Leslie Lindy's gift

Leslie L. Lindy acquired his first model train in 1948. From then on Lindy's enthusiasm for all things railroad became a passion for the young father and, eventually, his son.

The Southeast Missourian newspaper has published several articles about Lindy and his train collection, but this was the first one.

Published Dec. 21, 1972:

Leslie Lindy and son Leslie: tycoons of Christmas railroad. (Gordon McBride ~ Southeast Missourian archive)

TRAIN PRESENT IS FORERUNNER OF 19-YEAR HOBBY FOR RESIDENT

By GORDON McBRIDE
Missourian writer-photographer

Christmas carries more than the usual set of meanings for people in the Leslie L. Lindy household. For them it marks the annual renewal of an event that has been chugging around their Christmas tree 19 years.

It all started in 1948 when the Lindys were living in West Frankfort, Illinois. That year Mr. Lindy gave his 1-year-old daughter a present that was actually meant for him — a toy train — and that present has grown so well that today the short, smiling son of a railroad man can honestly call himself a tycoon of the miniature railroad world.

A tycoon? Well, by miniature standards, he certainly qualifies. By latest count he owns and displays proudly at his 2528 Marsha Kay Drive residence 185 separate train cars. This includes a replica of the Santa Fe A-B-A type silver passenger train with six glistening passenger cars.

He maintains an additional 62 runnable engines that are either displayed in his train room or assembled on the track that consumes all the space in his one-car garage. He claims that he has nearly three miles of miniature train track stored in different parts of his home and to supplement all this he displays, with an obvious degree of pride, two uniforms worn by train officials in the room adjoining his garage devoted to his train collection.

Mr. Lindy's delight and interest in railroads is as old as he is. He remembers as a boy sleeping in a section house next to the railroad tracks in Chaffee. It was at this time in his life that his father taught him how to "fire-up" a real-life, huffin', puffin' steam engine.

After the 1948 Christmas when he acquired his first toy train, the train around the tree became a ritual in the Lindy home. Three years ago, while vacationing in Florida, Mr. Lindy noticed an advertisement in a paper there offering for sale an old train that matched the one he purchased in 1948.

He had wanted to repair his first train, now somewhat the worse for the wear, so he purchased the old train in Florida. Around the same time, he met a person in Cape Girardeau, Ben Bretch, now a Southeast Missouri State University senior from St. Louis. Bretch turned out to be somewhat of a miniature railroad buff himself and helped Mr. Lindy repair his old train, acquire more models and, most importantly, helped build Mr. Lindy his own sophisticated railroad menagerie.

Mr. Lindy was not able to start building his six train capacity railroad set until an automobile accident left him unable to leave his home for nearly a year. During that time he built a railroad jungle that would be sufficient to keep all the boys in the world sleepless on Christmas eve.

Through the seemingly endless feet of track laid out in the Lindy garage, five trains can travel at once. One of the most interesting, a Franklin Overland Express, is a replica of the trains that crisscrossed America during the early 1900s.

And of course, there are modern diesel engines, locomotives and gadgets on the board of all description. The giant table the train tracks are on took a full year to construct, including the laborious task of placing the track and laying electrical connections. To top all this, Mr. Lindy constructed the table so that it could be pulled to the garage ceiling with an assist from a boat winch.

Solidly behind his father on all this is his son, also named Leslie. Together, Leslie, the father, and Leslie, the son, now traipse happily around the Midwest looking for yet another engine to add to Dad's collection.

By 1987, Lindy estimated his collection included 1,000 train cars and "150 engines or more." He valued his collection at about $30,000.

His enthusiasm for trains led him to open a restaurant and train museum at the corner of Independence Street and Henderson Avenue in 1975. The business featured three railroad passenger trains and operated until 1977.

Leslie L. Lindy passed away July 12, 2004, at the age of 78.