What do you collect?

I collect many different model railway items in all scales & gauges, but only the trains I like. I have a preference for steam locomotives pulling luxury trains.

Regards

Fred

Aquarium cars.

Mostly Postwar, in particular operating cars and accessories. There are a couple of pieces of prewar, #203 & # 1666E engines and a set of 600 series passenger cars. As to the rest, I've put together a set of 2500 series passenger cars and added examples of the modern era cars to complete them (sleeper, combine, etc.) as well as Williams Madisons, Lionel and K-Line 027 streamliners, and all the types of Postwar engines I wanted as a kid: originals, MPC reissues, and Williams repros, along with a Lionmaster PRR T-1. 

I am retired now, the collection is complete and my dream layout is finished, up and running. 

I got the most toys! I win! 

I try to collect money.  

Lots of stuff, the American Pickers should stop by.

@sncf231e I like the luxury passenger focus.  Which do you like the best?  My mind jumps to the easy ones, 20th Century Limited, Broadway Limited, Super Chief, Powhatan Arrow/Pocahontas...

@JimJohnson Aquarium cars...This is getting to the root of what I was looking for.  There have been a large number of aquarium cars made over the years.  Is there any one in particular that you enjoy or was difficult to find?

@artyoung A wide range indeed!  I enjoy all types of postwar and prewar...it sounds like you are in paradise

@Former Member lol wise man, Dan!  You need to come clean about your train and accessory collecting though

@Bill T I always look for trains in the background when they are hunting through people's collections.

I am not getting anything right now.  Unless I have seen and/or have ridden it.  I do not have the UP Rio Grande or UP heritage because I have not seen them in the wild....

Would be game for a L70 LRT.  For Houston METRO.

Now, if a piece talks to me, I might just get it.  See the 611 Jersey Central in Cool Purchases.

What do I collect?  Candidly at my age the answer might be "Dust"!  However, I just really  love the O Gauge and Std Gauge tinplate. Mostly American mfrs Lionel, American Flyer (pre-war O), Marx, Hafner, etc.  I admit a weakness for the colorful painted and lithographed cars mostly of the "prewar" era.  Although the Marx, low cost trains in both tinplate and plastic are just too much fun to pass up and they are both normally inexpensive and the engines almost always run.   However this is mostly for "shelf stock".  For operations, I usually go to the Lionel and Marx  post war / Lionel modern, MTH and some K-line as they are more reliable "runners" and parts can be found for them if needed.  I admit to stopping short of much of the new "electronics" and "command systems" as candidly I don't understand how to wire them up or use them.  I could learn but have not really wanted to bother.  My layout is ZW powered, star wired, and block controlled by toggle switches.  Just like my Dad taught me to do in the 50's (we had trains from 1947 on but being born in '44 for much of the earlier periods I just watched ! ).  Dad was senior at the company where he worked and got 3 weeks vacation while Mom who worked for the same company only got 2.  So Dad would take that 3rd week post Thanksgiving to set up the trains.  I would come home after school every day to help and learn.

Like many families in those days, although our layout was quite substantial for the time (by '53-60 covering 1/2 the basement) it went up after Thanksgiving and came down in Mid January with the trains all packed up and put back in the attic. 

I have two more "branches to my "collection". 

The first comes from the fact that I worked for the Dept of Defense (AF and Navy) in Engineering for 35 years and got sent overseas (Europe, Scandinavia, Asia) for regular field trips to our and our Allies a/c maintenance facilities when technical help was needed or to provide training to on-site folks.  Whenever I traveled to a foreign area I tried in my off hrs to get some piece of train related items, usually modest in price. So I have a very eclectic mixed collection of foreign trains / stations etc that really are more of a memory collection than anything else.  I have German trains from Marklin, Wimmer, Dressler, Bub, and Distler, UK trains from Hornby (Mecanno), Chad Valley, English Marx, a few scattered freight cars from Denmark and Norway, and lots of Japanese litho tin stuff (this stuff is just great in terms of color and quality). Due to more recent travels related to my later career I also have two full sets, in the box, of litho/plastic trains (about S gauge size) from Korea - one clockwork and one battery. 

The second "branch" of my collection involves floor toys, all trains or train related.  Mostly lithographed tin and they come from Japan, US (mostly Marx), UK (including English Marx) and some other countries.  These do not run on tracks but they make up for it with noise, music, animation, sparks, and various fantasy components (like a big Monkey as an Engineer) etc.  They are a hoot to watch and mine mostly all work as I bought them new. 

So JD is right, I guess we are all different and collect various things that make us smile.

Don

Bill T posted:

Lots of stuff, the American Pickers should stop by.

Problem with that, they will want to give you about $0.10 on the dollar and complain about that

I'm gradually putting a car in operation on the PER representing every railroad I have had the pleasure of riding on.

Livery currently in operation: B&O, Western Maryland (cheating a bit here-"riding" being a bicycle), PRR, NYC, P&LE, Wabash, Burlington, Santa Fe, UP, Espee, D&RGW (including Narrow Gauge mixed-train).

