Lion's Walmart Popcorn Train: a compleat review

[spankybird]

Sounds like the tin can is the real value thing.

[FJ and G]

After buying love bird and beagle chow at Walmart last night, I dashed down to the toy section.

Disappointment.

No 1:48 cars or trucks, and not even any toy trains--and Santa is coming soon.

So I dashed back to the junk food section, where I grabbed a case of Mountain Lightning hi-caffenated soda to soothe my disappointment.

For some strange reason, I glanced up from the soda aile and there, standing 10 feet up, stacked above the 3rd shelf, was a 5 gallon tin can decorated with Lionel train postcard pictures from yore.

A sign warned customers not to try to reach the 3rd shelf and to seek help.

But there were no salespersons in sight and I don't need to seek help anyway, so I grabbed several more cases of mountain lightning and created a pyramid, which I scaled, hoping none of the cans would explode.

I was so anxious that I nearly tipped over all the cans on the shelf but success at last. In my hot hands was not only a 5 gallon container of popcorn but a working trainset inclosed in a see-thru plastic wrapper with a Lionel approved sticker.

I rushed home and tried to tear it open but it was sealed so well it took 5 minutes of hacking with a knife and razor to open up the train set.

Now the whole train set and popcorn cost less than 5 bucks. The train is an 0-6-0, a boxcar and caboose. The train has center blind drivers and is HOn3 on plastic track and rails. In fact, the entire train is plastic.

The only problem I had with the train is that it doesn't run. Period. It has a battery in it but nothing happens.

I was about to take the battery out and feed the train to the beagle, who enjoys ravaging things, but then I had an epiphany.

What if Lionel goes under and this is the last piece of merchandise that it issues? It could be a collector's item.

I carefully returned the train to the box, now wishing that I had never opened the popcorn case because train sets in mint condition must never be opened.

But then the popcorn might have gotten rancid over the years, turned green, and oozed out.

Oh well, I consoled myself with the Mountain Lightning, several shots of Tequilla and 3 flavors of popcorn: buttered, carmel and cheezy. Well the train was cheezy but the chezzy popcorn was well worth the 5 bucks.

And the tin can is certainly a good bargain folks.

See you at Wally-world.