Buy anything cool lately?

Picked up a MTH Premier PS3 ABB set of Alco PAs in Southern Pacific Daylight livery. Nice locomotives. 

I picked this up off of eBay a few months ago--it was my last major train purchase since the start of the pandemic--and it only set me back a buck fifty.

Just received this book that was printed in 1957, which I had as a kid and forgot about it until a forum member Andre (Laming) had mentioned about it in a recent thread of his. Well after I saw it I just had to get another copy of that book again! Andre thanks for the info and bringing up great memories again. One project they mentioned toward the end of the book was how to make a realistic waterfall using light and a spinning drum behind plastic that looks like water. To this day I remember the project, but didn’t remember what book showed that, great stuff!

Wow!

Your little Bantam Book is in GREAT shape! (Mine is in shambles!) Seeing it's over 60 years old and was made of the cheapest pulp paper and bound with glue, the spines are very brittle. IF you want to keep it in great shape, you'll have to treat it gingerly. I tried to keep mine in as good of shape as I could, but over the decades its received a lot of cumulative use and now it's just a pile of separate pages with very few small sections still bound! (The cover isn't even attached anymore and merely acts as a folder to hold the loose pages therein!)

There are so many good memories inside my little Bantam Book that it's like an old beloved friend. (And I love the smell of the old pulp pages!)

Enjoy!

Andre

Andre, That dealer I mentioned, All Aboard train Shoppe shows he has another of the same issue book, but just slightly more "ragged" on the edges. Just thought I would mention that to you. That dealer mentions on all of those books that they should be handled very carefully as they are delicate.

@N5CJonny posted:

Andre, That dealer I mentioned, All Aboard train Shoppe shows he has another of the same issue book, but just slightly more "ragged" on the edges. Just thought I would mention that to you. That dealer mentions on all of those books that they should be handled very carefully as they are delicate.

I believe OGR has the biggest batch of enablers I've ever seen in one wad!

Andre

I was able to find the last two Macy's Boxcars on my wanted list. Both MTH Railking for less than $ 25.00 each.

@Sean007 posted:

I was able to find the last two Macy's Boxcars on my wanted list. Both MTH Railking for less than $ 25.00 each.

Have you seen the Lionel Macy's Thanksgiving cars?

6-39297 - Macy's Boxcar

6-39309 - Macy's Thanksgiving Day Boxcar

Dunno if this is "cool", but so far I'm happy with it:

...Just came in today via eBay: being "used", it has a few minor nicks, and the lower tender handrail on the opposite side is missing. Turns out, that is one of the very few parts for this that is still available from Lionel!   

Performance is very similar to my Long Island Consol (#6-38036) which I guess is not surprising, as the mechanisms look identical. Love the bright headlight and classification  lights. The Vandy tender is neat too, and works well.

Mark in Oregon

EDIT: Right after posting this, I went "inside" and changed out a fairly burnt-out smoke wick with some new material; it now smokes quite nicely as well.  

It's cool Mark!  Real cool! 

@paulp575 posted:

Have you seen the Lionel Macy's Thanksgiving cars?

6-39297 - Macy's Boxcar

6-39309 - Macy's Thanksgiving Day Boxcar

 

Thanks Paul - I have two of three Macy's Thanksgiving Boxcars. I have a bid on the 3rd one closing Friday.

@Sean007 posted:

Thanks Paul - I have two of three Macy's Thanksgiving Boxcars. I have a bid on the 3rd one closing Friday.

If you mean the ones with nice parade graphics on the sides, I believe there are a total of 5 6 of them.  (at least in somewhat recent history, since 2006 - there might have been something years ago from MPC I am unaware of)

Years are 2006 through 2009 and then 2016 and 2018, if I recall correctly.  (Sorry, I don't have item numbers for all of them handy at this computer.  But the 2 mentioned were parade graphic cars, I'm pretty sure). 

There could be a 6th 7th one, depending on how you look at variations.  The original one from 2006 (6-25043) was popular enough when released via Macy's that a "clone" was issued in the regular Lionel catalog the following year (since they were hard to find at Macy's to some extent, there were a lot of unhappy people who did not successfully get one from Macy's).  It has the same item number, but the built date on the boxcar door was different (original says 2006, re-run says 2007, but the catalog shows an image with the original 2006 on the door).  If you do an eBay search, there are pictures of both versions in some of the listings right now.  That was the only one re-issued in that manner, the others were all Macy's only for each Holiday season (though many have obviously ended up in dealers hands over the years, and/or dealers who bought them to speculate from Macy's themselves when they were "hot" items).

