Trivia: Your favourite railway related gift

[Egg Centric]

Today's my birthday and I get this email:



Image is a "Welcome to the Branch Line Society" email, with my name/number/password censored

Best railway related gift I've ever received, despite its trivial monetary value. What's yours?

Partly asking this as a stealth brag, partly asking it to flush posters who've been given a whole locomotive or similar out to tell their stories

 

[Purple Train]

An NRM whistle, when I was a toddler. As you can imagine, I think the person who bought it for me regretted it quite quickly

 

[M&NEJ]

A ten-shilling note! I remember as a boy spending it on a Hornby Dublo colour-light home signal for my model railway layout. I just loved signals and coloured lights! Eventually I had two stations, for two people to play trains, with signals and bell codes between the two. Happy days!

 

[david1212]

A ten-shilling note! I remember as a boy spending it on a Hornby Dublo colour-light home signal for my model railway layout. ....

Wow! First you actually recall receiving a ten-shilling note. 50p coins were in circulation well before decimalisation.
Second a Hornby-Dublo colour-light home signal was no more than ten shillings.

I can't recall exactly which birthday I had my first Tri-ang set. After then for several years most close family relatives sent money that either Dad pooled together to get a loco or I selected lower price items. Signal boxes and stations were mostly Airfix kits. I can recall being allowed upstairs in the stock room of one local shop to look through what they had.
I had the Minic roadway too. Later I was told I was lucky to have so much of this because the sets were sold off very cheap in Debenhams so were bought and hidden away. More than one 'motor rail' set was bought because just the track would have cost significantly more as individual items.
Looking back I can not pick a specific item as a favourite.

 

[CarltonA]

Not long after the 10/- note era I was given an original LNER Silver Link paper drinks doily by a bloke in Darlington station. He had a few tucked into his wallet from twenty + years previously. I've since lost track of it but it may turn up somewhere.

 

[brad465]

A glass, particularly a pint glass, brandishing a heritage railway/steam loco theme on the side. They seem to becoming less common now though.

 

[Egg Centric]

A glass, particularly a pint glass, brandishing a heritage railway/steam loco theme on the side. They seem to becoming less common now though.

You would hope any beer festival would have that and a lot of heritage railways put one on

Reminds me that at the first meetup I attended of the first railway society I ever joined (CURC) a chap - after educating me on the merits of Beeching - told me that there was a very high correlation between real ale lovers and railway enthusiasts. He was right on both counts.