Messages

361

General Discussion / Re: ALL BRANDS

« on: June 28, 2021, 06:36:02 PM »

I collect Lionel trains introduced before 1925. Mostly at this point I'm looking for trains from before  1911.  I have a bunch of trains from the late 1920s thru WW2 that are left over from my earlier collecting efforts. Those are on the layouts, and I'm thinning them out so I only have the ones I want to play with.

My dad and I collected only Lionel prewar from the mid 1970s thru the early 1990s. In the early 1990s it became difficult to find Lionel trains we didn't have. The ones we needed were either rare or expensive.

At that time, we started collecting other American prewar trains --  mostly just keeping trains we got from the public, but we did buy IVES transition stuff and the better quality AF trains from other collectors or at shows.

We also tried to get an electric train in 3-rail O gauge from every country that made them. As far as I know we had every country but Argentina. 

I also did binge-and-purge collecting. I bought boxed prewar Marx sets for about 15 years, then sold them all in 2009/2010. I bought every David O King trolley I could find from about 1997 to 2012 and then sold them all.

I also put aside interesting items when I get them from the public so I can play with them later. I have AF S gauge, Marklin 00,  and Postwar Lionel that all came from the public. I'll start a Marklin layout soon on the area I'm currently using for a table.

I also have a large quantity of American 00 trains by makers like Lionel, Nason, ScaleCraft, Famoco and others. Trains made from 1935 to 1952.  I've been buying 00 (Pronounced "double O") since I was in high school. I'm going to do a 7 by 13 layout with handlaid track using all the techniques of the 1930 era.

I bought this house with the big basement so I can spend the next 10-15 years playing with the trains. I'm having fun.

362

General Discussion / Re: Flood light tower

« on: June 28, 2021, 06:05:47 PM »

$44 postpaid isn't a bad price if you want it now. If that's 44 plus postage, you can do better.

About $25-30 postpaid is the swwet spot on eBay:

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_stpos=85210&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1&_sadis=15&_from=R40&_nkw=lionel+395&_sacat=0&_sop=15

363

General Discussion / Re: Flood light tower

« on: June 28, 2021, 01:12:23 PM »

Postwar version is 395. That has 6 volt bulbs in it. A nice yellow postwar one is worth $60-75. Any other color or year is $15-30

364

Layouts / track lights

« on: June 28, 2021, 12:16:25 AM »

I've been putting the track lights in, but it's been difficult because The local Home Depots only have a few parts in each store. Some of them say they have parts online, but don't have them when I get there.

 I need 4 more feet of track and about 15 heads.  I also need to figure out the lights.

Here's some photos:

Without the track lights:

 

Same view with the track lights:

 

The 9 set with three 65 watt bulbs aimed at it:

 

A few shots with the camera flash and the track lights. See the glare on the ceiling?

 

 

 

Here's some shots with the camera flash off:

 

 
This picture shows 65 watt bulbs on the right and two 40 watt bulbs on the left. I can't see  a difference.

These are all LED bulbs so the watts are the equivalence listed on the box. The 65 watt bulbs are 50 cents each. The 40 watt bulbs are $4  each.  I'll try hooking a dimmer into the circuit and see what happens. The 40 watts are the dimmest ones I can find.

I'm sure some of the glare is the low ceiling - only 94 inches. Some might be the ceiling is painted high gloss white like the doors and trim.

365

General Discussion / Re: LiveAuctioneers

« on: June 26, 2021, 08:52:26 PM »

I buy a lot through liveauctioneers. The buyer's fees are different based on the house and the auction itself. Lately, they have been trending downward from the high 20s into the mid and low 20s.

Sometimes the auction house will want a credit card number to bid. I have never had one charge it. I almost always pay with check. Some auction houses will take payment through an online service - auctionhelper.com was a recent one I used.

If I have no prior relationship with the house, I always use a credit card. the credit card gives me the abilty to fight BS.

My mohave 156 came from an auction house in the midwest. They shipped it by UPS to a PO BOX and UPS left it somewhere. Tracking showed "left at front desk." I don't have a front desk.

I emailed a few times, then one phone call saying I'd do a chargeback unless I had the train in hand in 48 hours got action.  They had UPS to go to where the train was left based on the GPS tag on the confirmation. The UPS guy got the train and brought it to my house.

When the house bills for shipping after payment, I make the shipping payment with a credit card through paypal.

Also some don't do shipping, but deliver to local shippers. I've used this a few times and have always been amazed at the quality of the packing. I paid for it, but it's well worth it if the item is desirable. Just factor an extra $75-150 into your bid depending on the size.

The last time I used an outside shipper I sent them a note saying I wanted the Lionel car packed really well and NOT wrapped directly in plastic, and they could put everything else in a bag and use enough wadding to keep it from damaging the Lionel car.

Another time I told them the boxes were more valuable than the trains and they wrapped each box in tissue paper and then put them in the set box which was wrapped in tissue paper and bubble wrap, then the trains were nestled in peanuts above the setbox. They charged $25 labor and materials. They also charged UPS retail rates for the shipping.

Some houses give a discount for bidding directly through them, some also give a discount for paying by check or money order rather by credit card. You have to go to the auction house's website to see this. It won't be shown on the liveauctioneers website.

My preferred method is to bid by email sent to the auctioneer. That way the people bidding before the auction can't respond to my bid. If I can't do that, I bid though liveauctioneers late the night before the auction.
 