I still need: Reading (Rambles), Mopac (Colorado Eagle), Western Pacific (CZ), Milwaukee Road (various UP Varnish out of Chicago), Shawmut (excursion), Union RR (excursion), Amtrak (Pittsburgh-Chi-Ft Worth-La-Chi-Pitt).

I'd have to paint&decal myself: Apache RR (White Mountains of Aridzonza), Penn View Mt RR (Blairsville, Pa), Strasburg, East Broad Top.

JD2035RR posted:

@sncf231e I like the luxury passenger focus.  Which do you like the best?  My mind jumps to the easy ones, 20th Century Limited, Broadway Limited, Super Chief, Powhatan Arrow/Pocahontas...

 

Of course the US luxury trains you mention (not forgetting the Hiawatha's), but also luxury trains from Europe like the Wagon-Lits trains, the English Pullman trains and the German Rheingold. Many of these from my collection can be seen in my e-book on luxury trains: luxury-trains

Regards

Fred

Right now I'm collecting dust....... have way too much stuff.

"Vintage O-gauge Electric Trains"

Sounds better than junky old toy trains, but either way you put it, I am into old O gauge tinplate. Small O-27 sized stuff that I can get cheap, fix if necessary, and run on my small O-27 layout. 

Anything O gauge that carries a southeastern road name i.e. Southern Railway, Illinois Central, Seaboard, FEC, L&N,GM&O  etc.

What I like, get bored, then let someone else collect it.

Seriously, F3's, cylindrical hoppers, acf hoppers...

Back in the 80's / 90's i had to get all of the Lionel 5700 series wood side reefers. I completed that task as the hunt was better than having them (which I still do). 
I do have some McCoy and ETS trains, just get what I like as I do not need everything.

Got involved with prewar "O" and limit myself to the electrics 15 series/248/250 series and just stick to the 4 wheel cars. This way the cost is less as I buy junkers.

Also got involved with some standard gauge and jut keep to the electrics 8/33/38. On the cars I stick with the 100 series and the have some 10's series. The 110 series cars are reasonable as the others are out of my price range. Also have 35 and 36 passenger cars which are reasonable. 

Just buy what you like and can afford and have fun.

i guess you could say my collection is simple, i see something on the forum, look it up on e-bay or other sites, if i like what i see i`ll make an offer, but i mostly have pre-war lionel tinplate, just something about all those different paint colors is what i like, i don`t look for boxed sets, don`t collect 6464`s, same thing with accessories, Lionel and American Flyer and i`m a happy kid again, lol, Phil

When I got back into this in the late 80s, I started collecting Great Northern Ry. stuff, because I like the railway, its history and its operating environment. Also, there wasn't much of it on the market. Then, all of a sudden, there was a lot more  GN stuff released on the market. Therefore, I gave up collecting anything in particular. I operate.

As a sideline, I also do have a nice collection of diecast vehicles and tin litho buildings, both on and off the layout, because I like that stuff, but I don't collect anything in particular.

I like to fix up, operate, and collect postwar.  Mostly from the 40's and 50's.  Also do the same with some prewar Lionel "O".

I do have a couple of modern MTH that I bought just cause I liked the engine.

It is really fun to bring an old engine or rr car back to life!

Sadly, I just ain’t that focused. About the only real theme is conventional control and traditional size. If I like the way it looks, and feel like the deal is good, I might buy it. I don’t have tons of trains, but I have a bunch, and they cover pre-war, post-war and modern. I like them all, and I run them all.

Steam-era (more or less) scale Lionel in the road names in my sig line

Boxed examples of AHM O scale products from the late '60s/early '70s (but not paying more that about $20 per car)

Marx 8-wheel/Delux plastic w/tilt couplers in VG or better shape, usually entire boxed sets and accessories

What an odd set of groups to be together, huh?

54 mm hollowcast figures.  Britains mostly with a little of all the others.  "dimestore Figures the used to call them.  They fit perfectly with STD gauge layouts (about 1:32)

I use to say I was not a collector; I was an operator.  Now that I have way too much stuff to operate, I guess I have to admit I'm a collector.

However, my wife would say I've been a collector for years, ever since I got my first K-Line Bicentennial car.

Cappilot,

I was the same way. I considered myself an operator only until the sheer number of trains I had overwhelmed my layout, then I became a collector/operator. Oh well.

tncentrr posted:

Anything O gauge that carries a southeastern road name i.e. Southern Railway, Illinois Central, Seaboard, FEC, L&N,GM&O  etc.

Prone to that myself (except for the IC), considering where I live and my former employer (GM&O), though I do not fit the description of what most consider a "collector".

However, if it has New York Central on it, is a good steam locomotive or steam-era rolling stock model, or a good book on those and related subjects, I'm weak. I mean, just how many Niagaras do I need? (Well, there were only 27 of them: 6000-6025, and 5500 - so could one of each really be all that unreasonable? Huh? Huh?) I'll probably settle for the variety that I have - Wms/Lionel/MTH - but 3rd Rail did offer one. Oops. 

