My grandson Connor has been campaigning for a larger table for the Christmas train for a couple of years now and he has a point. Our little Christmas village has grown to full capacity. The circular track is of a smaller diameter than in previous years. We graduated from the battery operated train set to an electric train purchased by my late father over 25 years ago. This at Connor's request who asked if we could use Great-grandpa's train. At nine years old, Connor has matured to where he takes betters care of his nicer toys, in this case the family train. He and his sister Ava are very particular about where the buildings, trees, street lights and signs are placed. As you can see it's a cozy arrangement complete with specialty shops, a greenhouse, a small Inn, a church, a radio station and, what town is complete without a Walmart?
We had a blast setting things up yesterday in the newly remodeled "Mancave". Though the Browns memorabilia has not yet returned, the TV and sound system and some furnishings are in place. "Elf" was playing while we were setting up the train which now occupies about one-fourth of the room and probably will be the kids play area at least until the pub table gets repaired. As far as the train goes, it doesn't go for long. There's an issue with the transformer. I got some trouble shooting advice from John, formerly of John's Hobby Shop and I was able to increase "play time" from five minutes to over an hour before it came to a dead stop. We'll give it a day's rest and see if the cooling off period makes a difference.
I'm nowhere near the level of "train enthusiast" as say John , or Dad, or the late Paul Herlihy (remember his displays?) or the thousands of you out there. But I really enjoy the chance to make some memories with the grandkids. I wish Dad was here to make some, too. I suspect he's watching down and planning the expansion that Connor wants.