Used bookstores

[FJ and G]

A new used bookstore sprouted up near my work in Old Town, Alexandria so I paid them a visit.

Naturally, I was looking for books on railroads--real or model. There weren't many but I did find one for about $10 (real RR, no model ones avail).

I struck up a conversation with the used book lady; who was shapely but had a bit of a weathered look about her from too much sun, not unlike a used book.

The book lady explained that train books are hard to come by and that furthermore, I was the third person that day who inquired about train books. She said that as a lot, we are a bunch of fanatics who are unwilling to part with our train memorabilia.

I couldn't argue with her flawless critique of us; the lot of us are a strange subculture.

I asked where she got her books from. She was unwilling to divluge her sources so I volunteered some leading questions.

--Estate sales
--Yard sales
--Library sales

Yep, she said, you about covered all of them. I mentioned that libraries typically charge about 50 cents for hardcovers and 25 for soft. I noticed the price markups on the used books were averaging around $12. She agreed that the profits were built in but that it was a lot of work scrounging around for the books and assembling them all on one place and sorting them out and dealing with inane questions from people like me.

Again, she had a good point that I was forced to agree with.

We've gotten to know each other; somewhat like a reader gets acquainted with a good book. I stop in every Friday afternoon on my way from work to the train station. Looking for...you guessed it...

...any book on trains.

Dave Vergun

[philnrunt]

Dave- good luck finding that most fleeting, most elusive, most rare item that is shared between a man and a woman- a good book about trains.

[Dough]

I've bought some books from the guy below. He has some pretty interesting books every once and a while!

http://home.earthlink.net/~gounleys/

[Fergmiester]

KInd a sounds like the makings of a Harlequin Romance[:I]

[chutton01]

My rail books have a habit of falling about, especially "Perfect Bound" books (which are anything but).
I get rid of them at that state, and yes they are unsalable.

[Anonymous]

There is a good used bookstore in Davenport called "The Source" - they have a few RR books (mostly real, not model), but the good thing is that they will check for a book you want with other used bookstores.

They just got me a copy of "Iron Road to Empire" by William Hayes. This book is about the early history of the Rock Island Lines. And it cost me about half of what I have seen it going for at the Galesburg MRR show.

So you might as your new friend if she can do the same for you!

"This may be the start of a beautiful friendship."

[AltonFan]

Used railroad books and magazines are a highly specialized market.

In my neck of the woods, used railroad books typically end up at established hobby shops, who have pretty much the same sources as your book dealer, or who acquire the stuff with the equipment, when offered by the survivors of deceased railfans. In some cases, all the hobby dealer has to do is volunteer to cart the stuff away. (And yes, the hobby dealers have markups not dissimilar from your book dealers.)

The library in my hometown used to have used book sales twice a year. The twist was that members of "The Friends of the Library", a club that raised funds and organized events in support of the library, got first crack at the books the night before the sale opened to the public. Now people who would join "The Friends of the Library" are also likely to be people who can spot valuable books that most casual readers would miss.

Now and again, one runs across a used book dealer that specializes in railroad books. We had one such gentleman in my hometown. About a third of his store was railroad books. Unfortunately, when he passed away, his store closed.

I found some nice, old railroad books at: www.bookmine.com

[dickiee]

If you know what you are looking for, www.abebooks.com will let you search all the used bookstores in the world. I purchase a lot of books, railroad and otherwise through their system and have never had a problem. All this through the miracle of the internet. Another source, of course, is Ebay and half.com.

[Anonymous]

I'd agree they're highly specialist. I live within an hour or so of Hay on Wye (a small town famous for having massive numbers of secondhand bookshops, and that also hosts a well-known literary festival. You can find books on pretty much anything if you search for a while). I drove down there recently in search of reference books, searched the two or three largest shops, and found nothing. There were few or no books on British railways, let alone US ones!

I get most of my books either through Amazon or my local bookshop - they're more than willing to order books specially and aren't phased by hard-to-find works - so long as it's in stock or on order at their suppliers they'll get it.

[Jetrock]

Normally train shows are the best places to find used railroad books--just look for the guy who is selling dog-eared copies for $1 each, not the guy with the Mylar bags selling an almost-as-dog-eared copy for twice the cover price. I spend a lot of time at garage sales and thrift stores anyhow, and keep an eye out for railroad-related stuff, as well as other useful items--old magazines with railroad articles, old books on architechture and history books. One of the best things I found was a RAILWAY STATISTICAL MANUAL, a glossary of terms used in railroading, which is helpful for deciphering railroad technical jargon, for a quarter.

I have found that antique stores will often have piles of filthy Atlas switch/cab control components and wiring at inflated prices. They will sometimes have a little tinplate and maybe some old HO toy-train stuff, either marked well below its value or well above. Know the value of what you're buying.

[FJ and G]

I have found that used bookstores run the gamet on prices, jetrock. The one I cited is reasonable. Others I've been to charge about the same for a used book as one that is new. I found some bargains at a Greenberg show, but the prices were not THAT much of a bargain.

[Anonymous]

A used bookstore recently opened here in Independence near the "historic Square".
It's speciality is civil war books, i.e. books about the civil war, not books from the 1860s.
I did find a dozon or so train books (modern era as well as civil war era, but nothing I "gotta have" at this point. I will keep checking, however.

[egmurphy]

Thanks to Dickiee for the link to Abebooks.com. Just tried them out and found the very book I've been searching at least 6 months for .

Regards

Ed

[Jetrock]

I have to eat my words about not finding model railroad stuff at garage sales!! I was out garage-sale hunting this morning and found a Marklin 1959 catalog. I asked the host of the sale if he had any more model railroad stuff, just on the off-chance, and he took me into the garage and showed me four big boxes full of older HO equipment, and offered me $50 for the lot!! I went ahead and bought it and it does look like I got a deal!

The items included a lot of Tyco train-set stuff, including a few of their "animated" kits--a freight station with a moving bulldozer that loads a flatcar, a boxcar that "shoots" out little boxes one loads in the top, grade crossing, etcetera. There were also a bunch of Faller European-pattern structures (built and unbuilt), a Tyco UP 4-6-0, a Roundhouse SP 2-8-0 oil-burner (like-new unbuilt kit in the box), an Eheim trolley-bus set, a few boxes of trees, a box of assorted HO scale cars and trucks, and enough assorted rolling stock to make a fairly large train...

I'll probably start putting most of it on eBay soon, but the stuff I'm keeping would have cost me considerably more than $50 if purchsed at retail cost!!

[Anonymous]

There's a used bookstore right next to my local hobby shop. Funny how he always has his window display full of RR stuff.