Dad's Slides: Two Early Breyers and an Earthquake

Just as I'd hoped, a slide of me with some of my earliest Breyers has been found. The box of slides this one came from is labeled 1968, so that would make make this my eleventh birthday. 

Hercules, the Clydesdale with gold bobs is on the left, and Torpedo, the Western Horse is on the right.

Both pieces are still with me and proudly displayed on my shelves.

Torpedo has an interesting story behind him. One day I was playing with my carpet herd, sitting on the floor next to their shelf. Torpedo was still on the shelf, and his reins were hanging down (like they are in the photo above.) 

Suddenly, those reins began swinging back and forth. I remember being very surprised - I had not been touching the shelf and no one else was in the room with me. What was going on? 

It was an earthquake! Centered in southeastern Illinois, it struck on Saturday, November 9, 1968 at 11:02 AM and measured 5.4 on the Richter scale. The red dot with the arrow is West Lafayette, where I lived then and where I live now.

We've had three more earthquakes that I have felt and can remember since then - 1987, 2008, and 2010. I was nowhere near Torpedo during those to check his reins and see if they were swinging, but I would imagine they were.

As I remember this story from my past with Torpedo, I look around at the other vintage models I own, models that I have found in antique shops, on eBay, and in other places. I wonder what stories they could tell?