SIGN IN PLEASE PART TWO
By M. Stella

As I watched the construction of the Ontario Convention Center a number of years ago, the flanged wheels starting turning in my mind and I knew this would be a terrific location for a TCA Convention. I pushed for it and I got my way. That was just one of many things I have worked for that would come to fruition this June. One very special fundraising project that I have been working on for several YEARS is an autographed boxcar to beat any previous autographed boxcar and one that may never be repeated.

The folks at LIONEL, both past and present, really came through and believe me it wasn't an easy task at all. As a big fan of MODERN ERA LIONEL I have met and spoken to at length many of the people most collectors only read about. I have always found the men who held the title of President of Lionel to be friendly, outgoing, and very patient of us collectors. I thought it would be a great thing “IF” I could get all the Modern Era Presidents to autograph the same car.

The choice of car was easy. It had to be a boxcar and those blank white boxcars from the Crayola Set seemed a natural. The local Lionel sales rep came through with a few of them about two years ago. Off to the Lionel factory where I knew several people who were helpful in getting the current outgoing and new incoming President to sign onto this project (literally).

Next I emailed my long time friend who is married to the Lionel President that served Richard Kughn. She helped arrange a stopover at the factory to add his name to panel #3 of these cars. It took almost a year to this point and I still only had three signatures. The cars were sent back to me on the West coast while I tried to figure out how to find missing Lionel President #4.

I tried several emails to an address given to me by one of my Lionel contacts and shortly after this New Year I received an email answer with the very friendly offer to sign the cars and the person at Lionel to send them to.

Back to the Lionel factory (by now an empty shell) and the anticipation of completing this project with ample time to spare. A few weeks turned into a few months and by May I was getting a bit uneasy. Not to worry. Lionel folks came through again and the cars arrived once again in California, this time with all four panels signed by four Lionel Presidents.

One of these very special boxcars will be available at the Saturday TCA Banquet Auction and a second car will be listed on EBAY to close at approximately the same time.

This will give every TCA MEMBER an opportunity to add a very unique boxcar to their collection.