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After getting home from our California trip so many decades ago I was so enamored with Big Thunder Mountain Railroad that I got my father to design me a corner of the massive train table he was planning for his basement.  He was a huge and very talented model railroader and my Big Thunder Mountain would have had trains that looked just like those of the coaster.  We found engines that matched and then we modified some rolling stock to look just like the passenger cars. 



Had the train table been built a little corner of Big Thunder Mountain would have sat in my fathers basement for me to go back and enjoy.  It is a little bit hard looking back in my mind at my father because there was so much he wanted to do but never actually did.  He was amazingly talented at painting and detailing his models down to the most minute detail.  Instead of doing something that he loved it was easier to just plop down on the couch and watch hours of mindless television drivel while failing to take care of himself for the last decade of his life.  It would have been great to have seen his train table with my little homage to Big Thunder Railroad but after failing to take care of his health, refusing to exercise, ignoring diabetes, smoking like a chimney and refusing to eat anything healthy he passed away at 47 with a garage stuffed with trains and models waiting to be taken out of the box.



Right now I am older than he ever made it to be and one of the things that I learned by watching him was that if you want to do something actually do it.  Drawing up plans, purchasing thousands of dollars worth of models and trains is a waste unless you are actually going to do it. 



Life is short.  If you want to do something then do it.



Just look at the park that I was visiting.  No one but Walt thought a Disney amusement park was going to work.  Banks weren't lining up to invest in "Walt's folly" and he couldn't get the money from his own company.  Walt Disney gambled and took money out of his life insurance , created Walt Disney, Inc. as a way to sell off his merchandise rights, he got a few big name sponsors to pay for attractions and then finally created a TV show for ABC called "Disneyland" all to pay for the creation of Disneyland.

If you have something you want to do...be like Walt and just do it.



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Copyright 1999 - 2024

Paul B. Drabek