mononguy63 yougottawanta My wife and I went to an antique shop and saw a hoosier there for $400 and did not buy it That's odd. Where I live, I can't turn around without bumping into another Hoosier! And I'm sure there's a whole mess of 'em that'd go for a LOT less than 400 bucks. Are we talking about the same thing? Back on topic, I've been kicking myself for having recently missed a chance to get three Atlas locomotives for sixty bucks total. AARGH! Life is just a series of missed opportunities.
yougottawanta My wife and I went to an antique shop and saw a hoosier there for $400 and did not buy it
That's odd. Where I live, I can't turn around without bumping into another Hoosier! And I'm sure there's a whole mess of 'em that'd go for a LOT less than 400 bucks.
Are we talking about the same thing?
Back on topic, I've been kicking myself for having recently missed a chance to get three Atlas locomotives for sixty bucks total. AARGH! Life is just a series of missed opportunities.
YEP we are talking about the same thing. Recently , two weeks ago I saw one around here going for $900 ! and that was on sale ! More often they go for $1200 . Maybe you should bring a truck load here ? You would need a truck to take the cash back. Any way back on topic. Bring some Hoosier to this area and you will NEVER have to pass up a deal again
"I am lapidary but not eristic when I use big words." - William F. Buckley
I haven't been sleeping. I'm afraid I'll dream I'm in a coma and then wake up unconscious. -Stephen Wright
moochie OK I'm ready, I'm bent over and ready for swift hard kick in my butt. A couple of months ago at a local show I saw a Bowser PRR B6 0-6-0 at a real good price. I hesitated and now they are impossible to find. Just goes to show you"He who hesitates is lost" If you really want it and have the money, BUY.
OK I'm ready, I'm bent over and ready for swift hard kick in my butt. A couple of months ago at a local show I saw a Bowser PRR B6 0-6-0 at a real good price. I hesitated and now they are impossible to find. Just goes to show you"He who hesitates is lost" If you really want it and have the money, BUY.
I learned my lesson early on . My wife and I went to an antique shop and saw a hoosier there for $400 and did not buy it , it was complete with flour sifter and every thing . Weeks later we saw another one at a diifferent location and it was over double that ! From then on we vowed if we ran across a deal again we would buy it ! So several weeks ago we were at a LHS . They had a Bachman spectrum locomative for $48 , new in the box ! You know what I did ? I bought it right then and there . Now I have to put my layout back together so I can run it
dirtyd79moochie OK I'm ready, I'm bent over and ready for swift hard kick in my butt. A couple of months ago at a local show I saw a Bowser PRR B6 0-6-0 at a real good price. I hesitated and now they are impossible to find. Just goes to show you"He who hesitates is lost" If you really want it and have the money, BUY. I wish I could live by that mantra. Sadly what do you do when you've got a couple different companies making limited run and as such extremely expensive models you've been waiting ages for? Unfortunately going on a budget wrecking spending spree is not an option when you've got a mountain of other bills piling up. This is the most frustrating part of the hobby to me.
I wish I could live by that mantra. Sadly what do you do when you've got a couple different companies making limited run and as such extremely expensive models you've been waiting ages for? Unfortunately going on a budget wrecking spending spree is not an option when you've got a mountain of other bills piling up. This is the most frustrating part of the hobby to me.
And then people end up wondering why there are threads that end up complaining about the cost of, or even to, the hobby in expensive runs------
If one needs the thing then basically the only way I can see it is to develop the idea of mad money for RR'ing. Look, if one can have mad money for the bar scene etc then why not here for pete sake?! That way, if'n the lokie is there, you have the money there and you're not delving into that already fired up charge card---
And don't ask me how I know-----
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/
Folks,
I DID IT! I just ordered three boxcars from Accurail at less than 8 $ or 6 Euro each. Did not want to miss out this time.
They will be a good starting point for my first weathering experiments and if I fail, not so much money is lost. Btw, shipping is as expensive as the three cars...
