Thomas The Tank Engine

Both Doug and I realize that it's early in the process, but in order to get our home ready to sell in the spring of 2023 we feel that we need to start cleaning it out now.  Although we have gotten rid of a lot over the years through donations, garage sales and outfitting college apartments, there's quite a bit left in our home to sort through.  I made a good dent in that project this winter by organizing all of the boxes stored in our furnace room and moving them over to my Mom's for her garage sale this summer.  Even with that accomplishment there's still plenty to do.  

This week's project was a lot more fun than the previous one.  I started cleaning out the toy storage room and found the Thomas the Tank Engine set.  I knew that the set was something that we wanted to hold on to, so I decided to investigate the best way to clean the trains, tracks and buildings. Thankfully, Dawn soap was highly recommended and I had plenty of that.  Next, I also did some research concerning recalls of the trains.  I remembered that there was an issue with lead paint in some of the trains.  I had mentioned it to Brett before and knew that it was time to find out.  We were both relieved to see that the trains that had lead paint in the them were ones from 2005 to 2007.  The majority of our train sets were purchased well before then.

I printed a list of the recalled trains, buildings and accessories to show Brett.  He instantly said, "Oh no, Mom, Skarloey is on the list."  I was sad to hear that, but impressed that Brett recognized him immediately with the grainy digital picture that I had sent him.  I spent several days sorting through all that we had accumulated over the years.  It was a lot of fun reminiscing.  There were tons of memories in those tubs.  I called Brett multiple times to check on when we bought something and what he could remember from his youth.  Doug enjoyed the process as well, sorting through some of his favorite trains - S.C. Ruffy, Gordon train, Rheneas and more.  In the end we were all pleased to learn that only two items were on the recall list, the Musical Caboose and a cargo barrel.  Fortunately, we had purchased the majority of our red and yellow trains well before 2005 including Brett's beloved Skarloey and James.  After several days of enjoying our train set once again, everything was cleaned and put into tubs to save for the Heinisch family grandchildren.  Definitely not rushing that, but it will be something fun to have for them once they arrive.