*Before I tell this story I will say that I previously posted this on a post about train stories as in books... Of course I wasn't thinking that at the time and by the time I realized, I was halfway through. Anyways.. just a story I wanted to share.
Back in the 1960's almost everyone on my father's street in New Brunswick, NJ had a Lionel train set. At the time, my grandparents had six mouths to feed and weren't able to afford a train set. My great uncle at the time was what some would call a con man. While at Point Pleasant boardwalk he'd start at one side of the carousel and collect tickets from kids while the half witted teenager would collect tickets on the other side. When he got to the kids my great uncle already got, the kids would be saying "That other man took my ticket!", to which the reply was "What other man?!" Other dealings happened such as taking advantage of the Sears policy on broken tools. He'd head down to Englishtown, NJ to buy all broken bent up tools for a song and then traded them in at Sears for brand new tools. At some point in the 1960's my uncle went on down to the Meyers toy store in New Brunswick. He purchased a Lionel 210 Texas Special freight set complete with a Bosco box car, missile car, boat car, ranch patrol truck car, tank car, and 6017 caboose. The face on my father and uncles at the time was one that they'd never forget. To have a genuine Lionel train set was something for them back then! That old set always got set up at Christmas and was taken down on New Years. The set was well taken care of despite never getting any regular maintenance. The set eventually got lost and family members argued over who lost it and who got to keep it if it was found. My great uncle died in 1997 in a tragic car accident and his train seemingly died with him.
The year was 2014. I had heard about stories of this train and my great uncles legacy on our family for years. I had already gotten some lionel starter sets as well as some MPC rolling stock. On Easter Sunday my father announced that the Texas Special had been found in my uncles basement. Ironically it was that uncle who had started the arguments in the first place. My eyes grew like saucers as I tramped down the basement steps. There on the floor was a faded box with blue lettering reading, "LIONEL TRAINS". My heart was skipping beats as I opened the flaps which were near perfect. I opened each box which were torn in areas but had kept the trains in near mint condition. Both engines were cool from being kept in that basement. I pulled out the track and set the train up on the tracks. It roared to life and hummed around the layout a few times. I was shocked at how well it ran. It was almost like I was my father back in the 60's. Of course that day my family allowed me to keep the train and I left my uncles home with my first postwar set as well as an MPC Chessie System set. Since then I have done the proper maintenance on my set and run it to this day. I try not to be emotionally attached to material items but this is the one thing that is the exception. Some people say that my great uncle was a "crook" or a "bad person" for some of the things he did. (Lets face it you could get away with a lot of things back then). I just ignore them, and focus on what's positive. The train and I now carry on his memory as well as his favorite saying, "What you don't make, take"
