Laney’s boxcar has a home!

This weekend at the RPM meet in Greeley, I had a chance to run a freight car that means far more to me than its place in a train might suggest.

It’s my daughter’s graffiti boxcar.

There is something about model railroading that ties memories to physical things. A locomotive, a particular car, a stretch of track—sometimes they become more than models. They remind us of people, places, and moments in our lives.

Seeing her boxcar rolling around the layout this weekend was one of those moments for me.

At an RPM meet, we spend a lot of time thinking about and getting new ideas regarding prototype accuracy, weathering, details, paint schemes, and getting things to look right. I enjoy all of that. But this car doesn’t need to be perfect to be important. Its value isn’t measured by how accurately it represents a particular railroad or era.

For a little while, it was simply part of the train—rolling through the scenery, passing other cars, doing exactly what a freight car is supposed to do.

And yet, every time I saw it, I knew exactly which car it was.

I miss my daughter every day. Finding small ways to keep her present in the things I enjoy doesn’t change that loss, but it does give those moments a different meaning.

This weekend, among an event hall full of exquisitely modeled equipment and scenery, hers was the one thing that mattered most to me.