In this article, the author argues that there is a big conceptual difference between number lines and number strips and that number lines should be consistently used as early as Y1. Her interest in the use of the number line as a powerful image of the real numbers, and how this is introduced in the early years, comes from her own experience as a mathematics learner. Furthermore, in her studies and observations she found out that number tracks are predominately used in the early years since if the only purpose is to introduce non-negative integer numbers, those models are perfectly adequate and indeed easier to use, than the number line. And the number line would then be the ideal visual image to underpin understanding of this more general concept of numbers, namely the real numbers. (Contains 6 figures.)