My second blog - The Train

OK, now my kids are saying "Dad, you don't have to tell them which number it is". I know that, I just wanted you to know I knew what you'd say.

The train thing all started YEARS ago. When I was a little kid, we didn't have room for a train set in our house. However, my Grandma and Grandpa D. had one that Ty and I played with for hours.

KJ had come along and used all the extra space. Plus, my parents didn't want to get rid of Ty like I suggessted. By the time we had a bigger (much bigger) house, I was a teenager and into other interests (community service, Save the Forest, PETA, church...just to name a few).

I always figured I'd have kids that would want a train and I could get THEM one. Well, that never happened. Oh, I have the kids...they just didn't ever want a train set. One Christmas about 4 years ago Shirley, Kaitlyn, & Sean gave me a train set. It had an engine and 5 cars counting the caboose. It fit nicely on the dining room table. Eventually, for reasons I still don't understand, I had to move it from the table. I brought a piece of plywood into the family room and set it on there. The plywood was bigger than the table so I needed more track. When I got that set up, I had more track than room so I added onto the original 4X8 sheet of plywood. Do you see a pattern here?

Eventually, one level wasn't enough and the saw horses were too wobbly so I made a table on casters and added a 2nd level....and a third. My goal was to get the train to go from one level to another. Trains are very touchy. Any bump in the track, incline or decline, or too short of a curve and they derail. After spending a summer on that, I came to realize that it wasn't going to work and just stayed with the 3 levels. The 3rd level was hard to see but the other 2 worked well. The only problem is that as soon as you walked into the family room, you'd see it. My kids weren't exactly happy with that and I'd have to agree. Although, they did enjoy running the trains, too. It was fun that when any children (young or young at heart) came to our house they'd wanted to see it run. Ty's son Justin was particularily interested.

This summer I tore the whole thing down and we rearranged our family room. Now the train will be in the corner (entire west wall). Oddly enough, that spot is bigger. The space I eventually was allowed, after many hours of negotiation, is roughly 6X12. Formerly, I had 5X9. Yes, I'll need more track.