Paid $30 bucks for this and a dummy loco. It was after all--vintage. You all remember Lil Guy.
Then he joined Hogwart's Freight and ferry
I've got a decoder with his name on it.
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
Chip,
Lil' Guy! I haven't seen him in EONS!
Believe it or not, I can't say that I've really made any "silly" purchases, per say. I do have a couple of structures that I bought and assembled that I no longer use on my layout any more. However, they don't really fit in the silly category though. Either one is quite usable on a layout.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
I'd say mine was purchasing a Bachman Spectrum DD40X locomotive back in 1990 thinking it would run on the 18" radius curves on my friend's 4x8 layout.....it did, but wiped out anything within 4" of the track due to the enormous amount of pilot overhang....
Don Z.
Research; it's not just for geeks.
My first US model trains purchase was an Atlas Train Set. Now that in itself was not a bad thing because the little S2 loco that it came with is a great locomotive. I had decided I wanted to model a New England sort of theme so I purchased The Burlington Route set fully believing that it was based on Burlington VT.
After a while I figured out that my S2 probably never was seen East of the Mississippi (except when it was built) so I started to buy Burlington Northern green stuff to pull behind my S2 during the transition era. Eventually I figured out that BN Green did not exist back then.
Simon Modelling CB&Q and Wabash See my slowly evolving layout on my picturetrail site http://www.picturetrail.com/simontrains and our videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/MrCrispybake?feature=mhum
I actually purchased Atlas Right Track Software when it was a new product. I knew it was a mistake when I called for help and they said that it was more a tool to promote their track than it was to help me design layouts. A couple months later they make it free. Don't get me wrong, I use RTS all the time and find it OK - purchasing it was the mistake.
What was my silliest purchase ever?. To be totally honest I can't remember because there's been so many... One that comes to mind in particular though was a couple of years ago when I paid $125 for a loco at a train shop, then found the same loco on ebay a few days later for $65... Believe it or not, I bought the $65 loco off of ebay and sold the one I paid $125 to a friend of mine for around $100. I figure the $25 I lost was a gift to him to keep me from feeling so screwed about it...
Tracklayer
In my HO days I bought one of those Centerline track cleaning cars, cost me about $45 back in the '90s, thinking it was a good investment.
I pretty much used but 2 inches of that track cleaning roll. My old HO layout had bigger issues than dirty track - like less than ideal radius curves.
I recently sold it at a train show for $20.
Neeing some "foreign power" on my layout back then, I also bought a Bachmann Spectrum Dash 840C in CSX paint. When I ran it on the layout, it looked awkward and obtuse. The sideframes were a trocious so much that a company sold aftermarked sideframes and I bought those. I hardly ran that dang thing. That loco too was sold at a train show for about $25.
Well, some would probably say it was my first train, because it got me started on all of this.
But to be honest, I actually paid real money for the HO scale DeWitt Clinton set. I model N scale! I don't know what came over me!
So, does anyone want to buy a mint condition DeWitt Clinton set? It's HO scale!
I have figured out what is wrong with my brain! On the left side nothing works right, and on the right side there is nothing left!
The wedding ring I put on my ex-wifes finger. OH! You meant train stuff. Hmmmmm.......... Sorry, no regrets there.
(did I mention I'm HAPPILY devorced?)
SpaceMouse wrote:Paid $30 bucks for this and a dummy loco. It was after all--vintage. You all remember Lil Guy.Then he joined Hogwart's Freight and ferryI've got a decoder with his name on it.
Some IHC and Walthers streamline passenger cars that I KNEW wern't close but did it anyway. Oh well, wasted more money on other frivilous pursuits than that!
Rick
snagletooth wrote: SpaceMouse wrote: Paid $30 bucks for this and a dummy loco. It was after all--vintage. You all remember Lil Guy.I've got a decoder with his name on it.Is that the one made by Revell? Anyway, the Bowser die-cast Challenger "kit". Boy, I had NO idea what I bought into. And I dont even model steam-era!
SpaceMouse wrote: Paid $30 bucks for this and a dummy loco. It was after all--vintage. You all remember Lil Guy.I've got a decoder with his name on it.