I collect primarily CNW and ATSF, but I have this affection for UP Heritage diesel locomotives. So I have several SD70ACe diesels in various paint schemes. I also like demonstrator units. I finally got smart and opted for generic rolling stock so I can use it with several locomotives.

With a few exceptions, steam era N&W. While I really like all streamlined steamers, being able to focus on just the N&W J and K2a have saved me a small fortune. For example, NYC had a lot of streamliners I would have loved to have owned.

The easiest answer is "It depends on the era in my life"  Early on I used my collecting energies to collect American Flyer S gauge trains and accessories. (My father and older brother designated an S gauge train for my use.)  I "limited" myself to the 3 digit era and collected one of almost everything with 3 digits.  The next era was to collect a "few" pieces to go with the 3 pre war American Flyer O-gauge sets and one AF Wide Gauge set that were in the family before I was. That era has morphed into collecting anything American Flyer O or Wide Gauge.  I "limited" myself (please don't laugh) to cars with 8 wheels and as many variations as possible.  This is by far the largest segment of the collection.  The collector gene that I bear has driven me to have "a few" representative examples of American Flyer's competitors during the pre war era.   So the collection also has Ives, Dorfan, Marx and of course a smattering of Lionel.  I consider myself a collector who is building a research library of toy trains. You will find most of my offerings to this site in the tinplate section.  I also have posted photos of pre war American Flyer Trains for almost 12 years over on the CTT site.  I enjoy "playing" with my trains, answering questions, and doing research and writing.

Thanks for asking and starting this thread.

Northwoods Flyer

Greg

early 50's diesel, for ex alco pa, centipede, f3's

Skipping my early collecting years that I lost in a divorce, in the 90's I purchased Williams Brass, then Weaver Brass with passenger sets then MTH.

I decided to buy all the MTH F3's up through the book issued in 2000.  Add to that the diesels mostly in UP colors and a bunch of the Steam engines.

Then I got curious about Williams.  I decided that 1984 was Williams' defining year.  Everything had come together and he issued a complete catalogue.  I decided to buy everything in that catalogue even the cheapie boxed sets.  As everyone says, 'it is in the hun't.  The F7 NH AA was a really hard item to land. (OK, I admit it was not issued in 1984 but the picture was in the catalogue) Personally I think the 1984 Williams Catalogue is as good or better than a Lionel Catalogue from 1969-1984.  While Lionel was issuing the same old thing, Williams was breaking new ground.

Do my 2000+ cameras count?

Pre and postwar O gauge. Nothing after 1956.

Dust, grey hair, aches & pains, and bad attitude

I joined the O gauge/scale world in 1997. My parent moved from their house to florida and anything in their Chicago house ended up in my house.  HO stuff arrived, most importantly the benchwork. I built my layout and then kind of went crazy, with ebay, etc.

My first engine was a GP9 Santa Fe, TMCC ready engine.  This opened the door to Santa Fe, and BNSF and of course backwards to Burlington and Burlington Northern.

At first I collected the 6464 cars.  Bought pretty much all the remakes and then several older cars.  Really liked those.  Subsequently sold 100%.

Growing up in Ohio, I figured I should model B&O, C&O and any successor railroads, welcome Conrail, CSX and Norfolk Southern.  I also went backwards from there and picked up some Southern and Norfolk Western.

I got into NYC as my son is from there, so now have a roster of steam and diesel which also then can tie to Conrail and NS.

Finally I love some of the Southern Pacific engines, daylight, black widow and the great looking grey.

As I wrote this I realize I need to purge some engines.  Maybe a different topic on that from me.

I am on limited funds.  As in my wife won't let me spend a whole lot of our disposable income on trains.   So I actually donate plasma to get my spare change to buy toys like my trains or other hobbies.

My likes and wants tend to be northeastern based trains especially New Haven or Metro North passenger stuff.   I grew up near New Haven and when I was a young kid, I was fascinated by this old man who lived at the same retirement home as my grand parents and had a really awesome double/triple dog bone layout in the basement of the building they lived at.  They lived in Whitney Center in Hamden, CT back in the 70's through the 90's, grandpa died in 2003 still there.   Often wondered what ever became of the layout. 

I was young, probably 10 years old.  He gave me some stuff, some old Tru-Scale ho track that I never utilized and ended up giving away to someone who could use it.  He also was a New York, New Haven, and Hartford modeler who liked the McGinnis era which is one of the reasons why I like that era.  

So for me I collect stuff that I can afford but I prefer passenger North Eastern based stuff but I ain't picky, beggers can't be choosers.   

Postwar, postwar, and more postwar. Oh, and prewar (to a lesser extent). At the moment, I'm trying to get more mid-40s rolling stock for my 2020.

I collect pageviews on a website established to uncollect trains accumulated for fifty years.

JD2035RR posted:

@sncf231e I like the luxury passenger focus.  Which do you like the best?  My mind jumps to the easy ones, 20th Century Limited, Broadway Limited, Super Chief, Powhatan Arrow/Pocahontas...

