Time for something a little more fun... the title says it all... What is the very best thing that you ever found at a train show or on eBay.
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I have a few runners-up. The orginal set of V&O decals from the 1970's complete with handwritten instructions from Allen McClelland for lettering a boxcar was really cool.
I found a Guest Pass from the Sunset Railway and Navigation Company in an antique store. That was a good find.
But my favorite thing I ever bought on eBay was this unimpressive TOFC flat car.
I bought this about a year ago from a toy dealer in Las Vegas on eBay. I painted this car when I was in high school or shortly after. Somehow in 30 years it found its way to Nevada fully intact. I do not know how it left my possession. I wish I had the full back story. It still has the pizza cutter wheels and "Rapido" couplers!
Now that I have it again, it is officially the oldest STRATTON & GILLETTE freight car I have. It is nice to have something that is representative of my skill set when I was a teen.
When I painted this car the "official" SGRR freight car color was "Gloss Brown" from K-Mart. The trailer is painted Caterpillar Yellow that we had in the garage. I am sure I purchased this car at A&J Hobbies in Cape Coral, Florida in the mid 1980's.
So... what have you been lucky enough to get?
-Kevin
Living the dream.
This Varney Docksider with the valve gear already on it for $5.00 at a Greenberg show.
Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale
SeeYou190So... what have you been lucky enough to get? . -Kevin
On e-Bay this:
At a train show this.
My "Lucky Dog" find: A BB GP7 shell painted for Family Lines.I been wanting a FL GP7.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
I found an N scale plastic jordan spreader that I never knew existed for $50.00. A little high but the only one that I have ever seen and to let it go would have been a crime. I also found a Kato BNSF Maxi 1 car set for would beleive it $15.00 at a train show.
Almost any NIB Stewart/Kato 'F' units or Atlas Trainmasters, preferably undecorated.
From EBay or train shows.
At a train show? Probably the NiB Proto2000 GP-7 for $15.
On ebay - best SALE was selling my AHM/Pocher Lincoln Funeral Car for $80. Still had the $1.99 price sticker on the box. Best BUY - I got a P2K S2 brand new from MB Klein (they occasionaly list stuff on eBay) for $24. PCM Reading T1, sound version, for $120, new.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Best Ebay find:
Overland HO Ferdinand Magellan — the "bulletproof" car used by U. S. Presidents from FDR to Reagan.
IMG_8227_fix by Edmund, on Flickr
Best train show find:
IMG_8544_fix by Edmund, on Flickr
A 1962-era LMB New York Central H-10b Mikado. After painting and a decoder install, one of my favorite locomotives!
Both of the above items were acquired at about half the "usual and customary" price
Regards, Ed
gmpullmanOverland HO Ferdinand Magellan — the "bulletproof" car used by U. S. Presidents from FDR to Reagan.
Ed, the real Ferdinand Magellan was housed at the Miami Zoo. When Hurricane Andrew came through it collapsed the train shed the car was in. I was involved in the cleanup. It was amazing how little damage there was the the car. When we first saw the building all twisted metal and collapsed, we just knew it had been destroyed.
I would have to say my best find is two S scale B.T.S. EBT 0-6-0 switcher kits. These are retired kits and except for brass, I haven't seen any 0-6-0's in S scale in recent years.
Paul
COWS! Yep, the best train show find for me was cows. I needed lots of cows for my Alberta range land and was not prepared to pay the $20.00 per pack for 5 or 6 good quality cows that would look good in photos. For years I dug through those under table boxes looking for cheap cows and one day I came across a large Ziplock bag full of cows with $50.00 marked on it. I offered the guy $20.00 and he took it.
I would say there were over 200 really high quality cows and another 200 so, so cheapo ones. The show was in the U.S. so when coming back across the border the guard asked me if I had purchased anything while I was away, and with a big smile on my face, I replied yep, 400 head of cattle and held up my bag of cows. "On your way" was his response.
My online scoop was a new BS unlettered 4-4-0 DCC/Sound for around $200.00 from "My Favourite spot". I have never found a better deal as I would like a couple more of them and I am still looking occasionally. I rarely look on eBay for stuff though.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
gmpullman Best train show find: A 1962-era LMB New York Central H-10b Mikado. After painting and a decoder install, one of my favorite locomotives!
BIG like, Ed!
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
tstageBIG like, Ed!
THANKS, Tom! What's not to like about the late— great NYC. Everything about the brutish-looks of that Mike means business! That outside-mounted dry-pipe is what caught my eye!
Kevin—
That's an interesting story about the damage caused by Andrew. I'm sure you know U.S. #1 has 5/8" thick steel sides, floor and roof and 3" thick windows. Probably a safe place to ride out a hurricane I'm glad to hear you folks got her cleaned up.
I would love to visit the car if I ever get down that way...
On to more great finds... Ed
BATMAN COWS! Yep, the best train show find for me was cows. I needed lots of cows for my Alberta range land and was not prepared to pay the $20.00 per pack for 5 or 6 good quality cows that would look good in photos. For years I dug through those under table boxes looking for cheap cows and one day I came across a large Ziplock bag full of cows with $50.00 marked on it. I offered the guy $20.00 and he took it. I would say there were over 200 really high quality cows and another 200 so, so cheapo ones. The show was in the U.S. so when coming back across the border the guard asked me if I had purchased anything while I was away, and with a big smile on my face, I replied yep, 400 head of cattle and held up my bag of cows. "On your way" was his response.
