What to do?

[early0electric]

My wife knows how to dispose of my stuff also. The "moldy boxes" are going first!

[early0electric]

I've noticed in recent auctions, no matter what auction house it is, that  trains are getting grouped together whether they be locomotives, or cars, or accessories. Granted the "Rare" stuff is selling piecemeal but there are items grouped together that in the past would have been sold separately. I assume this is a sign of the times where the buyers are not there, the money is not there, and the interest is not there. I'm not sure where the future of the hobby is headed, but I hope someone appreciates the effort that has been put into establishing some of our collections. Our collections are all over the place, prewar, postwar, early O gauge, classic period, Standard Gauge, 1 gauge, 2 7/8 gauge, S gauge, HO, MPC, and more and also a myriad of companies. I hope everyone collects what they like and not looking at their trains as an investment as I think that is dwindling. I still purchase items to fill the very few gaps I have and don't think about the return on my investment. The return is the joy and satisfaction of having what I have.  It may not matter to others, or others in my family, but it matters to me.

[Terry]

Another reason for the grouping you mention is the sheer quantity of items to be sold.

We're going into a really weird time to be train collectors. The common trains are dropping in value and the drop is going to accelerate as more hit the market. Inflation is picking up.

I made some dwarf signals for my layout last weekend. I spent about 3 hours on them, and once the humidity and constant promises of rain stops I'll paint them. I had fun.

 

The silver parts are cheapo castings made by the guy who sold them at York. Trickel? The black head came on a bent up signal bridge I got last week.

[pjdog350]

They look great Terry. Be sure to show them again when you get the paint on them and on the layout.

Speaking of your layout. Where’s the movies?

[starfire700]

The dwarfs look cool, can't wait to see when painted. Dwarfs for Standard Gauge.

[early0electric]

Those are pretty neat, Terry. Yes, I forgot to mention the sheer volume of trains. On estatesales.net there's many trains for sale. Some are onesy-twosey, some are accumulations, and some are collections.

[Terry]

I was thinking about cutting the signal bridge in half to make a single, but one of the side effects of age is knowing my limits.

Speaking of volume. . .  This weekend is the first big train swap meet in AZ since the pandemic. There was a small mostly scale show in early May, but this is the first tinplate show. As of last week they had 65 percent of the tables sold. Usually they are sold out 2-3 months in advance.

One growing problem I see is the lack of workers for the club shows. In Tucson they aren't doing the big 2-day trade show hall meets anymore because the club is all old men and they don't have the energy to run them. 

I'll have a better idea of the state of the AZ train market after the show.

I heard the York plans for this fall, and decided I'd wait until next spring.

[Terry]

Meet report - Many people aren't back to attending shows. The entire Marx collecting contingent was missing today. I don't know how off the attendance was, but there was not a long line of people waiting for the starting gun.

This shows does the national Anthem - OH say can you see. . . then throws open the doors. Usually I spend the first hour of the show just walking back and forth selling trains. This did not seem as hurried. Normally I have buyers stacking up to pay or haggle. Almost none of that today.

From the prices I saw, some people think the pandemic has increased demand. Only 80 percent of the tables were sold. I think this worked out well as I had hagglers storm off when I refused their offers and then come back and buy the objects because they couldn't find anything else to spend their money on.

It rained hard yesterday and this morning during the set up time. Rain usually means a better show, but if it had an impact today, it was not enough to overcome the pandemic decline.

Sales were ok, but I was blowing out cumbersome things. Like a crusty 122 station that had been used as a jack stand on a salty road then left in the rain for a while at a bargain price of $12.

[early0electric]

Yeah, I wonder about YORK. I plan to go, made reservations and all that. Not sure whether the changes will be accepted very well. Loss of tables and fewer sellers doesn't bode well.  Purple Hall always seemed a bit empty. They could always set up outside like a flea market like they do at the Holidome to accommodate some of the sellers that are displaced. It will be an experience, I'm sure. Hopefully it will all take place.