@JimJohnson Aquarium cars...This is getting to the root of what I was looking for.  There have been a large number of aquarium cars made over the years.  Is there any one in particular that you enjoy or was difficult to find?

@artyoung A wide range indeed!  I enjoy all types of postwar and prewar...it sounds like you are in paradise

@Former Member lol wise man, Dan!  You need to come clean about your train and accessory collecting though

@Bill T I always look for trains in the background when they are hunting through people's collections.

OK, here it is.  I like collecting operating accessories.  Particularly ones that interact with the trains, like the coal and lumber loaders for instance.

 Track side operating accessories like signals and crossing gates are next, along with things like control towers, operating switch towers and the like.  

Operating cars that don't have anything to do with loading and unloading are next on the list.  Aquarium cars, cop and hobo, brakeman car, radioactive waste cars, etc.  

O scale trolleys and traction mainly.

RKENNEY:  I loved the idea that someone is collecting the 54 mm figures, we likely all have some on our layouts or in out collection.  They were quite common "under the tree" in my youth with skaters, skiers, figures on sleds etc.  I thought you might like to see a somewhat smaller grouping, all of which are left over from my boyhood lay outs in the 1950's either O gauge or later on HO.  The larger ones are 40 mm high with the exception of the seated motorcycle cop (this was always my favorite.  The soldiers in the background are even smaller at 30 mm .  The Pullman Porter is the largest figure at about 45 mm .  I note that the poses like the lady and the engineer seem to mimic the same figures in the larger 54 mm size.  Mine have no maker on them but I am reasonably sure they are American and not Britans.  P.S. the advantage of these little guys is I can store the entire collection in a plastic cup!!

Good Hunting !

Don

I returned to model railroading from my youth (‘50’s and early ‘60’s) in 1998. I just about bought every locomotive in the 1997 (I believe) Lionel catalog. And bought many MTH locos in 1999. I was just buying everything I liked. (I also went nuts in G-gauge)

I drew away for a few years and found interest in car shows. My two show cars were both heavily modded. 1999 Prowler and 2005 Dodge Magnum.

When I retired in 2013 I went back into model railroading. This time I decided to narrow my focus. The model year is 1954. The sole motive power would be L&N. I later included NC&StL, but I had to have all their first generation diesels custom painted.

Recently I have expanded to have a single consist of Family Lines (1972-1982). Which will be run only in the absence of the L&N steam and first generation diesels and NC&StL diesels and rolling stock.

This move has saved me many thousands of dollars.

Ooooohhhh ... The collecting rabbithole .. it has struck me a lot of different ways over the years , but I came to trains pretty late , in fact my best mate was a mad snake railway modeller and for years had to put up with my good natured ribbing about it ... Then a decade or so ago I decided to buy a clockwork Hornby train set , as I  have always been into old mechanical things and never once had a clockwork train set . Well that kinda set me off lol!

I am just fascinated by the early engineering and craftsmanship that went into something that was to be a playset and yet manages to last many many years since its initial time period .

Because I am an Aussie , I collect from all around the globe , as there were only a handful of clockwork trains produced here and in general they are quite "Spendy" to obtain and as I am now a disabled pensioner after a particularly nasty motorcycle accident on the way to work ( Hint Motorcycle vs Semi-trailer, guess which one wins! ) Luckily I came thru it intact except for some physical damage

So yeah funds are tight for me which doesnt always line up with collecting trains lol ... but in fact limited funds just makes you more careful on the "hunt" and possibly a little better at it , enjoying the hunt as much as the aquisition ? I dont think it would be as challenging if I could just chuck wads of money at people and fill up rack after rack ?

It makes "wins" really special in a sense , like that moment you correctly identify an Ernst Planck loco from the 1900's and no-one else spots it because even the seller doesnt know what he has got and its advertised an an "Old Tin Push train"

I pretty much limit myself to Clockwork , aiming mainly for pre-war ( the golden era ) but I will collect anything before cheap plastic ... Many different marques such as Bing , Hornby, Wittrock( Denmark) ,JEP,C.Rossignol, Mettoy Brimtoy, Wells O' London , Chad Valley, LBZ, Kraus, Bub, Carette, Sakai, Robilt & Maurlyn ( Aussie) , OROBR, IGRA, Biller, Marklin, Technofix, Winteringham, Alps, Bandai, Rico, Dressler, Jouef, Joustra, HWN(Wimmer), Triang, Louis Roussy, Masudaya, and of course a smattering of American marques , Lionel, AF, Ives, Hafner, Joyline, Marx ( UK & USA)

I am sure I left a few out lol but yeah its very much a global collection

I also dont mind "toy" trains , some people take this waaaay too seriously lol

I also have a weakness for tin toy vehicle & circuits and the odd floor train

Chessie System (B&O,C&O and WM) Etc.

Way too much if you ask my wife.

