Proto 1000 CNJ F3 A-B set at a train show, $35.00.
Bachmann Spectrum E-33, N&W, (2), $30.00, sniped on ebay.
Dave
Just be glad you don't have to press "2" for English.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ_ALEdDUB8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hqFS1GZL4s
http://s73.photobucket.com/user/steemtrayn/media/MovingcoalontheDCM.mp4.html?sort=3&o=27
Spectrum 2-8-0 UP 618, qith DCC for 39$ and 10 shipping on ebay!
Um, P1k RDC3's for 10$ at trainworld, still on sale!
Alex
Best deal I ever got was working in my friends hobby shop. We agreed upon an hourly wage, which I never received as a check. What I got was any merchandise I needed at his cost. That was at least 40% of list price.
I would let my earnings accumulate and then go on a shopping spree. If he did not have it at the shop, we went to the local wholesaler when he was getting merchandise for the store. I walked the aisles of the wholesaler's warehouse and picked up what I needed.
I got engines, cars, Kadees, books, track. It was a great way for me to upgrade my layout and not really effect the family budget.
My best deal was more by "dumb luck" or being at the right place at the right time. I picked up a Van Hobbies 4-8-4 GTW U 3a painted inthe CN's green motif and decaled for CN from an older gentleman at the swap meet. I bought it for 400$ CDN, I thought at the time it was a fair price but didn't realize how good it was until I started haunting ebay saw the equivalent locos going for double or more. I wouldn't be surprised if he thought I flipped it on ebay for a profit. It's one of my favourite locos, brass or plastic.
Mr davekelly's statement about the forum being the best deal is bang on the money (I wish I thought of that)!
Let's see - either four Athearn 34' offset side hopper kits for $16, or $38.74 (with shipping) for a Proto 2000 SW9/1200, both off eBay. I have bought some of the Revell kits on eBay too, but don't recall the prices as being either super-low or high.
Yeah, and davekelly's remarks on the forum! And Phillip, we're just uh, let's see... oh yeah! Thrifty!
Jim in Cape Girardeau
davekelly wrote:The best deal I ever got? Joining the forum. Cost me nothing and I've learned things that would have cost big time bucks to learn the hard way.
Blue Flamer.
I've gotten some really good deals, but one of the best was when I visited my LHS a few years ago and in the Brass Consignment case was a PFM Rio Grande L-131 2-8-8-2 priced at $250. You can hardly touch these puppies for under $1100, and here it was. I looked at the clerk, smiled and said "It's mine" and it's been doing some really yeoman service on my Yuba River Sub ever since (with the original open-frame motor).
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!
A friend of mine had a new style Rivarossi 4006 Big Boy that he might have run twice. He wanted to put some neon lights under his car, and he was desperate, so he sold me the Big Boy for $120.00. That car is now long gone and he kicked himself for selling it it me. The only bad thing about it was for some insane reason he chopped 2 HO scale figures off at the waist and glued their top halves to the cab windows to make them look like they were leaning out the window. The first thing I did was take those off. It had a little glue residue left on the cab window that I couldn't ever get completely off, but I could live with it for a hundred and twenty dollars off of list price. Trading a Big Boy for neon lights. Still dumbfounds me.
JimRCGMO wrote: And Phillip, we're just uh, let's see... oh yeah! Thrifty!
And Phillip, we're just uh, let's see... oh yeah! Thrifty!
Yeah! That's the ticket!
My Wife.
She helps build scenery. This picture is was taken about a month into the new layout.
Karl
The mind is like a parachute. It works better when it's open. www.stremy.net
larak thats anice looking layout! any chance of seeing more? and I like your cealings.Oh yea the wife looks good to.
slow train Ed
larak wrote: My Wife. She helps build scenery. This picture is was taken about a month into the new layout. Karl
Suck up!
Yeah, those wives are a great deal, but they can be expensive at times!
About two years ago, I was hunting on eBay and found a Spectrum 2-8-0 with DCC for $65. When delivery was made, I received a Spectrum 2-10-0 with DCC AND SOUND. The item I had purchased was out of a pawn shop in Alabama. Knowing that I had the wrong item, I located a phone number for the shop, called it and told them they had sent the wrong item and did they have the one I won, which they did.
The guy asked me if I was interested in keeping the one already in my possession, and if I was, to make him an offer. I suggested $73 which he accepted. He told me to send him the money and he would ship the original winning item to me, which I did. Well, guess what? When the original item was received, it indeed had DCC and ALSO HAD SOUND. So in essence, I purchased two Spectrum factory installed sound units for a total of $138. Oh, and by the way, they run very nicely.
You can't beat free! A good friend (not a model railroader) was cleaning out his attic and he found a bunch of N scale stuff that he had bought for his sons back in the early 1980s. They never developed an interest in model railroading, so he just stashed it away in the attic and forgot about it. He mailed the whole lot to me. I got a locomotive, some freight cars, passenger cars, structures, track and an MRC power pack. Despite its long storage the locomotive ran nicely when I put it on the track. I know you'll never see this, but thanks again, old friend.
..... Bob
Beam me up, Scotty, there's no intelligent life down here. (Captain Kirk)
I reject your reality and substitute my own. (Adam Savage)
Resistance is not futile--it is voltage divided by current.
This "best deal" was from a kinda different perspective - as a seller, not a buyer.
I scratchbuilt an industrial bridge crane using K&S brass shapes. The model people see my website photos is my second attempt, the first one was a disaster [by my standards].
Anyway, I was preparing to give a clinic on how I built the "successful" bridge, but I brought along the aborted one to illustrate some of the errors to avoid. Well one of the guys at the meet said he wanted to buy it, just name my price. I had ~$75 worth of materials invested in the piece of junk, I'd have been glad just to recover that alone. So I said $100, expecting a counter-offer. But he casually handed me a wad of bills, and we both walked away happy!
-Ken in Maryland (B&O modeler, former CSX modeler)
My deal that I received was last year I was sold about 65 Athearn Genesis Engines from a niece of a guy who died months earlier for only $175! That was steal not a deal. She made me the price offer too! I just said yes I wish I can find that deal again someday
Thanks Ed!
Yeah she and the layout are looking pretty good. The layout room is in the loft of a carriage house (basically a fancy garage) that I hand built two years ago. It really didn't cost much more to add four feet to the height and have a nice layout space.
Philip - Yes I am a suckup. I know where my bread is buttered. and you're quite correct about the rest. After all she did build me a ten foot long escarpment out of real shale.
Just click the www icon at the bottom of my post.
I've copied the URL here for you. http://stremy.net/SRA/Saint_Remy_and_Atkarton_Railroad_Co_.html
The site is about as complete as the layout (35%) but look around. There are early, intermediate, and almost current photos. They help ME to remember how far we've come. Just be aware that, like most of our homepages, it's pretty photo intensive. I hope you're on broadband.
Trentonizer wrote:My deal that I received was last year I was sold about 65 Athearn Genesis Engines from a niece of a guy who died months earlier for only $175! That was steal not a deal. She made me the price offer too! I just said yes I wish I can find that deal again someday
That's just not right, I would die if something like that ever happened to me. No idiot could say no too that... That is luck rate there :P