| A hug is the price of admission to this train exhibit |
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By: ERIN EDGEMON, Business Editor
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Posted: Sunday, December 7, 2008 7:39 am
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TMP Photo by Kelly Hite. Ben, Ellis and Sanders Young eyes light up as their grandfather Bud starts up his trains.
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Four-year-old Ellis Young squeals “woo, woo” as she watches her grandfather’s model trains run along their track and through a mountain tunnel.
She holds onto her 2-year-old cousin, Sanders, who sits absolutely still, his eyes fixed on the Thomas the Tank Engine as it passes through the model Alpine Village constructed by his grandfather.
Sanders’ father, Brad, said his son could spend countless minutes watching the model trains or life-size trains, for that matter.
With amusement in his eyes, the young children’s grandfather, Herbert “Bud” Young, observes their delight in watching his three trains speed along the track.
But if he were being honest, Young would admit he gets as much enjoyment out of watching the locomotives he sets up as his grandchildren do.
His wife, Peggy, said thoughts of building new structures for his model railroad often keep him up nights.
Some of the train cars Bud has set up have been in his possession since he was in seventh or eighth grade, which was around 1949 or ’50, he said.
Bud began setting up his train sets in his Riverview subdivision home about eight years ago, long before his two sons, Davis and Brad, were planning to have their own children.
He began by setting up a train around a traditional Christmas tree— trimmed in old-fashioned ornaments — purchased from the Boys & Girls Club.
The tradition continued to grow every year.
Now, the model railroad — set up on a 5-foot-by-10-foot table — takes up a large section of the couple’s sunroom.
Bud begins setting up the trains in October and takes them down in February. He would love to keep them up longer, but by the spring his wife is longing to have her sunroom back.
During the holiday season, friends’ grandchildren, the children of their sons’ friends and other neighborhood children come to watch the trains.
This largely serves as a time where Bud can talk about his Polar Express train pulled by a steam engine and a freight train pulled by a diesel engine. But, opening their home allows Peggy to show off her other Christmas decorations and serve her famous homemade toffee.
The warm grandfather said the only thing he requires for children to see the trains is a hug.
“That is the price of admission,” he said.
Erin Edgemon can be reached at 869-0812 and at eedgemon@murfreesboropost.com.
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