UPDATED November 25, 2009 2:02PM EST Please check any section with UPDATE on left column for all new info on any item(s)UPDATED in that section. Toy train collectors may remember our US NAVY Seabee train buddy - Lance. A few years ago RMT® received a letter from a soldier (Lance) then in Iraq asking for some help to spread Christmas Cheer with his fellow soldiers. He asked for a few toy train items as his unit was having their tour extended and they would not be home for Christmas that year. Well to make a long story short...Lance did get his train set that Christmas and the story was well documented in O GAUGE RAILROADING magazine and there are photos online at the RMT website...CUSTOMER COMMENTS section. Many got the opportunity to meet Lance personally when he came to a York, PA Train Collector's Association Meet as my guest (he became a TCA member then too) and at the famous OGR Forum Thursday's at Fridays after hours get-together. I have stayed in contact with Lance over the past few years and as some may already know, Lance is again 'in harm's way'. This time it is Afghanistan where his unit is deployed to build an airbase. To quote Lance from a recent letter..."Compared to Afghanistan, Iraq was a picnic!" The facilities there are, at best, pretty crude. His office is in a metal shipping container and he writes to me by flashlight as there is no internet communications there. The weather is so windy that because of the dust it is even hard to see the surrounding mountains. Any news from home is hard to get and due, I guess, to atmospheric conditions, they can only get daily weather reports from either BBC in England or CBC in Canada! Even copies of the 'Stars & Stripes' magazine arrive at least a month old. In the past few days I have personally contacted some other toy train companies and we are getting a new layout complete with trains, buildings, track, etc. and a Christmas tree-in-a-box that will shortly be enroute to Lance. Due to space limitations, the new AFGHANISTAN CENTRAL RR will only encompass a 30 inch x 48 inch area. But I know the enjoyment to our boys will be immense. Now, I would like to ask a favor of my Toy Train friends...as I mentioned, the train items are taken care of, but to any soldier in any post far from home ...mail is what matters alot. Could each of you send a Christmas card or a short Holiday note to Lance and his US NAVY Seabee buddies? This is my idea because space is at a premium for Lance and a Christmas card can also be shared with his fellow soldiers. RMT® will arrange to receive all your Christmas Cards for Lance and send them, hopefully in many boxes, direct to US NAVY Seabee Lance in Afghanistan. If you can, please do send a card or note and pass this on to your train buddies too. Send your Christmas cards (no packages please) to: US NAVY Seabee Lance c/o Ready Made Trains, LLC P.O. Box 173 Bloomsbury, NJ 08804 Cut off date for your card to arrive at RMT®'s Bloomsbury, NJ address is no later than November 30, 2009. Then I'll pack them up unopened and send them off by Priority Mail to Afghanistan to arrive by Christmas. Shipping to Afghanistan is a little harder than normal to other APO and FPO addresses. Thanks in advance to all of you who can help. I'm sure Santa will take care of you at Christmas. Sincerely and with the deepest gratitude to all our soldiers everywhere, Walter M. Matuch Ready Made Trains, LLC ************************************************ RMT® ANNOUNCES "CONDUCTORS CLUB" Membership for 2010 with special edition railcar. 'CANCER CURE' (Portion of proceeds to benefit Cancer Research) - RAHWAY VALLEY - LIRR #74 - MILWAUKEE - NAVY/EARLE - ARMY #714 - ERIE - METRO NORTH - LACKAWANNA caboose artwork now posted. BUDDY® - ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION RDC-1 - LONG ISLAND RR '175th Anniversary' and ALASKA 'Statehood' artwork now posted. Check out the--JERSEY CENTRAL/CNJ and SANTA FE 'Warbonnet' BEEF® A-B diesels!! and additional BANG® S-4 diesel roadname!!! Check out the new DEPRESSED CENTER FLATCAR sets and the new 'BOPPER®' COVERED HOPPER...full list of available roadnames. NEW 2-BAY COAL HOPPER ROADNAMES now posted..pre-order to guarantee availability BEEPeople® are IN-STOCK but inventory going fast! Click here for O GAUGE WATCH PODCAST interview with Walter M. Matuch, President, READY MADE TRAINS, LLC Welcome to the Ready Made Toys® ON-LINE Store...affordable and durable O/0-27 Gauge 3-Rail Electric Toy Trains. Check out our latest offerings by clicking on the categories at the left and then click again on each image for a larger picture and ordering information. Please visit often as our catalog expands with additional railroad names and new items added frequently. Order on-line using Visa, MasterCard or Discover, call our customer service/order line or mail to: Ready Made Trains, LLC PO Box 173 Bloomsbury NJ 08804 USA Customer Service Hours: Monday-Friday 10:00am-5:00pm DST CLOSED Saturday, Sunday and Holidays Phone: 908-479-1279 Fax: 908-479-1269 E-mail: wmatuch@readymadetoys.com Products shown on this web site may differ from final production. All products subject to change in pricing and availability without notice. All product color photos, product artworks and product descriptive text are copyrighted to READY MADE TRAINS, LLC and may not be copied or used otherwise without specific written permission. The words 'RMT®','READY MADE TOYS®', READY MADE TRAINS®','BEEP®', 'BUDDY®', 'BEEF®', 'PEEP®','BEEPeople®', 'BANG®' and 'BOPPER®' as used to describe products listed herein, are trademarks of READY MADE TRAINS, LLC. As an added service to our toy train customers, RMT® has added a link to our affiliate, HistoricRail.com as 'HISTORIC RAILS' where you can search for railroad-related books, artwork, signs, calendars, posters and more. Toy Trains and model railroading are very much connected to prototype railroading. Understanding 'real' railroads allows you to recreate favorite railroads, gain operational ideas for your toy train layout and learn background information about locomotives, passenger trains, stations, freight cars and railroaders who operate them. Enjoy the ride!!!!