I met my son and my grandson (Joel- 3 years old) at Corner Field today. Joel has a LionChief starter set that comes out at Christmas, that he loves, and he also enjoys seeing my O-gauge layout when he comes to visit "Grandpa's ChooChoo". But he obviously had never seen anything like the Elash's layout!!
It was great to see the wide eyes of the three year old when he first rounded the corner into the train room. Tom Elash Jr. (who obviously still has the "magic of trains" in his blood) put on quite a show for Joel- running a Challenger steamer on and off the turntable, blowing whistles, and running some "action cars" (the proverbial rail cop chasing the hobo car).
We had to move the step stool for Joel about every ten feet, and he would STUDY each area in front of him, pointing to all the construction and earth moving equipment, which is a particular love of his. We were there for over an hour, seeing the layout through one compete round of the (now HUGE) train room.
Then Joel wanted to go around and see (what I would call) his "high spots" for a second time - but alas, he was too tired and hungry, and we only went 20 or 30 feet of the second lap.
A great success!! I asked my son: "Did I overstate it??" He said "absolutely not - it is fantastic!!" AND I guess Joel has talked about little else since.
Corner Field has to be one of the "Do Not Miss" places on every model railroader's "road trip" list!!
