Well, last night I just broke several of my “rules” all at one time. I recently discovered that not one but two of my daughters just love “John Deere”. They have quilts, purses, earings, etc with the green & yellow jumping deer on them. Anyway I’ve long known that Walmart had John Deere train sets so I thought it might be nice to get each of my daughters one for Christmas. Much to my surprise I learn that JD has been producing a set every year for 11 years now and these things have become collectors items and are going for outrageous prices. sigh. Anyway the other catch is that these sets are made by - guess who - Athearn.
Anyway last night I purchased a god awful looking green John Deere, Big Boy, made by Athearn Genesis. The rules I broke with this purchase. 1. No Big-Boy’s. Only the Union Pacific had big-boys so this is sacrilege even for a free lance. 2. No Athearn Genesis. Boycot until they stop using the junky electronics. 3. Buy nothing unless it is a good deal (price wise).
So what strange model railroad related things have happened to all of you that have made you break your own rules?
As a Deere employee and a model railroader, I have to admit that when I see a lot of that stuff it really makes me cringe. One of the reasons you probably weren’t aware of the existence of many of these items, is that they are primarily manufactured for sale in John Deere dealerships. Practically every dealer has a space somewhere in the showroom for a line of shelves devoted to farm toys, sportswear, and a variety of other types of branded merchandise.
First off Good Luck with the sets, I bought one of thoughs a couple years ago (it was made by athearn and it came walmart) and it quit working in a weak!!! o well, but it started getting me hooked on this hobby cause a few weaks later I got a LL starter set, still have all the track and the engin and cars (well, i guess its only been 2 1/2 years)
I’m surprised you haven’t been banished from this Forum! The Nerve!!!
Saying that don’t be too hard on yer self after all it’s for the kids and they don’t know didley. As for the Electronics well I had an Atheran Challenger for about 2 years before I replaced the MRC nonsense with a Tsunami. MRC though not great isn’t the worse system out there by a long shot. So don’t take it too hard.
When the lights go out all cats look grey in the dark.
You got a bad one. I bought several of the JD sets with the Athearn F7. All three mechanisms are still running just as quiet and trouble free as they did when I bought them several years ago. All three now have DCC decoders.
Zepher, I think you warned me off of the Athearn Big Boys? After 2 of them I went with a PCM Big Boy. I saw J Deer BB on E-Stupid and asking prices was $400.00 for the engine and tender only. Hate to ask but what did you shell out for the Green Monster?
My only current ruel is do not buy any more rolling stock or engines. Have 120 on the bench and 200 in boxes. Broke that ruel 2 weeks ago when I came across some sweat Walther’s tank cars at K-10 Model Trains, all so a covered hopper. Have 6 more rolling stock now, so much for rules!
Yes, I did! And still do. So you can see how silly the purchase was. I am dreading having to redo the headlamp, marker lamps, decoder & soundsystem. Not to mention all the issues the centipede tender might have. BUT I am guessing my daughter won’t necessarily want to run it. Just put it in a display case with all her other JD collectibles, so all that re-work might be a moot point.
Not nearly that much - closer to $300, but since I bought it in a package deal that is only an estimate. The “package” included another loco and some freight cars too.
I live 10 minutes away from THE official John Deere collector center. I see JD trainsets there all the time. I thought they were cool, but hey, who in the world would run one of those on their layout [:)]
OH BTW, here is an official XTRKCAD4 of the train layout you designed for me. Now that I’m halfway finished with it, I’m trying to figure out an operational car card waybill system.
Actually it’s now Case-International. It’s been that way for about 10 yrs. I run a 76’ IH 574 and just bought a Case International JX 80. Of course it’s all academic now since they, New Holland, and a couple of others come off the same assembly line.
Our International Harvestor plant in East Moline is no more. Even the buildings have been torn down. It was a huge operation here at one time employing thousands of people. John Deere however is alive and well. The world corporate headquarters are located here, along with their 10 million dollar museum and gift store.
