Yeah.....The old days

[rockabilly]

Had them too and Thundercats and Super Friends action figures.

[rico87]

I wish they'd bring the milk man back! I never seen one..

~Kisses.

HTG

HTG You sexy girl from Manilla I shake your vanilla every morning I will be your private Milkman.

[rico87]

"Put the needle on the record "

[praetor]

I had one of these. ( ~BB~, right? rsrs kisses)

[CaptainGeech]

I had the first wireless controllers for the NES (Nintendo Video Game Console). They were terrible. You had to be within 4 feat of the sensor and you couldn't break line of sight. Which meant you had to stand perfectly still pointing the controller directly at the sensor with the patience and discipline of a monk. Even then the onscreen response was horrific. My characters died many many times. Cool gift to get from your Aunt when you are 5-8 though. Much better than a sweater or something. I never did get the Nintendo PowerGlove. I remember thinking that was the coolest thing ever after seeing it in the "The Wizard". I also use to play the Atari and Intellivision. Now I pretty much stick to XBOX360.

[BeardedOne]

The professional motorman.

Note the word professional.

Back in May of this year I made a number of daytrips to regional rail museums and transit systems and during one of those trips I stopped at a railcar restoration facility to inspect an ongoing project of interest. While there, I spoke to one of the founding members of a local preservation group that had purchased the car we were inspecting (Which had been built in 192 back in 1959.

As we were talking, he showed me a pack of photos that had been taken of the car throughout its years of public service. One, taken as a publicity/safety shot by the car's original owner, the Boston Elevated Railway Company of a motorman at the controls of the car c. 1930. The photo, very similar to the one I've included here (Taken of a motorman of the Omaha and Council Bluffs Street Railway which operated trolleys/trams from 1897 to 1947), brought up another conversation in light of the recent accidents on the Boston Subway system.

Paraphrasing the converstaion:

"Look at that. No distractions, face forward, standing alert. In full view of the passengers, not hiding in a locked booth, behind tinted glass. They wore a uniform with cap and badge. Shoes polished, tie straight, jackets and vests buttoned. They were polite and respectful and they got respect and courtesy in return. They were role models, children wanted to grow up to work on the trolleys. They were proud of their jobs and many had studio portraits taken of themselves in uniform. It was a career that they stayed in for life."

"Now they dress like bums and thugs, wearing sneakers and hiking boots, the headwear is nothing more than a golf cap and polished brass has given way to plastic ID badges that they keep in their pockets or hang from the control handles. The passengers can no longer see them and can only hope they aren't reading or texting (As happened in the recent crash in Boston) while the train runs itself. They get their twenty years in and they're out. They just don't care anymore."

Though I was born too late to witness the heyday of the professional trainman of city transit, I do recall the last days of the MTA in Boston (Mid 1960s) and saw the proud old guard of the Boston El as they dwindled through death and retirement, some having served the company for fifty years or more. Even the MTA's first General Manager, Edward G. Dana, had risen through the ranks from car conductor, retiring in 1959 after forty years at the helm of the MTA and its predecessor, the Boston El. These days it is notable if the core management lasts more than forty weeks.

[praetor]

1968, volkswagen beetle, named here in Brazil as "fusca"