What are you looking for at DuPage this weekend?

Well, I had a great day at the show.  Merlyn, of Caboose Stop Hobbies had some old stock Atlas cars on sale, and I picked up three.  Illinois Central, at least I think that was him selling from the back of a RAV4 in the lot, had a good price on a Lionel PS4 flatcar that was still there as I left, so the force made me purchase it too.

 

I agree with the empty table situation, but there were some deals to be had.

 

Chuck

Had good day at the show too. I hope to make one of the

"Breakfast Club" meetings sometime. I think I know

some of you.  I did pick up the two Woodland Scenics

buildings from Bill Hirsch. I got the tavern and hardware,

always great prices from Bill.

Rich - It was great seeing you yesterday too.  I didn't have any trouble recognizing you (even though it has been so long since you have come it would be easy to do) and the smile is normal when I'm around friends.  Maybe you'll be smiling to when you finally find your C&NW Hi-Level cars.  DuPage is one of the best places to find them, but you have to be diligent and patient. 

 

I thought that the outdoor vendors helped make up for the empty tables, but there were several empty tables.  Most notable to me were the ones left by Denny and Eddie.

 

Art

IC reporting in on selling outside at DuPage.

 

Main objective was sell trains that are hard to ship. Second objective was, try to bring trains that somebody might actually want to buy, which was a bit harder to figure out. All I know is, nobody wants Lionel 17xxx.

 

Sunday was wide open on the family calender, but Saturday was busy, including moi mowing lawn and fertilizer. Couldn't make up my mind on being inside or outside. Inside more traffic, outside quicker to pack up. Weatherman said no rain until 3pm. I decided to try outside, since perfect weather, and who knows when the next time is I can be outside selling trains?

 

Saturday nite I checked, I could use the inverter on my 4Runner on a PW transformer, so I picked out some track and bumpers, a Command Base and a CAB-1. Yes, I was running trains outside off my car. It was probably a big waste of effort, except ... this boy and his parents came walking up to me. The boy had some condition that reminded me of a neighborhood kid when I was a young. I was goofing with my Lionel SP tunnel motor, and I could see him checking out the CAB-1. No way could I pass this up. I asked him if he would like to try, and he did so. The kid was ever so gentle with my engine, he picked up using the remote right away, and I could tell he LOVED it. Absolutely the best part of the day. Maybe its the father in me, I don't know.

 

Second best was meeting forumites. Didn't know that was you PRR1950. Maybe I should have taken pictures, because I am already lost on some peoples names. One of the more shocking things to me was how few people that like two or three rail O gauge trains have heard of the OGR Forum. Its such a great resource. Perhaps OGR could make up a single sheet pdf that we could print out on our color printer and bring to a show, maybe a space to put our forum handle on it.

 

Some time before noon I could see clouds rolling in, and after overhearing somebody's conversation, checked on the smart phone and rain was coming, and for sure before 3pm. Now that stunk, I had to pack it all up. I could have left, but train show management was cool with me taking a table indoors, which I did, in Building 4. There was supposed to be empty tables in buildings 1, 2, or 3, but it looked like some sellers "spread out", and  I didn't feel like getting into any altercation. Turns out I was able to sell some more trains in that 1pm to 3pm period, the extra work was worth it setting up again.

 

My biggest mistake was bringing only one table to sell outside. I thought one table and the back of my 4Runner would cover it, less than ideal.  The price is $45 outside no matter how many tables you bring (I suppose within reason). I really do not want to keep 6 tables in my basement, but perhaps I should have bought & brought one more folding table. Other mistake was using Post-Its for prices, the wind was taking them off. I finally figured out to put the price inside the car, but that only works on boxes with windows.

 

In my opinion, I preferred selling (large and/or long) trains in person over trying to sell on eBay or even the forum. Because eBay now has the expectation that you are going to pack and ship as soon as you know the money is good, so you have to have the box BEFORE you list, and for scale length trains, that can be a challenge. Then if it doesn't sell, it was all for nothing. Of course I didn't sell even 50% of my trains, but its almost as much effort to sell one as it is to sell 20.

 

Enough of me blabbering. Run some trains!

 

 

Hello Art. I planed on meeting all you guys for breakfast yesterday, I had my alarm set for 5:00AM. When it went off I hit the snooze. About 10min later it went off again. I shut the alarm off and that's all I remember till 10:00 am when I finally woke up  all upset at myself for falling asleep again.  Sorry guys

  Well I went to my good friends house and was telling him what happened . and he told me he wanted to go some time. He is  or was into H.O. when he was a kid & still has all of his trains. Which I knew for a long time  but this was the 1st time he mentioned  he wanted to go with.  

I hate to break the news before Chugman does, but he said he was going to volunteer for Hillary Clinton's 'Amtrak Across Arkansas" presidential election tour.

Art... Say it ain't so. 

Had a great time Sunday cleared out a lot of things that were collecting dust or not being used. I pretty much took what anybody offered. Lot of people went home with projects to tinker on.

 

Here's a shot of the outside sellers looking South.

 

franktrain

I don't know who is more "full of it" between Illinoiscentral and RD, but I do enjoy seeing them.  Hadn't seen Michael for a long time and it was fun catching up.  Both he and Franktrain were setup close to each other outside. 

 

Had a great time talking with Hot Water and Ray Marion at breakfast.  I always learn a lot from these guys, I wish they would both come every month.

 

Art 

 

 

I have a dumb question. What is DuPage?

http://www.greatmidwesttrainshow.com/

Well, that really isn't a "dumb question", since you live in New York. The "DuPage" we are all referring to is, the DuPage County Fair Grounds, which are located in DuPage County, Illinois (near Wheaton). There is a monthly train sale and "swap meet", so to speak, just about every month, at the Fair Grounds, except for the one month that all the animals from surrounding farms are there. 

Jack, that one month is August.  After that they hose the place down for the next train show.

Might have some discrepancies in there, Jim.

 

First, July is the month with no show, for 2015 and 2016 at least ...
http://dupageshow.com/showdates.html

 

Second is, they hose the buildings down after the train geeks leave, or the animals can't sleep.

with 40 some replys ahead,you would have thought he would have figured it out.-jim

LOL!! 

You read my mind and beat me to it...

 

It was the best show for me this time and I was not selling anything. Scored a bunch of Atlas hoppers at very low numbers.  Despite what Art says, I am the student especially with Jack there. By the way where is Eric (Zett)? Are new babies acceptable excuses?

 

Ray

You notice a lot of dancin' round the answer here Jim...

well Art?? ... please.. say it ain't so..

YES, I did notice his cha-cha.

Keep this up Art and next season RD and I will pay your way to audition for Dancing with the Stars.

Time to fess-up.  Is you or is you not?

Of the three Hillary Clinton, Amtrak, and Arkansas, I like Amtrak and Arkansas.  So., I guess two out of three isn't too bad?

 

Art

 

You are wise beyond your years.  Thank you for nipping this in the bud.

 

PS - I don't think you would have done too well on "Dancing with the Stars", so thanks for saving RD and I some $$$. 

My wife says I don't do a very good job of keeping time to the music, so you are right.

 

Art

 

Wives know this stuff.  My advice, play s-l-o-w-e-r music.  That works for me.