After modeling the Norfolk Southern in HO for quite a while, I’ve decided to switch to a childhood favorite, the ATSF. My question is, how do you “shed” the old equipment?
Some of the rolling stock could be used, however the time period planned for the new equipment (late 70’s-early 80’s) renders most of the old NS equipment useless. They will have to be gotten rid of. Has any one else been in this situation? If so, please elaborate!
Help, Please!
Well there’s always ebay.
Do you have a hobby shop nearby? Sometimes they take used stuff to sell on commission.
A couple of model railroad forums have a selling section. TrainBoard comes to mind as one.
Regards
Ed
Heck RW, post a list (or send me an email) and open the bidding!!
…no…I suppose that isn’t allowed here, but any steam up for sale??
I have been working on a trading website for trains. It is not complete currently, but it is almost there. The idea of this site is not to sell but to trade with other model railroaders. Do you have any interest in trading with others for the new equipment that you need?
I am testing this now but I would like to have it up and running by the middle of April (I am leaving for 3 weeks of vacation this week, hence the delay). I am going to list some of my items to trade to start off, but the more people who are interested the more use the site will get. It will be free to post items up there, and since it is a pilot application for a bigger project that I am working on, all I want is for people to help me refine the service.
If you are interested in trading, please let me know. You can email me at knewsom@yahoo.com. I will send you the URL so that you can take a look.
Kevin
E-bay has to be the way to go. At least, I would expect you will get the best return on the items, even taking into account the fees etc. Do an e-bay search for some of the items you have to unload and look at the completed auctions to get a feel for what you may be able to get for them.
Donate the inexpensive stuff to kids in the local train club. Keep the expensive stuff for the memories. Don’t pay ebay to get rid of memories. I have hundreds of trains which I have donated to various clubs and the look on those kid’s faces at having their own locomotive is worth more than what you paid for the locomotive. Rolling stock is not that expensive so part with what you don’t really want and enjoy what you like.
I sold a lot of my HO stuff earlier this year on Ebay. Used the proceeds to bid on Peco switched & other stuff for my new N Scale layout. It was a painless way of getting rid of a lot of unused stuff I’ve been carting around for years and getting stuff I need.
The suggestion to donate some is a good one. Other HO stuff I had went to a school’s new railroad club in South Carolina where a teacher, who is a member on anoher forum I belong to, asked for donations to get the kids’ new club rolling. Since the school serves kids in a lower income community, I was glad to donate all the extra turnouts I had on hand. I don’t know if they still really need anything as some major manufacturers have jumped on board with donations. You or someone else might know of another group of kids that could put some of your extra stuff to good use. Kids are the future of the hobby and a school or civic club might be their only exposure to the model railroading.
Wayne
Swapmeets. Ebay is OK for high end stuff like engines, but not so hot for anything else. And since they’ve jacked up their pricing structure, it’s getting to be more expensive for casual sellers to sell anything.
At a swapmeet, IF you price things to sell, you’ll empty your inventory and walk out with lots of cash in your pocket. If you DON’T price to sell (almost full MSRP, or aren’t willing to haggle or at least talk to prospective customers) you won’t do so well.
I might think about keeping the stuff. Just like to offer my opinion. Down here in SC, there is a training watching spot called Bennets Yard. I’ve seen mixtures of locomotives all the time. The other day i saw a set of 4 locos headed out, a NS,Conrail,BN,NS. My point is, Isee alot of mixed roadnames. And BNSF has been using NS mainline down here.
Lots and lots of red and silver paint and microscale decals…you can convert a lot of your equipment over by just redoing the paint scheme and the decals …one thing though if you want it kept prototype…be sure the equipment you can convert was used by the SF …a lot of railroads don’t use the same equipment of another railroad …for example…I bought two new GP-50’s with the Rio Grande roadname to incorperate the DRG&W into the SP which SP bought out which i model…after researching the locomotives, the DRG&W never used GP-50’s, nor did the SP…good thing SP was bought out by the UP because now I can change the paint scheme over to UP because I also model the UP takeover of the SP and the UP did use GP-50’s…chuck
I’d say the best approach for equipment that you can’t repaint for your new layout would be to get in touch with various LHS and see if any offer trade-in deals. I did this with a bunch of old Graham Farish British N gauge models last year (and I’m glad to see the back of them, running qualities were awful and they didn’t look great either!), traded them in against some new N scale Fleischmann equipment - a DB Br.103 electric and a tilting 2-car railbus, both much more useful. You do need to have some idea of the value of the items - don’t expect anything like full list price (I would probably have made more through ebay but this was completely hassle-free, and I got a good deal), but do be prepared to haggle - the first price they name may well be low, so if you make your asking price higher (but show that you’ll negotiate) you’ll get more for your models. Knowing the value of the models will also protect you from those who might try to under-value them. Hope this helps!
From what I have seen running on the Union Pacific out here in Arizona, you could run NS rolling stock in UP trains and still be prototypical. I have even seen NW locomotives being used by UP, along with lots of CSX engines. Just because NS is now NW doesn’t particularly mean that they repainted and relettered any rolling stock.
E-Bay for locos and any high-end rolling stock, swap meets or white elephant tables for typical mass-market rolling stock. Of course - the obvious answer is don’t do it - why in the world are you leaving a classy prototyp for the most poinltessly over-modelled one in the land?
I’d say keep it. RRs use all kinds of different power.
R.W. King, unless you just don’t care for the rolling stock and locos you presently own, why not think about re-lettering and painting what you do like for BNSF? True, if you own steam it will be out of place on a “70-early 80’s” era Pike except as a “rail fan” excursion passenger train. If nothing else, what about “yard clutter?” Ever see a “rip track” with trucks, wheel sets and gondolas with sundry scrap just sitting there rusting away? Truckless old cabooses were used for make shift R.R. offices, box cars for tool storage etc, passenger cars for diners, retired steam locos for heating or staionary use…and the list goes on. The only rule “set in stone” for me, is never throw anything away! A day may come that you wi***o heck you still had some of those items.