I’m a novice model trainer with a collection that’s been growing over the years. In the real world, I’m a project manager on heavy civil infrastructure construction projects (bridges, tunnels, flyovers, plants, etc). I’ve recently been tasked with helping a fellow PM finish a heavy rail train station and trestle for Amtrak and Sound Transit in Tacoma, WA. Working day to day around the track has been both fun and challenging. We have daily Sounder (bombardier cabs with a F59PHI locomotive) trains and Tacoma rail freighters that come through a few times a week.
Being around these trains every day and working on a project for future Amtrak and current BNSF, I was thinking that it would be a cool addition to add a Sounder locomotive and passenger cabs along with a Tacoma rail locomotive to my collection. I looked and called around locally to a few train shops in the greater Seattle area for the Athearn Sounder set and learned that Athearn discontinued production of the Sounder a few years back. I luckily learned Atlas will be coming out with a Tacoma Rail locomotive this month, which I plan to pick up.
Searching the web I was able to find quite a bit on ebay for older models, but no luck on the Sounder passenger cabs. Ebay aside, are there any other sites or places to find older models for sale that are no longer in production? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Don’t think your post didn’t work or that you were forgotten about, because of it being your first post they put a hold on it for a period of time. After a bit your posts will be automatic and show up right away.
But you certainly are welcome here and also on Jeffrey’s Diner which is another thread on this site where we are allowed by our gracious hosts at Kalmbach to talk about most anything with one another as long as it isn’t a flamable topic such as Guns, Religion, or Politics.
In regard to the Athern Items you would like, I would try some of the bigger “On Line Shops” such as M.B. Kline, Factory Direct Trains, Caboose Hobbies, Trainworld, Dallas Model Works, T&J Prantle, Trains and Such. Most of these are advertisers in Model Railroader.
There are times when everyone thinks that they are no longer available, but these bigger distributors have a few units that get hidden for awhile or misplaced in their warehouse and they come to light when asked about them or leave your name and number so if they discover them they have a sale for them right away. That makes everyone happy.
Good luck with your search, and again [#welcome] to the M.R. Forums.
Don’t give up on joining the forums. It is worth it to hold on through the delays.
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For finding an older Athearn locomotive, if you know exactly the one you want, start calling the “Leading Model Retailers” in Model Railroader. Maybe one will have it in old stock and get it into the mail to you.
Check all of sites that Johnboy mentions, I just did a quick search, and TrainWorld has some stuff, other than that, check ebay often. Even just Google Sounder train, once and while and see what pops up.
There are some 3 car sets out there.
I can relate to your real world job, being a retired cement mason that worked on all of the types of projects you mentioned.
Ebay is probably one of your best bets on searching for the out of stock item you are looking for. Do a keyword search such as Athearn F59PHI or whatever. Just because you don’t find an item one day doesn’t mean it won’t show up a few days or a week later. The key is to search regularly and with some patience, I almost always find what I need. I expect you will too.
I saw that show this weekend! I’m unfortunately out of town and can’t be there. That second link with the other shows and events is super helpful! Thank you!!
Athearn just released a new run of bombardier coaches a few months ago and they are already sold out for most road names. I’m glad I got mine right away. I bought them in July from Train World.
If your a facebooker, there are a few groups you can join, HO yard sale being one of them. Then you can put up a wanted post for what your looking for. Besides hunting the web stores for them, the facebook groups(if you do facebook) are probably the best bet outside of ebay.
As far as hunting past models, I’m in the same boat as you. It’s been stated before, but you should go to a local train show. Some real rare things pop up over there. Funnily enough, I saw some Sounder passenger cars at the most recent major train show in my area (The Great Train Show in Pomona, CA). As far as what I got at the show, I managed to snag an older, unstreamlined Athearn Genesis MT-4 and an Espee coach (in the Cascades/Lark scheme. Ooo!). Watch those tables like a hawk if you go to a show, and get there early! The best stuff tends to sell out first! Happy hunting.
Also, the Trainz Auction and Marketplace prop up some rarer items from time to time.
We are also starting to see booths rented in Antique Malls that only sell model trains.
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You won’t find anything amazing here, but occasoinally an old BB kit or something interesting pops up. 90% of what is in Antique Malls seems to be junk, but I find just enough good stuff to come back.
I buy and sell on them and with some patience usually sell about everything over a few months time. I also find some items I am treasure hunting as well now and then too!
Remember on e-bay you can set up a automatic search and when an item shows up, you get an e-mail. Got some realy rare stuff that way. You can also set up mutiple searches for the same item with different wording as many times people don’t know what they have, even if new because they lost the box or it got in the wrong box.
I was visiting a friend’s layout, and he was showing me some of the cars and locomotives which he had acquired over the years.
As for discontinued Athearn models, I recall seeing the ads for the one below, but that was the first time I’d ever seen the actual model. It’s part of an Athearn train set: locomotive, cars, and track…
Or wait for them to pop up on eBay. These models are in high demand. Athearn just released them in the summer and they are already sold out. I don’t know why they don’t make more faster. It took ten or more years to get around to making the most recent run.
Has anybody ever had luck at local estate auctions finding those rare and out of production items?
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I have not. I have been to several auctions that advertised old trains only to find either Lionel (which always sells way to high at estate auctions), or plain old junk.
I never see estate train auctions but I do see estate teain tables at the Timoniom rain show. Found some goodies at the but normal stuff like Athean IMRC Walther freight cars mostly
