Back in the 1950s and through the ’60s the great place to do in Tacoma, Washington was Rhodes Department Store. The big store downtown was a treasure chest of cool things. But, at Christmas time the coolest of the cool was up in the toy department.
The Milwaukee Railroad sponsored, I guess you might say, an electric train ride for the kids. When I road it, it ran in a modified dog-bone shape. With a loop at either end of the toy department there was a connector straight in between. You would board at the “station” and ride out and back. There was even a tunnel to go through!
You can see an original photo of the train by clicking here. The link leads to the Tacoma Public Library Web site and the page with the photo, so check it out.
The photograph above is of a holiday decoration that I have been working on. It is inspired by the electric train at Rhodes. When it is done, there will be the engine you see here, two regular passenger cars, a dome car, and a lounge car. I think it will be close to twenty feet long. The decorative train will be placed in the lawn along with an earlier “Santa train” that I made a couple of years ago.
I will let you know how it goes!