I remember when the train set was first built. We were still living in Trenton, so I was younger than nine. My dad spent lots of time getting the trains and the buildings right. It was a Christmas surprise one year, and the train set had pride of place in our large basement. Many of the buildings (like the bakery and butchery shop above) were built by my grandfather.
When we moved the new house had no basement. This posed a dilemma for the train set. But my dad figured a way around that. He set it up in the boys room on a table that could lift into the wall. Part of the year the train set was down and working, other times it would be stored away (it couldn't be stored away daily or anything like that - too much stuff to take off the set).
As Leo grew and the older boys lost interest, the train set moved to Leo's room, where it stayed for awhile, only eventually to be taken down and dismantled. I don't remember if the train set got set up again when the older boys moved out on their own.
But when my parent's moved to a different house about 11 years ago they had a basement that was just right for trains. And they had something else: grandchildren (okay, one at the time - but more were to follow).
Since then the train set has taken on various forms - at one point the set took up most of the basement. It has shrunk down to a more manageable size now and Harry has learned how to operate the trains - which he makes sure he does whenever we visit Ammy and Grampy's house.
All of the grandkids enjoy watching the trains. I'm sure when Baby T is a little older he'll love watching them too!
And since my Dad is about to retire - who knows what he might do with it next!
2 comments:
I've heard that some people build garden railroads, outside, with separate buildings and scenery and stuff.
Do you think Mom would let you take over her gardens?
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