On this forum I have mentioned my fondness for the HO Athearn "B" and "R" Mack Trucks. I think they came out around 2005 or 6. I waited too long and when I went to find some, they were gone or very expensive. I did get a few and they are still in the box because I am a slow layout builder. Around this time frame Atlas was having their HO scale track shortage and I was scrambling to find some Atlas Code 83 turnouts. One night I found a Mom and Pop MR hobby store in the midwest looking for track and found they had some Athearn Mack trucks in stock. They had about 10 or 12 Mack tractor and trailers at MSRP. I forgot about the track and ordered 8 of them. I think it was around $27.00 each. I got them about 2 weeks later. Yesterday I was on E-Bay and these identical trucks were listed for $80.00 ea. I know about the laws of supply and demand especially toilet paper...lol, but they are not worth the $80.00 unless you have a buyer. I think for now, I will leave them in the boxes.
willy6 $80.00
Russell
Model Railroader or Collector...
Collecting is part of model railroading. It is also part of wargaming.
How much enjoyment you get out of collecting will vary from person to person. I have a couple of "collector" pieces.
I have been amassing everything needed for my final layout for three years. This is a form of collecting even thought I do have every intention of using everything I have purhased.
I am very thankful for the collectors that bought all the brass locomotives I needed back in the 1970s and 1980s when I could not afford them. They stored them mint in the boxes for me. Then when they were through with them, I bought the locomotives to use on my layout. This relationship has worked out quite well for me. I hope the locomotives brought them pleasure while they owned them.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
A little of both, not too extreme with either.
I am a casual collector.
Having pretty much everything I need for my current layout (and probably enough for layouts in 2 other scales), I buy things that appeal to me, usually when the price is very good. Whether or not all the kits get built or used doesn't matter I enjoy the collecting. If I live long enough, they will all be used eventually. And if not, then they will be available for someone else.
Paul
I collect what I like and enjoy them all. Be it steam or diesel model locomotives -- I have nearly one hundred. They all get a turn at running.
As for prices on eBay I tend to dismiss. I remember a person selling a book written by Bob Tuck on Road Haulage. He wanted £150 for it. I have the same book plus another eleven books written by the same author; all signed by him and first editions. The whole lot are nowhere valued at £150. They are priceless to me though.
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
I have those Carolina B models as well, my father was the Baltimore terminal manager for Carolina Freight for much of his working career. I would not mind finding one or two more at a fair price.
I actually saw in person, up close, rode in, those Carolina B model Macks. In the 70's Carolina still used them for local delivery and literally restored them from the ground up to keep them in top condition right in the shops at the various large terminals like Baltimore.
I have lots of tractor trailer stuff because I model early piggyback on my 1954 era layout and I like trucks too.
I'm only about 5% or less a collector, 95% modeling a very narrow specific region and time.
My freelanced/protolanced ATLANTIC CENTRAL is set in the piedmont of the Mid Atlantic in September 1954. The ACR interchanges with the B&O, C&O and WESTERN MARYLAND.
I don't own a model locomotive who's prototype was built after 1954. The newest locos on the ACR are two brand new EMD SD9's. The only locos I have that are outside my region or era are two Mantua Generals that will be used for some sort of historic display on the layout.
I do "collect" era correct rolling stock from other freelanced model railroads, including Kevin's Stratton & Gillette, the V&O, Allegheny Midland, and many others.
I only have about 5 pieces of rolling stock newer than my era, left over from a time when I was young and considered modeling the 1970's.
In 53 years of model trains, I have never purchased any of the following:
UP Big Boy, Challenger, gas turbine or FEF, NYC Hudson, Niagara, or Mohawk, PRR GG1, K4 or any PRR loco, SP cab forward, daylight train, or GS4.
It's not that I don't like any of these trains, but they would not really get run and it would divert resources from the layout goals, which are big and complex enough.
I have a model of Batlimore and Annapolis #50, a GE 70 tonner from the little line that ran near my home as a child in the early 60's, and I will find a way to make a B&A "connection" on the layout.
I have some Model Die Casting Overton passenger cars to go with those Generals.
That's it, just those few historic and sentimental pieces, the rest is all about the fictional ATLANTIC CENTRAL in 1954 and the small Mid Atlantic city that I model.
The only other way my modeling intersects with collecting is this. I have stretched/rewritten history a little to include early piggyback flats from all over the country, and to include some B&O paint schemes that show the diversity of paint scheme evolution on that railroad.
Not a rivet counter, although I could be, but focused on a single believable theme.
Not leaving anything in a box for its "value". And I will weather, change, repaint, kitbash anything to my needs.
Sheldon
I've had a couple of those Athearn Mack B trucks over the years and they're great models, but I'd never pay the high prices for those are listed for on eBay. Much as I like the Athearn models, I'm going to try out the older Mack B model kits out there, Lee Town, Ulrich, Alloy Forms, Sheepscot, and see how that goes. I'm definitely more of a model railroader over collector, though with just at this point acquiring models, and doing little aside maybe changing details, some weathering, some assembly, they stay put waiting on when I can build some kind of a layout. Few items I have I bought to enhance a collection, but do enjoy the models as they are. I have many Classic Metal Works auto models in their original boxes that will not come out until I have a place for them such as a layout or even dioramas.
Alvie H
When a topic comes up like this one, ''the B and R Mack trucks'', I have fun and go to the layout and have a hunt and find time. Some times the big picture swallows up the little things that I forget are there or just do not see at times because I am focused on something else.
At one time in the past wasn't there a problem with the ''A-Line'' trailers that came with ''Carolina'' decals? Something like Trademark infringement?
