Christmas Model Railroading gifts - etiquette?

My mother in law gave me a bunch of 1/64 scale John Deere farm equipment for Christmas a few years ago because she was talking to me while I was working on a large steel building for my John Deere dealership. I told her it was going to be the service area and I needed to fill it with tractors and combines etc. that were being worked on. When I opened them up I laughed but didn’t tell her they were the wrong scale, lol. I didn’t care, it’s the thought that counts and I was happy she remember our conversation and thought of my hobby while picking out a gift for me. Every once in awhile I’ll see her looking in that building and looking at the gifts she gave me with a little smile on her face. I think thats kind of cool and I would never even think of selling them or trading them. [:D]

Thank you all for your replies.

Given that I’d have to put body-mounted micro-trains couplers on it to run it, I think I’ll leave it on display somewhere - maybe on a spare siding. If I pop the N scale TARDIS down right next to it, I may just be able to get away with having it there.

EDIT: I’ve got a post about a redundant DCC programming track in the DCC/electronics section. I’m also planning to extend the roundhouse supply spur so I can store an upgraded Bachmann crane train on it (display only) - so if I keep the auto rack on the spare DCC track (out the back), I can just swap it for the crane train when my folks come around.

Thanks all,

tbdanny

Create a “Future Tech” railroad museum where the inventors trot out all their ideas for cars of the future! Or marketing campaigns of the future-- or alternate campaigns that never made it… like the Vlasic / Gerber / whatever cars. Stick it behind Thomas the Tank Engine, or that German Crocodile, or the Tyco GG-1 (snicker) along with some excursion cars and make an “Anachonism Train” out of 'em. Sell tickets to tourists and rail-fans to “Ride the Rails that Never Were…” or some such tag line.

Yup stick in on a shelf some where and forget about it. It’s what dads do with ugly ties, coffee mugs and other assorted gift items we will never use nor did we want but it was the thought that counts. Not to sound like Dr. Gloom & Doom but some day that little auto rack will bring a smile to your face because your parents through enough of you to give you something they thought you might enjoy if you know where I’m coming from.

Take the cars, and proceed to remove all the offending details, then re-superdetail it with details from the right era.

This is the second thread on this form in the last few weeks about “bad” or inappropriate model-train-related gifts. As someone above has pointed out, you should be glad that someone thought enough of you to spend their money and time finding a gift for you, appropriate or not. If this becomes a “major” problem for you, you might take the suggestion of one of the posters about providing a wish list of those model RR items that will meet your exacting requirements and specifications.

Along these lines I’d like to relate a story about myself when I was young, dumb and not very considerate of anyone but my self. At the time, I was a novice coin collector and was starting a collection of US Commemorative Quarters. My father-in-law was an accomplished coin collector and he gave me one of the uncirculated quarters for my collection. After examining it closely, I decide, while it was in uncirculated condition, that it did not meet my standards of perfection. I took the coin back to the coin shop where he had purchased it and was a regular customer to negotiate an exchange for a much “better” uncirculated specimen. While in the middle of the negotiations with the shop owner, who should walk in but my father-in-law. He knew immediately what I was doing, but I made some lame excuse about being there looking for additional coins for my collection. To his credit he never mentioned the incident again, but I never received another gift coin from him for the rest of his life. I learned something from this experience, “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth” because it might bite you.

I mention this incident in the hope that none of the people providing inappropriate gifts to you wander into this forum looking for ideas for their next gift and read your post.

May you receive nothing but approprate gifts in the future.

HAPPY NEW YEAR,

Bob

Yes, do what I did, set up a track, now double track, around the Christmas tree each year and run those cars that you get for gifts that are not from your era. Everyone is happy…end of story.

“73”

I think the older we get, the tougher gift-giving becomes. There are several of my relatives that I just can’t buy gifts for. So one car out of five being inappropriate isn’t a disaster at all, in my view. I’m almost completely certain I’ve given gifts that quickly ended up being set aside or discarded.

Here’s what I ended up doing. Last year I gave my wife a list of things I want for my layout. I was specific when I needed to be, generic when anything would do. It was a fairly long list. It wasn’t about being greedy, it was about giving her options since I didn’t really know what he would have available to buy right away. I told her the name of a store where I knew the owner would understand the list. She told him what she was looking to spend, and that any combination of these things would do based on cost and available inventory.

He helped her out, she bought a few things, brought them home, and wrapped them up. I was thrilled, and she was thrilled that I was thrilled. And there was still some element of surprise too, which I think is way, way better than just getting a gift card. Somehow we stumbled on a way to restore all the joy of gift-giving.

She’s already told me I have to revise the list so she can do the same thing again. I’m going to ask her to give me a list too, of whatever she wants/needs/likes. And I may very well ask the rest of my relatives give me some kind of a list too. It makes for a much better Christmas morning than all the adults in the room exchanging gift cards.