you were historian Herb Harwood and his family. One of the first things we experienced after our children were born here so it's to take them to the zoo. And to put them on the zoo. And my older son I think that may have been sort of the beginning of his fascination with trains steam locomotives interest me probably because when they're working they're about as close as a machine can be to being alive. They seem to even make interesting sounds and smells. It was exciting to watch the machine not worry. George Harwood is now the foreman of train restoration at the B.A. Railroad Museum in Baltimore. The type of work that we do here is becoming a lost story.

When people started building steam locomotives they sort of had to build their own shop first and that's the same thing that we're going through a lot of ways here. It's pretty challenging work. When George Harwood was only six years old he took these photographs of the zoo crew during a visit with his father. And almost three decades later the zoo jus continues to spark an interest for perhaps the next generation of railroad enthusiasts. It's kind of a phenomenal thing to think about that. In 1953 it was put on the track. Now we're going into the 21st century it's still on the track it's still running it's still doing the same thing. That's still fighting to there. Stay tuned for the twilight of dream gardens at the new fire station when clickety clack Christmas strains continue.

Hi I'm Mike Stier here along with three of you can now say tone for the conclusion of click of a clock Christmas trains. And we'll tell you how you can get a DVD of this very program in just a second. Now like me you probably didn't know or might not have known that our nation's revenues began right here in Baltimore. That's right. The first ever passenger service in America began in the 1830s between Baltimore and Ellicott City and all of this marvelous history is just beyond our doorstep and it's lovingly chronicled in this wonderful locally produced documentary produced by empy the. Hickory clacked Christmas Train. Now we're going to invite you. To. To show our appreciation for the great programs. Here at Maryland Public Television just like this one and also give you it gave us the funds needed to bring you more like it in the near future. So please give

financial support to NBT right now by calling one of our great volunteers the students from Fellaini high school. At 1 800 2 2 2 1 2 9 2. Or go online and contribute at NPT dot org slash pledge. Thank you very much Mike. Please call now and support all the terrific local documentaries that we bring you throughout the year and you know I think it's one of the things that we need to do even more. I know that because every time we have a local documentary we have such a terrific response. You want to know more about your state. You like hearing about the Chesapeake Bay Bridge you like hearing about the trains that ran through me all you like all of that and you let us know by your terrific response to these programs. I hope you didn't do it again. I hope you're going to respond to this program right now so that we know that we ought to be doing more and we're going to try to do our best to make that happen. Now you know how it works. We like to give you a thank you. When you make a contribution to MBT So let me tell you about what they are

make a contribution of $60 we're going to say thank you with clickety clack Christmas trains a DVD of the program that you are watching right now. Now a lot of people who are watching are thinking oh my I think that would be great for us to have. In our family. But I know somebody else who would like to have it. Well a lot of people think that so they're making a contribution of $100 and then we will send you to click and clack Christmas Train DVDs. So keep one for yourself and give the other one too maybe a fellow train enthusiast. And I'm really very pleased about this because we don't do it often but we are going to be able to ship these DVDs out this coming week. So if you want to make a splash and you want these DVDs and you want to be able to give them as holiday gifts you will have them in plenty of time for the holidays. Enough time to wrap up make them look beautiful and give them to somebody who's going to really enjoy this as much as you're enjoying it right now. Charge any of your pledges on visa mastercard discover or American Express. The number is 1

800 222 8:59. Do I'd love to hear the phone ring right now. I'd like to hear at least one phone ring and you can make that happen so please give us a call. If a. Game is on. Do you love me enough to spend your night. Three and reject. Programs that entertain and celebrate. Traditions are one of the things public television's been dedicated to since its inception and there couldn't be a better example than this one. Thanks to the support of folks from throughout our viewing area and is able to bring the magic of Maryland Christmas trains to everyone in

our community. And you can help keep that tradition of public television alive by calling one of our friendly volunteers or logging on to NPT dot org slash pledge with your financial support right now. Now we have a very special offer at the $200 pledge level. You will get a family four pack of tickets to the Western Maryland scenic railroad which you just saw which runs from Cumberland to Frostburg a beautiful part of the state of Maryland. And along with that a cookie the clock Christmas trains DVD of the show you're watching that for $200. Of course we have the $35 basic membership. Which entitles you to the monthly MBT program guide. Just charge on Visa Mastercard Discover or American Express call the number on your screen or pledge online at MPP dot org. OK we have great volunteers here. They're from Delaney high school key club. They are terrific. They really would like to be busy and I would like them to be