I have a fascination with steam locomotives produced from the beginning to the middle of the 20th Century, the Golden Age of Railroads and Steam Power. Having been raised in Southeastern PA, I have an affinity fo the PRR and at one point I had an example of every letter loco the Pennsy had from A5 to T1. Now that I'm older and retired my collecting has lessened and become more eclectic. I now collect a wider range of interesting motive power. As an example, I recently picked up a MTH Chapelon 2-3-1 Orient Express Steam Engine which has great detail, but my dream is to afford Precision Scale Co. brass 2 rail engines that, to me, are the ultimate in O Scale.

MTH Steam and Cigars. I have thousands. Enjoy life.

My favorite is the unusual such as Dorfan.

I also collect loads of crap from my Millennial minimalist children...…..

Don McErlean posted:

RKENNEY:  I loved the idea that someone is collecting the 54 mm figures, we likely all have some on our layouts or in out collection.  They were quite common "under the tree" in my youth with skaters, skiers, figures on sleds etc.  I thought you might like to see a somewhat smaller grouping, all of which are left over from my boyhood lay outs in the 1950's either O gauge or later on HO.  The larger ones are 40 mm high with the exception of the seated motorcycle cop (this was always my favorite.  The soldiers in the background are even smaller at 30 mm .  The Pullman Porter is the largest figure at about 45 mm .  I note that the poses like the lady and the engineer seem to mimic the same figures in the larger 54 mm size.  Mine have no maker on them but I am reasonably sure they are American and not Britans.  P.S. the advantage of these little guys is I can store the entire collection in a plastic cup!!

Good Hunting !

Don

Thank you for posting this @Don McErlean- that bike especially makes me think of my pop’s collection(he passed in June 2017) and I’m happy I can look on my shelf right now and see it next to his other cast-iron items.
Before reading your post I noticed the 30mm soldiers in the back- the one with the black flag and the 4 standing guard. I love incorporating battle scenes, “warring sides”, patrolled borders, international zones, etc... on my layout drawing inspiration from historical events. Anyway, I picked those soldiers up at an antique mall because of the s-Scale size. Do you know who made them or have any other info about them?

Steve

In terms of trains, I went through quite a good amount of different conventional eras, brands and roadnames when I delved back into the hobby in March 2018. My current focus has certainly narrowed, however. I also collect and operate. My outer loop might be running a Proto 3 Genesis while my inner loop runs an Ives 3250:

Trains:

Prewar European- Bing, KBN, Märklin, Kraus-fandor, Hornby, Kibri, JEP. If it’s prewar European Tin, count Steve in

Prewar American- Ives, Flyer, Lionel, Dorfan, Marx, and always on the lookout for those lesser known names

Early Postwar: Flyer s-Scale on o gauge, those obscure manufacturers, still some European

Modern Conventional Engines: Limited scope in this area- essentially only  Bethlehem Steel(a lot mainly by RMT), Lehigh Valley RR, or Lehigh Valley related engines. North-East RR Budd RDCs 

Modern Rolling stock: Try to stick close to scale ever since I bought my first scale TMCC engine. I like to run Passenger consists. For roadnames-Again- LVRR/LV related, Bethlehem Steel, Commuter Rail. Amtrak is 1a or 1b to the Valley, NJ transit(if I ever find it) Chessie System, CSX, Conrail, B&O, PRR. Brands- something of quality that represents those roadames

Modern Command: diesel or diesel electrics. Power supplies, DCS related items for optimal performance and integration. Original lionel TMCC 

accessories: prewar European, some prewar Lionel, Flyer, Marx and Hafner- tinplate buildings, signs, etc... Modern MTH, Lionelville or Menards building. Postwar Up until 2000 as long as it looks good and fits well. And then...Soldiers! Army! 1:45-1:50(sometimes 1:64) scale figures, vehicles, some model kits-mainly things that are pre-built and painted. 

I used to think I was a train collector until my LHS owner educated me on rare collectible trains. He called me "an accumulator".

I never met a train I didn't like, but my favorites are IC/IC Gulf/GM&O.

In one word everything.  From z to lionel large scale. I had to stop buying because of space. My basement is full of shelves loading with trains. Have two operating layouts, one O and one S gauge. What I still buy are japanese tin trains from the 1950*S . Have a very big collection. 

MTH & Lionel Classics standard gauge repro engines, cars  and the smaller accessories. Also original German made LGB and some PIKO German made engines and cars. AC power is an MTH Z-4000 and DC power is a lab quality switching mode 3 amp, 0-30 volt supply with a PIKO 5 amp throttle.

O scale sized (no semi-scale, except for 60" passenger cars, because of space limitations) ATSF and SP steam and diesel locomotives, rolling stock, and passenger cars that fit the 1948-1951 time frame.  Limiting myself has given me a cohesive collection of stuff and limited the amount of stuff I have. Would I like a UP Big Boy, a NYC Dreyfuss Hudson, Burlington E units and a California Zephyr consist? Sure, but they don't fit in with those 2 roads or era, so I don't buy them or consider buying them. In my case I like a focused, small collection instead of one of whatever I find cool looking. 