There is also a site called https://www.invaluable.com/

There is a big overlap between the two, but enough on only one platform to make it worth checking both.

366

General Discussion / Re: Recent Additions

« on: June 26, 2021, 01:18:23 PM »

There is just something about these little cars. One is not enough. Always room for one more - actually there was. The shelf holds 5 cars and only had 4.

Jim has a standard gauge gondola on ebay that I don't have. It has a different data stamp than the two of that color and roadname that I already have. It's neat, but at $160 my mind says I already have a dozen 112 gondolas. If I resist the urge to buy the mid priced variations I can afford good stuff every few months.

Like this:

 

367

General Discussion / Re: Recent Additions

« on: June 25, 2021, 10:30:47 PM »

I just got this 801 caboose today. My first caboose with clipped corners:

 

It turns out I have the same brown caboose without the corners clipped. Here's the two together.

 

 

They are the same, but the one I had doesn't have clipped corners.

These are version D in the Greenberg on page 322, but no brown caboose is listed without clipped corners.

368

Collector Corner / American Flyer 4032 Crossing Gate made by Lionel

« on: June 25, 2021, 06:31:06 PM »

Here's something interesting:

 

 

 

It looks like a common early Lionel Crossing Gate.

But when you turn it over:

 

The bottom reads: "Made For American Flyer MFG Co." and "No. 4032"

About 30 years ago at one of the Cal-Stewart shows Chuck Brasher told me I should be looking at the bottoms of crossing gates because some had markings for IVES or American Flyer. Less than 5 minutes later I found  with IVES stamping on the bottom. I bought that one for $5 and ran back to show Chuck. Since then, I have picked up thousands of these crossing gates. At one time I had about a dozen of them. They also come with paper stickers rather than rubber stamping. This might be the only one I have left, and I just listed it on eBay.

This one is interesting because normally the ones for American Flyer have maroon bases and green arms. All black is harder to find. 4032 means it came with a Standard gauge trip, the same thing comes with 2032 for O gauge.

Neat.

369

General Discussion / Re: Searching for trains on eBay

« on: June 24, 2021, 05:11:32 PM »

This is why people start buying other items. Finding and buying is the reward.

I'm seeing some nice stuff on Liveauctions and Invauable but eBay is iffy.

I want the other Lionel Mountain that's coming up this weekend, but it's going into a high range. 

I did grab an 801 caboose with clipped corners a few days ago. 

370

Collector Corner / Re: Odd Prewar Car Lighting Set

« on: June 24, 2021, 09:40:05 AM »

Cool. I can't find a boxed set because searches bring up too many results.

371

Collector Corner / Re: Odd Prewar Car Lighting Set

« on: June 23, 2021, 04:24:41 PM »

I think they are too well assembled to be homemade. There is only one wire so they have to be designed to go inside something that is metal. They are too exact to be handmade.

Maybe the pictures don't convey the heft?

I tried looking for something similar on Liveauctions.com and Google, but "train lighting set" brings up too many results.

I also looked at NOMA lights to see if I could find light sets with similar bases, but that result was overwhelming too.

I got the cars all cleaned up and the look great with extra lights.  Whatever they are they do a gret job of lighting up the inside of the cars.

Speaking of car lighting - The 381E state set was $110 in 1929, the 9 set was $52.50. Both only have one roller pickup per car for the lights. That's just cheap.

372

General Discussion / Re: Next O Gauge train project

« on: June 23, 2021, 01:34:32 PM »

I threw those out. Some were burned first.

373

Collector Corner / Re: Odd Prewar Car Lighting Set

« on: June 23, 2021, 01:32:05 PM »

I think they are too consistant to be home made. The cotter pin to pinch the existing wire is also not needed - in fact when I rewired the cars I cut the cotter pin off and soldiered everything together.

They are inside the cars and I put the cars on the layout so when something turns up  they will be there.

An aside. . .  We were talking about spray versus dipping paint. The roofs on these cars are dipped. They are from 1929.

374

Collector Corner / Odd Prewar Car Lighting Set

« on: June 22, 2021, 02:04:37 AM »

I put the dark green 9 loco into running order and decided to do the cars. They have added lights that appear to be from a kit:

 

 

I took the one out of the first car because I always put the trains back to stock, but when I saw the construction I realized this may be a kit by a company other than Lionel. The light head has a slot and a tab that were used to tie it to the crossbar in the cars.

 

Here's the contact end- a cotter pin on an end of the wire with the insulation bound on the end:

 

The set is two lights on a long wire. One set has been cut in half to make two lights - one for the combine and one for the observation.

This set of trains was made in 1929. I got it from the original owner's son along with the son's 1952-54 era O gauge trains I doubt the trains were ever set up and run after the mid-1950s.

Have you ever seen a set like this?

375

General Discussion / Re: The ebay rant.

« on: June 21, 2021, 02:05:29 PM »

Here's something interesting. . .

The Medium flat rate box is now $13.34. It was $13.75 last Thursday.

Also, I got a note from eBay saying they overcharged me and had credited my account:

Dear Terry,

Between June 2-3, 2021, we experienced a temporary billing issue that resulted in you being charged an incorrect final value fee for select items you sold on eBay.

We have resolved the billing issue and apologize for any inconvenience. A credit for incorrect final value fees will appear on the Payments tab in Seller Hub.

Thank you for your understanding.

The eBay Selling Team

I don't see any credits in the past few days.