This is not the place for valuable treasures. The things you share could be valuable, but probably not.
I want to see what you have that means the most to you.
For me, it is this N scale model of STRATTON AND GILLETTE oil-electric boxcab locomotive number 4.
This model has the distinction of being the VERY FIRST piece of equipment painted and lettered for my railroad. I built this model over 35 years ago, when I was in high school.
I was 14 or 15 years old, and I am sure I read an article in Model Railroader that inspired this.
It is obvious from the construction that I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.
The mechanism is a Bachmann N scale F9. I cut the truck sideframes off and replace them with sideframes from a scrap passenger car.
The body is an N scale 50 foot boxcar that I removed all the deta
Nice work on your first major MR creation. Far above my grade.
My greatest treasure is my spouse…hands down, although if I were forced to choose between her and one of my daughters…I’d have to plead some kind of waiver.
Next is time. I’m losing it by the second.
Third is my mind. I haven’t made notable use of it, sadly, but I know its value…finally. Hey, everyone can “get it” at some point. I was lucky.
Next is my home. I’m glad to have it and the opportunity it affords to problem solve and to garden.
As to the toys, which I’m sure you intended, it’s a toss up between my Lumix FZ-1000, and one of my favourite locomotives, my paddle board, my Specialized 18 speed. Having a reliable car really counts for someting too…in fact, how about a valid driver’s license?!?
This book, which I am sure most of us have, is kind of a treasure. My father bought this when we were building a 4 by 8 HO scale layout in the garage with my Christmas Tyco trainsets.
He kept a notebook with notes in it associated with this book. I wish he would have written in the book. His notebook is gone, the book is in good shape, but it holds few memories.
I do not have any of the Tyco train cars I received for Christmas when I was young.
I have bought a couple of replacements along the way, they are exactly the same and bring back nostalgia, but not the real things, so not treasures.
My Treasure is my Seaboard Coast Line Spirit of 1776 Bicentennial locomotive my Grandfather gave me for my Birthday when I was about ten. I keep it on the mantle over the fireplace so I can see it.
It isn’t just the model itself, it’s the fact that every time I look at it I think of the good memories. I used to ride around with him in his oil tanker truck on his deliveries when I was very young.
The one my Grandfather gave me doesn’t work anymore. It took me years to find a another alike set that I can run on my layout.
I’m going to take some time now to read over everything. I can appreciate the pictures of the nice things here.
My Grandfather bought this for my father sometime around 1951 or 1952.
It was then passed down to me and my brother, starting with me in 1969.
( It was a “special order” from the Sear’s store in Puyallup Wa.
My brother and I played with it WAY TOO MUCH !!! It has suffered at our hand’s and has been packed in it’s box since 1975. ( That’s when I started building my first layout on my bedroom floor with my Tyco Southern Pacific Bi-Centenial trainset. )
Out of all of my locomotives this is my pride and joy… A simple BB SW1500 lettered for Summerset Ry… I bought this engine on eBay simply because I like the road name and the ACL inspired paint scheme…
Some of you will already know my answer to Kevin’s question.
My favourite model railroading item is the wee brass critter in my avatar. I built it from scratch using a Bachmann N scale 4-6-0 drive plus parts from a Life Like generator. It has 12 wheel power pickup and the lights work. It is DC.
The roof isn’t quite right, the exhaust pipe casts a shadow down the tracks and the air tank is in a ridiculous location.[:$] Oh well! It was my first attempt at scratcbuilding.
I am lucky man, not a rich man, but I have a few treasures quite dear to me (other than my family).
My oldest treasure is a station building, actually more of a flag stop. It was built by me from a Faller kit on Christmas day 1963 at the age of 7. It was a Christmas gift, together with a Marklin starter set. It´s the only surviving model railroading item from that time.
My second treasure is a Westside Model Co. D&RGW HOn3 T-12, which I bought upon return from my year as an exchange student in the US, back in 1974. I was 18 then. It is also my first attempt at painting, lettering and weathering.
My third treasure is a Marklin electric locomotive my wife gave me on our first anniversary in 1985.
And last, but not least, my newest treasure - a OO9 scale steam engine a Japanese friend of mine scratchbuilt for me a few years ago.
Come what may, I will never part from these treasures!
The 4-4-0 on the right at my “Golden Spike” cerimony is my favorite model RR posession. Although I hinted around about it, on our 5th wedding anniversary, I was still surprised when my wife got me the Roundhouse “Mogul” kit that served as the basis for the 'bash.
I used mainly Mantua components to round out the rest of the project. (She knew it would be converted). It followed an article in MR, still my all time MR article too. The year is indicated by the road number.
It has more recently recieived a genuine Sagami can motor and a custom flywheel, and runs very smoothly. Dan
Edited in: For a model that’s supposed to be a favorite, I recon it should have a better picture than that hokey hunnerd year old one above. Here I can see it needs some touching up in the paint dept, but here she is.
The article I mentioned above was MR Dec '92, p 90; An MDC/Mantua 4-4-0, by Bob Ottosen.
The thing I find most valuble to me is a D&H 1980 timetable my dad found at the Albany train show last year. I somehow overlooked it, and he somehow remembered what year and railroad I model and he got it for me for christmas. It has tons of info I could not get elsewhere. Sorry, I don’t have a photo.
I guess my treasure is the MILW. terminal caboose I completely scratch built, from measurements from the prototype. It’s the first time I have scratch built a rail car.
Sheldon, I have a couple of those Globe passenger car kits I found on Ebay, and I’m using the corrugated roof parts for some of the cars on my fantasy passenger train build. They also fit the ConCor 72’ cars.
