Big Ideas in Miniature

During my junior high school years – grades 6 thru 8 – I became enchanted by model trains and built an HO-scale train table in the basement. There was a mountain and tunnel; a small town with roads; a rail siding with buildings and sheds. 

As my skills grew, so too the complexity of the layout.  Tools were foreign to my father so I did it all on my own.  Frustrated at times for no input I learned to be resourceful.  Long before google and you tube, I subscribed to “Model Railroading” magazine to see what other people were doing. 

There are no photos of the layout, nor do I remember any ever taken.  I was in my own world, away in the basement, which brought great contentment. A few of the buildings remain, now stored in a box in our basement. 

My son, of his own urging, has taken up a similar hobby, although his interest is heavy equipment and road construction.  He began at age 8 – in the 2nd grade – so I handled the carpentry, but at his design. The first table was a 4×8 plywood sheet, cut to have to drop wings, which he painted.  The table was placed just off our kitchen, a remarkably central location. 

During COVID to break the monotony he and I would drive around town looking for road construction. Delays were desired. By chance there was a major project at that time, replacing sewers along the main artery.  

Thus, a major renovation occurred on his table, the wings made permanently upright, a trench “cut” along the length, with the table raised 10” to create a space where he could lay down pipe in his imaginary world. 

The table has gone through many iterations and now he builds dioramas, small stages displaying workers building roads or the yard where tools and equipment are stored. 

The evolution of the table has been fascinating to watch, as he remains fully engaged building his dreams at his table in the hearth of our home. 

In other news, this week we had our first lesson in woodturning. Jose, a local woodworker, came to our workshop. A friend has loaned us a small lathe on which we turned a bowl made out of quilted maple, which I oiled and he presented to Mama.  In two hours, he experienced the mystery of making, the satisfaction of completion and the joy of gifting an object hand made. 

Dreams made manifest is an empowering experience.