Well intentioned railroad gifts

R

Ralph

Remember...it's for fun!
Jun 18, 2002
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St. Paul, MN
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Anyone ever received a railroad related gift from a friend, spouse, in-law or some one else who obvioulsy had good intentions and knew you were into trains? Maybe it was someting you wouldn't have bought yourself or it was the wrong road, wrong scale, or just wildly wrong! :)

We accept these with grace, a smile, and a thank you! Here's mine from my mother in-law.

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Its a bank, that when you stick a coin in it lights up and makes a variety of train sounds for about 30 seconds. At first I was dubious but it turned out to be a hoot! I think most visiotrs will appreciate it and not only the yonger ones. I'll have coins ready for kids to plug into the crossbuck.
I probably never would have bought it for myself though...and would have missed out on the fun.

So, what did you get? :)

Ralph
 
Well we came into one of those clocks that on the hour huff and puff and try to blow the house down. The novelty and the battery were both gone the second day. (Maybe it was the first)
Charlie
 
I've seen these on TV and my son wants one.I think they're pretty cool,but if we get one it's going in HIS room!

You can't look a gift horse in the mouth,eh Ralph?

Chris
 
I had gotten an alarm clock that had a a short piece of balasted plastic track in front of a railroad crossing, crossbucks, complete with lights and train sounds that activated when the alarm went off.
The only good thing about it, the track, which may have only been four inches long, was a perfect HO scale.
I displayed a caboose that I custom painted for the CNE. The sounds were annoying. Good thing there was an on/off switch.........
 
Ditto with the train clock. (I have three...ugh) But I actually have really cool inlaws who have blessed me with many fine and appropriate gifts as well. Let's see...the latest was a selection of items from the Micro-Mark catalog. In truth, I made a list for them to pick from and they surprised me buy purchasing several items!

From a trip to Canada they brought back some neat railroad postcards, and a t-shirt with a postcard of the canadian streamlined obs enlarged on it.

Perhaps the coolest was a craftsman kit for a C&O freight station...can't remember the maker off-hand...that my mother-in-law found in an antique store.

Recently a sweet old lady at church went on a trip with the senior group and brought me a beautiful cobalt blue mug from the Mount Hood RR. She also has brought me a mug with an F-unit face painted on (GN Empire Builder) and one of those round pins with the flashing LED's on a crossbuck, from a different trip. Very thoughtful, but the MHRR mug is by far the best.

But when I was living in SoCal, the easy answer to 'what can we get you for birthday, Xmas, etc.' was a gift certificate to Milepost 38 Model Trains, a fabulous hobby shop. And my family has been quite generous in that regard as well! Really, I can't complain!

Oh, and I almost forgot, for my birthday two years ago my inlaws all chipped in and got me a locomotive rental (1 hour, $150) out at the Perris, CA Inland Empire Museum. They show you how to run the engine (an old USDOT RSD-4) and even give you an engineer's hat! That was one of the best birthday gifts, ever.

Perhaps the only way to top it would be the steam engine rental out at East Ely on the Nevada Northern...hint hint...
 
Hence your signature picture... am I right? I just checked out that one in East Ely. That looks cool and it's something I'm hoping to convince my father to go and do with me in the future. Thanks for that bit of info.
 
My brother's...

..."significant other" seems to think "cute" train things are, well "cute" and that I would want them. Unfortunately she believes the best way to buy for someone is to do so as if you were buying for yourself. Uh, she fills her apartment with "cute" curios.

Ralph, I got one of those banks- I thought maybe, just maybe the crossbucks could be used to whimsically light up the train room but all it does is light up- no alternate blinking. I think I got ripped off too. There's no Black Lionel cover for the base. Of course it was probably purchased thru one of those discount catalogs from a "return".

I also have a Lionel "Wake up" alarm. Since it never got out of the box, maybe it'll be on Antiques Roadshow - 2080.

Then there's the train motif child's blanket. Well, that one actually came in handy on my honeymoon at the beach. Otherwise it lays folded in the trunk of my car. I thought I might need it as a "traction" blanket should I ever need to plow out of a snow pile when I was parking in the cuty and they plowed snow up against the parked cars.

The first was a train motif flower planter- about 3' long when assembled- rough cut planks painted olive drab. You know- steam loco with bowl to hold plant in tender and open hopper and caboose.

Let's see- that about 4 years of...wall1

Oh man!!! What if he marries her???!!!wall1wall1wall1

:eek:

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Signed,

Annonymous

Did I mention my darling bride bought me a RR BD present?

A pair of Pennsy sharks (E-R). She said I had mentioned them once and was so excited about maybe coming up with the cash someday to get an A-B-B-A set. She drove to a few hobby shops until she found someone who could decipher what the heck she was looking for, in CT, another state away.

Then there's the O. Winston Link print of the articulated running by the Drive-In theatre, about 32" X 36", matted and framed. Wow!

Let's see, 2 years of married bliss.

Mark;-)
 
TrainNut, you are correct, sir!

Mark - I eventually decided that after hearing girlfriends and eventually my wife call trains 'cute' I'd just accept it as a term of endearment. But I have also had conversations with my wife about how modelers are perceived as big boys playing with toys, etc. and I don't think I've heard her describe any of my efforts as 'cute' ever since.
 
Last Christmas, Ms. Doc got me an Lionel Outlaw car, the one with the sheriff and outlaw popping up and trading shots at each other. Just the thing the BAD Western needed. Unfortunately the one she bought on ebay was O scale and I model HO.
DOc
 
A friend's Wife once bought me a bunch of Lionel track and some accessories, only problem was I don't have the first piece of O-gauge. To her credit, she did say she didn't know if I could use it, but bought it anyway (it was a yard sale find). She also bought me a very nice railroad stock certificate to put on the wall. It was all greatly appreciated as I knew it meant she and my friend were thinking of me. And, there's nothing wrong with that.:thumb:
 
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