Why I Oughta...

Menards comes out with a handful of Lionel O-Scale train cars each year.  They typically are Menards-related like flatcars with a Menards pick-up truck on it or a car with roof trusses on it or something. But...this year...they came out with a new military-themed car.  It had a tank on it.  And...they even included a backstory.  I guess these aren't really meant for kids (the whole train thing is for middle-aged and older dudes like myself?) but the politicizing ('the vast military background' of the President) seems strange?  I don't mind it, and guessing.....the majority of Menards' shoppers don't mind it, but....seems odd, right?

I picked up one of these at the Great Midwest Train Show before Christmas.  It was billed by the dealer as being "basically a perpetual motion machine".  Unfortunately, one of the plastic pieces in the box was broken, so it didn't work too well. So, I went looking on Ebay for another one to use as parts.  Found one for just a few bucks.  When it arrived, guess what?  Had a break in the exact same spot.  Thinking I've found the vulnerable piece in the production, huh?

At the request of my wife, we're moving the train table out of the main room in our basement to the spare bedroom.  Part of it is here (temporarily) across the bed as a test fit.   Here's how it looked last year.  On saw horses .  This is going to be an upgrade.   Between the sturdy legs and the one-piece top, we'll also have a bit more room.  From nine foot wide to almost eleven. Hoping I can find time this weekend to finish it up with the Babe's help!

Last year, we put up our first Lionel layout in the basement.   You can see it here in this photo .  It was nice sized and fit into the corner of our basement.  Nat hated it.  She thought it was way, way, way too big.  The Babe, and I, however loved it. With Halloween just a day away, my attention is turning to Christmas. Putting up the train isn't so much about the actual train as it is about having a memory of my childhood with my Dad.  In looking around the web for inspiration, I came across this massive layout that was (apparently) on the back cover of the 1957 Lionel catalog.  From the looks of it, this appears to be a 2X size of our current layout, which means we're going to have to find a new home for the train.  With all the little kids at our house all the time, moving it into a different room isn't the worst idea ever.  I'm thinking that it can fit neatly into either the spare bedroom down there or perhaps even into the crawlspace underneath our family r

I found this vintage American Flyer "service kit" at a Naperville antique store last week. I didn't buy it, but for the right American Flyer collector, it seemed like a great pick-up.

I was in 2 North Riverside Plaza for a meeting this week and on the walk back to Ogilvie Station, I spotted this neat Chicago and North Western Train sign.  You may not be familiar with C&NW (or CNW ), but I have a family connection to the heritage - and now defunct - train line. My oldest sister was an in-house counsel at the railroad ahead of their acquisition by Union Pacific.  It is pretty neat that they've kept the sign up near the station as a reminder of year's past.  When we built out the Babe's Lionel train this year, one of the cars that she ran was a CNW tanker car that we picked up because of my sister's tenure with the railroad.  At one time the Chicago and North Western (two words, unlike the University!) was one of the longest rail systems in the country.  And today?  It is gone.  But not the signage.  In fact, if you look closely, you'll see CNW badges on some of the overpasses and on some of the freight cars running on the UP lines in the We

The Babe added this guy to the end of her log-rolling car on the ole' Mantleburg line in the basement.  I think we'll let him rid along for a while.

With the help of my brother-in-law Bill, I got my train table up and running last week.  It is 5' X 9' and has a layout that is called "Round-n-Round the X-mas Tree".  The Babe has had quite a lot of fun running the train around the track most days. My dad always put out his Lionel train during Christmastime when I was a kid and he gave me this set a few years back when the Babe was born.  Although it takes up a lot of space, I really like having it set up for the holidays and will (hopefully) be putting it back up in the years to come.

Recently, I was stuck at a grade-level crossing in Elmhurst when I this odd train passed: it was a commuter train, but was badged by the MTA - Metro North Railroad.   That's New York City ?!?! Strange seeing it on the Union Pacific West line in suburban Chicago, that's for sure.  I'm guessing that this *must* be a new train that is being driven across country to be put in service?