- Leonard and Howard's attempt to keep Sheldon away from their Air Force project by sending him on a train trip backfires. Penny and Amy take Bernadette for her first night out since having the baby.
- The work on the guidance system is going smoothly enough, with the exception of Sheldon making one unnecessary suggestion after another just to satisfy his own sense of making it perfect. The latest such suggestion is solely a half thought-out theory of how to make the unit smaller, the current model toward which they working being within the approved specs. Leonard decides the work at this point would go much easier without Sheldon, and thus he implements a long thought out plan, one which he has been saving for a crisis moment, which he believes this is. The plan?: give Sheldon a gift of the ultimate locomotive vacation, one where he actually gets to operate a train. Sheldon ends up being enthralled with the gift. However, things take a turn when Colonel Williams asks Leonard and Howard to create a product that is the size Sheldon has devised. Leonard's plan has worked a little too well in that Sheldon refuses to forgo his trip to come back to work. If Leonard can devise a plan to keep Sheldon away for days, can he come up with one to make Sheldon come back? Meanwhile, Bernadette is feeling overwhelmed at home now that Howard has gone back to work. Her friends decide to give her a gift of a girls' night out on the town like they used to do while Raj and Stuart sit with Halley. Raj and Stuart taking care of the baby may end up being even more work for Bernadette in the long run. And the girls' night out leads to an emotional discussion between the three about the state of their relationships with their respective significant others.—Huggo
- When Leonard and Howard are close to finishing the guidance system, Sheldon devises a way to make it smaller. But Leonard says they're almost done but Sheldon keeps nagging them. So Leonard pulls out something he's been holding onto to pacify Sheldon; a train vacation which includes him operating a train. He takes it. But when Colonel Williams sees the proposal Sheldon made , he tells them to do it. They need Sheldon so they go to see him but he's so excited about his trip that he tells him he's going to spend his time preparing for it. So they need to find a way to get him to come back. Penny and Amy take Bernadette on a girls night out and leaves Raj and Stuart to take care of Hailley. But they get worried and call her. The girls end up having a discussion about the status of their lives.—rcs0411@yahoo.com
- While working on their gyroscope, Sheldon is looking over his calculations and says that they can make it even smaller. Leonard and Howard object since they are almost finished and have met the Air Force's size requirements. Sheldon feels that everyone likes smaller things (look at poodles and snack bars) while they just want Sheldon to go for a walk. Sheldon's part of the work is over and the guys reckon that he is only causing interruptions and delays, and that Howard and Leonard can finish the remaining work much faster without him.
Leonard decides to get Sheldon out of their hair by giving him a train day at a museum at the Nevada Northern Railway where he can be a real train engineer. He will be the engineer for a live, running locomotive engine, and will be able to run it on real train tracks. Sheldon hugs him, runs off to the restroom and the guys get back to work. Problem solved. The ticket cost $4000, but Leonard feels it was worth every penny.
Bernadette is filling out a daycare center application for Halley. The girls ask what they can do to help and Bernadette asks them to open up a college fund, shop for life insurance or work on the mountain of laundry. They float the suggestion that she needs a girl's night out, so they are all going dancing. Amy wants to see the San Gabriel Renaissance Choir. Bernadette agrees to go for a girl's night out and they decide to leave Raj and Stuart in charge.
Sheldon arrives at home and Amy finds him very happy about his train day AND Amy gets to drive him since it's so far from an airport. They get to sleep in a caboose while Sheldon gets to drive a steam locomotive and a diesel locomotive. Amy is just thrilled (obviously sarcastically).
The guys get to work uninterrupted as Sheldon is busy studying his engineer's manual. Colonel Richard Williams shows up and is delighted with their progress until he sees Sheldon's math. The Colonel WANTS the smaller version. They point out that that would add several extra weeks of work which the Colonel doesn't mind. Now they need Sheldon back.
The girls meet at Bernadette's and they are ready to get crazy. The bra Amy is wearing is not beige. Bernadette has her dancing shoes on and her breast pump. Amy figures if she uses it at the bar; all the girls could get free drinks. Stuart and Raj are going to take care of Halley, though Bernadette wants them to call her and not Howard in case they have a problem. Raj and Stuart decide to break up the chores into what goes in (taken care of by Raj) and what comes out (Stuart's zone) of little Halley.
Leonard and Howard can't believe that they have to get Sheldon back since they already got rid of him. They find Sheldon working in his apartment welding on a train engine. When asked to get back on the project, Sheldon finds it interesting that he is right. He doesn't want to go back to theoretical physics that doesn't prove anything. It's very satisfying working with his hands. Now he feels like he is an engineer - train engineer, not a goofy engineer like Howard. Howard tries to convince Sheldon that he will teach him all about engineering, if Sheldon helps them with their problem. Sheldon is intrigued as he really doesn't know anything about machines and how they work in real life..
Bernadette keeps talking about Halley's pre-school applications, while the other girls want to have some fun. Raj calls Bernie who is worried about the date on Halley's milk. She assures them that it's fine. So does Stuart who says that he would drink it until Bernadette gets annoyed and tells Stuart to not drink her breast milk. Bernie just feels she left her baby with SpongeBob and Patrick. Driving around the girls try to decide where to go. Amy knows where to go to hear some Latin music. They wonder if they are just out trying to recapture their youth; followed by Amy and Penny lamenting that they haven't gotten as far along in their relationships since Bernie has a house and a family already.
The guys are still trying to convince Sheldon to rejoin them. If he wants to work more with his hands, why not help build a more miniaturized guidance system? Sheldon agrees, but needs his friends to help clean up the apartment before Amy gets back.
Another day on their way to the train museum, Sheldon can't stop talking about it. Amy drifts off and sees Sheldon all sweaty and manly at the controls of his steam locomotive turning Amy on. Amy then revs up her engine to get them to their destination faster.
Title reference: The consequences of Sheldon's train trip taking over his thoughts.
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