Run an electric train (or 2 or 3 ) around a Christmas tree.
My wife and I recently moved up into the Sierra Foothills and we’ve finally got some room in our house to set up both a quicky Christmas layout and a playhouse in the same room (our bedroom) for our grandkids. None of the grandkids has ever seen “The Wabash Cannonball” in action and, after setting the thing up and running it for a while, I think they’re going to be blown away. It’ll be especially effective with the room lights darkened. As for sound effects, while the exhaust chuff is only 2 per revolution and not all that authentic, the whistle is absolutely beautiful.
We have 4 grandkids (2 girls, 2 boys), 3 of which are old enough to get a kick out of this in part because all 3 are Thomas fans. The fourth is only 5 months old so it’ll be a couple of years for him. I plan to do this every Christmas, only each succeeding Christmas will be a bit more elaborate. The idea is to have fun with the grandkids (the primary reason), and also to create some good memories that hopefully will create one or more model railroaders in the future.
Since Grandpa’s HO equipment is packed away for a while (long and boring story about real estate transactions and moving), Grandpa is going to have to “make do” with the 3 rail stuff for the time being. Somehow, I don’t think it’s going to be as painful as originally thought. The great thing about being a grandparent is that no one raises an eyebrow when you act like a kid
It sounds like the grandkids will have a ball. I wasn’t aware one had to be a grandparent to act like he is eight…or have trouble getting up off the floor. [:)]
The main thing is you and the kids are having fun. Enjoy and kudos for bringing the younguns into the wonderful world of trains! [tup]
Cool, and a nice temporary setting, Andre. We have something similar, On30 from Bachmann in DC. For the first time this year, instead of around the tree, which ends up not working so well for our front room, I built a slightly modified 4X8 on 21" stilts that sits mostly in a bay window to help keep it out of the way.
Yeah, I will probably have something set up on a relatively low table for next year. The nice thing about the sheet is that it gives me a pretty good idea of how much I can fit in the room before it gives my wife fits and she pulls out the Riot Act with the intention of reading me the contents thereof. The sheet is a bit smaller than 8 ft long and a bit wider than 4 ft. It looks to me like I can go up to 6x10 and still leave plenty of space for other stuff. The room size itself is about 22 x 14.
Very nice, especially with the extended loop of track around the villiage. I run a Lionel Winter Wonderland set, but I seem to be the only one to appreciate now. After Santa sets out the present, it’s hard for the train to run. My little Dachhound shure likes chasing the train around until I blast the whistle. My kids are 18-22, I guess I’ll have to wait for those grand kids for me to be as excited as an 8 year old too…
You wouldn’t happen to be in Grass Valley, Auburn or Placerville would you? Ahhh, I miss Sacrademento! I lived there once before I made the fateful decision to move east and now I’m stuck in this hell hole called Syracuse.
Grandkids are great. They’re fun to be around and when they finally do start to be annoying, all you have to do is give them back to their parents.
They’re also a parent’s revenge. I was a single parent for a few years after my first wife died and I was raising two kids. My daughter, who has her husband and only one kid told me a couple of weeks ago that she couldn’t understand how I did it. I just grinned. It was one of those perfect moments when you realize that your kid is finally starting to “get” it.
You’ll have a lot of fun when you have grandchildren. It’ll keep you from becoming a grumpy auld phart before your time. Well, at least when the grandkids are around. It’s not only fun to play trains, it’s also fun at the age of 60+ to get down in the dirt, make roads and play with toy cars. Now, if I could only convince my wife that the grandkids really need that battery powered remote-control helicopter.
They sure make better toys than when I was a kid the first time.[(-D]
Andre I envy you your grandkids. The one in your signature is drop dead cute. If things go right I get a grandkid in June sometime. I can hardly wait. Only thing, he/she"ll be 300 miles away,but maybe thats a good thing. Meanwhile the little kids across the street that my wife babysits will have to do.
