The Christmas tree this year is a small living one. But, unfortunately, Max, our new dog, decided that the usual train tracks around the base of the tree were ideal for scattering all over the room. So the regular little train chugging around the tree was out.
Last year a friend had had one of these little toy train sets as a centerpiece on his table. So I picked one up last January for possible use at our house.
It has saved our “trains at Christmas tradition” in a tinker toy way. It’s not too ornamental and prompted a discussion about the Carreras family choo-choo train tradition. Unfortunately, it’s also not so quiet, and at the Christmas Eve buffet, we had to turn it off so the gathering could hear themselves think.
Since my sons and I are railroad buffs, it gave birth to a discussion on the prototype. Model railroaders come up with incredible mashups and strange things on their miniature layouts. The odd thing, however, is how often the real railroads wound up with some similarly bizarre piece of equipment or circumstance. So our conversation automatically turned to what the prototype for this train might have been.
We might have had too much of the rum-soaked fruitcakes. Gotta put a limit on how many slices you’re allowed before you’re shut off.
It looks well made, Lou, although perhaps not sufficiently well made to withstand the intervention of Max. It would not be Christmas without a train. Merry Christmas to you.