Is there anyone here that collects vintage HO or N? I’ve seen collections of mint-in-box 1950s and 60s HO, but don’t remember ever seeing any here. Mantua, Tyco, Hornby - tell us, show us what you’ve got. What got you started on collecting?
I do not collect specifically, but casually, based on nostalgia and early personal experiences, provided the venture is cheap. I bet a lot of folks might own up to this vice.
Last year I did find and pick up two nice late forties Varney box car kits and an old Ambroid HO, wood passenger car kit form a single vendor for $15.00 total. I also aggressively hunt down old Cal Scale brass, steam castings like water pumps and Pyle National headlights, etc. HO “weston”, painted figures are also high on my collecting list. (rare to find them though as they are “keepers” for most folks)
I do spend a bit much collecting books on my narrow gauge interests, but I do not consider that collecting, per se. More as part of the general NG MR effort. However, I do consider my passion for back issues of Narrow Gauge and Shortline Gazette a really expensive and embarrasing collecting effort. It is rare to find them at shows for less than $5.00 per issue!
No, I am not into Brass, early Lionel, tin plate or any of those more expensive MR collecting efforts. Most of my big money goes to useful HOn3 stuff in the current interation of model railroading.
Richard
At this moment in time I have absolutely no interest in collecting. If I purchase a locomotive, my intention is for running and not for displaying - albeit brass or plastic.
Tom
[Edit: Given the answers so far, I must clarify my position above. Since I do model the NYC, I do collect things pertaining to that road. However, what I don’t to is collect HO-scale locomotives just to put them on display.]
I don’t really ‘collect’. It’s more like acquire. I have some old Fleischmann models that were given to me as their previous owners had no further need of them. One is a small German 0-4-0 with tender and coach and the other is a Rail bus. I also have some old Atlas locos from the 70’s and a 70’s era Bachmann 0-6-0 that has a metal body. I haven’t seen many of those around either.
I look for turn of the century (the old turn of the century - 1900) MDC Oldtimers, and other items in particular. But I also buy older kits mostly in HO and O as they appeal to me and are a good deal. Last train show I bought a couple of Roundhouse 4-4-2 kits and a couple of Quality Craft O scale kits. One before that I bought a couple of Tyco 1890’s Ten Wheelers RTR and a Tyco 4-4-0 kit… It’s fun and, unlike Serious Toy Trains, is not very expensive.
Maybe, I should model a hobby shop of the 60’s and 70’s. [(-D]
Paul
My Road-name of choice is D&H and I have been collection D&H stuff (Model and 1:1) for a few decades now so my Train Room(s) will be extremely D&H oriented…
[C):-)]
I have seen collections online of mint-in-box train sets from 40-50-60 years ago. I think it’s an interesting facet of the model railroading hobby. Definitely a refreshing change from the norm.
I have a soft spot for the D&H also , I do look for D&H N scale cars and if they fit my era I usually pick them up. Some D&H steam would be cool , maybe one of Loree’s 4-6-2s, camelback 2-8-0s and in my opinion some of the prettiest 4-8-4s and 4-6-6-4s ever built.
Randy
Every once in a while I’m tempted to purchase things I remember from my childhood in the late 80s. Not that that’s that old or “collection” worthy.
But I had this Tyco Doritos boxcar that I adored. Not sure whatever happened to it. I’ve come across its twin at shows before and…I did think long and hard about it.
I hear you regarding repurchasing a part of your youth. Last year I bought an un-run Lionel Appalachian set because I had one like it when I was young. I also had a Tyco HO Spirit of '76 set when I was a kid. Vintage items, sets, and kits are more in line with what I was referring to when I started this thread, not collecting a certain road name.
There was a time in my life when I was a collector. I used a temporary source of non-standard, tax-free income to buy things in boxes that would fill specific holes in the rosters that were part of my master plan. At the time, a layout of any kind was out of the question. That phase ended when I shook the last Vietnamese dust off my uniform.
Since then, that collection has been gradually transformed from things in boxes to things (with proper couplers, detailing and car cards) on rails - even though a lot of those rails are in storage cassettes. The transition continues, and the reservoir of unbuilt/unmodified box fillers is slowly shrinking.
I do have a very small `collection,’ (not in original boxes) consisting of four 4-8-4s, a 2-8-0, a 2-10-4, a GG1 and a few boxcars decorated with decals of club railroads I once ran on. Why are they separate from the main layout roster? Well, they’re over-gauge (1435mm, not 1067mm) under scale (1:87, not 1.80) and their prototypes never came within a wide ocean’s width of the geographical area I model. I have them because I remember their prototypes - when they were moving trains in revenue service, not stuffed and mounted or long since converted to auto parts and razor blades.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
I protolance THe B&O and all after incarnates.
But, since D & H are also My Other Half’s and my initials, I have been s l o w l y collecting things D&H. I confess it was MOH’s uring, not my direct Idea!
My former job allowed me to go inside many peoples’ homes. I remember one in particular where I was invited into a gentleman’s study to go through the details of a quote. One side of the room was covered with OO scale British steam locomotives, floor to ceiling and wall to wall! I asked if he had a layout and he explained that it had been buried under his son’s possessions ever since the son moved back in a couple of years ago after a nasty divorce, and he said that he didn’t expect to see the layout any time soon. I guess all he could do, given the circumstances, was collect, but collect he did indeed!
Dave
I’m a collector. I started off collecting only cabooses, mostly just Canadian Railways. I then started purchasing Canadian Railway diesel locomotives that didn’t fit my layout. I model the Ontario Northland Railway. I soon had a large collection of both cabooses and loco’s. I then discovered that steam was kind of cool looking so I started collecting Canadian Railway steam locomotives. This led to my decision to add a roundhouse to my layout. It is a fictional Railway museum that houses some of my more interesting locomotives that I enjoy running but would never have been in ONR country. No where else in the world can you see a CN Turbo Train parked beside a Union Pacific Big Boy, a pair of Quebec, Labrador and Northshore GP9’s and a couple CN U2-g’s, lol. Most of my collection is housed in display cabinets I had built in my train room.
Like Chuck, I was in Viet Nam as well, but while at stateside bases, Model railroading was just monthly mags and collecting motive power for my long planned Disputanta and Danville Western to be built once out of the service. No matter where I was stationed in the U.S., I always found a neat hobby shop. One of the best was about 80 miles down the gulf coast highway in Pensacola. I bought over 12 AHM (Rivaarossi) locos from them in 1967 before shipping out to Nam. I picked up the large motive power. Big Boy $39.95, Y6B, $34.95, Cab forward, $39.95, among other AHM large power offerings at the time. So I did collect, just like Chuck, but for a future dream road once I was back in the world.
One of the first things I did with the older AHM was to remove all drivers and machine down the giant flanges on those older AHM engines. I still own all that stuff, but it is in storage now that I am out of standard gauge HO.
Richard
I collect MDC Roundhouse “old timey” cars. All those colorful billboard box cars, reefers, and the like. They did a ton of these things over the years; Gorre & Daphited cars, lots of fanciful circus/carnival cars, etc. I’m not out to collect every variation, but when I see 'em at train shows and hobby shops, I just can’t help myself, unless the price is insane. The only reason I buy 'em is they’re neat, which is the only reason to collect anything.