Summer time and the living is easy…

Actually, the living is mostly taking place outside so I haven’t spent much time in the basement. Jay continues to live in the basement, but he’s been working on various wood working projects.

So the trains are kind of on a hiatus.

Part of the problem is that I got frustrated because I wasn’t getting the finish on the bricks that I wanted. I’m not an artist and so this is a challenge for me. I can be a bit too much like my dad sometimes so when I get frustrated it’s best to walk away for a bit before something gets broken.

Luckily, Jay hasn’t seen that side of me very often…

While I was in Atlanta I managed to find one train store to visit. I wanted to surprise Jay with some interesting finds. Unfortunately this place was 95% H scale stuff so there wasn’t much of the N scale variety to choose from.

I did find this picket fence, which I thought was adorable.

And then I spotted…..

… N Scale tombstones!! These were so adorable that I couldn’t bring myself to leave them behind. Hmm… I might be the first one to refer to tombstones as ‘adorable’. Look at them! I still giggle when I see them. Jay works with The Big O who really couldn’t wrap his head around how tiny this stuff is, so these are perfect for me to show you the scale.

See how tiny they are!! Aren’t they adorable?!

I do have big hands, but they aren’t freakishly huge so hopefully you can understand how small these little guys are.

Now I just need a church so that I can put these in the church’s yard with the picket fence!

I also found some vehicles for the layout. The box said that these are Toyotas, although they look awful big to be Toyotas. I don’t recall Toyota making a land cruiser like that. It doesn’t matter, though, as I will not allow any Government Motors vehicles in the house, so these are definitely Toyotas.

And look at how tiny they are!! I think that I read somewhere your thumb is about an inch long between the knuckle and the end of your finger. So, theoretically, this little car is only about an inch long.

Here is one of the store fronts from the town.

When I’m feeling tiny and insignificant I go downstairs and play The Amazing One Thousand Foot Woman with the train set. “Ha ha ha ha… you silly little people! Try to run! I’ll crush you like ants!”

Actually, I don’t like to crush ants. Due to their exoskeletons they are extra crunchy and the whole sensory experience makes me want to throw up.

So just how small are these buildings? Here is the hotel that I’ve been working on sitting next to a regular 12 oz pop can.

Does that not really tell you much?

Okay… how about this? This four story building is barely 4 inches tall…

And just a smidgen over 5 inches.

Actually, it’s pretty close to 5 inches. As you can see I was a bit sloppy with my measuring. In my defense, though, I only measured once and I didn’t cut anything… so I’m still good.

I’m not sure when I’ll have more Train Stuff to share with you. Perhaps towards the end of the month. There’s a rather large train show that is taking place a few hours from here and I think that we’re going to go. It is almost the 3rd anniversary of Jay being cigarette-free so this excursion will be his gift to celebrate the milestone.

Perhaps we’ll be able to find more of these for him at a much better price than what these cost. Otherwise I might have to go get a second job to keep spoiling him!