I guess I devalued my 'B's because the first thing I did was use 'Tamiya Panal Line Accent Color' or some other concocted dark wash on the grills.
I still wonder if I am a ''Collector'' or a ''Model Railroader"?
Not to worry guys, when Athearn reissues the model it will be below Flea-Bay's $80.00 and above first issue $20.00, somewhere around $50.00.
Collector? Not me.
If I cannot justify its use on the layout, it is gone.
Rich
Alton Junction
One in particular that I wanted was the Mack cement mixer painted for Cleveland Builders' Supply. I recall seeing them in my 'neck of the woods' often.
Mixer_mishap by Edmund, on Flickr
We had a bunch of Macks at the GE plant I was employed at.
Mack_6_10_1942_edited-1 by Edmund, on Flickr
I often see model RR items command a high price once they become scarce. I recall buying a Broadway Limited NYC streamlined Hudson at a closeout sale for $300 give or take. I've seen several actually sell, with multiple bidders, in the $1000+ range.
If somebody wants something bad enough...
I'm glad I was able to pick up just about all my model items at usually discounted MSRP.
richhotrain Collector? Not me. If I cannot justify its use on the layout, it is gone. Rich
On that point I am very careful not to buy it in the first place.
In those 53 years, I have only changed my mind about maybe six or seven items and then sold them off.
And since I have not ever, and am not likely to ever change scales, or theme, or era, there has never been a "purge" necessary.
Starting young in this hobby, working in the hobby shop, and joining a club at a young age exposed me to a lot real fast without having to buy everything.
So it did not take much experimenting to focus on what I really liked. That has not changed.
I am doing some careful plannng and evaluating right now as to what few locomotives might be desirable to round out the roster for the new layout.
Looks like a need just a little more steam passenger power lettered B&O, and maybe just a little more freight power for the ACR, but not much.
Just filled out the ACR diesel passenger power with some older Proto PA's from Ebay, since Rapido decided not to make undecorated versions.
I'm more interested in making more time to play with what I have than buying too much else.
This is one of those eight or ten perennial topics in our hobby.
I do collect, but only insofar as I 'accumulate' things that I like and want to see on my layout. I don't purchase for any future contingencies. If I want it, and can afford it, I'll get it. But, it goes 'to work' right away if for no other reason than to determine its condition for warranty purposes. It might go back into the box for a few months, but it will come out again in time. I have a modest collection of locomotives that get switched out for others routinely so that I can enjoy their novelty and uniqueness. No purging for me, no thoughts of striking it rich in 60 years.
Been in both - when workign with my neighbor as a teenager, he often helped out with his Dad's construction company as much as worked on his own trucking business. His primary big dump trucks were all B model Macks. Then he got an R model tractor to pull his big trailer for hauling his other equiment The B's had the WONDERFUL (that's sarcasm, son) Mach twin stick tranmissions - steer, or make the next gear change, your choice, unless you were an alien with more than 2 arms.
A B could go on my layout. R model is too new for my era. I pretty much don't buy anything unless I have a use for it - I have a few HO pieces from childhood that are nostalgic but don't fit my era and/or are not worth putting DCC in, and I have my Dad's old Lionel from 1948 - I used to run it all the time, but it needs some repair to get going again, when I get around to it. I know I won;t be buying the special (and expensive) period correct wire
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I scored on a lot deal, getting 3 matching gray and red Mack mixers, and 4 various Ford C-cabovers, for a great price some time back, but after the price gouging had started. Like paying original MSRP for the mixers and getting the Fords free. All are or will be on the layout.
Any locomotives that don't want to behave will be on the layout too, either roundhouse queens, or in the detailed scrap yard- deadline. Like a nice looking Bachmann consolidation that won't run smooth.
Collect just for collecting? Yeah, a few nostalgic items, but just a few. Nothing exotic. Dan
I have driven both, many years ago now, great trucks. The B model I drove did not have the twin sticks though. I built a B Model made by Jordan.
ATLANTIC CENTRAL richhotrain Collector? Not me. If I cannot justify its use on the layout, it is gone. Rich On that point I am very careful not to buy it in the first place.
IRONROOSTER I am a casual collector. Having pretty much everything I need for my current layout (and probably enough for layouts in 2 other scales), I buy things that appeal to me, usually when the price is very good. Whether or not all the kits get built or used doesn't matter I enjoy the collecting. If I live long enough, they will all be used eventually. And if not, then they will be available for someone else. Paul
Collecting is certainly part of model railroading. I consider myself an operator, but I'm nowhere near having a working layout, or even benchwork. Still have to get rid of the bugs, mice, and other contaminants before I can start.
My collection is certainly eclectic, with everything from an 1860s-era wooden combine coach to a BNSF SD70ACe. The earliest prototypes in my collection are going to become MoW equipment when the layout, set between 1910 and 1944, goes up.
A lot of the equipment I own consists of old hand-me-downs from 1970s-80s train sets, but when I'm done with 'em, they won't look anywhere near the same.
The stuff that doesn't fit my modeling era goes into several categories:
1. Anything before my era becomes MoW.
2. Modern equipment is going to be used on a sectional layout I'm also planning.
3. Stuff that can't be used on either layout project will be used to create certain equipment sets, such as a Penn Central merchandise freight or the Silver Streak (yes, the one from the 1976 film. I have a lot of F units lying around).
richhotrain My problem is that early on I bought without purpose. So, now, slowly but surely, I am culling out what I don't want or need. Rich
My problem is that early on I bought without purpose. So, now, slowly but surely, I am culling out what I don't want or need.
I'm in the same boat. It of course helps to be flexible and use a healthy dose of modeler's license.