Santa Claus, Right Here in Wildwood

This is a short story, with a heartwarming ending told to us by Dutch Ludwig, a MTH/ASC Technician at Holly Beach Train Depot in Wildwood.
The tale begins on December 21, when an elderly woman from 141 miles away stopped by the store in hopes of finding the perfect train set for her grandson. She had already searched all of the “Big Box Stores” and was unable to find a train in the entire county!
Dutch emphasized that they had many sets to choose from, such as: Lionel, K-Line, MTH and more and took over two hours to explain how to set up the track, demonstrated special features, and displayed each set. They discussed price as well as quality and expandability until she decided to that they best choice for her grandson would be an MTH Amtrak Superliner.
However, there was just one catch before she made her purchase — she wanted Dutch’s home number just in case they had any problems setting it up under the tree. Dutch agreed, but asked that they call before midnight.
Well, wouldn’t you know, at 11:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve his phone rang with a sobbing lady on the other end exclaiming, “Dutch! The track and the transformer are in the box, but there are four empty boxes where the passenger cars and the engine should be! How do I tell my 6-year old grandson that Santa didn’t bring him the one thing that he wanted this Christmas?”
Dutch explained that unfortunately, the owner Larry Lillo had been out sick for a few days and one of the many friends that offered to volunteer to help must have given her a box out of the “display” cabinet. It was almost midnight on Christmas Eve, so this poor boy would not be getting his train set on Christmas morning, right?
Wrong!
Santa Larry and Mrs. Claus, a.k.a. his wife Shirley, went to the shop, loaded the van and delivered the sealed set to a very happy customer at 2 a.m. on Christmas morning. Dutch, very proud of his friend and knowing that a “Big Box Store” never would have delivered such great customer service inquired why he rushed the train up there.
Larry’s response was, “Because I was 6 when I got my first train set, too!”
Purchase your child’s first train set this Christmas at Holly Beach Train Depot, located at 4712 Pacific Ave. in Wildwood. Call (609) 522-2379 or visit www.hollybeachtraindepot.com for further information.