model railroading

[Hagbard Celine 10848]

anyone here collect/deal in model trains?

i have a 2 boxes of lionel dating from the late 50s, and a bunch of HO stock and buildings from the late 70s.  was thinking about donating to Trainitopia at the railroad museum in frisco.

not interested in piece/parting on ebay, want to find a good home for all of it in one shot at a supercheap ultrabargain, and for someone that has or is building a large HO layout I would entertain any discussion for a barter/trade.

[davidg 4036]

You getting rid of a lot of imitation crab meat too?

[wd40 1976]

10 minutes ago, davidg said:

You getting rid of a lot of imitation crab meat too?

 

 

Edited January 10, 2021 by wd40

[mininghorn88 2276]

13 hours ago, Hagbard Celine said:

anyone here collect/deal in model trains?

i have a 2 boxes of lionel dating from the late 50s, and a bunch of HO stock and buildings from the late 70s.  was thinking about donating to Trainitopia at the railroad museum in frisco.

not interested in piece/parting on ebay, want to find a good home for all of it in one shot at a supercheap ultrabargain, and for someone that has or is building a large HO layout I would entertain any discussion for a barter/trade.

I have no personal experience in donating items to museums but I have heard of other people that have and a lot of times the items just end up in storage and never see the light of day unless there is something spectacular about them. Over time the museum then ends up selling the items.

[EE2B 1565]

You getting rid of a lot of imitation crab meat too?

This must be the OP:

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

16 minutes ago, mininghorn88 said:

I have no personal experience in donating items to museums but I have heard of other people that have and a lot of times the items just end up in storage and never see the light of day unless there is something spectacular about them. Over time the museum then ends up selling the items.

This. ^^^^^. Never donate to a museum , unless you have something like the video of the birth of Christ. It will need up in a basement. Toyed with the idea of donating my fathers collection of amazing civil war artifacts to a local, really great museum. Was talked out of it very quickly by a few people in the know.

[Braff Zacklin 13552]

Could someone please explain the imitation crab meat joke? I has the slows.

Also, why is there a selfie of me in this thread?

[davidg 4036]

33 minutes ago, Braff Zacklin said:

Could someone please explain the imitation crab meat joke? I has the slows.

Also, why is there a selfie of me in this thread?

 

[Braff Zacklin 13552]

I missed that meme. Only slightly creepy, as Philly is the city for brotherly love.

(And for the record, HO is the only scale that matters.)

[Armybrat 40818]

My set from 1947...

 

[troph 24781]

That dude is a serial killer.  

[TexArcher 37761]

7 hours ago, Armybrat said:

My set from 1947...

 

Weren't you too old to be playing with trains in 1947?

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

16 hours ago, Braff Zacklin said:

I missed that meme. Only slightly creepy, as Philly is the city for brotherly love.

(And for the record, HO is the only scale that matters.)

On a mass, consumer scale yes, on a niche scale not so much. lots of N and O gauge folks out there, just not on the scale of the HO crowd for sure.  I appreciate them all, but dig the HO scale the most.

I have all my grandfathers HO scale model trains from pre, and post 1940 or so. Lots of have cast metal engines, and balsa or bass wood rail cars, cabooses, lead figurines, buildings, etc.  

I'll never do anything with them, and would rather they be in the hands of a serious collector.  They've gone with me thru 3 moves, and each time the wife says lets throw them out...  She'll go before they will !!!!

[RDCanecutter 26377]

HO for availability, but the jewelry-detail aspect of N is appealing.

[Da Fino 2772]

If you can ignore the LARPers that are heavily involved in the hobby, live steam is pretty fascinating. 

[kangsta 50]

I enjoy the hobby, have a bunch of Lionel O Scale post-war locomotives, stock, and accessories (icing station, coal station, signal house, etc.)  from the late 40's through 50's (my dad and his sister's when they were kids), then some from late 90's when I was a kid building a layout with my dad. Still get them out every year around Christmas for my kids (FOR THE KIDS!!) and add a little to collection each year. Painted my 1940's 675 Loco and coal tender burnt orange and white this year along with one of the cabooses. Still hope to have a train room one day. New stuff is pricey though. /CSB

Depending on where you live, craigslist may be a good option to sell it all in one go.  

[CHIEF 5075]

davids right outta the box....impressive.

CHIEF

[ROFL BOX 6647]

If you can ignore the LARPers that are heavily involved in the hobby, live steam is pretty fascinating. 

My HS best friend is a Live Steamer; spent many years hanging around the Gold Coast Railroad Museum in Fort Lauderdale (I was also part of the move to Homestead).  He's still into it @ 54 years old & his main engine, I think it's a 4-6-4.  The fellow in the white t-shirt, that's his dad operating it... screen grab from a video.
Pic 1 is his Raritan 2-4-0 that's he's had for around 44 years now & that's Ray on the L... 2nd HS pal, John, next to the propane tank.  Both of them are in the RR still today & that's all the work they ever wanted to do.  Ray is an engineer on IC & John, other pal, is UP in an office staring @ computer screens all day.




