Stolen Trains Notice

Very sad to hear about this kind of news.  

David

Will keep our eyes open for them.

YOu can bet that I'll have 20/20 vision looking for these crooks, yes crooks.

Rod

I hope he had insurance (Train Collectors). You're right, David, very sad .

Sad to hear, I am sad to say it will not be the last we hear of this kind of thievery . I hope he put some kind of I.D on the trains like underneath the train where it cannot be seen. I have a friend who was burglarized a few years back, fortunately Ramon had his name printed in one of the books. The thief took some of the trains to the Train Shack in Burbank CA to try and sell, the Train Shack owners family member noticed Ramon's name in a book and very smartly got information on the guy trying to sell the stuff including the license plate of the car he was driving.  Eventually the young lady contacted Ramon about the incident, Ramon was not aware some trains were stolen at the time. Ramon Checked and yes he was robbed of a significant amount of trains. 

Two things happen here that were important. 

1. Ramon identified his property. 2nd A person recognized Ramon's name and took a interest enough to make sure Ramon was aware that he may have been robbed.

The persons were caught and prosecuted.

Lessons learned.

ID your trains. You may want to put in a phone number on it with your name.

Contact the police immediately, in this case 40,000.00 is a felony capital crime which they will be interested in.

It would not hurt to contact the FBI they may also be interested, it is worth the effort.

Contact all of the local hobby shops that are in your area for at least a radius of 500 miles.Email them a list of the stolen items.

Put a reward on it leading to the arrest and conviction of the crooks, The police like that, any effort on your part helps them.

A little prevention helps.

Be careful who you tell what and where you have your trains, don't brag. You be surprised of the folks who are responsible for a theft you think you could have trusted.

Ask your friends not to tell folks about your trains and where they are kept.

I know a lot of folks like to show off their collection on open houses and again things happen to disappear at those times to often. These folks come in see your trains and go and you have no clue who they are.

Keep all your high value items in a secure area in your home, NOT in a Storage locker.

How do I know this, Experience on the job and off.

I never tell folks on the internet what or how big my collection is. I tell them I stopped counting at 100 trains.

I hope Glenn is able to recover his property and the low lives are caught.

John P

I forgot, check the auction sites, on ebay you can put a Search alert I believe if something comes up. Good catch Steam engine.

What a bunch of dumb *@#es.... pardon my French, this makes me so irate! To steal something that is so traceable, and that means so much to somebody, and that these people have NO regards or respect for personal property....  

Best thing to do is alert the train shops that buy secondhand items.

These crooks will are so dumb they will look to oft them all at once.

I will definitely keep my eyes posted at the train shows, but honestly all the trains that have  been stolen usually the crooks are caught a week later trying to sell them to a pawn shop, second hand store, or a hobby shop. 

I would send a note to the local shops and the police in PA with pictures.

Good news is these idiots will be caught its only a mater of time...

Make sure you invest in a security system to ward these clods off to avoid a next time!

Was the train stolen out of his hobby shop or his residence? Not that it matters but Ido feel for him. 

You know what last year I think.Some guy broke into ll cool j house.He must ll was a soft target.Ll cool j keeps in shape and is into kung fu, kick boxing and just plain boxing.LL beat this guy when the police came.He was all to happy to go with them.Some day they are going to break into a house.And the home owner will be home
they might end up in the hospital or the grave.I  hate to hear things like this.I have worked and bought my trains with money I earned.And to have some two bit $#@^%$**&^ break in and do this.I hope they are caught I hope they spend weeks watching there back.I hope he gets his trains back and the $#%^ goes to jail for a while!!!!

Hi Glen sorry to hear about your loss would like to know more about what happen and how they were stolen from you,  was it a home burglary or a train store robbery or a train club break in can you elaborate more on the details or maybe a friend or relative or a housekeeper who is a hard core drug addict stole them to buy drugs . I see they were taking from Orwigsburg, PA. and not looted from Ferguson.  

too bad !!  I got the email from the TCA as well. This is a very tight knit community and most difficult to fence stolen property. Lets hope for justice!! 

I did not know they were taken from a store,  still let all the other stores know what was taken. Everyone watch the auctions.

John

Sad story.

I learned the hard way a few years back that not all the folks you think are train buddies are actually your friends.

Rod

Those of us who have dogs and cats are familiar with the microchips we can have implanted to help with their safe return. They're about the size of a large grain of rice, but carry a distinct ID code. Store-quality RFID tags are somewhat larger, but cheaper. It would be easy to prove ownership if the chip wasn't discovered, and there wouldn't be any visible mark on the outside.

It's a shame, but if the thief has any brains the stuff will never be seen again.  The person from whom the trains were stolen should make their peace with that fact, file an insurance claim, and move on. 

As someone whose house has been burglarized, I would tell folks they should always have an alarm system, and they should use it.  All ground level windows and doors should have sensors.  Glass doors and windows large enough to crawl through should have shock sensors.  And the system should also have a cell phone back up so that if a pro clips the phone wire to the house, the alarm will still work and call the monitoring center.  You cannot guarantee preventing a burglary but you can make it more likely they will bother someone else who has taken fewer precautions.  Or, if you are a dog person (never get a dog just to be a guard dog), a good 50 - 100lb mixed breed dog will discourage anyone who sees it from entering. 

Never advertise what you have and be careful about whom you invite into your home.  Train openhouses are great -- generally the people who attend are nice folks -- but the internet is an open and public domain and you have no idea really whom you are inviting when you post some public notice and folks start showing up.  Then they see what you have and if the place isn't protected properly, this can happen.

Sorry to hear this happened, but fortunately the only thing missing is property that can be replaced and neither the victim or his family were hurt.  That's the important thing.  The trains can be replaced. 

Wow. To close to home for me.. Sorry to hear Glenn that happened. I will keep an eye out. I get several people every weekend trying to sell me trains.. It is sad and believe it or not it is quite often that this happens. Tinplate will be had to move quickly..So maybe he will get lucky and find who did this.

I had a couple in not long ago asking about a postwar set that was stolen and had sentimental value for the family. You never know anymore..

On a slightly different note regarding being robbed...  I was robbed a few years ago by teenage grandsons of a nearby neighbor.  I found out these young fellows had a serious drug addiction, something their father also had.  When I questioned the grandfather he lied to me thinking he was protecting the boys.  A few months later they had them arrested for stealing thousands worth of their own jewelry.

They have been in and out of jail and were caught stealing a car just two days ago.  

So what's different?  You need to be tuned into who the neighbors bring around.  Today's "modern families" have us older folks taking people into our homes that we love and want to trust.  Denying signs of drug usage doesn't help and will show up eventually.  

I'm more more concerned with home invasions and violence than losing a train or two. 

Ditto. And one of John Pignatelli's points of limiting what other people know about your collection is also very true. Of course, sometimes egos are just too large.

Gerry