choo choo

 I have always been fascinated by trains

    Big trains.  Little trains.  Medium sized trains,.

    I have parts of a Lionel set from when I was a child.  I need a locomotive and a tender, but when I went to buy one, it was expensive.  I don't know what I would do with it, honestly.

    I always thought when I retired I would build a layout in the basement with mountans, rivers, little villages.... but it turns out I am not that kind of person.

    I love riding the train into Chicago, even though it takes too long.  I loved riding the TGV from Paris to Geneva, sailing through the country side at 120 mph.  Someday I hope to ride the train to the West Coast.

    But my biggest fantasy .....  the one I need millions to fulfill....involves trains once found at kiddlylands and amusement parks across the land.

    I want a kiddyland size train.  Seriously.  I want to have a train I can sit on and drive, wearing my engineer's hat and my grey and white striped bib overalls.  I want to be able to blow the whistle and say, "All Aboard!"  drawing out the board part so it sounds like "boooooaaaaarrrrrrrrrd."

    I want 50 acres of land, with trees and a creek, so I can run  tracks through my wilderness.

    That dream was revived today with a story in the Tribune.

    The train that ran at a kiddyland in Chicago is for sale.  This was around Harlem and Irving and was open until 1964, so I suppose my folks took me there once or twice when I was a kid.

    According to the article, the train was found in a man's collection up in Michigan.  He evidently had severeal trains and his wife told him it was time to downsize his collection.

    So he sold it.  A museum bought it with the idea of restoring it and running it, but Covid derailed those plans.  (Clever pun, eh?)

    Now it is available for about $30,000, which includes 2 one ton engines, passenger cars and an obvservation car.

    The track will cost me an additional $10,000 for  3,160 feet, not exactly enough to get around my 50 acre plot.

    The bad news is there is more restoration work to be done, about $10,000 worth.

    Then there is the cost of buying more track and installing it,   building bridges, adding a tunnel.....and buying the land and you can see why I would need a million or more.

    True,  money can not buy happiness, but it could buy a cool toy to tour my 50 acres.

    Whoooooo!     Whooooo!

    Chug a chug a chug a chuga

Peace and Love