Yet, there were things that drew me to that dark dismal place. With all its frightful features it did hold some secret treasures. Across from the base of the stairs was a large kitchen table-sized platform that was hinged at the bottom so that it could be folded up against the wall of the coal bin. On Sundays my dad and brother would lower the platform and reveal the tracks of our model train layout. Then dad would take out our pride and joy from a large box in the corner, two ‘O’ Gauge locomotives and an array of box cars and Pullman coaches. The most realistic set was a Lionel Locomotive with marvellous working pistons and drive rods. But the one that my dad treasured the most was an old Ives Locomotive with its four green and red passenger coaches. Dad and brother Bill would hook up the transformer to the three track layout and plug it into the circuit. All was ready! If I was really lucky I would get to slowly turn the rheostat and set the trains in motion. It was a marvel that I remember to this day! The layout was only about ten feet in total length but that was the railway world to me, even when the train would skip the tracks or the power short out, it still held my total fascination all afternoon. “The trains” would go on until mom called us up for supper some three or four hours later.
The other place of great interest was my dad’s tool cupboard. It was totally out-of-bounds to me and even to my brother, so special were its locked-away treasures. But I learned a secret early on. One day I saw where dad hung the key to the cupboard on a nail behind it. That was a secret I was sure not even my brother knew and it was the only thing that would cause me to screw up my courage and sneak down to the cellar to explore the sacred cupboard. The cupboard was beside an old scarred wooden workbench. One day after school when dad was still at work and mom was baking pies I slipped down and using the hidden key I unlocked the padlock and opened the doors to the treasure box. WOW!
Opening the double doors I was struck with a marvellous mixed aroma of oil, wood scraps, metal filings and just plain dust. It was enough to send me into a trance. It took a few moments to get me back to my explorations. Inside on the right door were three wood saws, I learned later one was a huge ‘Rip’ saw and the other two ‘Cross cuts.’ On the inside of the other door were two auger drills one much larger than the other. In a box just near them were auger and other drill bits of varied sizes. There were four deep shelves in the cupboard, the lower one had three wood ‘block’ planes, an 8 inch, a 12 inch and a huge 16 inch. I had seen dad use each of them to plan boards, ‘straight, level and square’ as he put it.The middle shelf held at least a couple of dozen boxes of nails and screws of all sizes and driving type. On the next shelf was a dusty pile of tools ranging from screw drivers to pliers and an assortment of wrenches, including a giant pipe wrench so heavy I could barely lift it. Sadly, I could never get to that top shelf.
But then, one day, I found myself peering down that top shelf and seeing a hidden treasure: a pair of old leather speed skates. The leather was wrinkled and worn from use and the blades were at least 14 or 15 inches long and coated with a thin layer of rust. Mom had once told me that dad had speed skated and here was the proof. And now this became a place for one of my favourite pastimes with dad, sitting beside him with a cup of cocoa and listening to tales of his boyhood.
The cellar was still scary, but that adventure made the excursion worthwhile. I would do it again, as soon as I got over dad’s scolding for going into his sacred tool cupboard.