These days I'm not collecting anything because unfortunately I have simply run out of room.    What I do have is a rather eclectic collection of pre-war and post-war O gauge Lionel, some tinplate but mostly die-cast, pre-war and modern era Standard gauge, American Flyer S gauge, Marx, MTH and a smattering of clockwork engines from Marx, American Flyer and Hafner.  I would love to get my hands on one of the latest Dreyfuss Hudson's, The Empire State Express and the latest of Lionel's  Santa Fe Alco PA units but sadly not an inch of space available anywhere.  No complaints though because I have more than I ever dreamed of having.  Now, however, as I'm heading down the home stretch I've got to come to grips with divesting myself of my railroad empire and to be perfectly honest I just don't want to do  it.

I am leaving my modest collection (NO O gauge) to my son in law and his son, my grandson, so it will stay in the family and my spouse will not have to fool with it. My son in law already has a small collection of Lionel and MTH O gauge trains and accessories and several Aristocraft and Lionel G gauge sets.

STEVEFROMPA: I took another picture of the soldiers to give you a better idea of what they are, but the lighting is not as good as I might like. (My lighting engineer i.e. grandson is still at school).  Measuring more closely, the marching soldiers are 33 mm from boot bottom to top of helmet, all 5 are identical.  The flag bearer is the same size for the man, but the tip of the flag pole goes up to 50 mm with the width of the flag about 10 mm. they are clearly hand painted and the faces are still distinct, flesh color face and tiny pinpricks of black for eyes, nose and mouth.  Believe it or not given how small they are they are not identical.  There are 4 marchers with a rifle over their shoulder and one with no rifle but a pair of binoculars around his neck.  I suspect he is the leader (sergeant?). The flag bearer, except for the flag, is the least detailed man and has no equipment except his uniform.  I inspected them all with a good light and a magnifying glass but I am sorry to say I cannot see any maker's mark or even the remnants of one.  These were purchased (perhaps given to me by my parents) before I was 15 so that would have been 60 years ago and I have no hope of remembering how I got them. 

Best of luck in your search.

Don

STEVEFROMPA:  I realized too late that I made a mistake above...when talking about the marching soldiers I said ..."all 5 are identical" that is not correct.  4 are identical carrying a rifle and 1 is unique and has a set of binoculars around his neck.  The rest of the above description is OK.

Evidently I collect Lionel Pullmor motors:

RAILROADMAN:  when you say Japanese "tin" trains do you mean stuff like this?  I also like these things and love to watch them run around the floor .  In addition the lithography is mostly beautiful and add quite a lot of detail

Don

I'm interested in anything that runs on O gauge track.  However, whether or not something actually gets added to the Collection is a function of the confluence of a variety of factors, not all of which must be present at the moment of deciding to add or not to add...simple things like the phase of the Moon (new  Moon is almost always a definite "no"), whether or not I can see my shadow by the light of Venus on a clear, moonless, night, the reaction of my CFO when I say the "C" word, the street spot price of tea in Kunshan, China, the count of robo-calls on the 4th Tuesday of the month, etc.

When I got back into the hobby in 2004, I tried to collect everything Lionel, since then I got my sanity back, pared down my fleet, but did collect all 7 of the Odyssey Demonstrators, finding the last one 2 years ago, they are displayed in my train room, everything else is either on my layout or in my travel box and run at the clubs layout.

I collect whatever tickles my fancy, Postwar, Prewar, Standard Guage, S gauge Flyer, modern O.

Hi`, most of what i  have is Pre-war Tinplate, there`s my restored 2 tone Blue 252 set, UP M10000 in Yellow and Brown, 616 Flying Yankee, Orange #248 engine and 2 car set,i also have the first version of the Pratt`s Hollow Phantom and 4 car Passenger set, and my one standard gauge set, the 402 engine with 4 cars, would love to have a Standard gauge Blue Comet, alas, as they are so pricey, that will have to be my Unicorn, lol, Phil

Years ago I collected Gilbert A.F. "S" Gauge. Today I collect pictures of dead presidents and Ben Franklin.

Until recently, I collected whatever caught my eye that I found interesting, with an emphasis on Northeastern Railroads.

But now, I'm excited about having much greater focus on collecting trains and other items that are reminiscent of The Put (Putnam Division of the NY Central). Arnold

As my wife will tell you, YES HE DOES!  (collect that is!).  Yep I am in that grey area between collector and hoarder!  I started life in HO, then for many years it was 2 rail O, recently it is ON30, but to make things even worse I have been a 7 1/2 inch gauge live steamer for most of those years!  See I told ya!  YES HE DOES (collect)!    Russ

Dust. Not intentionally, it just happens.

JD2035RR posted:

@sncf231e I like the luxury passenger focus.  Which do you like the best?  My mind jumps to the easy ones, 20th Century Limited, Broadway Limited, Super Chief, Powhatan Arrow/Pocahontas...

@JimJohnson Aquarium cars...This is getting to the root of what I was looking for.  There have been a large number of aquarium cars made over the years.  Is there any one in particular that you enjoy or was difficult to find?

