Derek Jeter's glove?
A history of the Boston Red Sox?
And with that, Armand Feigenbaum '42 took the wrapping off what turned out to be a Lionel Train replica of Hellgate Bridge in New York City.
The gift was presented by President Roger Hull on Tuesday at a reception commemorating the 50th anniversary of Armand's book, Total Quality Control.
“This really touches the bottom of my heart,” Feigenbaum said, adding that he and his brother, Donald '46, have been long-time collectors of model train sets.
“Tomorrow we leave to do some work with the Union-Pacific Railroad,” Armand said, joking that the model train set is useful in working out problems with real railroads.
The gift was the idea of Doug Klein, himself a model train buff, who knew of the Feigenbaums' hobby and remembered them admiring the Hellgate Bridge in a 1930's Lionel catalog that he showed them last year.
The brothers also spoke Tuesday at the sixth annual Feigenbaum Forum, this year focusing on the Plan for Union.
They are principals of General Systems Company in Pittsfield, Mass., an international systems engineering firm that designs and implements integrated management systems for major corporations throughout the world.