Lionel Santa Fe Super Chief in the Garage

My Diner-themed Garage / Man Cave circa 2003. Shown in the foreground my 40's era Exhibit Skill Pool from the Polish Club in Conshohocken, PA, my 1966 Williams 8-Ball from the basement of a friend-of-a-friend in King of Prussia, PA and in the upper left my Lionel Santa Fe Super Chief.

Fast forward thirty years and I decided it was time to add a train to my diner-themed single-car garage.  Over the years I had collected a mish-mash of cast-offs and my garage was to become my man-cave where I could display my collection. The crowning glory would be a train running around the ceiling and through a tunnel built into the soffit.

The train I chose for the garage was a Lionel Santa Fe Super Chief. In my mind, it resembled the train I crossed the country on as a kid. I know I was likely a 70's era Amtrack left-over from the glory days of the passenger trains, but the Lionel Santa Fe Super Chief represented the soul of the train I was on as a child.

The Super Chief 6-30178

The train set I purchased was a Lionel Super Chief 6-30178 with dual tri-color stripes on the sides of the cars. The engine was a Lionel 6-38231 Diesel Locomotive decorated in War Bonnet paint with Railsounds marked #162. Also included were Two Passenger Cars #3155 & #3157, and one Observation car #3261. I installed the track to ran around the walls of my garage just below the ceiling. As an homage to my Dad's mountain tunnel, it ran through a tunnel in the soffit built over my diner counter. 

To install the train track, I ripped down 6" wide pieces of  5/8" plywood and cut 2'x2' corner pieces with a radius on the inside. I used 4" steel L-braces and attached the shelf with drywall screws. The Plywood was trimmed out with 1/8" thick x 3/4" with aluminum strips bought at Lowes. I drilled the strips every 6" and used #8 pan head sheet metal screws to attach the trim. I purchased ~50' of classic Lionel 027 Big Track and screwed it down to the plywood with the same #8 pan head sheet metal screws used on the trim. The project turned out great and was always a hit when friends visited the garage. 

In 2006 we sold the house to move into a larger home with a 3-car garage! I packed up the cars from my Super Chief and planned on putting up a track in my new garage. Since the shelf was a "built-in" and the new homeowners were friends of ours, I left the track around the ceiling so they could get a train and enjoy the memories as much as I did.