@artyoung A wide range indeed!  I enjoy all types of postwar and prewar...it sounds like you are in paradise

@Former Member lol wise man, Dan!  You need to come clean about your train and accessory collecting though

@Bill T I always look for trains in the background when they are hunting through people's collections.

Regarding Aquarium cars, they're pretty abundant on Ebay. I'm currently looking for#52584 TCA Kid;s Club Phillips car, and #81035 B&M car from the Paul Revere GP9 set. Those are really tough to find.

JimJohnson posted:

JD2035RR posted:

@sncf231e I like the luxury passenger focus.  Which do you like the best?  My mind jumps to the easy ones, 20th Century Limited, Broadway Limited, Super Chief, Powhatan Arrow/Pocahontas...

@JimJohnson Aquarium cars...This is getting to the root of what I was looking for.  There have been a large number of aquarium cars made over the years.  Is there any one in particular that you enjoy or was difficult to find?

@artyoung A wide range indeed!  I enjoy all types of postwar and prewar...it sounds like you are in paradise

@Former Member lol wise man, Dan!  You need to come clean about your train and accessory collecting though

@Bill T I always look for trains in the background when they are hunting through people's collections.

Regarding Aquarium cars, they're pretty abundant on Ebay. I'm currently looking for#52584 TCA Kid;s Club Phillips car, and #81035 B&M car from the Paul Revere GP9 set. Those are really tough to find.

BTW, if anyone has those 2 aquarium cars for sale, I would be interested.

Postwar o gauge and o gauge oddities. I like tinplate structures too.

JimJohnson posted:

JimJohnson posted:

JD2035RR posted:

@sncf231e I like the luxury passenger focus.  Which do you like the best?  My mind jumps to the easy ones, 20th Century Limited, Broadway Limited, Super Chief, Powhatan Arrow/Pocahontas...

@JimJohnson Aquarium cars...This is getting to the root of what I was looking for.  There have been a large number of aquarium cars made over the years.  Is there any one in particular that you enjoy or was difficult to find?

@artyoung A wide range indeed!  I enjoy all types of postwar and prewar...it sounds like you are in paradise

@Former Member lol wise man, Dan!  You need to come clean about your train and accessory collecting though

@Bill T I always look for trains in the background when they are hunting through people's collections.

Regarding Aquarium cars, they're pretty abundant on Ebay. I'm currently looking for#52584 TCA Kid;s Club Phillips car, and #81035 B&M car from the Paul Revere GP9 set. Those are really tough to find.

BTW, if anyone has those 2 aquarium cars for sale, I would be interested.

That one from the Paul Reverse set is rare. The Lobster Car!

Several years ago a bunch of dealers, many of whom are sponsors here, did set break ups and sold the cars off separately. Seem to recall brisk sales on that car. Have you posted a 'Wanted to Buy' here?   

I run trains with modern electronics and concentrate on Northeast RRs: New York Central, New Haven, Penn Central, NYO&W and Conrail.

However, I have accumulated a fair number of PostWar sets, mostly inexpensive O27 sets......however, my most valuable PostWar sets are 2 Super O ones.....2507 from the 1958 catalog (New Haven F3 freight) and an uncataloged Sears Santa Fe diesel switcher set from 1962.

Peter

Cool thread, interesting to see what everyone's unique likes are.

My main focus for collecting and operating is Postwar Lionel, this is 80% of my O/O27 trains. Engines gotta have Magna-traction. There is only one Postwar Lionel item that I'm still looking for, a nice Denver & Rio Grande F3 pair at the right combination of price and condition.

About 20% of the O/O27 gauge items I collect/operate are modern era (mostly LTI) Lionel items that have the traditional Postwar style. Favs are the Disney sets, Mint (bullion) cars and liquor reefers.

I also have and enjoy several PreWar Lionel Standard gauge sets and a few Lionel and American Flyer PreWar O/O27 gauge tinplate sets.

I recently acquired and run a couple S gauge Postwar American Flyer trains. 

It started out with Lionel Postwar all the stuff me and my father wanted but he could not afford during the 50's and 60's. After he passed I sort of collected Postwar on limited basis raising two kids and supporting a MIL. Then I started with MTH when they first hit the streets. Mostly what I liked and then decided one example of each MTH locomotive the PRR every had on its roster. That got expensive and out of hand real fast. A lot of cabooses and Western PA stuff from MTH until that g. Now I am after Postwar Lionel all the stuff my dad and I talked about when he was arond but could not afford. As mentioned in other posts I also collect a lot of dust. As I have more than I could every dream about getting on my current under contrustion layout, until that got way out of hand, Now juts alot of dust and funning looks for my wife when she sees everything and ask why are you going to do with it all and don't you have enough already whenever I bring something new home.

Does anyone else buy two of almost everything?  Engines, cars, tools, supplies, etc. (just one spouse)

Yes

2 is 1, 1 is none

I concentrate on collecting O gauge windup trains, mainly from American manufacturers (Marx, Ives, AF, Hafner):

I don't know if it counts as collecting, but the other major aspect of my train hobby is the outside railroad - 12" gauge live steam and "diesel":

My collection has several ‘sub-groups...

