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Although I never met Jim, He was a "hobby friend" through correspondence.

The Jim Seacrest name was known far and wide from his persistent and prolific "'O' scale wanted classified ads in several railroad modeling  magazines.  I answered one of his ads & sold him my Atlas 'O' scale DM&IR switcher  sight unseen  and sent it to him.  I was modeling DM&IR and GN at the time, location -- my childhood home of Northern Minnesota.

I was curious as to Jim's interest in DM&IR. He told me that as a youth he attended summer camp at Lake Vermillion----a well  know resort area in Northern Mn.  and he had been fascinated by the international rail line that passed nearby----The Duluth, Winnipeg, and Pacific.  It was a subsidiary of the Canadian National and ran passenger service in those days----late 1950's.

Jim explained to me in a letter that he was constructing a huge model of the DW&P in a commercial building in Nebraska.  He kept acquiring DM&IR, GN, NP, DW&P and other regionally related rolling stock from me for a few years. This included some of my favorite scratch built freight cars.  He was ravenous for my rolling stock and at one point I just changed my focus in modeling because Jim, had nearly "bought me out".  And believing Jim's DW&P would be one of the greatest 'O' scale empires EVER----I actually wanted my rolling stock on his layout. I gave him great deals!

Then I did  countless 3 to 2 rail conversions for Jim and painting and lettering as well. I WASN'T the only one doing this for Jim!  He had spotters/buyers at the major 'O' scale meets as well!  So somewhere along the line I began to realize what a massive collection of  quality  'O' scale  equipment Jim Seacrest must have acquired!

But alas, Jim was bedeviled by health problems and his eyesight was poor. But I KNOW he inspected the work I did for him with a magnifying glass!  He told me at one point the DW&P project wasn't going to happen due to his failing health.  It seemed like it really bummed him out but he kept right on buying  more 'O' scale goodies.   

Jim is no longer with us---he passed away last year. I suspect HIS collection of 2 rail 'O' scale railroad models is one of the greatest in the history o our hobby. When this collection comes up for sale it will be Earth shaking. I'd like to get a few of my favorite rail cars back from his collection---to better remember Jim by!  

Jim Seacrest----one of the great 'O' scale model railroaders!

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http://coloradooscale.org/mr-jim-seacrest/

 

Nice write up Salty Rails. 

Several of us in the Colorado region worked for Jim myself included for over 10 years. Jefferson was close to Jim for decades .

 

He was a kind man and very loyal. I will miss him and his financial reach to bring us high end brass projects to completion. Outside of Neil Gibson, Jim likely has one if not the largest single collections of O Scale 2 rail brass. 

May he Rest In Peace. 

 

 

Hi Eric---So are you fellas the guys who were doing the building of the layout?  At one point Jim told me  he didn't "talk about"  the DW&P ANYMORE.  So I have always wondered what the stage of completion was when he stopped. I wonder if it was dismantled.   It was REALLY an ambitious project.

I was going to make a special trip to Nebraska to see the monstrosity----had it been completed.

                                                                  -Rusty Rails-

The majority of the Seacrest DWP was built by Scale Art Models. A professional service out of the Denver area. Scott has since relocated to Texas. I did some of the backdrop painting and other odd jobs on the layout over the years. Actually a very small part compared to the Anderson team. Jim was indeed a close friend. 

Just from the video there appears a very large amount of rare "high end" brass along with large amounts of older brass models and non brass models. It will be interesting to see how high the bidding goes overall [+ 20% "premium"], from what I have read this is the largest collection currently in the country.

Last edited by hibar
hibar posted:

Just from the video there appears a very large amount of rare "high end" brass along with large amounts of older brass models and non brass models. It will be interesting to see how high the bidding goes overall [+ 20% "premium"], from what I have read this is the largest collection currently in the country.

I mean no disrespect to Mr. Seacrest but I wonder how his brass collection stacks up against Al Edel.

It will be fun to compare the final Seacrest numbers with a guesstimate of what (by my recollection) Edel has in his garage and basement. 

I tried to watch the video.  Moves way too slow - how about a slide show with two or three shots of each model, one an elevation.

I personally would not pick up a 2-rail brass steamer by anything but the cab and cylinders, but I am not in charge here, and I am going to give the guy a pass.  Most of these models have been modified somewhat already, and the value may be diminished.  The Rock Island obs series, for example, has had windows changed, with silver paint over the plated brass.  Purchasers will only see this level of detail with better photos.  They are still great models, but not $600 ones.

I think Jim had the world's largest collection of Fischer cars.  I hope to see photos of them.

In the two video's of Jim Seacrest's beautiful layout I've seen I didn't notice many pieces of  high end rolling stock.  Was it Jim's practice to  run the more  common items (MTH F units, Intermountain and Weaver cars) and reserve the high end items (Key diesels, Fischer passenger cars, etc) for display?

It will be interesting to follow this auction.  Prices at the Chicago meet were relatively soft.   I expect a collection this large hitting the market at one time will further soften it.

 

Last edited by Keystoned Ed

I believe the DW&P was intended to be prototype specific, for a couple of years the building of the massive layout was being documented by the builders even to motive power. Beyond the layout Jim obviously acquired a very large collection of  models, interesting the videos that have been posted appeared to be taken after Jims passing, The auctions [there are all ready several dates mentioned] should garner considerable interest from both bidders and watchers.

 

Robert.

I visit London (UK) every year I don't collect toy soldiers but I visit anyplace that would hold my interest one place was an exclusive Toy Soldier shop near the palace maybe you have been there, probably have, and I'm wasting my time and yours, if not I have a few photos of the fabulous collections which were all for sale all the year round, drop us a line if your interested and I'll send the photos to you.

End of thread drift . I apologise if I have upset anyone for this message. Roo

 neville-1234@bigpond.com

Last edited by Roo
Roo posted:

 

"Adding in that 16 per cent buyers premium  with shipping could get expensive real quick though." 

 

They are only expensive if you can't afford them. Roo.

Wasn't it someone like Ernst Leitz that said "expensive is when the product is not worth the price"?

Luckily I'm just about brassed out... and having more than one of some of these cars defeats the purpose of making them stand out in a train or on the layout.

Last edited by Rule292
 It will be interesting to see how high the bidding goes overall [+ 20% "premium"],

Actually, it's 18% premium if you pay via CC, 16% if you pay in Cash or Money Order. I have been doing business with Stout Auctions for a while. Their descriptions can be sometimes vague or even questionable,  but you can e-mail them with questions before the auction. Bidding goes fast - on line at least. I can't imagine what it's like being there in person. It would be interesting to see the prices of those Overland F39 cars. Nothing in the collection posted other than the F39 has any appeal to me. 

Last edited by prrhorseshoecurve
john handlogten posted:

Don't forget that this is just the first of the three Jim Seacrest auctions.  I asked Stout Auctions if there was theme to each of the auctions.  They said they focused on making the first one mostly brass.  The other two will have more plastic but I'm sure they will have a lot of brass too.

I don't like that, what if you don't get something because you are waiting to see what's next, or you run out of cash on the first ones only to see a more desired item on the last one go away?

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