A little more than I wanted to pay for it but these things twist my arm. I'm a sucker for heavyweight center depression flat cars. The heavier-duty the more I like
I have seven of them now finding them over four years. I guess I must like these things and often in a bidding war to get them.
I do know how to put body mounted knuckle couplers on. That makes the car even more spendy yet but I don't care.
Do you ever find yourself paying more for rare hard to find rolling stock or locomotives?
TF
If its something i've been looking for for a while, and it fills a hole in my roster/operations, sometimes. European style freight cars don't fill that hole in my case, but everyone's goals are not the same as mine.
Chris van der Heide
My Algoma Central Railway Modeling Blog
I have a thing for anything B/A oil. I won't go into why but I had a fixation on these B/A propane tankers. There were six road #s made by Atlas and I was determined to get all six road #s. I paid $19.95 for the first two I bought and I kept a list of the #s I had in my wallet. At a train show, I found the one # I did not have, and even though it was $39.95 I bought it. I now have all six #s that were put out.
Whether I paid $19.95 or 39.95 for the propane tanker it is really peanuts when compared to things we spend money on day to day. I am delighted to have all six road #s and when sold as a lot on eBay ( every road#) I can easily recoup my money.
When you think of the cost of a gallon of gas and what we are willing to pay for something else, it is laughable.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Sweet!
I see the fleet Brent .....Whale Tankers
I don't have any yet but someday I'm gonna!
Sometimes —
I use the odd logic that if I anticipate paying a high price for an item, then find it for much less I'll use the rationale that I can "blow" the imagined "savings" on something else more extravagant.
A while back I had been watching an Overland brass passenger car. These had been going in the $1200 range. Somehow I managed to snag one for $750.
In my feeble mind I now have $450 to blow on something "frivolous".
Works for me
Cheers, Ed
Yep! My wife never even sees that kind of rationality I have in my mind. I saved on the last purchase so I have an extra $450 to buy something else just as worthwhile like free money Ed
That's what I'm talking about
Track fiddlerDo you ever find yourself paying more for rare hard to find rolling stock or locomotives?
When I decided that the Hallmark GM&O caboose would be the standard for the STRATTON AND GILLETTE, I bought the first one for $100.00 and decided that $125.00 would be the limit for each. I needed eight, ten would be better.
I paid a little more than $125.00 when I had five of six of them. Once I had eight, I became stingy, and bought the last four for less than $100.00 each.
One just ended on eBay a few days ago for $82.00, and I just let it go.
gmpullmanIn my feeble mind I now have $450 to blow on something "frivolous".
Hmmmm.... My wife once found a $1,200 dollar purse for our daughter for $800.00, so she bought a $400.00 purse for herself with the money she saved.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Funny stuff Kevin
You know, .....This isn't Kohl's, Avon or the 169th pair of shoes in the closet! This is worthwhile model railroad stuff
Insignificant stuff can't be justified. It goes without saying that MR stuff IS significant
It doesn't get parked in the closet doing nothing. It has function and moves around the room
Track fiddler Insignificant stuff can't be justified. It goes without saying that MR stuff is significant! It doesn't get parked in the closet doing nothing. It has function and moves around the room TF
Insignificant stuff can't be justified. It goes without saying that MR stuff is significant!
I don’t park myself in a closet. I have function and move around the room. But my wife still thinks I’m insignificant. I suppose this means that I’d best not be asleep in the car the next time she drives by Goodwill.
Track fiddler Do you ever find yourself paying more for rare hard to find rolling stock or locomotives? TF
I try to be rational about what I pay for these items. That includes whether they are rare and hard to find. In that case, I would probably pay more.
That idea hardly seems like a revelation, and almost a waste of time in asking.
But going to more interesting things, I also am interested in "special duty" flats. Railworks produced quite a quantity of these in HO for Pennsy. I bought many, and am happy with them.
Did I pay more? I think not. The prices were quite low, and I dove right in.
In this case, I did not pay more. But I surely snapped them up.
Ed
Sometimes (not often thank goodness).
I try to adapt 'wrong looking' rolling stock to ' look correct'.
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
maxman Track fiddler Insignificant stuff can't be justified. It goes without saying that MR stuff is significant! It doesn't get parked in the closet doing nothing. It has function and moves around the room TF I don’t park myself in a closet. I have function and move around the room. But my wife still thinks I’m insignificant. I suppose this means that I’d best not be asleep in the car the next time she drives by Goodwill.
