My fascination with model railways goes back a long way. From the time I read in books about people setting up their own model railways in their lofts to when I grew older and heard of actual miniature villages with working models of trains running through them. Unfortunately, the nearest I could get to a miniature train was one going round and round in a track. Later, thanks to an aunt and uncle living in the US, I got a small train, which chugged around on a track, with a little fellow sliding into the train midway and then being dropped off at a tiny station. It kept me engaged for hours on end, and was my prized possession for many years until I finally had to part with it when I went to college. With the arrival of the internet, I discovered the joys of you tube, and enjoyed seeing miniature trains running over well laid out railway lines, amidst beautifully constructed houses and realistic looking scenery. Going abroad to see one of these didn�t seem very feasible, so I turned my energies to making my own small version, for our navaratri golus. It did help that by then, Samhith had also become interested, and had his own Thomas the Tank Engine sets to play with! Our set today can fill up the entire house, and with our Lego blocks, we can happily make our own version of cities and villages, and with the number of cars and animals we have, we even manage to bring a semblance of life to it.
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| Our attempt at making a miniature city with a railway line running through it |
Yet, I still dreamt of one day going abroad to see one of the miniature cities!