Years ago that doll was the rage among kids. No, I didn’t get one, but I understand that each one came with a paper explaining the doll’s history and even had a birth certificate. I believe Pet Rocks had some such nonsense as well.
The idea that I have is that every locomotive and rolling stock should have a brief history included such as date built to date retired; if the model was wrecked, put that in as well. This would, IMO, add tremendously to the model.
Absent that, I have performed the research online, but with rolling stock it is a bit harder. However, toy train mfgrs presumably have access to the blueprints and to other bits of information that would be highly interesting to many of us modelers.
dave vergun
Great Idea Dave,
Many of the MTH engines have a small history about them in thier catalog.
By the way, I think my wife has that documentation on her dolls.
tom
Great topic. So many women got caught up in the 1980s Cabbage Patch craze. To be sure, all the expensive Cabbage Patch Dolls from BabyLand General Hospital in GA , that were produced by Xavier Roberts sold for hundreds even thousands. Today on eBay one would be lucky to sell an original mint condition one, with all it’s adoption papers, for about 10 to 33% of their original cost.
That is if you can find a buyer. Just goes to show you that you should only buy “Collectibles” because you like them, not because of the potential for financial appreciation.
Bill
www.modeltrainjournal.com
I bought my 9 year old daughter a pet rock off ebay last year. She loves it! It came with a little booklet entitled The Care And Training Of Your Pet Rock. I think I got it for under $20 including shipping, which is not that when you consider the cost of caring for a real pet.
As far as having stories for every car and locomotive, why not!! For anyone using a card system, that is kind of what happens, especially if you put the maintenance record on the back of the card.
Hey, why not have a history of each engine? Good idea. Several years ago, there was something like a “Pet Watch”. Some kid had one at a Town’s recreation ball league. She had to feed it and do other things by mashing buttons. Her Mom said it was to teach her responsibility. HUMMM
Chief,
I recall that but haven’t seen it for some time. Seems it could be programmed into a cell phone.
The care and feeding thing was very popular with girls. On the positive side, it may have taught some of them about the work and responsibilities that go with having a child and might have discouraged unprotected sex and teen pregnancies.
OTOH, it may not have, and was just a cool game.
Elliot,
I always wondered who the consumers were who fell for buying a rock. Now I know of one. 
Truthfully, tho, it probably was a better investment than a hamster or hermit crab that the kid would quickly grow out of, since it didn’t require all of the feeding and attention of a live pet.
The guy or gal who discovered that pet rocks sell must be happily retired in a villa in Mexico, running expensive Gauge 1 trains.
Come to think of it, there are folks who make a killing off bottled water too. They simply fill plastic bottles with free tap water and even recycle the bottles. Nearly pure profit.
There must be other opportunities out there for someone who can spot a need.
Tom,
I have some MTH engines and the history is nice. On a few models, however, it is somewhat misleading, e.g. the Warbonnet Hudson and the Santa Fe Mohawk.
Dave Vergun