busy and I know you would like them to be busy. If you have already called in and made a pledge. Clearly I'm not talking to you. I just want to thank you. Thank you for what you're doing for us and also what you're doing because when you make a pledge you're doing it not only for yourself and for but for every single person in our viewing area that has a television set you know. I think that's one of the things I love most about Maryland Public Television that we provide a program like this to anybody who has their TV set. They don't have to pay anything they don't have to belong to any system. All they have to do is turn on their TV and they can see educational entertaining quality programs. And when you pledged to make that possible for all the people that are viewing area luckily there's still a place on television where we can celebrate the festive and beautiful spirit of the holidays here again we hear from many of our viewers who write us or e-mail us to say that these programs are meaningful to them because they aren't able to go out and visit

these locations or they tell us how much they enjoy our conscious specials because they can go out and see live music and maybe a program like this is something that you value too. I hope so. And I also hope that you'll join your neighbors and your friends by contributing to the service that brings great documentaries concerts and much more to this community. Maybe you think about a $6 pledging get clickety clack Christmas trains the DVD of the program we're watching now. If you'd like to have two of them just make a contribution of $100 and you'll get two of these DVDs. And remember again I'm really excited the DVDs are being mailed out this week. So you will get that in time for the holidays. And we don't often do that we're not able to do that but we wanted you to have this right now because I think what made just a wonderful wonderful gift for somebody so make that pledge right now and remember that it's going to be sent to you and you will be sent out early this week. And now let's go to our good friend Sam without whom we couldn't do this building.

How often can you turn on your TV in a fine show that the entire family can enjoy. That happens all the time when you tuned in. We not only have award winning children's shows like Sesame Street and curious George. But we have shows like nature and great shows shows educate entertain and the whole family can watch. We want to make sure that these kinds of shows always have a home in your community public television station. But we can only do this if you can help out by making a financial contribution with your help. Shows like these will always be available to everyone in our community with the TV set. Anyone with a TV set. Please give. One of these terrific volunteers a call now and tell them that you want. To support the shows on Maryland Public Television.

Be original be and be connected. Be inspired. By becoming a member of your CBS station. Simply call the number on your screen. Get my credit card or share. Thanks for your time. You know it takes the combined contributions of our caring friends to make all that we do possible. And there's a whole universe of experiences that are shared with people. Our viewing area that only happened because people just like you make the transition from being a viewer of empathy to being a contributor to MBT and it takes just a couple of minutes. But it makes such a difference. So please call now. Remember a few complaints $200 we have a family pack of four tickets to that beautiful western Maryland scenic railroad along with a click of a

Christmas Train DVD of the show you're watching. Of course we have the $35 a basic membership and you'll get our monthly program guide charge Visa Mastercard Discover or American Express call the number on your screen or pledge online at MPP dot org. You know I think that it's really important that everybody realize and a lot of us don't realize that empathy is really a part of the community. We have a lot of outreach programs. We have free screenings we have live concerts we go out into the community. Maybe we think to your neighborhood and we like to know what you think about what you want to see war and what the concerns of your area are. And then we like to help address those concerns so we are I think more than just a television station where part of a community and we want you to be a part of our community. We want you to be a part of our family and the best way you can do that is to call in

and make the best possible plight you can right now stay tuned for more clickety clack Christmas trains. We have all these wonderful gifts that you can get but the. Best you'll have is the good feeling knowing that you are supporting the kinds of programs that you like to watch right here on your public television station. Yes. Many aspects of the railroads are in the heart and hopefully not a lost one. The annual Christmas garden strikes a chord that is still heard and still very much appreciated. Many people from outside all the work them in what is a Christmas garden. Back in the 1940s the Sunday magazine defined it as a garden that moves in December. But we know today is the modern train guard. Began in Europe two or three hundred years ago with the German speaking

places. Making a nativity scene. And then that crackling was extended out and expanded to be a model home building which appeared underneath the table. By the time the cops came to the United States. It was sure to embellish. Farm buildings. And. Local scenes all sorts of things that these folks experienced in their daily lives. The introduction of the train changes the size of it and not only allows but forces people to make things bigger. It was a challenge to create a new scene that would fill the space from the early 19:00 that the trains making the gardens grow as it were. The people started to build platforms and race tracks and slowly the garden moves up to its present place by 30 inches or so. If you have about a five year old child I think it's one high level five to six year old and that was to accommodate the growing number of wires and other parts that.