It is a Lindsburg Line.
A Life Like train set. Given it was a xmas present for my son so I went all out. Bunches of extra powerloc track I also purachased. Ended up dropping like 300 for the whole thing. The outcome was great, though. The boy loves trains and cant wait for the new layout to be built.
J.W.
Possibly a Pennsylvania FP45.I know PRR never had any FP45s,but I thought it looked cool.
Maybe my most absurd purchase was my only brass loco,a South Shore little Joe,by Alco Models.It cost me over $200.and sounds like a meat grinder going down the track.
loathar wrote: The wedding ring I put on my ex-wifes finger. OH! You meant train stuff. Hmmmmm.......... Sorry, no regrets there.(did I mention I'm HAPPILY devorced?)
Ohhhh Lothar, Great minds DOOOOO Think Alike!!
Yeah, I made a few bad buys, and grew wiser for it.
I got rid of the clunker trains,,,,,,oh, and the brass engine of a wife is getting closer!!!
Just recently: Fell in love with the BLI E-7 City of San Francisco A-B-B diesel set, bought it. Of course, proper passenger cars for the CSF are only available in brass at an exhorbiant price, so I picked up an 8-car set of IHC passenger cars. They don't look like ANY US passenger cars I've ever seen, but that didn't stop me at all. After getting metal wheels for the trucks, metal weights for the cars, new couplers and a whole bunch of other stuff (still looking for decals), I ran the train and just started chuckling. Funny thing, though, I don't remember the original CSF passenger cars looking like anything I'd ever seen, to begin with (and I'm old enough to remember).
But if you stand back and don't get TOO critical, it's a pretty good-looking train.
Oh heck, maybe it WASN'T that silly, after all!
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!
What are you braggin' about, I did that a COUPLE of times!
Trains - I got a couple of those lovely UP yellow hoppers too!!
Mine wasn't a purchase, it was choosing the name "SteamFreak." I wish I could blame the liquor, but I was sober at the time...
Nelson
Ex-Southern 385 Being Hoisted
How about a sale rather than a purchase? All of my O-gauge Lionels for a hundred bucks, back in the 1960's. At today's prices, those would easily fetch 10, maybe 20 thousand. I had a GG-1, and I've seen them in worse shape than mine asking 1K. A lot of weird, rare stuff like the Tie Ejector car or the Fire Engine car. I had both the rocket launcher that shot at the exploding box car, and the NASA-like missile complete with moving gantry tower.
Then I got an Athearn train set, some extra track, a couple of sheets of homosote and some lumber. I've put Kadees on every piece of rolling stock from that original set. The original power pack is now running my LEDs and the turntable. And the engine, a rubber-band drive, has been gutted and Kadeed, and it now runs behind a new geep as an "honorary" engine.
But someday, I'll have a layout with curves big enough for another GG-1.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
I bought an PSC N scale brass PRR K4s on eBay for close to $750 while I was deployed in Iraq. I had it sent to my wife to hold until I got back. I guess you could say I wasn't thinking clearly at the time! It's a beautiful loco but didn't track worth a darn when it ran and then the motor burned out. Now I have no idea what to do with it. I can't sell it for anywhere close to what I paid. Do I try to rehabilitate it with more cash? Also, it's brass and now I'm in DCC, and brass requires special care in DCC to prevent short circuits.
I wish I could send myself a "time e-mail" to the idiot-me who thought in 2003 that I was getting a good engine.
Modeling the Rio Grande Southern First District circa 1938-1946 in HOn3.
I have 4 of the silliest / stupidiest purchases.
1. I was going through ebay looking for a decent SD40-2 couldnt find any in my price range that were Athearn so I found an American Diesel (I Believe that was the company). Paid for it it came and it was all there just runs like junk no flywheels so now it sits in the box never to see daylight till I figure out how to install a better motor and fly wheels maybe even new gears in the trucks.
2. Bachmann Spectrum Dash 8 Undecorated I thought it was the newer line DCC ready and it wasnt. It was the old split frame thank god I only spent 19.00 total. I am sure some of you remember that.
3. Revell S2 I believe its in Rio Grande Scheme I liked the look of the locomotive but no matter what I do it sounds like a wood chipper.
