This was in the Daily Herald, Northwest Suburbs edition for Wednesday, June 14, 2017.

Elain G. Silets’ Wandering Tree Estate in North Barrington, IL, will be open to the public this Friday & Saturday. For more information visit www.TrainLady.com, or www.Facebook.com/TheTrainLady.

The Gloree and Tryumfant garden railway consists of more than 6000 linear feet of track and operates 11 separate G scale trains.

The event is to raise money for the Hands of Hope. Tickets are $55 up to June 16, Friday, they go up to $80. Her late husband has an O scale museum on the property. She is the matron of Huff &Puff Industries, Ltd.

I like this train lady! Check this out:

Question: How much do you charge for your railroads?
Answer: Huff & Puff Industries custom designs each railroad to the exacting requirements and unique specifications of each individual customer. As a result, prices vary depending on customized features such as bridges, buildings and trestles. Backdrops factor into the cost as well. In general, prices for an initial on-site survey for Garden Railways and Model Railroad Layouts start at $1,500 (USD). Architectural designs and renderings begin at $2,000 (USD). Christmas Tree Surrounds, Christmas Model Train Layouts, and other holiday displays start at $7,500 (USD). Custom Children’s Wooden Railroad Interactive Environments begin at $7,500 (USD). Commercial and retail displays begin at $20,000 (USD). Model Railroads, Train Furniture, Garden Railways, etc. start at $25,000 (USD) and go up in price depending on the design, labor, materials, square footage, landscape topography, and techniques involved.

Question: Do you buy collections?
Answer: NO.

Question: Do you sell Scale Trains?
Answer: We do under certain circumstances, such as to our regular layout customers.

Question: Do you sell track, accessories, etc.?
Answer: NO. We are not a Hobby Shop or Website devoted to that side of the business.

Question: Do you repair trains?
Answer: NO. We recommend returning your trains to the dealer you purchased them from, or to the manufacturer for repair.

When I read that on her website, all I could ponder was I’m in the wrong line of work. Might make a good retirement job.

Mike Wlez said:
When I read that on her website, all I could ponder was I’m in the wrong line of work…

You and me both.

Wow $1500 just for an on-site survey. I would love to know how many layouts they build a year, I,m assuming they have to travel a lot just to make a business out of it.