Take away the Christmas tree. And you've got the beginnings of the model railroad. Kind of. Creation of a landscape and domain that so many people point to that. I was about four or five. Shortly after Thanksgiving the house would go to a Christmas card. So that meant the basement was off limits to me and they would disappear down there at night and work an hour or two on ships building the new addition of the Kelly family Christmas card. And it was very labor intensive and they considered it important. Over the years. I just decided to put some stuff in there that reminded me of Baltimore. I got this idea of Baltimore in Pimlico racecourse park types out into. The harbor. Once of this dare I said that's it not going to be changed.

If you ever want you know real friends it's just the thrill of the thing you know and to hear a train come roaring past you. And you get that on a smaller scale when you're watching these trains once you get it in your blood. It never leaves you. Trains have been in these folks blood for a long time. All right Bill. Hey Gary I've got to go RIGHT NOW. They're better known in Baltimore as the Wednesday night train club and it is their blood sweat. Months of planning to go into constructing the elaborate train garden each Christmas at the Kenilworth mall and house in Maryland. There's four of us here in the Wednesday night train club who actually are involved in the design and lay out construction of the train display at Kenilworth. Usually it's the kind of work is is very intense while we're doing it well this year it's

kind of nice they work perfect the last two years we never had one one failure with it. They just worked fantastic. In previous years we had all kinds of troubles with it. But the basic core of what we're together is working with Bill because he's so calm and he saying oh the director is the director this will really be in trouble. If this was ours these would be the men behind the curtain. But it is no wave of a wand to bring this garden to life while we're building this thing and it takes three weeks. It's in excess of six hundred hours each year just to set it up. A lot of little children really love it. They'll sit there for hours. When I was a small child you know it was every Christmas I woke up Christmas morning with the train run around Christmas break. Your mom and dad stayed up all night. They put trained on nothing when you get up in the morning. You know it was there was running it was fantastic. It is memories like that which drives the train club to new train Garden Heights. Tell me your doesn't really say you got to have 100 trains running at one time.

The scenery is what really makes a layout. You know you can have one train running but if you have any kind of scenery and stuff like that you don't have it. That's what makes the wheel. That's where knowing your friendly neighborhood mountain man comes in handy. My partner is a mountain man. Yes. I do the mountains paint the roads the sidewalks plant the trees. A lot of the Sinigang basically scenery is my point. We began laying the small pieces of ceiling tile that had been broken up previously were just broken up into varying sizes and then the side they appear to look like a rock or perhaps stone. And once we reached the height that we want and the basic shape we began placing our strips of plaster Paris bandage trying to imitate nature erosion process from weather and so forth. My favorite part of the whole mountain building process is really the addition of scenery at the and the grass and trees and so

forth the things that really make it come to life. I'd like to say I like the trains I like the job. Basically I like being with my partners and the camaraderie that we have because it's refreshing and it's it's fun and it's it's the neatest part of the whole process for me. Christmas would definitely not be like Christmas to me without having a train gardening running and operating or for everyone to see and to enjoy a lot of families had it as a tradition. They used to move all the furniture out of the way. Oh yeah. Every room that moved your mother would go nuts because your father come and remove all the furniture out here we're going to put the trains next nothing greater is going to turn to Christmas. Only thing on would be the Christmas tree. Why is my trans in a Christmas tree. That was it. So there we go for the dark. Yeah that's right. Watch the light come down the track use it and set your head down and come down sit there and make the turn right in front of cameras and scare the hell out of a cat.

That's right. Him out of the middle class and then at Christmas time I can remember my parents taking me down to Houser's one of the traditions of Christmas each Sarber even years and those days you had a long line stood outside waiting to get in. There was no place inside to wait. And I can remember my father put me on his shoulders and as you walk from house the house line along the street there the older people live to choose how he would run their trains lay out for you Christmas time you shut down on my father's shoulders and watch the trains run around in their living rooms. Brains were a ware of one of the best toys you ever could imagine having. You know every kid wanted one. They were great times. Now we grew up and we got him in our basement. They may be laughing but they are serious about trains. We've been doing this for. For nine years. And. We started with. Probably a handful of animation. Animations and trainline which means the moving figures in each scene. The acknowledged master of Baltimore's animation universe is side. We used to get out.

