@Bill DeBrooke posted:and your point would be what? That I should be responsible for someone else's experience? My point is that early experiences influence later in life behavior. Try this one. At fourteen I purchased a 1933 Ford three window coupe for $75.00 and drove it home. Within a year it was channeled and had a DeSoto hemi under where there used to be a hood. Also used to have fenders. Later in life I purchased a lot of Fords starting with a 65 Mustang. Still have the 33 coupe.
I think my point is self-evident. You would be just part of a tiny fraction of a percent of anyone that would be willing to pay Santa Fe/BNSF anything for whatever enjoyment you've gleaned from your postwar trains. The direct benefactor from that monetary investment was Lionel, not Santa Fe. At any rate, if you say you would repay the railroad for the enjoyment you got out of it, then make good on it and start buying up some stock. Warren Buffet would be happy if you did. 
And your analogy with automobiles is apples and oranges, because you're dealing directly with the company's core products that they sell, not a model or toy train that's a representation of an actual railroad who originated the aesthetics and trademarks.