New York Central motive power and rolling stock; Raritan River railroad motive power and rolling stock; any rolling stock that’s New Jersey-based, of which Atlas made some really nice cars. I have a few Morristown & Erie pieces, and with the coming M&E switcher I’m on the hunt for an Atlas M&E caboose. I also have a small group of SW/NW and Alco S locomotives...

Nothing.  I have an accumulation of three rail items associated with the railroads I grew up with.  Mostly jersey central, Lehigh valley, reading.  I don't need more stuff.  What I want to collect at this time in my life are experiences and memories.  

Vintage Lionel Transformers...almost the complete collection of the 1900s.

Tom Tee posted:

Does anyone else buy two of almost everything?  Engines, cars, tools, supplies, etc. (just one spouse)

I have bought 2 of something several times up to and including locomotives and passenger car sets to many times and the reason was I forgot I had the first one. I was very lucky as my LHS (The Best ne on the East Coast, Catoctin Mountain Trains in Thurmont MD) would always let be return or exchange. Dam I miss that store mostly the people there.

Tom Tee posted:

Does anyone else buy two of almost everything?  Engines, cars, tools, supplies, etc. (just one spouse)

Tom,

Remember the late70's and 80's when Postwar Lionel prices were higher at every show? During that period two of my friends bought 2 of every car in the Lionel catalogs, thinking that they would keep one for themselves and sell the duplicates in 20-30 years and make a killing. One even called it his "retirement fund".

Boy were they wrong, about 2 years ago they sold everything to a dealer for .20 cents on the dollar.

My philosophy was, and still is, buy what you like and play with it. Play value, not monetary.  

Now that I have absolutely no room for acquisitions, either on the display shelves (nothing gets stored away in boxes) or on the layout, I sell stuff to make room for something I want more. Tastes change. What I do is look around at my collection and say to myself: "Self, if I saw that car today, would I buy it?". If the answer is "No", up for sale it goes making room for my newest treasure.

If I sell it for less than what I paid (usually the case nowadays) so be it, I received its play value already and whatever money I do get for it goes right into my train bank for new (mostly Postwar) goodies

As silly as some of the licensed sets are, I like 'em. Peanuts, Polar Express, Harry Potter, NASCAR, etc. And of course I then collect all the add-on cars that go with them. 

And all of Macy's thanksgiving boxcars, beer cars, food cars, etc. Mostly Lionel, MTH and K-LINE. And some Atlas and RMT.

And candy cars: just got a Pez Aquarium Car to add to my Tootsie Roll and Lifesaver's train.

JimJohnson posted:

Regarding Aquarium cars, they're pretty abundant on Ebay. I'm currently looking for#52584 TCA Kid;s Club Phillips car, and #81035 B&M car from the Paul Revere GP9 set. Those are really tough to find.

That is sort of a unique one.  I was lucky to pick one up at York last April for what I considered a good price for such a unique car (and probably the most desirable one from the set) from a set break-up.

As for me, I'm sort of odd-ball with a few themes I like.

Modern versions of the classic Postwar items, particularly accessories and operating cars (still bummed that the cancelled the set with the Reconnaissance car a few years back).  I also like some scale type items, and also some licensed stuff (Disney and WB).

-Dave

I collect K-Line prior to the change to the black and gold boxes....around 1998.

O-27, buildings, accessories, track, paper.

Because my first trainset as a child was a third-hand Lionel 1435 from 1947, when I got back in the hobby I limited my focus on coil couplers. Initially I shied away from flying shoe couplers, but now that's about all I look at. I like stuff I can learn from, or reinforce what I've learned. Condition isn't as important to me as sets I am reasonably confident came together from the factory.

Dan.

While I consider myself an 'operator' who changes my layout theme over the years, on looking around the basement, I seem to be collecting (and running) post-war Hornby O-gauge trucks and vans.

Dashster posted:

Because my first trainset as a child was a third-hand Lionel 1435 from 1947, when I got back in the hobby I limited my focus on coil couplers. Initially I shied away from flying shoe couplers, but now that's about all I look at. I like stuff I can learn from, or reinforce what I've learned. Condition isn't as important to me as sets I am reasonably confident came together from the factory.

Dan.

If this is considered thread drift, maybe we can start a new topic.  I am a post-war type operator.  I find the coil couplers so much more user friendly than the thumbtack type.  First, because exact spotting of a piece of rolling stock is not required.  Second, because the coil couplers are sight unseen.  

O  size MA & PA RR most of which is very hard to find I have doubles in some rolling stock items. There are some items I'm still looking for but have narrowed the field considerably. I do have other O size trains but don't feel the need to collect more of the road names I already have. 

For me it's:

• PRR steam and Diesel only
• 
• Steam and Diesel Demonstrators up til 1998
• 
• Modern Conrail from GP38-SD70M
• 
• "Modern" Amtrak SDP40F-P42
• 

And That's Enough! Im trying to Hold back including G scale!