I spent most of the day laying Gargraves Track. I have used Gargraves for every layout I ever built, all five. I started thinking this will be my last layout, at least large layout. As I was screwing down the track I remembered Christmas day in 1952. I was eight years old. My Pop and his pal had spent half the night trying to put Gargraves down for a large carpet layout. You see, the train store in Los Angeles had a layout using the track and that's all I talked about. It looked so real. Only problem was my Dad and his pal didn't know how to use any tools. Of course when they bent the track for a curve the rails wouldn't match. My Dad didn't own a wood saw much less the the fine tooth kind you used to cut track. They ended up just laying the track down but I couldn't run my pride and joy, a 1948 Lionel 2026. We never did get the track to work for me but I kept it for many years. I also remember the year before when I wanted a crossing gate for Christmas. Again my Dad and his pal thought they couldn't get the darn thing to work and he told me how sorry he was because the gate kept coming down cross the track when the train came. I told him it worked fine. It was to stop cars from crossing the track, not stop the train.
He wasn't a very emotional kind of guy. He worked at a bank full time and had three hot dog stands so I didn't get to see him much. But I knew he loved me.
See how building a layout can be more of a wonderful experience that we even imagine? By the way this was one of his hot dogs stands right before he bought it. It's on the far right. It became "Don's Hot Dogs".
Don
