Coal in Your Stocking

I remember Mother once telling me that all I would get in my Christmas stocking was lumps of coal if Santa knew that I did not start behaving better. My answer was something to the effect of "That would be nice, I can use some coal in my train cars.". Not the answer she was expecting, at least from the look on her face!

Dad always worried me with the story of the coal for Christmas .......we had a huge old coal furnace that I attended to as I grew older.    Maybe that's why this........

...........came along decades later.       Premier lashup maybe hauling Christmas ' presents for stockings '.

Coal load on last year's Christmas layout.

Christmas Layout - Coal Load

@Mooner posted:

Coal load on last year's Christmas layout.

Christmas Layout - Coal Load

Moon, with all that coal, there must be a lot of Bad Ole Boys in that Christmas village.

LOL, Arnold

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Moon, with all that coal, there must be a lot of Bad Ole Boys in that Christmas village.

LOL, Arnold

That isn't the half of it. The "bad ole boy" is the one who took the video. I had the idea of acquiring 3 coal cars from the Monopoly lines - Reading, B&O and PRR - to park on a siding just for fun scene. I bought three used without knowing they were diecast. At the time I wasn't even aware of diecast rolling stock as everything I had was plastic. I liked the weight and the detail so much I went on a buying binge and added twenty-one more in short order. Recognizing a disorder in my personality, I sought out a therapist. She asked me to chart my purchases - day of the week, time of the day, other activities. Suggested I don't drink Irish whiskey on Friday night while perusing online buying platforms and forums. Up until last Wednesday I had been 80 days diecast free; found a 2nd road number for a blue K-Line D&H 2-bay hopper! Actually, I found three more road numbers so the fact that I only bought one was a victory in moderation.

Okay, so the therapist part isn't true, though it should be. And, I'm happy to report I am now on day 5 of being diecast free.

@Mooner posted:

That isn't the half of it. The "bad ole boy" is the one who took the video. I had the idea of acquiring 3 coal cars from the Monopoly lines - Reading, B&O and PRR - to park on a siding just for fun scene. I bought three used without knowing they were diecast. At the time I wasn't even aware of diecast rolling stock as everything I had was plastic. I liked the weight and the detail so much I went on a buying binge and added twenty-one more in short order. Recognizing a disorder in my personality, I sought out a therapist. She asked me to chart my purchases - day of the week, time of the day, other activities. Suggested I don't drink Irish whiskey on Friday night while perusing online buying platforms and forums. Up until last Wednesday I had been 80 days diecast free; found a 2nd road number for a blue K-Line D&H 2-bay hopper! Actually, I found three more road numbers so the fact that I only bought one was a victory in moderation.

Okay, so the therapist part isn't true, though it should be. And, I'm happy to report I am now on day 5 of being diecast free.

What an entertaining story, Mooner, thanks for sharing.