Thanks for all the nice replies and likes; this is a nice community here...
To be honest, I was a little surprised that Lionel wouldn't warranty or sell me a engine directly (only option was to send it in for repair). I'm still waiting for a reply from the original company that my mother bought it through. Even though the train is fixed- they do not know that yet- and have not contacted me back. As far as they know, it is still DOA. I'll see what happens. <shrug>
I'm pretty laid back, I follow the same 'ehh, things happen' mentality and try not to get too wound up. My kid was disappointed, my mother was mad (mostly at herself) for buying from that particular company...
The 'stand-in' train option was high on my list. I had already hit Craigslist to see if there was a cheap runner to hold us over. 
Either way, all is well. My kid just got home from school and the train was ON as soon as the backpack hit the ground.
Thanks for the links and suggestions. We're always looking for a reason to head down to SD. I'm sure we'll visit. We used to live a few minutes from Northlandz in NJ, but my son was 4 the last time we visited.