Good one Maxman!
I don't know if anyone else has noticed but it's getting harder to find a good deal on eBay. I'm seeing used stuff all the time, they're trying to charge over full price of new retail. And if not, they try to make it up with too high of a price for shipping.
Price shopping is getting to be a tougher game these days.
Track fiddlerI don't know if anyone else has noticed but it's getting harder to find a good deal on eBay.
Yep. Prices are on a steep rise. I have not bought a brass locomotive or freight car in months. Prices seem to have doubled, except on Sunset USRA steamers, these still sell for reasonable prices, but I do not need any more of them.
Good thing you weren't looking for a brass 014xx series D&RGW caboose. Those do not go for the cheap prices those other caboose you picked go for. The Rio Grande cabooses originally sold in the $150 to $220 price range (if painted). Exhibit 1:
For the past 3 or 4 years they seem to get bid up to the $450 to $600+ price range. I did get lucky and was able to score two in the past couple years for about $275ish to add to my fleet of 6 cabooses of those type. It was because I was able to do a "best offer" negotiation rather than get in a bidding war. I did get lucky and score a 01500 series wide vision unpainted Overland D&RGW caboose for $95.
All that said, now if Athearn Genesis can finally offer an ICC D&RGW EV caboose, then that should fill things in nicely. Word is it's on their to-do list. (take your time there Athearn!).
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
riogrande5761Good thing you weren't looking for a brass 014xx series D&RGW caboose. Those do not go for the cheap prices those other caboose you picked go for. The Rio Grande cabooses originally sold in the $150 to $220 price range (if painted). For the past 3 or 4 years they seem to get bid up to the $450 to $600+ price range.
I originally wanted to use this DL&W caboose as my standard, but the price of each made them not suitable. These go for several hundred dollars each, and rarely come up for sale. I doubt I could have collected eight of them.
That's a good-looking caboose but that is steep. The last one I gave up on was a rare DMIR caboose. I thought it was bad enough going for $76 and $10 shipping.
The other thing that's rare to find is DMIR ore cars. I won't pay what they're asking. I should have bought more when they were available and sold at a reasonable price.
I look forward to train shows again. You can find these more difficult items without being ripped off.
Since I'm still fairly new at the hobby, I haven't really looked for certain things and had a price limit.
Now that I have several things I've wanted, I've kind of gotten the bug to look for certain items. Right now I'm in the market for some covered hoppers. I'm still not sure what kind I want, so I will have to look at some before I commit.
gmpullmanThese had been going in the $1200 range. Somehow I managed to snag one for $750. In my feeble mind I now have $450 to blow on something "frivolous".
My wife may buy something frivolous for $100, take it back for a refund, and then feel she just earned $100.
York1 John
I'm not really looking for anything, but every now and then, I'll see a Kato or a Genesis locomotive going for cheap, so I feel obligated to ride along.
I guess If I had something specific that I needed, or "thought" that needed, I would pay a little more.
I have no need for anything European, but, I am attracted to their passenger trains.
I actually need to down size a bit.
Mike.
My You Tube
Great topic! I wanted to get a pink freight car for my young daughter. Years later, I found on at a train show for a price 1/3rd lower than e-bay. My daughter being at the train show def brought me good luck!
Tangent make nice pink 4750 covered hoppers!
I am a sucker for Santa Fe brass doodlebugs (Key, not Hallmark). I have got several of them, mostly from eBay, a few from dealers (brasstrains.com, railmodel.com), all for pretty reasonable prices. Then one day the rarest of them (in my judgment - in 15 years I had never seen one offered either by a dealer or on eBay) popped up on eBay (M177 class, in green with a gullwing paint scheme, but with a silver undercarriage instead of the usual black). The auction went much higher than usual ($750), but in the end it was mine. It is interesting to note that at the moment brasstrains.com lists all Key doodlebugs in this price range.
JW
Never. If I can't find it or can't afford, I either simply forget about it, or make my own.
Most of my train stuff was bought used or at lower than usual prices...perhaps needing repairs of some sort.
I get as much enjoyment from "rescuing" it as I would from buying one in perfect condition, but at a far lower price.
While I have lots of train stuff, I've never considered myself a "collector".
Wayne