tatans wrote:I fight in the line to buy brass track, big seller, as there is always someone who wants to buy it all, the price is right and it works well, there is a big demand as a lot of sellers are sold out in the 1st 5 minutes, I do notice some buyers will buy anything if it's cheap, whether they can use it or not(usually not) but they buy it anyway, the best part is to watch some mook banter with a seller for ½ an hour to get the price down from $2.00 to 85¢ then pull out his wallet with $1500.00 in it, who are these people??????
Psssssst. You want a good deal on brass track/turnouts? Wait here, I'll bring some over
Cheers
Bruce
rrinker,Well, now, that's not completely true. The McGinnis' hired Herbert Matter of Knoll Associates of New York City, and he actually designed different schemes for the same equipment to be painted at the same time. For example, cabooses were painted both all red-orange and all black. S-1 switchers were painted both black cab/orange hood and orange cab/black hood schemes, one after the other. So it's not so much that they changed the paint schemes, they were designed to be different.
Of course, the next problem is that they ran out of money, so they tried to simplify the schemes. In any event, it leads to lots of NH discussions.
Paul A. Cutler III************Weather Or No Go New Haven************
Well i'll be goin to a show on the 25th or 26th in Ohio, i am hoping to have a track plan picked out by then. Then i will make a list of the track i need and try to find bargins on that. Im thinking of CSX or B&O railroads.
1st-Track
2nd-Scenery or Structures
3rd-Scenery or Structures
4th- maybe some rolling stock
I just realized I failed to mention the items that we always purchase at every train show without exception: Thomas the Tank Engine. Every show now has at least 2-3 vendors that exclusively sell Thomas stuff or other wooden train/track items. The prices at shows are drastically lower than in the big box retail stores, and this also gives the wife & kids an opportunity to hunt for bargains (even though they like the scale model stuff as well). At a recent show, I purchased a Kato n-scale CSX SD70M with the YN3 colors; my son then found a wooden version of a similar locomotive and he now has one rolling on his wood track layout. Jamie
CLICK HERE FOR THE CSX DIXIE LINE BLOG
Kim Parker and me
Ryan BoudreauxThe Piedmont Division Modeling The Southern Railway, Norfolk & Western & Norfolk Southern in HO during the merger eraCajun Chef Ryan
daschilling ------ CHICAGO AND NORTHWESTERN -------- in S Gauge!
First, I walk all the aisles scoping out the vendors. Then I walk them again looking for any and all HO items making sure to note the items I'm interested in and if the other vendors have the same item and the price. Then I buy those items I'm really interested in because I have too much stuff now. It's to the point I need to write down everything I own and bring the list, (in a 3-ring binder) along so I don't buy more cars of the same type and number. Know what I mean?
Now I look mostly for buildings, scenic materials and powered Athearn "A" units with road names I will never use to power my "B" units. Then I look for decoders.
Archie
I have been going to the West Springfield, MA show for many years as I belong to the Amherst Railway Society. I get free admission. If I did not have foot problems, I could volunteer and get free admission each day. Saw one building for a few years, then two, then three and now four buildings. In the middle 1980s I use to help a seller in our local club and you would be amazed at the amount of buying/selling/trading that goes on before the doors open to the public. I remember for some years, free parking until 9-11. Hold back your Rants geezers, I know there is probably no justification for parking fees now but stuff happens and sometimes there is nothing you can do about it. The Big E has a private security force and I doubt that will ever change.
http://www.railroadhobbyshow.com/pdf/43.pdf?Button8=View
Oh, back to the question, I buy a hamburger or two, plus a Dunkin Donuts coffee besides train stuff.
For those who can get to the show, CSX West Springfield yard nearby. A station in nearby Springfield with Amtrack running.
http://pages.prodigy.net/darkelf/rrstuff/railfan/sp/rf_sp.htm#
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elQChZ6rVes
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
Very little. Since the major manufacturers don't support my era (pre-1905) there isn't much to buy. I do look for any old kits with Fox trucks or the occaisional trussrod car.
Some of the used stuff is good kitbashing fodder.
Dave H.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
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gandydancer19 wrote: <>So what do you buy at Train Shows? Do you have a list of things to look for, or are you an impulse buyer? Do you go by every booth?<>
Well, in the past I've bought everything you can think of at train shows. Years ago I'd buy unfinished diesels in hopes they'd one day be "Southern-ized". A few were, but most I either later resold, or gave away, or simply did nothing with. I've bought a lot of RTR freight cars, kits and undec cars at shots. Same as locos, some of the kits and undecs were finished, some not.
I usually try to make a quick run-through of the entire place, then go back to places where I saw things that caught my eye. If there is something I have been looking for or I want and think it might not be there when I get back around the 2nd time, I usually go ahead and buy it, if it's not too expensive. I've had to make tough decisions may times at these shows. Sometimes things are just way too expensive. I do occassionally find a rare gem or an incredible bargain.
Normally I go to a show with maybe a couple hundred bucks (if that much) to spend. That's generally when I see the most stuff that I'd potentially want. I remember one time going to a show and I had about a thousand dollars in my pocket...as I'd just sold off all my old music recording equipment and I was bound and determined that part of that money would buy some of the model railroad stuff that I wanted. I remember at the time Overland had brass models of the Southern Railway Caboose and Southern Railway Remote Control car. I would have bought either one of those if I could have found them...but nobody had them. I spent very little that day at the show, but later went down town to a hobby shop and spent about half that thousand buying items that shop had acquired from an estate sale. The shop had better bargains and rare finds than an entire train show.
Besides locos and cars, I've bought books about railroading and model railroading, as well as t-shirts, hats, scenery items, tools and model construction supplies (like glues, sandpapers, etc). I'm pretty sure one of my MRC transformers came from a show...seems like I got a good deal and that's why I got it. I'm not sure if I ever bought track or cork roadbed at a show, probably not, because they'd be really bulky items to carry around.
I've been to some shows and had tons of plastic bags in both hands, chock full of various rail items...and other shows I've walked away with nothing more than a hip pocket full of brochures that I picked up at various tables...but usually I'll have something if it's just one freight car.
The odd thing is, I often buy more from the booth set up by this one particular local hobby shop than I do from the entire rest of the show. And I could go in that shop any time and get the same stuff. They do sometimes come up with some rare stuff for the shows though.
I, too, look on train shows more as entertainment than as a shopping trip. With that in mind, I find driving to a train show, paying the price of admission and buying something to eat far better than doing the same for, say, a Jennifer Lopez movie. The show is a bit cheaper, and the food is better and cheaper, too.
I also "shop" for ideas at shows. First, there are all those layouts. Even the ones that aren't in my scale still have great scenery, and when you're looking for inspiration, gauge doesn't really matter. Our better shows also have vendors with structure kits. I like to look at these and think about how and where I could use some of them. Generally, I can do better at my LHS, but sometimes I find a bargain there, too, or he's got something that's sold out at Walthers.
There are a couple of vendors I always spend time at, because they have little detail things that I'll always have room for - figures, animals, relay boxes and the like.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
History has proven that I buy on impulse. There are always a few things I look for, but finding something you will use at a good price sure makes a deal. You need to know what the value is, though, to know if it's a deal. And, it's not a deal if it doesn't fit in your plans. GRM