Grandkids visit the In-ko-pah Railroad

[Ray Dunakin]

Our son and his family came out recently from Texas. As always, the grandkids had fun with the railroad: They like to be helpful too. Serenity enjoyed pulling small stone tiles off of the fiber backing, for later use in the construction of scale buildings: Breaking rocks was another popular way to help. For some reason, they really like "washing" the rocks: Of course, the train was used for the transportation of dinosaurs, baby dolls and stuffed toys: If anyone's interested, there are more pics of their visit on my website.

[ttrigg]

OK: Now I'm jealous! Here I am stuck in Scripps Green, just 5~8? miles away and you have the grandkids over! ( just putzing with you.) Looks as if some serious fun was had by all. Truly an excellent method of sharing the hobby, and hooking another generation into the hobby.

(For the rest of you, Scripps Green is a hospital here in San Diego, my room overlooks Torrey Pines (Golf Course (i.e. U.S. Open, Tiger Woods et. al.) and the setting sun on the Pacific Ocean.)

[gbbari]

Ray, those pictures do you proud. That's what it's all about. I like the photos of the train hauling stuffed critters and plastic dinosaurs better than any scale model layout. And the looks on the grandkids faces says it all.

Kudos to you for having them get into the layout and having fun. It's risky with kids but with gentle adult guidance (not barking orders) and a lot of tolerance and forgiveness (when honest accidents happen), it can be a real joy. One of my granddaughters in her excitement accidently kicked an LGB Stainz about two feet off the track. I dusted it off and put it back on - it runs fine. Yeah my heart skipped a beat but I held my tongue. Of course SWMBO guided her away from the danger zone to a "better place to see the trains".

By the way, you probably don't think twice about them but there seems to be a live mini "dinosaur" in the vertical shot with your kids standing above the train (2nd to last pix). Its on a rock on the lower left.

[Ray Dunakin]

Thanks Tom! Sorry to hear about the hospitalization; I hope you'll soon be well and running trains again.

[GearDrivenSteam]

Ray, you have a great looking family! I know yall had a wonderful time.

 

Tom, will be keeping you in our prayers. Hope you get well soon.

[Independent Operator]

I've said it before and I'll say it agian.  You have one great layout there.  Every time I see new pictures of it I get the urge to go out to my back yard with a sledgehammer and beat the cr** out of my layout

[ttrigg]

Ray Dunakin

Thanks Tom! Sorry to hear about the hospitalization; I hope you'll soon be well and running trains again.

Love my doctor.  He has been looking over this site and my albums over on Photobucket and YouTube.  When he released me this morning, he included a prescription (regular Rx pad) requiring a minimum of 3 hours per day of train operations or building construction for ten days.  (that got the wife p'ed) No structures over two stories tall.  It's nice to live in a "high tech town" where the hospital is WIFI'ed.

[ttrigg]

Ray:

One more thing, while I was stuck in the hospital, like I said I had shown your work with my doctor.  I must have had at least 40 other doc's show up asking to see your site. Nurses began showing up during their breaks, and even some "suit" types.  One of the nurses wrote down you link and zeroxed it to pass around.  If you have a hit counter, you should be seening a lot of activity.  Even though we have not met face to face, I still claimed you as a freind.  The last couple of nights, I left the laptop on and on your site so they could look at it without waking me.