That pic with the 3 of them is from 1983. Ray (glasses), John & Mark's back.

[Pescado_Rojo 19412]

On 1/9/2021 at 9:55 PM, davidg said:

You getting rid of a lot of imitation crab meat too?

I was going to be so disappointed if this wasn't the first reply. Way to represent Surly.

[52-80 19142]

On the internet, everybody rails models

[RDCanecutter 26377]

13 hours ago, ROFL BOX said:

My HS best friend is a Live Steamer; spent many years hanging around the Gold Coast Railroad Museum in Fort Lauderdale (I was also part of the move to Homestead).  He's still into it @ 54 years old & his main engine, I think it's a 4-6-4.  The fellow in the white t-shirt, that's his dad operating it... screen grab from a video.
Pic 1 is his Raritan 2-4-0 that's he's had for around 44 years now & that's Ray on the L... 2nd HS pal, John, next to the propane tank.  Both of them are in the RR still today & that's all the work they ever wanted to do.  Ray is an engineer on IC & John, other pal, is UP in an office staring @ computer screens all day.




That pic with the 3 of them is from 1983. Ray (glasses), John & Mark's back.
 

Mark ate some Wolf Chili.

[G650 14229]

On 1/11/2021 at 2:17 PM, RDCanecutter said:

HO for availability, but the jewelry-detail aspect of N is appealing.

Concur.

That said I have almost all HO stuff.

 

man this takes me back. I haven't pulled out any trains in I don't know how long. My son is turning 5 soon though so I have been planning on maybe dusting someone it off soon.

[wd40 1976]

G, when my kids where about that age, I dusted mine (HO) off, bought some loose track a King's, and set it up around the Christmas tree, a couple years in a row.  they dug it.  cats were a bit bewildered, which was fun, too.

[G650 14229]

1 hour ago, wd40 said:

G, when my kids where about that age, I dusted mine (HO) off, bought some loose track a King's, and set it up around the Christmas tree, a couple years in a row.  they dug it.  cats were a bit bewildered, which was fun, too.

Indeed. Actually exactly how my old man got me started as well.

[TwiceHorn 31435]

Live steam would be cool as shit.  As an ME, we spent a goodly bit of time on steam and steam cycles despite it already being largely outmoded except in power generation and marine applications and even then.

I can geek out on steam engines of all kinds.

[Eastwood 4394]

I haven't seen Kangsta on these boards in what feels like a decade and a model train thread brings him out. I love this site.

This isn't a knock on him, btw. I enjoyed his posts.

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

14 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Live steam would be cool as shit.  As an ME, we spent a goodly bit of time on steam and steam cycles despite it already being largely outmoded except in power generation and marine applications and even then.

I can geek out on steam engines of all kinds.

Check out O. Winston Links black & white steam engine photographs from the late 50's. He documented some of the last of the active steam engines in the country in southwest Va. with amazing photography.

He was hired by the Northern & Western rail line to document their companies lines, train houses, employees, and rolling stock.  He's the Ansel Adams of train photography IMO.

Edited January 18, 2021 by Onboard 2.0

[G650 14229]

41 minutes ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

Check out O. Winston Links black & white steam engine photographs from the late 50's. He documented some of the last of the active steam engines in the country in southwest Va. with amazing photography.

He was hired by the Northern & Western rail line to document their companies lines, train houses, employees, and rolling stock.  He's the Ansel Adams of train photography IMO.

You mean Norfolk & Western?

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

4 minutes ago, G650 said:

You mean Norfolk & Western?

Norrrrrrrr-fuck..... yes......

[ROFL BOX 6647]

That's me, far L (head turned), wearing knockoff "Mork from Ork" suspenders, Ray (Live Steamer, prior pic) in front of me, John (prior pic) is far R, kneeling.

[RDCanecutter 26377]

For those who like to play with 1:1 scale railroads, this guy train-hops all over Mexico and the US. Long video but I found myself watching all of it plus some others.

Also kinda glad I didn't see footage like this when I was 20, or I would either be an old homeless guy by now, or else an unidentified chopped-in-two skeleton laid across tracks in the desert somewhere.

 

[davidg 4036]

13 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Live steam would be cool as shit.  As an ME, we spent a goodly bit of time on steam and steam cycles despite it already being largely outmoded except in power generation and marine applications and even then.

I can geek out on steam engines of all kinds.

The Houston Area Live Steamers http://hals.org/  have tracks out at Zube Park in NW Harris Co.  Kids go absolutely crazy watching and riding on these things.

[kangsta 50]

16 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Live steam would be cool as shit.  As an ME, we spent a goodly bit of time on steam and steam cycles despite it already being largely outmoded except in power generation and marine applications and even then.

I can geek out on steam engines of all kinds.

If you have Instagram, this guy is a good follow for steam locomotives:  https://www.instagram.com/the_pennsy_guy/  

No sure where he gets his photographs but they're interesting and have historical info as well. 

[52-80 19142]

 

[ROFL BOX 6647]

Unless it was the UP Big Boy (4-8-8-4), I'm not hanging out @ a crossing waiting to take pics & vid.

