Lazing the Day Away, with Trains

So last Sunday was one of those long lazy days that can do so much to recharge the batteries. I had nothing much to do, and nowhere to go, and no one to meet, and I made sure to take the absolute fullest advantage of it.

In the morning, for a few hours, I took out the old Lionel O-gauge trains that have been sitting my basement ever since we cleared out my parents' basement two years ago. I don't normally like tasks that involve lots of packing and unpacking, but this one was genuinely fun. Probably because I never knew what I would find in each new box.

There were 50 or 60 pieces of track, two big engines and a smaller steam engine replica, about two dozen boxcars and flatcars, and four cabooses. There was even a box of landscaping materials and buildings, all to the same scale as the trains.

Once I had it all unpacked, and out on the floor, I set up a loop of track about 3 feet across, hooked a control unit to it, and plugged everthing in. I tried out all three locomotives, and all the cabooses; I was pleasantly surprised to discover that they were all in working order, with no burned out lights or malfunctioning horns. Other than a strong smell of ozone when the trains were running, everything seemed tip top.

With that in mind, I started planning the next project: I'm going to get the trains back in operation. Dad would appreciate it.