My partner and I spent much of the last two days trying to get a fifty-year-old electric train to run around our Christmas tree (aka our non-denominational holiday bush) for our train-obsessed son. The trains are part of my ancestral set, which belonged to my uncle, then my brother and me. They’re nothing fancy–low-end O-scale Lionel steam locomotives and a few plastic freight cars, but the engines are cast metal and have a nice hefty feel to them.
The trains have been sitting in my parents’ basement for about 25 years. We dusted them off, opened up the engines and poked around, and watched one of them stutter around the corroded, rusted track. The other didn’t seem to want to move, except briefly, and backwards. We finally went to a local train-and-hobby shop, where they told us one engine was probably out of commission for good, but the other would go nicely on new track. We duly bought eight straight pieces and eight curves, hooked them up at home, and presto! Chugga, chugga. The little guy will be ecstatic when he sees them.
Now if we can keep ourselves from diving into model railroading as a hobby, we’ll actually retain what little free time we have. It involves lots of good things that we like, though: electric circuits, model painting, power tools, and a good helping of creativity. Hope our son’s interest continues, so we have an excuse to keep playing.