Trains

A long time ago I gave up my office space so that Far Guy could spread out…he was stuck in the back room upstairs.   I no longer needed a large office space.

I encouraged him to build the shelf storage area on the wall…it is great for display and keeps the dust off some of the train cars.

This replica of the water tower in Park Rapids is a new addition.   I walked by it one day with an armload of “stuff” and realized it is not fastened down.  I think it is a little tall, but he researched the height and width and made it to scale.  He carved it on the wood lathe.

Here is the engine coming out the covered bridge,  a few hoboes are resting near the green caboose. The water tank he built many years ago… candle wax made great blue water.

Prisoners and cows occupy one corner of the layout….note the cop car!

The wall cabinet should have been larger.

His work station…I see an ambulance still in its package and another water tower still in a box.

He has lots of “stuff” to dust.

The Drive In Theater had so many cars it finally got its own table.

Far Guy collects Lionel Trains and Cars O Scale,  he received a used train set for Christmas when he was about ten years old…he played “trains” often and finally all that remained was the engine and the tender when he began to collect all of the missing cars that had been blown up or started on fire…you know typical  “boy” stuff. ( FYI he can still recall the hole in the side of the tanker car after it started on fire.)

I think there may be just a few extra train cars under the table…just a hunch.

Trains

We went up to Thief River Falls Minnesota to a train show on Sunday.  We drug the Grand boys and their parents with us.   Far Guy even won a subscription to a Train magazine.

Since I worked on Saturday..we missed the first day of the show..it was held in a Hockey Arena.  That is an old Marx train headed into the silver trestle.  The show was okay, not fantastic..but sometimes it is all about the networking..I met two very talkative men and found out about a few train shows coming up in North Dakota and in Canada.  The Antique Shops were all closed on Sunday..but Dairy Queen was open! 

We stopped for a photo op, the train displayed is very much like the train engine that Far Guy has upstairs. 

What were we looking for at the Train Show?  I was looking for cows with little stands that have little bumps on them.. Far Guy was just looking..it is interesting to see what different people have.  I think Far Guy bought an O scale truck that he will fix up and repurpose. If I had known how much his train collection was going to grow..we would have designed a room around a train set.

One of Far Guys friends from high school gave him his old train set from the 1950’s… a whole train set..can you believe it?  I couldn’t, I said “Surely he wants it for his grands?”  Apparently not..  Far Guy will just have to build more shelves.  He has lots of new to him “stuff” up there…someday I will take more photos and count all his train cars.  Pre war..post war..HO and O..I am getting to know all this train talk:)

A Hobby Gone Wild

Far Guy has  only a few hobbies. He makes “stuff” for me..like custom built furniture and cabinets and he enjoys woodcarving..and knife making, at least before he tried to cut his finger off.  He now has a special glove and he can grasp with his fingers for a short time..not long…he carved a bit yesterday at our carving get together.

Saturday we went to St Cloud to The Granite City Train Show.  Talk about a packed place.  Far Guy knew what he wanted..I picked out a few things for him..some old Marx light towers..and some plastic brown telephone poles. I am all about the accessories.  He walked by one table and said “I used to have this car as a kid. I think we blew it up with firecrackers and it accidently started on fire so it had a hole melted in it.”  For ten bucks he is back in business with that car again.

The building was wall to wall people and it was hard to walk..I was scanning the building for emergency exits..so I went outside and sat down for awhile. I had fun talking to the “train guys” outside having their lunch at a picnic table.  They oohed and ahhed when they found out that my husband has his trains upstairs..they were both basement dwellers.

When I returned inside I finished looking at the tables that I missed. I noticed Far Guy way over in the next aisle…checking out his billfold..counting.  I knew he had two things that he wanted, a Scrambler..and I knew he didn’t have that much money on him.  The other thing I had no hope that he would ever find..but he did.

 

It is a Lionel 1958 Desoto Rail Inspection Car..yes siree he wiped out his entire stash, and was grinning from ear to ear.  It was a great find.  He set his train off the track to run this baby around solo..it is a beauty.

He started out with one small shelf along this wall a few years back. Last year he designed and built this cabinet to house the extra cars that were not running on the track…it is now full.

He has been busy fixing and repairing all winter, the helicopter car is fully operational now.  The car carrier is filled with little cars, the hospital car is white again, and the missile car is loaded with missiles, the crane car works, and all the flat cars are loaded.

He “thinks” he may have enough train “stuff” for awhile. He did say that he has some doubles..and maybe he should get a table at next years train show and sell some of his duplicates. I think he should just build another cabinet to go on another wall.  His hobby certainly has developed..into a hobby gone wild:) 

Trains

A long, long time ago a little boy received a used train set for Christmas. It was a Lionel train and he was about eight years old. It was a complete train set.. an Engine (It had a spot to drop in special tablets to make smoke and everything), a coal tender, a milk can car that rolled the cans off of the car, an oil tanker car, a log car that hauled logs and dumped them, one car had a helicopter that rode on the car..you could wind it up and fly it off of the car and a Caboose that would light up. Not all of these cars survived a small boy and his neighborhood pals..some cars were blown up with firecrackers, one car was lost in an unexpected and huge fire in the basement it seemed that clothespins doused in lighter fluid will start a really good fire. Some cars were sold off for spending money, some were given away. Only two remained. The Engine and the Coal Tender...we carted around a box marked train set..for years.

We never really had room to set up a train, and Far Guy was busy with other hobbies. When we lived in North Dakota he finally had room to set it up in the basement. We built a mountain and bridges..our scenery was awesome. I bought him a caboose one year for his birthday..50 bucks for one caboose..but it was in great shape! Then we moved, and it all went back into a box marked Train Set again..we needed a larger box.

The Train Set stayed in that box until recently, with building the house and building furniture and cabinets..it always was a "someday project". Far Guy was all set to build something upstairs.. remember we don't live upstairs..we live downstairs. I used to have my office up there, I tossed, and sorted for weeks. We hauled out my huge oak desk, there was finally room for Far Guys Trains. He built a table on wheels, it is a four by eight sheet of plywood. He can go up there and play engineer whenever he likes. His train hobby is a work in progress. He has two trains now, his old Lionel which is O scale and a HO model train that I gave him one year for Christmas. Right now they are on the same board..I think that another board should be built on wheels so that it can be stored underneath the original one..it could be wheeled out whenever. The best part of any hobby is shopping for bargains and looking for ideas. Far Guy found an original Lionel Train Station at a garage sale this past summer, amongst a bunch of toys..it was a whole dollar. A nice bargain!!

Since Far Guys Train Transformer is very old, he has a special light hooked up for a signal that the train sets power is still on..he has it hooked to an old Tilt-a- Whirl piece of scenery. If it is lit up, then the trains power is still on. I think it is pretty cool and it goes well with some of his other treasures that he enjoys on the wall behind his train set.

Recently he has been working on some model airplanes..that is an entirely different project. He has a number of hobbies and interests..I think you have to have something to occupy your time during the long winters we have up here.  We have been to lots of different train and hobby shops all over the country, each one is an adventure:) 
*** Far Guy just looked at these photos that I took this morning..He said "Oh my, guess I better dust! "