Paula White
Northern News Services

INUVIK (May 28/99) - Bob Henderson has always wanted a model train set.

When, as an adult, he looked into buying one and discovered how expensive they were, he decided to try to build one himself.

Scads of coffee grounds, oodles of glue and paint and umpteen wooden skewers later...he had his own.

"I always liked trains, but I couldn't afford one," Henderson laughed. "I always dreamed of having a railroad when I was a kid. But it's expensive."

The train cars themselves, along with anything else mechanical or electrical were purchased from a hobby shop down south. But most everything else, including the buildings and the scenery, was made by Henderson, with help from his imagination and his 11-year-old son Robbie.

"We're usually at it at the same time. I like him with me," Henderson said. "Like, I'll make the stuff and he'll paint it."

The family has only been living in Inuvik since November, having moved from Rankin Inlet, but this is actually their second time living in Inuvik. The first time was from 1992-'95. It was then that Robbie (who was only five years old at the time) and his dad built their first model train set.

"Took a little longer," Henderson laughed. "Not as long now."

Robbie remembers that first model set very well.

"It didn't have the signs or the people or the McDonald's," he pointed out.

In 1995, when the Hendersons moved to Rankin Inlet, father and son took what they could of that first train set. The only thing they couldn't take, Henderson said, was the base and everything that was glued to it. They had to build that from scratch when they got to Rankin.

There are two sets of tracks. One is for a passenger train, complete with locomotive. The other is for a freight train, hauling a cargo of gravel. Several buildings and other items are set up around the tracks, including a church, a small strip mall and, yes, a McDonald's restaurant.

Henderson used the coffee grounds for the small piles of soil bordering the tracks, sweeping compound for grass, and display board to build the church and other buildings. He used toothpicks to build antennae and wooden skewers to construct a bridge.

"You just think of what to use," Henderson said. "It's more fun making your own."

But building it certainly didn't happen overnight.

"You just do a little bit at a time," Henderson said. "You don't want to rush it, because then it's done."

For trees, Henderson had used sprigs of fern found in flower shops, but he hit an unexpected snag with that idea.

"The cat ate it," he said. "We caught him this morning."

Eventually, Henderson and Robbie would like to expand the tracks. The lay-out currently fills almost half of an upstairs bedroom in their townhouse.

"(We'll) squeeze mom out of (her) bedroom," Henderson joked.

The Henderson's train set appears to be making a name for itself around Inuvik. Twenty-one children from a Grade 1 class from Sir Alexander Mackenzie school were treated to a recent viewing.

"(They were) well- behaved, very polite," Henderson said. "They were very excited."