I'm a dork, but not THAT much.

& Yeah, if I hit the bazillionaire lottery or something, I'm for sure gonna set up a many acre Live Steam operation & have meets.  Trestles, running water, a nice roundabout turntable, etc.

[BabaYaga 15286]

[Armybrat 40818]

Check out the Model Railroad Museum in Minot, SD.

 

[RDCanecutter 26377]

 

[CleverNickname 1308]

If I had more money, I'd build one of those ride-on 7.5" gauge trains at my property. Puttering along, beer in my hand. Bliss.

[RDCanecutter 26377]

5 hours ago, CleverNickname said:

If I had more money, I'd build one of those ride-on 7.5" gauge trains at my property. Puttering along, beer in my hand. Bliss.

I was interested in being the dude who ran the Zoo train, but they said no to the beer.

[Armybrat 40818]

I heard there was some discombobulation about the Zilker Parker Zephyr a couple of years ago. What came of that?

[CleverNickname 1308]

21 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

I heard there was some discombobulation about the Zilker Parker Zephyr a couple of years ago. What came of that?

It was a very Austin disaster.  Longtime vendor lost contract. Which, fine. So they took the train and the track, arguing it was theirs. It was, and evidently this surprised people. New vendor is in and after a long train free period (but covid ridden world, so not the worst timing) I think it's started or nearly so.

[kangsta 50]

On 8/8/2022 at 7:39 PM, Armybrat said:

I heard there was some discombobulation about the Zilker Parker Zephyr a couple of years ago. What came of that?

New one is the Zilker Eagle.. any day now they say.  

[Francisco 2.0 32386]

Probably old news to the modelers here, but TIL:

 

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-50403561

 

 

 

[blacklab 11926]

I have a moral dilemma.

My dad was huge into model railroading. As a kid we had half the garage set aside. After he retired one of his bedrooms was dedicated to a layout.

I got everything when he passed away. I have over 100 engines and over 1000 various cars and enough buildings to cover probably 100 square feet. One of my kids is mildly interested in it, we've set up a table in his room to put a layout on, but the other has no interest. 

We went to King's hobby a few weeks ago looking for track and my kid is bragging about how much stuff we have to the guy working and his eyes light up and gives us a card of their buyer and says they buy everything they can get their hands on. I look at some of the prices for used items and am shocked by how high they are.

Am I a bad person if I sell off some of my dad's stuff? I do want my kids to get some of it but there's so much it just seems to be a waste gathering dust in a closet.

 

[Helobious 9456]

Things are just things, the memories are what matter. Or something deep like that. Save your favorite couple railcars or a piece of track or something and sell the rest of that shit. 

[pantone159 719]

12 minutes ago, blacklab said:

Am I a bad person if I sell off some of my dad's stuff? I do want my kids to get some of it but there's so much it just seems to be a waste gathering dust in a closet.

Not all all. He is not using it anymore, so why not move it along to somebody who will use and enjoy it?

 

[MonkeyDoughnut 10226]

1 minute ago, pantone159 said:

Not all all. He is not using it anymore, so why not move it along to somebody who will use and enjoy it?

 

This here. Your dad loved it, you have those memories, he'd want someone who loves it too to use it and I'm sure would be glad you got it to that person. 

Feel no guilt you're only getting rid of the stuff, not the memories.

My parents who have had to recently help a lot of their friends downsize due to age/health etc have shouted their golden rule of "pass down memories, not stuff".  No one wants your stuff. They likely already have more stuff of their own they are trying to get rid of, do them a favor and not weigh them down with your stuff too.

 

[Braff Zacklin 13552]

27 minutes ago, blacklab said:

Am I a bad person if I sell off some of my dad's stuff? I do want my kids to get some of it but there's so much it just seems to be a waste gathering dust in a closet.

What you want is obvious and understandable. But what does your son want--is his interest so great that he could/would one day continue his grandfather's model railroading?

And what would your father have wanted? I'm sure he'd be happy if the items went to someone who would enjoy them as others have noted, but what if one of his grandsons also would have enjoyed them? Would he have preferred it stayed in the family?

Sounds like a decision only you and the boy can make.

[Da Fino 2772]

45 minutes ago, blacklab said:

I have a moral dilemma.

My dad was huge into model railroading. As a kid we had half the garage set aside. After he retired one of his bedrooms was dedicated to a layout.

I got everything when he passed away. I have over 100 engines and over 1000 various cars and enough buildings to cover probably 100 square feet. One of my kids is mildly interested in it, we've set up a table in his room to put a layout on, but the other has no interest. 

We went to King's hobby a few weeks ago looking for track and my kid is bragging about how much stuff we have to the guy working and his eyes light up and gives us a card of their buyer and says they buy everything they can get their hands on. I look at some of the prices for used items and am shocked by how high they are.

Am I a bad person if I sell off some of my dad's stuff? I do want my kids to get some of it but there's so much it just seems to be a waste gathering dust in a closet.

 

Is any of it brass?