Anyway, I am proud of my self - I DID IT (and now I have to tell my wife...
I've tried to explain that to my wife (without much success). One annoying thing about model railroading is that so many things are basically "limited editions". I recently bought a LL E-7 in the simplified Great Northern paint scheme. Now I'm working on a new layout and it's probably going to be several years until I really can use a passenger diesel, but if I didn't get it now it would be gone...in fact, I almost waited too long as it is, the first place I was going to buy it from sold out almost immediately and I had to scramble online to find one to buy.
Chuck, send us a picture of the DMU train either as model or prototype, and then we can all feel your pain. Let's hope that helps.
Mark
Yesterday I pulled my most expensive magazine out of my mail box, turned to the inside back cover...
AAArrgggghhhh!!!!!
My favorite manufacturer has just produced a limited-run DMU train that I would really like to add to my roster. Unfortunately, the price, exchange rate, international shipping and customs would leave pocket change from a $3,000 bill.
Realistically, I just can't afford it, but I know I'm going to be kicking myself for years to come.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
I could not have said it better!
That's why I snapped up a pair of Atlas GP40-2's in the CSX "Bright Future" scheme using my credit card. Normally try to pay for my mrr stuff in cash, but MB Klein had them on sale for $70/ea (less than half MSRP) and I figured I better get 'em while they were still there to be got!
-Ken in Maryland (B&O modeler, former CSX modeler)
For a week I was looking at this Athearn, SW1500 in SP paint sitting in the showcase of the local shop before bought it. And they only had one. Now I understand they are all gone from shops and hard to find. I learned my lesson and won't hesitate again. My train crews are happy with their new diesel too.
Sir Madog Yesterday, my favourite mail order shop had a special offer on various P2K SD45´s , also in MILW livery. Guess what happened? I hesitated, ´cause money is short at my end for the moment. IT IS GONE! It was Euro 79 vs. Euro 140!
Yesterday, my favourite mail order shop had a special offer on various P2K SD45´s , also in MILW livery. Guess what happened? I hesitated, ´cause money is short at my end for the moment.
IT IS GONE!
It was Euro 79 vs. Euro 140!
Welcome to my boat Mad. Hey you don't plugging that hole to your left with your finger do ya?
The LTS has several trains I would like to have, and buy the time I have the money needed and walk into their front door they will probably be missing from the display case.
Like I said, you mind plugging that hole??
Ah, the prospect lost. If I could tell you how many times I've blown a good deal at a train show or a hobby shop by thinking "Ah, it'll be there tomorrow", I wouldn't have any buttocks left, they'd both have been kicked off.
Worst one:
Missed a beautiful PFM Rio Grande L-131 four years ago at the Roseville train show. Utterly gorgeous. Run in but not painted. Guy wanted what I thought was a rather exhorbiant price for it. I demurred, went home and thought about it. And THOUGHT about it. The price wasn't really that exhorbiant, it was pretty darned fair, in fact. Went back to the train show the next day. Empty space where the locomotive was. I looked at the seller. Sighed. "Boy, was I dumb." He smiled at me and said, "Boy, WERE you. Sold it to the guy standing behind you yesterday." "Can you tell me who he was, so that I can look him up and kill him?" I asked. Guy laughed. Me too. I shook my head, went over to another table that had a whole bunch of old nifty Train Miniature kits. Bought every Rio Grande boxcar he had in revenge, even if they weren't authentic.
I'm still kicking myself.
Tom
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
During the last few trainshows I went to a vendor had a pair of Athearn RTR BN SD40-2s. I went and picked up other stuff since I figured there weren't any other BN modelers for hundreds of miles.
Apparently I was wrong since he didn't have them at the last show I went to.... Although I did find another one and snatched it up immediately so it wouldn't happen again. Except it was an even rarer bicenntennial SD40-2. Why are SD40-2 models so hard to come by anyways???
