Sorry for the lack of updates. There’s now been two lots of trains, plus a new transformer, and a visit to an antique store that yielded some flanged-wheel fun as well!
So, without further ado, here is the first lot–the one that I mentioned way back in November.
First, there’s this neat Weaver hopper. It was like $20 or something and it just barely does O27 curves!
Then there’s these two ore cars. They look pretty good with the Carbon Coal Company mine train–but I can’t get at it right now (the train room is a spectacular mess), so no photos of the train with the ore cars instead of that random Williams Reading hopper.
This lighted caboose was pretty cheap–I don’t remember how much exactly, but it was under $20. Lionel Lines are the closest I’m able to get to buying a home road, and it had couplers on both ends–a real necessity for me. Every time I see a caboose or locomotive with a coupler on only one end, I want to find the moron who designed it and bash his head in with the lead ingot I have lying around here somewhere. Anyways…
Then I got this nice Amtrak car for $20. I don’t really like Amtrak, but I do need to be able to represent it on my railroad. The real bugger is going to be finding a locomotive to match, unless I can come up with some kind of semi-plausible excuse. The car is lighted and does have the window inserts, but they appear to no longer be seated correctly in there.
I also ordered a bunch of turnouts, some uncoupling track, and a little extra curved track.
Then, after that lot arrived, I visited my favorite Bismarck antique store and found some fun cheap stuffs. I got a bunch of track for a little over ten dollars, and:
This Marx-Tronic switcher (please excuse the abysmal photo) for $10, untested, seemed like a good deal. It works but is missing some of little pegs and so forth that stick out to actuate its mechanism, not to mention the special track.
Then there was a K-Line Pennsylvania hopper for just $5. In the condition it was in, I couldn’t resist.
And then there’s the Type VW that I bought on Ebay. The full details on it are here: The Mobile Railroad! - #6 by Engine_1988
I wound up situating it to run my test track when the Club isn’t using it. More on that later when my workbench doesn’t look like an appliance store blew up.
Then there’s a more recent Trainz lot.
I got an uncoupling track and bunch of turnouts, plus a completely junked 397. I really don’t need another 397, especially one this trashed, but I couldn’t get the turnouts separately. I’ll probably keep it for the four spare parts on it that are still usable. Of course, you already heard about the 18B that shipping trashed. I’m still working on fixing it, but here it is as it was when I opened the box.
Moving on to less depressing acquisitions: a Lionel TCA Bicentennial set! I found this set for just $150 with a functional locomotive, all in very nice condition, and, with the Semiquincentennial coming up, well, it seemed like a good idea. Plus, a U36B will fit in nicely on my railroad. It does run quite well, just as promised–smoothly and quietly. But. For some reason, only in neutral, the E-unit has a horrendous buzz. It’s easily the loudest one that I own. When the locomotive is moving, though, it’s pretty quiet.
And, finally, I bought a #60 trolley for $30. It ran horridly, but a little cleaning and lubrication later, it runs quite well. Of course, now I need to add a trolley line in Menardsville–that’s why there’s track piled up next to the U36B. I do not, unfortunately, have any pictures of the trolley.