The "holy grail" items I do not have yet are not too expensive but they are very hard to find or have sentimental value to me.
I back in 2010 I got the MTH 4-car NYC MU set but have not been able to locate the extra 2-car set (30-2846-3). Ten years of searching and only one set turned up but I was not willing to pay $400 for something used that listed for $160 new.
When I was very little my parents used to take me to several department stores that used to set-up Christmas displays. I vividly remember in Nordstrom there was a dept. 56 "Christmas in the City" display of New York City. My first LHS had a deal with Nordstrom and would help set up displays with the condition that they could sell MTH and Lionel RTR sets there. One early Christmas season I went there with my father, Bob who worked at "The Aberdeen Hobby Shop" was setting up this "Christmas in the City" display. He had two beautiful subway sets running: the MTH Premier R-1 subway set and a Premier R32 subway set running on two loops of track. As a kid, I always dreamed of having both. Fast forward 17 years and now they are on my "nice-to-have" presuming I can get them for a good price.
I am always amazed by the beauty of K-line's 18" passenger cars and I have amassed quite a fleet of them but some sets of cars remains elusive to me. I have been looking for a complete set of the 18 inch Aluminum Pennsylvania cars (K-4680R, K-4680S, K-4680T) and the streamlined 18 inch "Phoebe Snow" (K-4638D, K-4638E). I know they are out there somewhere in the ether but I haven't seen any complete sets yet.
I am confident that I will be able to find these sometime in the future.
Bryce