Vincent
Wants: 1. high-quality, sound equipped, SD40-2s, C636s, C30-7s, and F-units in BN. As for ones that don't cost an arm and a leg, that's out of the question....
2. An end to the limited-production and other crap that makes models harder to get and more expensive.
Stay in that bent over position. The Government is going to boink you so you won't be able to by it at any price. I hear they are not planning on using any lubricants either.
Ha yeh. Years ago at my clubs train show, there was a bowser big boy kit, good price, I had the money, I BOUGHT IT. I heard someone else was scanning it, passed it up then found it was bought...wooops BUY IT!!!!
Same thing at a recent club show I saw a brass CTA 6000 series 2 car set, about 179 bucks FAR less than its value, I checked it over, walked away to check other stuff returned, it was still there.. BUY IT!!!
Its mine now. Problem with it is its power gearing, so I am working on rehabbing it, NWSL has a gearset I will mod into it, no way I will use the model's gearset, its very poor design for such a fine looking model.
I have been lucky on other buys, a guy in Australia had an NKP products NKP 4-6-4 with elephant ears, I bid on it but was out bid on ebay, found he owned 2!!! He sold the other to me at the winning bid cost, all the way from Australia it came. wow.
Bowser steam kit stuff may become a rarity unless someone comes along and does something about it.
'bout like the MDC kits.
I have this problem too especally since I model the MRL. Those SD45-2 came and gone so fast I didn't know what to do. It seems like Athearn likes to play that roll. One moment they bring out the SD40s and next you can't even find them on Ebay. Yes, I've been short on cash these days, and yes I really want everything that says MRL but, oh crap, lucky for me I have a credit card. The wife isn't happy and I should NOT be buying like that. I'm still paying off the 4 MRL F45s I just picked up the past January. I know this is not the right way of purchasing my trains but time ticks and I blink and they are gone. What do you do?
--Zak Gardner
My Layout Blog: http://mrl369dude.blogspot.com
http://zgardner18.rrpicturearchives.net
VIEW SLIDE SHOW: CLICK ON PHOTO BELOW
I can relate to that.
Not so long ago I fouled up and and order something else thinking he has 8 in stock so what's the hurry?
Wrong-o..I went to order it 2 weeks later and he was sold out.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
I have been down that road, too. I have also bought stuff that I later asked myself, "What was I thinking?" It's nice, but I had no real use for it. Impulse got the better of me. Having been in both situations too many times, I worked out the following agreement with the wife.
- I compiled a limited "dream" roster of locomotives that fit my layout space, region, era, and concept of operations. The list is not about models, but about purpose and general specs for my free-lance prototypes. For instance, the HOn3 line requires 2 15T-25T geared lokies of 1880s or 1890s vintage to haul trains up and down the hill from the harbor. An older 4-4-0 is needed for passenger service on the more level portions of the line. A freight rod locomotive could be a 4-4-0, 2-6-0, or 2-8-0 from the 19th Century. In total, it's really only 6 standard and 5 narrow gauge locomotives, and I really only need 3-4 for each line's operations and space on the layout. I list what I already have against the dream roster.
- I can buy on the spot (no more than 2 per year) against empty dream roster slots, or as a significant improvement over an existing model. If it's an improvement, the existing must be sold by the end of the year.
- I have compiled a similar list for structures. Again, the list is not based on a particular model, but on the type of structure that would logically fit in the designated space.
The deal keeps me from too much impulsiveness, yet I can close the deal when needed for an item I can truly use. An example is a very nice HOn3 FED 2-6-0 that recently became available. The roster slot currently had an MDC 2-8-0 inside frame kit against it. The FED 2-6-0 was/is a much better fit for the criteria, so the deal was closed, along with an order for the re-motor kit. The MDC kit will be either parted out for other projects or sold this Fall.
just my experiences
Fred W
This could be one of those things that make one go
BTDT---bought the potatos even.
All one can do is keep lookin', hold on to that dang money and hope the thing comes your way-----and when it does ----snarfle it before someone else does---