Of all we're saying it's two parts. And my right thing was to Padamsee the trains run. Stargaze as far as my rock station going Nightside draw up the base. So this guy's got a house he's got a hammer and he goes up and down. Work promotor here that I worked out of his arm off. Put it really works. I say that song I want to make or I'll design the motion to make that work. That's what I do. Even farther behind the scenes there are months of preparation before the garden construction begins. That's a good question but I'm going to have to and I will. Day say may about the book. Well he literally is working here on the kitchen table for months and things working on them and I've said that there have been times it's been two weeks that we haven't had dinner together.

But as you point out of nations you find. That you have to store most anywhere mean most anywhere where. In this case we're in a laundry room so trains can take over your life a little bit. But the rewards are rich by comparison. We decided four years ago or five that we've probably not to have longer. To dissect there any large he wants to bring in. That's 17 children. Carrying stretchers. Wheelchairs and they were there for about two hours and that was to take away the all right. And Don said a man does not pay for everything you've ever done. I tell you that a way. You don't put tears in your eyes. When little kids come up and watch the thing run and you sit there and watch with an ice cream cone and they walk right into the glass. The I don't go around your face. That's what makes it worth area. Around the Clock. The 65 members of the Glenn Avenue fire station in Baltimore

Maryland are dedicated to fighting fires and saving lives. But during the holiday season they're dedicated to saving up precious Maryland tradition. The Christmas train garden. But there's something different about this one. From afar one sees an enchanting wonderland of trains and animations. But when you look closely you begin to notice this train garden quickly departs from the traditional Victorian village. Built by firefighters awaiting their next emergency call. What puts this train garden in that wacky end of the spectrum. His offbeat scenes filled with playful wit and creativity. Whatever. Whatever's going on. At the time. You don't. Say. That is. Because it's not the norm. Just. Your houses. And farms. And trains or stuff like that. There's there's always a different thing to. It's not a typical dream.

Of a boxing. This year they've never had. That fanciful boxing matches based on well-publicised fact that is stranger than fiction. It has to do with Holyfield fight where he was middle of the year by all Mike Tyson. That was sort of a joke. We were sitting on the kitchen one day and somebody said why don't we put this in here because it is a current event. And see how people would like it if we can make fun of it by putting little signs of their like taste like chicken and. Don King 7 7 eaters and Piper cheered TV and some people were enjoying it. They realize it's strictly for laughs. And that's why the glen Avenue fire stations annual train garden is known far and wide for over 40 years. Visitors have packed the fire station during its annual run between Thanksgiving and early January. As long as some people can remember and how long would that be. Bringing you ever since you were little. Just because Grandma used to bring me

here when I was 30 and now I want to carry on that tradition and I want to when you hear everything is. Signed and bringing you ever since you were a baby. We have. About 45000 people. Per year for generations now that are coming here. We have people that. When their relatives come from out of town this is a major. Trading. Garden. Which is like a. Christmas ritual. To come here every year bring the kids up. It's just. A good thing to. Do for the Christmas holidays. With time on their hands. The firefighters dream up a few garden variety disasters. Did we mention bungee jumping. That's more or less all fly by the seat of your pants. We do not have a set pattern or an set trackball lay out anything that takes months to build it. What exactly takes four months to build. Recreating the Wizard of Oz among other things. Most of our setup is basically the whole story of The Wizard of Oz. We start with

the tornado concerns some where everything is black and white. And then you go over the Rainbow and it's all color and it starts out in Munchkin Land with the lollipop kids and means singing for Dorothy in your hand waving at the bottom of the yellow brick road you go through the forest to her daughter who meets the 10 man of the house which is where when the fire ball down at the Scarecrow and follow it up and down you go through the poppy field and you actually come to the Emerald City or Dorothy's clicking her heels. Getting ready to go back home. So we have basically the whole story within the little 12 people will respond to. And how do you explain this fascination with trains and otherwise normal human beings. Well wanted to tradition is just like of like Cal Ripken streak. Nobody wants to be the one to break the street. Look at the faces of the people that come in here both the adults and the children and all of it comes to. You and it. Also

reminds me of when I was a child my father used to have training garden around. Christmas tree and. It's wonderful. I want to do it when my children were growing up many years ago my husband would set up a train garden in our basement and he would start in September. But he would leave one last finishing touch until Christmas Eve because then he would tell the children that Santa Claus came in to finish up. His father you know. And I guess that's what started. After. He got interested in science. And that my son and my grandson. Now my gentlemen are all trained I'm sure. So I've been living with trains. Just about. All my life. Mary. Judging by the variety of visitors lots of people love trains every age every nationality every race or religion. We have elderly people from or news that have been coming here for the whole 40 years the conference that parents are bringing them when they're 6 6 months old just so they can start a tradition of seeing the garden.

