And now we know the rest of the story. What a great way to use a hobby for good purposes.
Thank you JMania for sharing this with the public.
www.app.com/article/20081130/NEWS01/811300363/1285/LOCAL09Old trains, toys adorn a home for the holidays
CHRISTMAS MANIA
FREEHOLD — Being a boy with toys, Joe Mania has a train under his Christmas tree.
As an avid toy train collector with an estimated several hundred sets to choose from, Mania has no problem selecting a train for the tree set up in his home's living room.
"It varies from year to year," said Mania, 44. "I try to put something different under the tree every year."
Aside from the tree the Mania family — Mania, his wife, JoAnn, 44, and daughter, Danielle, 16 — puts up in the living room, there are trees in the sun room and Danielle's bedroom. Each of these trees gets a train underneath.
"Every year since we were married (in 1985), we've had a (Lionel) Scout setup," said Mania, recalling a circa 1950 train set his father, Leo, had and that he now owns.
In addition to the three main trees, two trees go with train layouts in the basement and one or two are used as centerpieces.
"We probably have 20 or more trees, all artificial, because we like to have them up for a few months," Mania said.
The family starts putting up the trees Thanksgiving weekend and they stay up to mid to late January, Mania said.
Mania — who works in the Matawan Post Office and owns JLM Trains, which restores and reproduces old toy trains — collects much more than trains.
His collections include old Christmas decorations and vintage Christmas photographs, some of which have toy trains in them.
So, he is ready to decorate at this time of year.
A circa late 1940s plug-in sign made by Noma Lites spells "Merry Christmas" in lights and also has a Santa Claus and four reindeer that move — that part operated by a battery.
"This is one of my favorite pieces," Mania said. "It's kitschy, inexpensive. Now, I guess, they call it nostalgia." It is probably valued "in the hundreds" of dollars, he said.
Another nostalgia item is a Santa in a reindeer-pulled sleigh, probably from the late 1960s, that flies around a Christmas tree on a wire.
Another Mania favorite is bubbling lights.
"Few things you've got to have at Christmas — bubble lights and a Hess truck under the tree," Mania said.
The first Hess Corp. toy gasoline truck came out in 1964, the year Mania was born. Now he has every year's Hess holiday item since 1966. He had a 1965 truck, but he broke it as a child.
Sometimes Mania decorates with old toys under the Christmas trees. Old toys, too, are something he collects, so he has a variety to choose from — wooden checkers estimated to be from the 1950s; a late-1950s rubber horseshoe set; 1959 Magic Moon Rocks, "complete with moonscape and rockets" and television personality Art Linkletter's smiling face on the packaging; and 1967 Jarts lawn darts.
"I also collect View-Masters," said Mania, speaking of the stereoscopic image viewer toy.
"Danielle and I probably have 700, 800 reels (of images), maybe 20 viewers and projectors," Mania said.
Mania said he always has enjoyed Christmas decorations and began collecting the items about 20 years ago. He has been a toy train enthusiast since he was a child.
"In those days, you went to Two Guys (a department store) and Branch Brook (pools and seasonal supplies) and buy what was popular," Mania said.
Mania noted a picture from his collection of Christmas photographs, this one showing a decorated tree.
"This one doesn't have any trains in it, but I like the (silver) aluminum tree," he said.
Joe Sapia: (732) 308-7754; (800) 822-9770, Ext. 1-7754; JSapia@app.com.
