Zeke,
FYI: The Chatanooga steam engine is a Tyco from the '70s. The motor is in the tender. You have a slim chance that it will actually run for any length of time, but the ones that run are decent pullers. The engine has a smoke unit; you fill it with fluid by pulling the brass beel straight up and out of the boiler, inserting a tiny funnel (one came inthe original box when new), and putting in just a drop or two.
The Doctor is in! I went to a antques flea market here in Alameda, Ca. at the old naval air station that is held the first sunday of the month. I went in with no " I want this"ideas because when you go looking like that you don't find what you are looking for. I found two or three Marx sets in boxes ( i don't collect marx). One guy was selling a Lionel set box, just the box for $25.00, and it was not in the best shape. One fellow had some post war Lionel, So I looked. He had this F-3 diesel, a #2333 that someone had repainted in a "early amtrak" red,black &silver. It was missing it's horns and one number board, and the rear steps had been broken off. He was asking $95.00 ! I thought WOW !! Then I thought, did it run? I went off and looked at what the rest of the sellers had. I found some other stuff, one fellow had a #2046 steamer, no tender for $125.00 I thought it was high. I said it had no tender and his price sounded high. He said "a Lionel guy" said the tender was only worth eight dollars. Sounded wrong to me,but you can't tell folks how to price there items. I wish I had brought more cash, there were some box lots I might have bought for resale. Anyway, I am going to replace the missing parts, I still have to find replacement horns for the roof. And my train dealer has a fellow that can repalint it for me. I plan to go with S.P. Black Widow paint and a prototype number from a F-3 that was based in the San Francisco Bay Area. And the best part: It's a good runner! I put a little grease & oil were needed and she runs smooth. There is a replacement horn inside and I have to fix the front coupler wire, but for the price, I am not complaining! I have seen running F-3's with out a shell for more than $200.00 at train shows. Now I need a B-unit to paint up to match. You never know what you will find when you are not looking ! And the seller is there every month! I can't wait to see what he has next!
Till My Next Missive, I Remain The Humble Yet Strangly Evil Doctor !
Sask_Tinplater --yes the chrome is sweet....and they run so quietly......very nice engines i like them alot...
Very nice. I myself am not a big fan of the yard sale, but you do get some nice things there once in a while. My Dad could share many a great find at yard sales and for bargan prices. I'll have to get him on the forums and share some of those tales one time (with pictures if we can).
I'm something like Dave and go to lots of garage sales and buy all kinds of stuff at them. Now and then I have come across some trains. So far this year I have gotten a Bachmann HO set with a CP Rail GP38 and five cars for only $3, two HO buildings for fifty cents each (the people I bought them from said they had come from a train set which had been sold a few years ago) and three cars with some (mostly broken) track from a battery operated train set for $2. Last year my cousin and her husband (who also go to lots of garage sales) got a huge load of mostly high end HO trains with four engines and around thirty cars plus buildings, track, etc. for free for me at a garage sale. The only O gauge I've ever found was three Marx 4-wheel plastic cars (two orange PRR gondolas and a green LV hopper car) for twenty-five cents. Probably my favourite garage sale find has to be a lot of trains made by Haji of Japan. Made in the 1970's, these battery operated trains are smaller than HO in size and although the engines, tenders and track are made out of plastic, the rolling stock is lithographed tinplate and wears classic prototypical paint schemes. I got two full sets in mint condition with one original box for just $2.
Great job, zeke! I wish you many more such finds! I have two of those F9's myself. Don't you just love that chrome?
You made out like a bandit!
wayray
Good stuff, and better deals than I find! I found myself at a "pit stopp", an antique store on my way the Pennsylvania this weekend. I had to stretch my legs and I was of corse looking for trains and also musical instruments. An old clarinet for $50, not worth it. I was ready to go when I saw a postwar American Flyer, run of the mill caboose. Well it was dirty, one step missing and one coupler broke. It had a price of $10 firm. The better part of me said to not buy it, don't be a succer. Then the evil side said, after half an hour of searching don't leave empty handed. I bought it. This story does have a happy ending as,
It came with the origonal box!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
hey thanks..i was lucky...
http://www.mth-railking.com/detail.asp?item=30-4033-0
dbaker48 wrote: Zeke, Good job, great finds! Good feeling, huh !! Yep you sure got the bug. Now tell me.... how long during the day do you go with OUT thinking about trains in some manner? Its taking over you also. So many facets, can do anything, sightseeing, garage sailing, walk in a craft store, "I could use this, and this" You got the bug, (too) !!Oh Yeah, you too have become a PART of this forum, your inputs are very enjoyable, you've already done 300 posts, you too are part of the fabric here. And a valuable contributor
Zeke, Good job, great finds! Good feeling, huh !! Yep you sure got the bug. Now tell me.... how long during the day do you go with OUT thinking about trains in some manner? Its taking over you also. So many facets, can do anything, sightseeing, garage sailing, walk in a craft store, "I could use this, and this" You got the bug, (too) !!
Oh Yeah, you too have become a PART of this forum, your inputs are very enjoyable, you've already done 300 posts, you too are part of the fabric here. And a valuable contributor
WOW thanks....that makes me all warm and fuzzy inside!
yes i have the bug...i think of trains all the time...everytime i go to a store regardless of which one i am looking for possible layout items or projects....i have quite a bit ho stuff now so my ho is gonna be worked first....only cause the track i bought of ebay last month hasnt been shipped yet....my o is my baby....i cant wait to get rolling on that...but thanks..
you guys rock
GREAT ZEKE.
laz57
"No childhood should be without a train!"
Zeke!
It's kinda like those stories where the guy finds a mint, abeit dusty, 68 Firebird in some lady's barn..whose son died in Vietnam, etc...
That Burlington boxcar with the guy inside. I had one of those on my HO layout growing up. It has boxes that came with it. You load the boxes thru the top of the car in the hatch I believe. When you get to the unloading area, you push a button, and the guy activates, pushing a box out of the car. Very fun!
Was the sale listed in the paper as having toy trains? I need to start back garage sale-ing...
Don
I just picked up a Bachman UP SD-40 NIB for $2, but had to pay $7 for shipping.
Nice haul! I think the garage sales are the way to go! No shipping.
Kurt
Nice Job!
The best I ever did was buy the Lionel 6-11813 Crayola set without the box and track for $5. I really don't care much for boxes so I think thats pretty good. (value=$80.00)
I dont get to yard sales as much as I'd like though.
Jim Fortner wrote:Lots of good finds! That Christmas set looks nice and that's a pretty good transformer too. I like the MTH transformers.
thanks it is very good looking i think...my first mth
RIP Chewy - best dog I ever had.
Well them yard sales are paying off i tell you....sweated my tail off today but i think it was worth it...has anyone else scored any train stuff from yard sales?
got these two bachman ho f9's ( thats what he said they were) 2 bucks they were running when i bought them.. brand new
not sure on this loco but they guy thought it was bachman or alto ?but brand new also ho
got me a new dual control for my ho $1.00
box full of atlas flex track....mostly new
got all this ho stuff along with the locos above for 25 bucks....
maintenace cars
some type of tyco animated car..new
and now the best one...the MTH rail king christmas express 2000...brand new never used...
box is a little rough, but everything inside is good to go
thats all of it...i paid 75 all together for all that...and he is holding about the same amount of ho for me which i hope to get in a few days...its nice that my luck has changed..because 2 weeks before i joined this site my house was broke into and i lost alot of things...so things are looking up!
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