Why I Oughta...

With our Christmas Train (The Mantleburg Line) set up down in the basement for the first time in a few years, I've been able to go a little deeper into the archives of Lionel O Gauge cars and accessories than before.  One of the cars that I picked up over the years is this Operating Barrel Car.  It is in this weird gold and brown Lionel box listed as "Limited Edition Series".  This is the only car that is in *this* style of box. It runs on the Union Pacific line and is Lionel #6-9290. Inside the box is the car.  Along with six barrels and the little tray that the barrels land in when you operate the car. In the most ideal situation, you wouldn't use that little tray, but instead have a barrel loader accessory (which we don't have!).  To give you a sense for how it would work together, here's a video showing the operating car (that we have!) along with the loader. We're going to get this car up and running on the Mantleburg line tonight, so

Right at the end of November, I posted a photo of a Walt Disney Comic book featuring Donald Duck on the cover that I had bought for a buck at an antique mall in Wisconsin.  Inside the back cover of that book was this rad Disneyland View-Master ad that featured the discs from the five realms of Disneyland.  Today is the third post all from that same Disney Comic book - this time another advertisement. Inside the front cover - in glossy stock - is this Kool-Aid ad.  Featuring that crazy-looking clown and the "Tell Mom You Want Kool-Aid" call-to-action.  It also features the value line of "5 Cents makes two quarts". A quick Google search reveals that this clown ad was commonly run over the years.  I'm guessing that this clown was also probably in their tv ads?  I grew up in the 80's with the Kool-Aid man running through the wall , so by then, they had retired this (frankly...scary) clown.    Also...Root Beer Kool-Aid?

For my birthday earlier this year, I was given this MTH Burlington Line Steel-sided Reefer Car.  It is marked "Way of the Zephyrs" and has the vintage "Burlington Line" rectangular logo on the side.  Those of you who read the blog and follow along with the Mantleburg line model train posts (ummm...there can't be *that* many of you, right???) might be confused about this box and the mention of MTH.  This isn't a Lionel train, but is from the competing challenger brand:  Mike's Train House or MTH for short.  This is the third (I think) MTH train car that we have on the Mantleburg line.  The first one was a caboose and the other one is a Santa/Snowman handcar.  This Burlington line car is kinda neat because everyday now I ride the BNSF line on the Metra. 

Another post about a pin that I found in my office closet is up for today.  And the reason for posting this one, like the Easter Egg Star Wars ones is because this pin is part of a set that I've already posted about.  Tigger, here, on a circle is a part of the set that includes this Pooh Bear pin that I posted in April of this year .  This one, was certainly, traded-for by the Bird - our Pooh Bear SuperFan. This is the fourth Pooh Bear-related Disney pin that I've posted on the blog over the years.  The other three are: Most recently was this circle Winnie the Pooh outline one A safety pin Pooh Bear one This cross-stitch Winnie the Pooh one that is part of a set of four

About a week ago, I posted a couple of recently unearthed Disney pins that I found when I was cleaning out my office closet.  Here's another one that I'm posting mostly because based on the edges and back imprint, this is almost certainly NOT a scrapper.  Featuring Pirate Goofy and a line from the ride Pirates of the Caribbean, this one too is going up on the pin board in the garage. 

Just yesterday, I posted a couple of photos of a boxcar that I picked up over the years at the annual Christmas Train Show in Wheaton.  It was from Hamm's Beer .  Today is another beer-related boxcar: one from Miller High Life.  It features the classic tagline: "The Champagne of Beers" and was made two years earlier than the Hamm's one - in 1973.  Similarly to the Hamm's car, this Lionel O Gauge 6-9852 billboard reefer car comes in the 1970's era Lionel Trains box and has the printed label on the side.   This Miller High Life one also has an orange price sticker that the price scratched out but says "Sporting Goods".  Not sure if that was the name of the store or the section of the store.  Either way....kinda strange.  I have a draw to vintage beer-related Lionel stuff.  In addition to these two (The Hamm's one and *this* Miller High Life one), I also run a Schlitz boxcar that I'll have to capture in a photo and post.  I also have

We were setting up the kids Christmas Train (the Mantleburg Line) in the basement and I came across a some rolling stock that I've picked up the past few years, but have not been run on the line due to the lack of operations.  Mostly because of our up-ended Christmas (moving between Elmhurst and Naperville) the past few years, the Mantleburg Line hasn't run, but this year, we picked up the foam boards from my parents house and I set up the train with the kids. There were a couple of beer-related boxcars that are still packaged up in plastic that I think I bought at the annual Christmas Train Show out in Wheaton one of the previous Winters. This one is from Hamm's and is called a "Billboard Reefer".  Lionel 6-9862. If you look closely at the photo at the top of this post, you'll see that it has a 1975 built date and is in this box that is of that era.  Those of you who know Lionel Trains Corporate history may know that in 1975, Lionel Trains were owne