Tyler's Tender

When I was a kid we used to go to a dentist that was a bit of a drive from our house.  The two big things I remember about these dentist visits were he had a treasure chest filled with little trinkets and after you got done with him he allowed you to take a trinket, it was usually something you would get out of a Cracker Jack box when they actually had toys in them.  The other great thing about going to the dentist was we went to the train restaurant afterwards.  the great thing about the train restaurant is that after you ordered your food would come out on a train and stop right in front of you and the waitress would walk over and take your food of for you.  If you completed your meal you then got a visit from sucker train and were allowed to have one.  Needless to say I had no problem getting a visit from the sucker train and my brother, well he usually would cry and pout until they would let him have a sucker.  Over the years I have thought about the train restaurant and it's location but just assumed it had closed years ago.

One day while driving I noticed what looked like a crossing signal outside a strip mall close to our home.  I did some investigating and sure enough it was a train restaurant called Tyler's Tender.  Obviously this was not the same place from my childhood, but it had a counter where the train brought your food.  I had to take Little Man.  We set up a day and met my mom there for lunch and it was fantastic even better than my train restaurant.  Tyler's had a place where you could control trains and some of the other features, they had a bigger train that Little man and I rode on and they had an arcade.  Luckily he still just want to push the buttons and doesn't care about the quarters yet.  We sat down at the counter and watched as you would hear the clanking of a signal gate and the food train would roll out of the kitchen to it's waiting customers.  Little man sat there and watched the train roll by with what had to be the same look of wonder I must of had on my face.  It was a great feeling to see him like that.  I also asked my mom about my train restaurant and she said it was in Beverly and it was called Snackville Junction which I looked up and yes it did close but looks to have reopened again in Beverly but in a different location.  I don't think little man will have to go to the dentist to get a trip to the train restaurant but Tyler's Tender is a place we will be visiting again and again.  One day Little Man will take his kids and remember when his dad took him to the train restaurant.