When Phoebe arrived to our place to day I called her to the shop. She happily complied as she almost always does. But today was special - it was the day we've been anticipating for a very long time. Since before she was born, almost twelve years ago I had been building on the train. A few years later she rode on the engine and cars on a couple hundred feet of track, but it was always me pushing and it was always very hard work! We made countless trips through the years and had a lot of fun but the question always was "When will the train go by itself?" And the answer always was "We'll work on it." Building trains it seems takes a great deal of money or a great deal of time. Money has never been in abundance and time was often scarce as well. This meant the train had to wait it's turn. Today was finally the day that Phoebe would get her very first ride with me sitting in the cab of the engine beside her and not pushing. I had put the train on the track last night and hooked a riding car behind it in anticipation of the happy occasion. Four of our crew volunteered to be our passengers. The journey was short but a complete success. Now it is time to lay the rest of the track around the yard...