This weekend is my Son’s school rummage sale. Last night I was drafted into helping setup. You know, sort thru garbage bags full of used and worn out clothing! Anyway, there all folorn, on its own in the toys section, was a Con-Cor streamlined dome car in “Grand canyon” colors. Its still in the box, is in like new condition, but is missing its trucks, wheels and couplers. It cost me a whopping 25 cents, but I had to rescue it and give it a good home, even though I have no real use for it.
Have you ever felt pathetically sorry for a piece of MRR equipment?
For crying out loud, I’m in my mid 40’s and feeling sorry for a bit of plastic made in China!
I bought a Bachmann 4-6-0 British King type prototype because whatever wasn’t sold was going to the dump. I paid $5 for it. It looks good, runs good, won’t pull two freight cars, much less a speck of air. Sure looks good on the display shelf.
Several months ago I bought several boxes of HO trains for $20.00, from someone that had been hauling them in their motor home for two years. Several diesels had Kato drives and there was some other stuff I could use too. What I didn’t want wound up at our train club for members. What they didn’t want, we wrapped up in Christmas paper and gave cars to kids as they came visiting with their parents.
I bought a set of CP Rail Ballast cars once because they were sitting in my LHS for almost a year and I felt sorry for them. I looked at them probably 20 times before I bought them, lol. I also bought a very old Ontario Northland Caboose that was junk but I made a road side chip truck out of it.
I have purchased a few of the old Walther’s Santa Fe heavyweight kits just to have. Specifically I have purchased a few of the Division Superintendent business cars (shortys). These cars actually look pretty decent when assembled and painted correctly, although I just keep the kits in the box.
That dang Geico Gecko has been pushing free Chips ‘n Pie for so long in those commercials, that even Americans who DIDN’T grow up on Brit-Coms probably know what chips are by now
"Freedom Chips!’ [:p]
BTW, I’m past the stage of ‘give it a good home’ whimsy purchasing, but I have been know to purchase models if I feel they won’t be readily available in the near future (which is often true for some model releases and detail kits).
It is kinda funny you brought this up, but a friend of mine was just TDY to England and went to get fish and chips, and when he got “fries”, he was a little irate. I guess he was expecting crisps. I explained to him what was going on, and all was good.
I have caught myself caring about a piece of plastic once that I can remember, and that was when I went to the Nashville Flea Market. This man was there with about a carton-and-a-half of cigarettes (that looked to me like it would last him about 5 more minutes at the rate he was going), blowing smoke all over a perfectly good Bachmann DCC equipped FTA in Rio Grande colors and a lot of knives in a glass case. (this wasn’t that long ago). He wanted $20 for it, and I just felt sorry for it because it was covered in dust and a film of black goo. I didn’t have any use for it, but I really didn’t want to see it take any more abuse, so I had him box it up (the box was right next to it) and I handed him a 20. He said “Have a nice day… (cough, cough)” and I was off, one little engine that needed a good cleanup richer and $20 poorer.
It turns out that its lead truck was falling apart, guess that’s why it was only $20 instead of $55. Don’t worry, Bachmann mailed me a new one after I dropped their customer service people a line. Who knows, maybe I’ll find use for it after all, as an excursion train perhaps. (on a modern-era layout)
I’m guilty of more than a few sentimental purchases. I bought a “Ma’s Place” kit for fifty cents a couple of years back, primarily because I built the kit when I was a kid. I have no place on my current layout for the kit, I just like it. There are probably more examples of similar thinking on my “build someday” shelf than I would care to admit…
I have a few items I’ve “rescued.” I have an old American-Flyer caboose that was just begging to be saved. Plus, the price (free!) was right. More recently, I picked up an A-A set of N scale Trix F units, and a G scale set. I didn’t really need either item, but the Fs will be used on my coal trains, and the G set is going under the Christmas tree
The past few years I have begun purchasing things just because the were interesting for a Model Railroad Museum. Just a couple weeks ago I got some MDC Roundhouse kits with purple boxes. Ican’t find a date but the instructions inside talk about the “NEW” automatic couplers N.M.R.A. type “X2F”.
I got a Varney box that looks brand new, and a LaBelle passenger car kit in a “plain grey box”.
I will always buy an additional club car just to keep in the origional box. My club does a special run just about every year. The Atlas Irvine tank in the current July MR is ours.
Years ago we did a Quincy Oil tank that was very popular and sold quickly. Many of our new members are always looking for one and will pay 4-5 times the origional cost.
If I find any other odd or rare piece I will buy it within reason of cost. Varney’s, Hobby Town, and some where I know there is a running origional Athearn steam.
Bob K.
