Written on 16 January 2010 concerning events the evening previous
I’m down on my knees giving directions and keeping things on track – literally. Two gradeschool boys are at the controls of the three O-27 gauge trains around our Christmas tree. (Yes, I know it is a little late for Christmas trees, but when you have trains, you prolong the season.) Wrecks happen regularly. The lower level tracks aren’t tied down and shift just enough so the engine catches the corner of the station platform. I’m crawling around putting things back together. The boys are very helpful and catching on fast. They seem to be having a lot of fun too. They even pitched in on the hard work of wiping down an oily track and digging detached cars out of the back tunnel. Another time around and an old Lionel track comes apart. One time the engine caught some white gauze ‘snow,’ dragged it through the tunnel, and brought the tunnel portal crashing down on the train. I try to discourage intentional wrecks but…. Sharing model trains with kids is so much fun. A three year old sister who has been watching hesitantly tonight decides she has watched long enough and grabs the throttle. She figured out how it ran pretty quickly. One young man was pretty creative with his consists and decided to try running the inner train in the other direction. I liked the way it looked.