March 02, 2009

Perks of Being A Realtor...

Posted to Delavan

One of the joys of being a Realtor, are the unexpected “gifts” you receive from your listings as people leave their homes. In the case of my HO train set, a wonderful grandfather passed away and had no one to use the train layout. When I saw the layout, it was “love” at first sight. The layout is 12ft by 12ft, and I had no idea what I was getting myself into. The scenes on the layout related to my life. There is a water feature with a tug boat which reminds me of La Conner, which is north of Seattle where all the tulips are grown. My sister and I would shop and sit on the canal having wonderful seafood, while watching the boats and the lumber mill across the way. If you are lucky, you will see a group of seals that also inhabit the area. Next to “La Conner” on the layout is a lumber yard set at the bottom of a mountain like in Washington State.

Then comes the farm which reminds you of Wisconsin, as well as the town which reminds me of Delavan. We also have an extensive train yard, and a Shell Oil Refinery on the outside of town which is particularly important to my history because my Dad worked 40 years for Shell and was involved in building the refinery in Anacortes north of Everett. As you can see from the pictures of this layout taken just before we dismantled it, it was a very large project. It required sawing the table into quarters, shrink wrapping each piece, and having it professionally moved to our guest house to be hauled up the stairs into the “train” room. This “free” gift has become very expensive, but we are having fun. This is a great winter sport for Wisconsin as well as a great conversation piece. Click here to view more pictures.

Posted By: Maggie Goethal

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