{edit: I can't believe I forgot about the 90th anniversary one from 2016 (here's a link to the site that reminded me when I was searching around)!  So there are 6 or 7 of them, depending on whether you count the variation on the first one.}

-Dave

@Sean007 posted:

Thanks Paul - I have two of three Macy's Thanksgiving Boxcars. I have a bid on the 3rd one closing Friday.

"Two of three" Macy's boxcars? Maybe I missed something but I'm seeing 2 from MTH and 2 from Lionel.

@Dave45681 posted:

If you mean the ones with nice parade graphics on the sides, I believe there are a total of 5 of them.  (at least in somewhat recent history, since 2006 - there might have been something years ago from MPC I am unaware of)

Years are 2006 through 2009 and then one in 2018, if I recall correctly.  (Sorry, I don't have item numbers for all of them handy at this computer.  But the 2 mentioned were parade graphic cars, I'm pretty sure).

-Dave

Here is a pic of Lionel's 2007 Macy's Parade boxcar, # 39297.

I added the discrete "Karen Balloon Handler" decal because she was one at the NYC Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade at that time. She is also the designer of my website, just FYI.

@Lionelski posted:

Here is a pic of Lionel's 2007 Macy's Parade boxcar, # 39297.

I added the discrete "Karen Balloon Handler" decal because she was one at the NYC Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade at that time. She is also the designer of my website, just FYI.

According to the MTH website:

30-74153 - Uncataloged; delivered Jun 2004

30-74195 - Uncataloged; delivered Apr 2006

And from the Lionel website:

6-25043 - Lionel 2007 Train Catalog Volume 1 (I have this one in my collection)

Following 2 are not listed on the Lionel website, but I have them in my collection):

6-39297 - Macy's Boxcar

6-39309 - Macy's Thanksgiving Day Boxcar

Are these the 5 you are talking about?

If not, who manufactured them and what's the SKU?

@Lionelski posted:

Here is a pic of Lionel's 2007 Macy's Parade boxcar, # 39297.

I added the discrete "Karen Balloon Handler" decal because she was one at the NYC Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade at that time. She is also the designer of my website, just FYI.

First off, awesome website.

I have a website but it's just a listing of all  the items I have in my collection (periodically updated as I keep adding items to my collection). I don't presently have a layout but probably will sometime next year after I move to a more suitable apartment): http://dog-walker.org/trains-modern.htm

@paulp575 posted:

6-39297 - Macy's Boxcar

6-39309 - Macy's Thanksgiving Day Boxcar

 

These two lionel cars, and I'm pretty sure several others, were sold at Macy's stores during the Christmas  shopping seasons in the 2004-2009 time period. I don't think they were cataloged 

@paulp575 posted:

According to the MTH website:

30-74153 - Uncataloged; delivered Jun 2004

30-74195 - Uncataloged; delivered Apr 2006

And from the Lionel website:

6-25043 - Lionel 2007 Train Catalog Volume 1 (I have this one in my collection)

Following 2 are not listed on the Lionel website, but I have them in my collection):

6-39297 - Macy's Boxcar

6-39309 - Macy's Thanksgiving Day Boxcar

Are these the 5 you are talking about?

If not, who manufactured them and what's the SKU?

 

Sorry for the confusion: I meant that I have two of three MTH Macy's Boxcars, but I cannot confirm the third one.

I have from MTH both 30-75153 and 30-75195.

I have from Lionel:    2006 6-25043, 2007 6-39297, 2008 6-39309,

2009 6-39325 and the one from 2018 (can't find the number now).

Yes . It took, literally, months to get here...and arrived in a box covered with Cyrillic print.  It is a 1/43 model of an auto built in the former USSR with Model A dies provided by Ford.  Why go there?  It was a four door (l had previously found a two door model from elsewhere), and these and not common 1/43 models of open cars were common on streets when l trudged to school through the snow.  Sadly, l have found no source for my grandfather's Chevrolets: a 1937 pickup, or 1931 and 1940 two doors, except in HO.  But this is a coup.