First time MR hunting/shopping

[Hawks05]

well as you probably all know i'm just starting and if you couldn't tell i was going to a show today. well i just got home maybe an hour ago. i was gone from 7:30 till 4:00. my friend and some of his friends were selling some stuff so they invited me to go along to see and buy some stuff for my first layout.

well here's what i got. i left with $100 cash plus some that i had in my wallet. the $100 was just for the show though:

Books
Basic Model Railraod Track Plans $12.24
Walthers HO Model Railroad Reference Book- 2003 $3
Track and Power supply
Atlas Snap Track- like 150 pieces or so $20
Tech 4 MRC 200 $20
Train related
Burlington Northern Locomotive Tiger Stripe front 3114 $18
Burlington Northern Caboose $2
Athearn Ready to Roll CSX Boxcar $5
Rock Island Boxcar $5
Rock Island Boxcar #2 $5
Burlington Refrigerator Express Boxcar $5
Cargil grain hopper $5
Swift Premium Boxcar FREE
Penn Central Boxcar FREE
Southern Pacific Boxcar FREE
RF&P Boxcar FREE

total is $100.24

now i need to order rail joiners as i don't have any

i'm also looking to order a Canadian National locomotive and some boxcars. i was looking for CSX, CN, and CP locomotives but all i could find was a CP for $75 and a CSX for $25, but by the time i got back to get the CSX it was gone. oh well i can always order or just go to another show. first i need to build my bench.

What do you think?

[Jacktal]

Sounds like you've made a fair deal,assuming that your stuff is in relatively good condition.Personally I like to take a peek at used materials in flea markets and hobby shops,but seldom end up buying anything since the stuff offered is mostly either poor quality items,damaged beyond repair,worn to death or you can't find parts for anymore.A good price on a worthless item is no deal...in my mind.

I don't think there's much to worry about cars and the books are a good investment.Since you got so many track pieces for so little,you can't lose there either.I have two MRC controls and they both work fine,you'll have to test yours to know.

Since you don't have a loco yet,I suggest you go the "new" route so that if you end up troubleshooting your layout,you'll have at least one dependable parameter.

[eastcoast]

Hey eastcoast here. You had a good time today,yes????
Good book selection. A hobby shop should have plenty of
rail joiners for you as well as some ( HIGHLY RECOMMENDED )
FLEXTRACK . Are you anywhere near Walther's main whse???
OR are near the TERMINAL HOBBY SHOP??? I am a regular
customer of Terminal mail order and others I keep. Best way in
the world to get specific items is mail order.I LOVE IT. K.I.T.
KEN_ECR

[Hawks05]

nowhere close to any of those shops. i do have a locomotive. i got the Burlington Northern SD40 i think. its the one with the Orange and Black Tiger stripe on the front. i like the book i got as it has like 10 different layouts and i'm still deciding on what layout to go with. i need to build my bench this week so i can start laying track hopefully next weekend.

i plan on ordering some rail joiners and maybe another locomtive or tanker this week.

i need rail joiners before i can start laying track so i'll get that for sure.

[Jetrock]

I went to a model railroad show this weekend in Roseville, CA--it was *much* bigger than the one I went to there a year before. Either the economy is better, or the hobby is more popular, or maybe it was just because this was a pre-Christmas sale instead of a post-Christmas one, but there seemed to be a much bigger crowd.

Here's a partial list of what I bought: A gaggle of WP boxcars of various vintage, $3-5 each, a couple WP cabeese, $4 each, a Bachmann 44-ton GE diesel, $20, an Athearn GP7 in WP colors, $10, two small DPM building kits, $5 each, a box of 20 Accu-Mate copulers, $5, a GP7 SP body shell for a buck, and about $50 on traction stuff--trolley wire, hangers, turnout frogs and two Richard Orr turnouts--apparently Customtraxx (customtraxx.com) is making and selling them again!!

I spent the $150 I had budgeted plus a few bucks. My wallet is sad but my layout is happy.

I als got a gaggle of details, including a small bin of HO scale sinks and toilets--now I can superdetail every bathroom on my layout!

[Hawks05]

i'm making a list of stuff i need for my layout and i haven't even started. i plan on ordering or going shopping next weekend to get some rail joiners and some couplers. also i need to build my bench and all that good stuff.

[techguy57]

Hawks,
Were you reffering to Trainfest in Milwaukee?[:D]

I was there yesterday, and even if you weren't there (Go NEXT YEAR!) it sounds like you did well. I spent about the same yesterday, but it sounds like you got a couple of pretty decent deals and made out better than I did. [:)]

As a recommendation, do some pricing research throughyour local hobby shop and the catalogs, find the things you really like and which brands you like the most, and finally check out ebay so that you check out all your options. I've gotten a lot of great items from ebay as well as the hobby shops. I agree with eastcoast, Walthers Terminal shop is very good!

Welcome to the club! Hope for more posts to come!

techguy

[Anonymous]

Sounds like you're off to a good start! But by ordering rail joiners do you mean the track doesn't have them on it already? The track I buy comes with joiners. But, we all have a different way of doing things.........plus you were at a train show, so the track the people sell probably wouldn't have joiners on them anyway.........hmmm......

[Hawks05]

i didn't get the track at the show really. it was my friends friends track that he was selling. he took all of his snap track up to put down flex track so he took the joiners off i guess to take it up easier.

i'm probably going to stick with Walthers and Athearn locomotives and freight cars then by kadee couplers and atlas rail joiners.

since i have the Walthers reference book i'm looking at different things. like the GP40s and GP35 locomotives. just pricing that right now. then next weekend hopefully i can get to a hobby shop and price some stuff then search ebay.