Good Evening all,
I am writing this post, the first in what I hope is many about a great opportunity that I have been given and that I hope you all can help me with. About three weeks ago I was approached by a local family at church about helping to fix an old train set. This is not unusual for me, and so I started to gather information. As I got the background story I became inspired to do more than just fix a train set, I hope that I can instill a lifelong hobby in a young boy named Joey. Joey is a foster child who has been placed long term with a great set of parents who are also working to raise three other foster children. If that was not enough, all four children have learning disabilities including Joey.
Joey is a great 11 year kid, who has a really deep love of trains. So how does American Flyer play into all of this? The foster father was given a set of American Flyer trains when he was younger. The set includes a 370 GP-7 and 282 C&NW steam locomotive. At some point, an attempt to make the trains run again and give Joey a small layout in his bedroom resulted in some mis-wiring, missing parts, etc. I have tackled the project and am currently in the process of overhauling both locomotives. I also will be donating some of my extra Flyer track to the project (98% of what I own is modern Lionel). We are also working with the family to build Joey a 4x4 or 4x6 layout for his bed room.
This forum in the past has really stepped up to the plate with the trains for kids program and other adventures. I would like to ask for your help in helping me give Joey a great American Flyer layout without putting a financial burden on his family. What I am looking for is a few small equipment and layout supply donations. Very simple operator quality items such as a pair of switches, some extra link coupler rolling stock, crossing flasher, Plasticville buildings, 90 degree cross over, crane (Joey specifically asked if I could find him a crane), etc. Things to make a very basic layout with some play value. If you would be willing to help out, please reply here or email me directly at DerekThomas1 at Gmail dot com I will continue to post updates, and any ideas that you wish to contribute to the project would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Derek Thomas