Now if I could only find Pugs (as in the dog breed). The only HO scale Pug I have seen comes in the Preiser set of 'fat people', and I have no desire to buy dozens of that set to get a bunch of Pugs to scatter about the layout in a "Where's Waldo" sort of way. Despite the breed not being popular in the mid-50's era I model, as a Pug owner I need to do this. And I need both fawn and black ones to match my pair of smush-nosed poop factories. Mostly sleeping - since that is by far their favorite activity.
A few years back, I won the eBay auction for an Overland 0-4-0 P&R A-4 camelback switcher with the slope-back, 4 wheel tender for less than $150 (?). Its a basket case, no motor or cylinders, but nothing I can't replace. I've seen complete ones listed for several multiples of what I paid.
Jim
What i found at a train show. Sadly for my wallet, it was the atm.
A pessimist sees a dark tunnel
An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel
A realist sees a frieght train
An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space
Okay best finds have been at thrift stores, but starting with train shows: in G scale:
Aristocraft 0-4-0 switcher $10
Bachmann 0-4-0 saddletanker, now very very hard to find, $50
Thrift stores, Goodwill, Salvation Army, St Vincent de Pauls:
Lifelike TransAmerica Trainset, NIB, $35
LGB 72423 Santa Fe Freight Train Starter Set, $99 (sold track for $40)
LGB 73968- Stainz 30 YR Anniversary Train Set $40 (no track)
Plus assorted cars and engines in various scales, from parts fodder to some real jewels. Recently a large stash of in box classic brown-box Tyco cars for $3 each. A large stash of HO buildings, various G scale cars and stuff.
(Add) one complete Lionel Disney set, in box, at a thrift store.
Have fun with your trains
I found a 70's era Locomotive Company 4-6-0 kit for $100 on ebay about 10 years ago, which as best a i can remember, was retail price. I coveted this as a teenager, and couldn't afford $100 back then. I still have it, unbuilt, because it doesn't fit my current modeling needs. But that may change.
And as a kid, I found a used ZW Lionel transformer (the one that could run 4 trains at once) at a San Antonio hobby shop. It was $40, and I had to save for almost a year to get it (it was still there). I still have it, 45+ years later. All of my Lionel is in storage, waiting for grandkids, but it is there for them.
The best thing my mother got me was a train set she found at a garage sale for $2.00. A pair of Athearn rubber band drive F7s, three passenger cars, assorted freight cars, Kadee couplers, an assortment of snap track,and 8 brand new Atlas remote control switches, still in original packaging. I left the passenger train at a club I was a member of in Abilene, they were stolen. Who steals from a high school kid? They ran really well, too!
In the 1970s when I was 8 years old I received a Lionel Pioneer Dockside Switcher train set for Christmas. It was my first electric train and I loved it so much. It was the best Christmas present I ever got. When I was a young adult with little kids I had to sell it for money to buy formula and diapers. It was well used and beat up. Then a couple of years ago I found on eBay another copy of this 40 plus year old train set brand new in the box. It had never been ran. The track was still in it’s original bundles and even the electrical wires were still perfectly coiled like the day it was new. The best thing about eBay is you can buy back your childhood. The best thing I found at a train show was an Athearn HO scale Burlington Northern modern double door boxcar with a FRED installed in it. It was built by a local electronics guy. It was very unusual at the time. Later after noticing how unrealistic it was to make sure that car was always on the end of a train and facing the correct position I removed it and installed it in an Amtrak express boxcar which is always the last car on a passenger train. I have gotten great deals on other things at train shows but that was the best because it was almost one of a kind.
The original Athearn Pacific, the one on all those old blue boxes. Found it on E-bay for $30, some years ago. Had fun adding details, fixing broken pilot, painting. Never got it to run very well, but it looks nice on my display shelf.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
Train Show: I found a new-in-the-box IHC Mikado steamer for a very good price. They were no longer in production, and IHC was gone as a locomotive manufacturer/distributor. I added a Tsunami to it and had a great new engine.
E-bay: A set of 3 Type 21 tankers. These are the Walthers Proto ones, built up for less than the kit price, and I've heard they are very difficult kits to get right. It was an "estate sale" listing, so I hit the timing just right.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Train show- Athearn Gunderson boxcar TTX...20 dollars when the retail is like 30-45
Ebay- Pittsburgh West Virginia Book for 60 including shipping and Handling
Normally they go for 150-300 bucks.
(My Model Railroad, My Rules)
These are the opinions of an under 35 , from the east end of, and modeling, the same section of the Wheeling and Lake Erie railway. As well as a freelanced road (Austinville and Dynamite City railroad).
My best deal on ebay was a few years ago when I found an N scale Kato Santa Fe F-7 A,B,B,A set for $150.00 that was brand new that usually sale for $300.00 or more. I then purchased the eleven car Kato passenger car set for $100.00 that normally sales for $150.00 to $200.00. I also recently purchased a four car add on set for $40.00 to complete the train. That said, I've got a train that I'm very proud of for $290.00 that could have cost me $500.00 or more...