TOPEKA (KSNT)- What does a retired doctor do once his days are free of work? There could be vacations, relaxation, time with family, or you could do more work. But, doing something you love, in a space of your own.

Brad Marples still keeps a reminder of his name before his retirement, hanging in the house where he now spends most of his days working.

“Well, retirement was supposed to have given me all this free time but actually I’ve been pretty busy,” Marples said.

He’s been getting his hands dirty to make sure these trains are up and running. It’s not just one, try an entire three-story house full of them!

“This house became mine about five years ago to store the excess toy trains and my train parts collection,” Marples said. “So, my wife could see the tv at home. Because the basement got so full, she couldn’t see the tv anymore.”

Marples is a retired physician who never stopped loving these toys and collector’s items. When he was a kid he had one, then gave it away. It wasn’t until he had kids of his own that he became fascinated, and then a collector. He collected so many of them, he had to buy a train house. It’s a whole space for him to keep parts of his collection.

“I don’t really buy lots of trains anymore. I got too many,” Marples said.

But the house and the trains aren’t just for him. He helps others realize how great these items can be, fixing up even the oldest, the broken and maybe even the rusty ones, for other people.

“I will fix trains,” Marples said. “And I think people should…If people have a train in the attic that was their dad’s, or whoever, when it was new and they don’t know what to do with it, I would clean it up, fix it make it run and give it back to them. I think they should keep it and give it to their kids, grandkids, etc.”

What once was a house on the market for quite some time has now become a train home where retired doctor Brad Marples spends most of his days with his collection of trains.

Marples has opened up the house for people to come and visit. He does work on other people’s toy trains to fix them up, so you don’t give up on them.

If you would like to visit the house email bmarples@cox.net.

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