Restoration Project

My dad made me a wooden train set when I was very young, possibly around 3 or 4, I'm not sure. Anyway, it was a great little set that he slaved over while working in the ship yards. It served a second purpose by converting into roller-skates, well two of the three carriages did.

Ben and Sam, my brother and sister came along and they too had some fun from this train. As I got older I wanted to do things my way and so the train got repainted, my way. It was a stupid move as I ruined it. What started off a good idea in my head turned this lovely train into a red blob. As I continued to get older, the poor thing got relegated into the darkness of long term storage - forgotten but not gone.

Years went by and so it came to be that mam and dad wanted to clear some clutter from the loft. Out came the red train and back into my possession. It had remained in this sorry state for at least 30 or so years!

Dylan took a liking to it when showed him. It's probably the only remaining toy from my childhood that I kept. It was good to see it being enjoyed by my son as it has a very sentimental attachment to me now and I've regretted the damage and paint job it suffered. I vowed at some point to restore it to its former glory. But more years went by with this in the back of my mind. So this past week I've done what I should have done a long time ago.

I dismantled the engine as far as I could get it without damaging it further, sanded the paint back to reveal the original paint to remind me how it looked and got to work on restoring it. The damaged roof was patched up, the pin holes and cracks filled and finally it was repainted back to the way my dad had intended all those years ago. It's not as good as my dad's handy work but it's as close to it as I could get.

Now when I look at it I feel happy and sentimental seeing it sitting on the side with its new shiny paintwork and colours. I only wish I'd kept the carriages, though I'd avoid skating on them this time!