I like being here it's really kind. Of nothing. Like that. And what could Santa bring to making this young dream lover a happy. Medium right now. Right. Now when. Do. This. Week. After four months of preparation everybody is ready for it to open. Especially the firefighters. That they're working on it here. You're frustrated you're ready to blow this thing up and then hear from. Everybody in labor. You know you don't have to really hear. I guess five or five days after you've already put it together then you can relax you have a lot of work with your mind there. And you can look at people of faith. And you know they they appreciate it. Every year it gets better.

You know they want to go do it again. Even the best laid garden takes constant care throughout its run. You have to repair something. Sometimes car train coupling. The train motors themselves get bad or a gear in the back of. The truck. We run them all day long. They just wear down. Everything is really made for a hobby shop and we run them through the mill. People people want that she would say you know it's always in the back of the community I guess. Was the community gathering point for crisscrossing the region. Trains are an important part of who we are. Railroad history helps us understand how we got to be the nation and the state we are today. Thinking about our railroads perhaps will help us understand what life might be like in the future.

Trains represent a heritage something that is. Something that keeps you young. Most people know I think. The railroads that built the country. But it was an emotional part of the country too. Even down the. Middle of that night. What. Make people wonder. Remind people or people. That something railroads had nothing else. You know this program made me remember the first time I took my grandson on a

train and how exciting it was both for him and for me it was really a thrill and I think for a lot of kids watching this program I think they'll probably say I want to go on the train I want to do this I want to do that. And how would you have known about all these possibilities with trains in Maryland without seeing this wonderful program. I'm sorry if I can hear with Mike Styer. We're going to tell you and get a copy of the program. But. It was so great from full size steam train in Cumberland to an intricate model train garden in the Baltimore area mall. This program just touches all of us on so many levels. How many of you have ever had the pleasure of taking a holiday ride aboard a small ridable train like the zoo to. Just climb on board and you squeeze in tight with your friends and your family around you and then when the train takes off you had this wonderful cozy feeling that all's right with the world. It's not only a fun thing to do. It's I don't know it's just very

comforting somehow. Well we would like to gather our friends and family around us right now to support Maryland Public Television because we think knowing you and your children have access to quality programming is a comforting thing. And if you enjoy this very special documentary and you want to share these memories with your children your grandchildren I hope that you're going to make a pledge of financial support right now. It's one of the ways that you could help keep history alive on anti-Tea. So please call us at 1 800 1:58 8:59 do during this which is our final intermission for this special program. This is the last time you can call in and support this program. And. I don't hear any phones ringing and it makes me a little bit nervous so I don't like to be nervous. I like to feel very relaxed. And the phones ringing just does that for me. So help me out and call make that pledge my three dogs going to ask you to please call us and make sure that NPT has the funds needed to

produce more wonderful local shows in the month ahead. That we can only do it with your support. And if you call that a $60 pledge we will send you as a thank you give. Quickly Klak Christmas trains DVD this is the very show that you just enjoy that we all enjoy. And you can have many many more viewings of it. Many many more years of great enjoyment. Of the $100 level. We will send you two of the DVDs. You can give one to a family member one to your train loving best friend and keep one or keep one for yourself. But something you will want to share with someone else. And it's very important that we now are so excited because these DVDs are being mailed out this week so you can hear them as a holiday gift to your family and friends. So you can get them almost immediately by charging a visa mastercard discover or American Express. So call the number on your screen or go and pledge online a MPP God

or your support for great programs can bring you great savings with the NPT member can sign up for a pledge of seventy five dollars or higher. And in addition to any Thank you give you my shoes you receive discounts with more than 200 local restaurants plus benefits on your performances and attractions. Shopping and online merchants stretch your entertainment dollars while supporting Maryland Public Television. Sign up for Meffert card to. This great member card issuers with any pledges $75 or more so I hope you're going to make sure you make that pledge and get this card you will use it so much that before you know it that $75 pledge will be back to you in more ways than you can possibly imagine. Television production by the way is a business that I have been around for a while and it just gets more and more and more expensive all the time. But I want you to know that NBT