4. Bachmann H16 I believe, has no railings and Bachmann wants an arm and a leg for them.
Other than these I will say I haveny bought anything silly.
Iceman_c27 wrote:And then I was stupid enough to thought to Spectrum Dash 8-CW thinking they are 'DCC friendly' as it says on their website only to find that the motors aren't even insulated! D'oh! After some research on possible mods to convert to DCC, I decide to give up because there are too many mentions of milling machines and taking the brushes out of the motor itself.
I have two bachmann Dash 8's that are DCC friendly tey even have the 8 pin plug in them. But I do have the same dash 8 you have that has the bulky frames an 4 screws keep it together with plastic screw holders on one side so they are dcc friendly. There is a website showing how to convert it for DCC but I dont remember the address. I would say run electrical tape over the side of the frame so they dont touch.
I purchased old Hobbytown drive with Athearn GP9 shell on EBAY. Unit arrived in poorly protected package. The plastic shell was destroyed and the end of the Hobbytown frame was broken.
I contacted seller who said she was a recent widow and did not know much about her husband's model trains. I said I would identify cost of replacement parts but she said she would send a full refund including shipping and handling.
Later, a man contacted me who said he was helping seller with the ebay sales. He sent me a refund. A couple of days later I received full refund not once but twice. Both the recent widow and the man had sent a payment.
I contacted the seller and explained that he sent the extra money and told her I would send it back. She asked me not to send back either payment. She explained the man was her boy friend and she did not want him to know she sent me money, too. She thought the man would think that she was not good about handling finances. She was afraid he might think less of her. She was afraid that I might contact the man and asked me not to do that.
So I ended up with the two refunds.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
You guys in HO are so lucky to get eerything with those 8 pin plugs! I recently got a Precision Craft E7B with those plugs just found they are the next best thing to plug--n-play decoders. BTW, I model in N. And I think you are right, I think the newer versions do have isolated motors. The problem with those older N Dash 8's is that the motor contact is actually the motor brush holder and in order to een solder the wires to the motor tabs, you need to take the tabs out of the motor and hence the whole brush and springs got to come out otherwise the motor mount will get melted and they also said in the conversion that the spring will fly out blah blah and I just can't be bothered anymore because you also got to modify the shell to accomondate the decoder blah blah. I think I rather spend the 3 hours required for a train operating session.
Milwhiawatha wrote: Iceman_c27 wrote:And then I was stupid enough to thought to Spectrum Dash 8-CW thinking they are 'DCC friendly' as it says on their website only to find that the motors aren't even insulated! D'oh! After some research on possible mods to convert to DCC, I decide to give up because there are too many mentions of milling machines and taking the brushes out of the motor itself.I have two bachmann Dash 8's that are DCC friendly tey even have the 8 pin plug in them. But I do have the same dash 8 you have that has the bulky frames an 4 screws keep it together with plastic screw holders on one side so they are dcc friendly. There is a website showing how to convert it for DCC but I dont remember the address. I would say run electrical tape over the side of the frame so they dont touch.
Dave Vollmer wrote: I bought an PSC N scale brass PRR K4s on eBay for close to $750 while I was deployed in Iraq. I had it sent to my wife to hold until I got back. I guess you could say I wasn't thinking clearly at the time! It's a beautiful loco but didn't track worth a darn when it ran and then the motor burned out. Now I have no idea what to do with it. I can't sell it for anywhere close to what I paid. Do I try to rehabilitate it with more cash? Also, it's brass and now I'm in DCC, and brass requires special care in DCC to prevent short circuits.I wish I could send myself a "time e-mail" to the idiot-me who thought in 2003 that I was getting a good engine.
That is a beautiful engine Dave, and I think it's completely worth it to remotor it. It looks like it has an enclosed gearbox, making the job a lot easier. NWSL has motors for N scale, and a brass engine shouldn't pose any more short potential than a diecast one as long as all of your wiring, decoder, and motor lugs are well insulated. The cost and effort isn't that much when you measure it against your initial investment, and the enjoyment of having such a great replica of a K4.
N BRASS PSC PRR K4 4-6-2 F/P NO RESERVE