I tell people around holiday time, DO NOT give me a train.
I know their intentions are good, but it’s usually something that’s useless in one way or another.
What’s the most absurd gift train you’ve ever received?
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Haven’t ever really had any gift I found absurd but some gifts I gave that demonstrated my artistic and model building skills went completely unappreciated, especially by my maggot of a brother.
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No trains this year but several Bar Mills kits were on my wish list. Love jumping into a new build for that open space on my layout after the holidays are over.
Even though we can certainly afford it, I still get a slight niggling sense of guilt when I buy an expensive kit or other item for my layout. So getting train/layout items (as well as possibly a new video game) for Christmas or my birthday is a totally guilt free request. And, at age 72, there is the side benefit of being as close as I can still get to opening up fun stuff on Christmas morning.
My wife is under strict orders to NEVER get me socks or underwear as gifts - I’ll buy those on my own whenever I need them.
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Not sure if my order for this year will arrive in time. I always love putting stuff under the tree for me. The family always look at each other trying to figure out who put it there. 
I think they are catching on though. It is usually only a train car or two, but a couple of years ago these arrived just in time and I wrapped each one individually inside different sized boxes with nice bows. I really took my time and made them look nice. The result was the family debating whether or not I was capable of doing such a nice wrapping job and that definitely made them question who gave them to me.
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No photos, but I got an O scale water tower for my N scale layout.
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Usually my family when I’ve asked for trains has been pretty good about understanding what I want. It helps that I’m pretty specific! I’ve asked for some of the Walthers Budd coaches this year, but we’ll see what happens!
I got my first “adult” HO scale model for Christmas back in I think 2015 (maybe 2016) - a Bachmann DCC equipped 2-8-0 Consolidation. Nearly a decade later and I still have it. It runs quite well owing to very light usage until a couple years ago when I started building my first layout. As with most of my locomotives and rolling stock, I need to weather it!
Not my model but you get the gist.
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My wife wanted to get me train stuff one year but was not about to pay shipping when Amazon would ship for free. 
So she ordered me “trees” from Amazon. They were a general tree shape, with foliage that was white, pink, and/or bright blue. Safe to say they never made it on the layout!
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I wish I had some ‘Open Space’ on my layout.
I think I would have to build an upper-deck, devoid of Track, Trains and Railroad - just to have some space for Scenery and Buildings.
Paul.
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Well, I haven’t got much that’s “absurd”. I have gotten stuff that obviously wasn’t for the layout but is still nice (like one of those lasercut wooden train kits). And, also, last Christmas my Mom got me a O42 diameter turnout after doing extensive research to ensure that it would work on my railroad–even though most of my turnouts are O27 diameter. The confusion stemmed from Lionel product #042 and the O42 curve size. In the end, it worked out fine because I had a spot that needed the oddball 30° curve. Usually, however, when I get train stuff, it’s the kind that is suitable outright.
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In my family its rare for adults to gift adults. So I don’t have to worry about getting garbage for Christmas.
But I buy train stuff for myself but this year what I want isn’t available.
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i quit asking my family for train stuff decades ago.
As a teenager, my parents gave me a Bachmann 4-8-4 for Christmas. It was the best train present I ever got from them. Took it up to the attic, where my layout was, and it would pull all of three cars up the 2% grade I had. Didn’t matter, it looked good and pulled those three cars just fine.
My Christmas gift from myself got here yesterday; an Athearn Genesis ATSF F7A with DCC sound; blue and yellow freight scheme. I had pre-ordered this in summer of 2024, along with a B unit. The B unit might be here late 2026.
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The best Christmas gift I ever got or ever will was surviving this past weekend. No trains involved except I watched the Polar Express but I learned that you can travel by life flight without a helicopter
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I got an indirect train gift early this year…Processing: 1000006792.jpg…
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It’s none of my business, but are you able or willing to tell what happened? Sounds bad.
Santa was early for me I’m getting an Atlas SD26 in Santa Fe Blue and Yellow from their Master Series.
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I have ordered my 3rd mystery box from Rapido, I got an E8 and a tank car in my first; 2 boxcars, Procor 5820 covered hopper, and an ALCo PA/PB in New Haven. I’m going to open my newest mystery box on Christmas Day
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Ye olde family heart disease. 
. I had a severe 7 day episode of AFib. Saturday night they had me packed in bed with bags of ice because I was sweating so bad with a “normal” body temperature of 97.1. It’s happened to me all my life (56 years) but this is the first time anybody documented it in a clinical setting. Maybe now the doctors can do more than the insurance companies usually allow.
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My prayers are with you, Becky! 
I got sprung from the joint yesterday. I converted naturally so I didn’t need any zappy zaps. They had me on crazy heavy duty meds by I V and push that were seriously messing with me but it worked! I’ll still have to get an outpatient ablation done to look for any damage this may have caused but it’ll be a month or so before we really even think about it. They need to keep thinning my blood to keep my clotting risk as low as possible before they start sticking lasers in my heart. But other than being a bit weak and at higher risk for bleeding I’m doing well. Better than most.