absolutely is not going to sacrifice the quality of our programs and it's why locally produced programs just like this one on the Maryland Christmas trains as well as national series like no the masterpiece are still favorites among our viewers. But it does take a consistent level of financial commitment from people just like you to support this enterprise. Now that's why we're here right now to ask you if you haven't already done it. I know a lot of you already have. But those of you who have had We're asking you to support public television by investing in this service is it something that you and your family values and you can do it by making just a quick phone call to us at 1 800 2 to 1 2 9 2 or logging on to npr.org. And you know what if you can make a generous pledge of $200. I think thank you gift is terrific. It's a family four pack of tickets and you get to go on the western Maryland scenic railroad and it will be a trip you and your family will always

remember. And along with the ticket you're also going to get a clickety clack Christmas strain's DVD and you can charge any of your pledges on Visa Mastercard Discover or American Express. Just call the number on your screen or pledge on line at dot org. Please call now and support local and PTA produce documentaries on this your public television station. I hope I hear from you. Mike. I hear you. We have a lot of volunteers here and a lot of them aren't answering the phone at the moment. They want to talk to you they're wonderful students from the Delaney high school and often from their key club and they've given up their time to come here to help MBT and to get you registered as a member of Maryland Public Television. You know here the NPT is not about any individual but rather about what we all do together. Together we create the television programs that bring a wider world to our television screens. Together we can create the programs that open our eyes to new

possibilities but change how we see the world and connect us to one another like no other station can. I'd rather it's fun holiday special. Like Crich of a clock Christmas trains or for news and public affairs programs to find each and every week each of us joining with our friends and neighbors to create something larger than ourselves that benefits each person who tunes in to find something they can find nowhere else. So we do want you to be a member. We want you to help support this wonderful enterprise. A pledge of $60. And we will send you the very show you just saw Kirker the classic Christmas Train. The DVD $100 will send you two of them. And these DVDs will be mailed out this week. So you will have them as holiday gifts. Here's a very important member of the Maryland Public Television family. Fan. The month of December is a time to look back on the year gone by. Think about all the great programs that you've

enjoyed doing NPT and they were brought to you by viewers just like you viewers who called in and made a financial investment to MPG. If you someone who supported us this past year we say thanks. And if you haven't yet made a gift of support there's no better time right now. To become one of our contributing partners. Please give us a call at 1 800 2 2 2 1 2 9 2. Think about supporting us at the basic membership level. It's $35 and will send you a program guide each month of the year. Please call now. And thanks. John.

You know we only have a couple more minutes left. I mean literally a couple more minutes. Plenty of time to go the phone to make a pledge. But it is our last intermission for this special on that we have three minutes left. That's what Mike is just telling me so three minutes is plenty of time for you to go to the phone and make a pledge enjoy your empty family and make sure that programs like this stay on the air here at NPT to entice you just a little bit. We have this $200 level which is a lot of money I grant you. But the thank you for that is a family four pack of tickets to go on the western Maryland scenic railroad. It will be a trip you will have such a wonderful time. The scenery is

amazing they treat you so beautifully on the train you'll have a great time. And along with that you get the clickety clack Christmas Train DVD of the program we just watched right now. Now I guess I've been talking for maybe 30 seconds or so so we have like two two and a half two minutes left still enough time for you to call and there's somebody who's doing that. And that's the right thing to do. I know that you have good intentions I know you mean to do it but you haven't done it yet. So now is the time to do it. It'll make you feel just great. Be active. Get out go the phone. Make that pledge Mike bacteria and the phones are really ringing now from people who really enjoy this program. And if you and other members of your family enjoyed this program and enjoy public television if it enhances the quality of your lives then please let us know right now with your pledge of support. It is so important that we can continue to produce wonderful programs of our region of our history public affairs programs. Truly a

service for you that you only get from Maryland Public Television and if you pay $60 we will send you a copy of this program. Quickly the claque Christmas trains the DVD $100 will send you to DVDs and you can charge on Visa Mastercard Discover American Express. Very easy. Just call the number on your screen or pledge online at NBT dot org. I really enjoyed this program. I've seen it before and that's one of the things that's great about a program like this. You can watch it again and again every time you learn something new and you are delighted anew every time you do it. Now I want to thank every single one of you who pledged during this program. It's very important to us that we hear from you. We have your financial support. And you've done a really wonderful things. Thanks an awful lot. But if you haven't called yet you know what our volunteers are going to stay here even as we go to the next program so you can get out and make that pledge now

you know after you do it you're going to say why did I do that sooner. It does make you feel good. I do want to be a part of the family. We welcome you we hope you'll join us. Thank. You.

Funding for this program was provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting through E N and by annual financial support from viewers like you