Your "Holy Grail" items . . .

Lionel 700E. 

I wanted the tail car for the MTH Coors Silver Bullet train, finally found one at Allentown a couple years back.

I want an MTH Milwaukee Road EF3.  Been advertising on the WTB for the last 4 months.

For me it's a Milwaukee Road Quill. 3rd Rail/Sunset Models has it on their site for preorder but I haven't seen any conformation yet in regards to production. The other would be a 2-6-6-2 Mallet, Milwaukee Road of course. I could go on and on but don't want to sound greedy.

Always wanted a 700K, just so I could point to it and say that I built it.

I've been looking for a 3 rail MTH bavarian S 3/6 for a few years. Haven't been able to find one yet

I got mine! I'm happier than Indiana Jones with the Ark of the Covenant.

The last Lionel engine (iconic Berkshire) totally made in America. Dates way back to 2001. Engine has more significance today then it did when it was made. 

The sleeper-diner heavyweight pair from the MTH CNW Heavyweight set. I think eBay auctions are like waiting for a bus -- you miss one and eventually another one will show up if you wait long enough.

Nobody makes my holy grail stuff in diecast.....so I make my own....😁

Pat

The original Vapor Records Boxcar.

Note I do not mean the quite readily available 6-29218.  It looks just like that car, but it's basically almost impossible to tell the difference from the deco on the car itself. 

I don't have the details committed perfectly to memory (but I know it's in the back of one of the McComas price guides from years ago ), but I believe you need to open one of the boxcar doors and peer inside to see a stamping on the frame inside the car, and also have the shipping carton, which may be the only thing with the different catalog number called out on it (not sure if this car has a label on the end of the regular box or not  - again, details not quite committed to memory )

I'm pretty sure I've never seen one for sale (and I made sure to look at the Neil Young auction from Julien's a few years ago to check!) .  Every time I look at a table, everyone asks "what are you looking for ?"  And when I explain, nine times out of ten they will not know what the heck I am talking about ant they will only think there is one of the cars that looks like that.

I'm pretty sure I will never end up with one, even if one did come up for sale, I would probably not be willing to part with the price it would most likey command.  But the title of the thread is "Holy Grail"! .

-Dave

MTH Norfolk & Western Class J 611.

I saw one at my LHS a few years ago and thought about it too long and it sold. Finally, since it was in the 2020v1 catalog, I ordered one and I can’t wait until it delivers sometime late this year. 

I’m waiting for lionel to bring out a lionmaster U.P. Coal turbine. Even one that is full scale. But I would prefer if it was a lionmaster.

I've gotten a couple of "Holy Grail" items during this year of "being careful". I just found one of my last ones...a 6-14000 Lionel forklift loader, NIB.  I am now at peace...lol

John

A Royal Hudson #2860 preferably with TMCC if one was ever made. If not, I’d settle for a conventional Shelf queen. I rode behind it from Squamish, B.C. to Vancouver Back in the early 90’s. An absolutely beautiful engine.

My Holy Grail item has never been made and probably never will be made.  I want a 3-rail O scale TGV set.  For years, I have anxiously awaited each new MTH catalog hoping that they would have made the investment in molds to make the TGV.  It has never happened, and with MTH closing its doors, I don't think it ever will. 

I bought an HO TGV set at a train store in Paris when I was there several years ago.  I fear that is as close as I will ever get to my Holy Grail.

My one thing is the Marx "deluxe plastic" boxed set for the silver Western Pacific E units and passenger cars.  Not common. Green E units are.  Seen one and balked at price; traded away a damaged set. Everything else has not been made in three rail.

I guess the mint, sealed set box 700e prewar set.  However, I think its still sitting in Toronto.   Or the boys set; the all blue salesman set from 1958 I think.  Third choice would be the  JC Penny COB set.

A lot of the stuff I have bought at York was stuff I didn't know existed.  I never read the catalogs and prefer to buy in person.  I like to see/touch the actual item i am buying.

So in the spirit of "common as an item but impossible to find without any damage" :

The Lionel 6-16955 Flat with New Holland Loader.

This was one of the first (for the late 90's era - there were certainly earlier items such as PW hand cars with similar chemical reaction issues) flats with the problem with the treads/wheels of the vehicle on the flat having a bad chemical reaction with the flatcar surface.

Most all of these look like big messy blobs of glue are holding the treads to the surface of the car.  The Loader was supposed to be removable!   I've never seen one where the problem was noted early enough to stop the damage entirely.  The only hope might be if someone gave one to a kid when they were new and the loader was immediately removed from the flat car to play with it separately.  But of course that scenario generally does not result in a prime specimen once the play is done.  

Later cars in the series had a sheet of (non-reacting) plastic between the vehicle wheels/treads and the flatcar to prevent this issue.

So a mint 16955 is another Holy Grail item for me.

-Dave

Atlas O CB&Q F2-A any # except 150 ( I have that one).    A while back I got this one on evil bay (new, unrun, with the rear dummy coupler broken. It runs great, btw)  and a week or 2 later a dummy 2-rail showed up on the bay.   Thought it was Kismet and was rubbing my hands together.   I put a max bid that I thought was good enough and was outbid by way too much for a dummy engine.  It happens.  I will keep looking.

These have not been made in 3 rail... The Forney in the correct size and the F7A or AB Royal Gorge that I have pictured, I would love to have.  Most likely I never will, but that is why we can dream.   Dennis.

Apparently someone or something did not like my personal photo of the Royal Gorge F7 and it was deleted, so I'm posting it again.

Lionel 773 made in 1950 with good Magnetraction and in excellent condition.

Not sure it fits the "Holy Grail" category but finally picked this up a few years back.  I forgot also, I got a new box for my 765. The original was ruined in a water break.  Just won one on the auction site so now "the 765" (I always hear @Rich Melvin's voice) is complete.

@artyoung posted:

Always wanted a 700K, just so I could point to it and say that I built it.

I'm not a pre-war collector so I had to google "700K Train" to figure out this is a kit version of the 700E. Here is a story from a guy who set out to collect all the kits to assemble his own.   Looks like assembling the engine is a lot easier than acquiring the 5 kits.  Any idea how many kits Lionel made?

Bob

I find that every time you find your "Holy Grail" item, you gain a new one. It's a never ending cycle. Mine have included:

-Ives 1708 cattle car (took 4 years to locate)

-Lionel 659 in the correct condition to replace the one missing from my Grandfather's boyhood set (took 3 years to find)

Then my focus changed a bit, and I went to:

-Original Allentown Railroad stock certificate (took 4 years {and a trolley bell} to find, then I found a second cheap on ebay a month later)

-SGL Reading G3 and scale Reading passenger cars (took 2 years)

At this point, I would say my Holy Grail items would be getting to build another layout, so I could run things when I want to again. While I know I will find this Holy Grail, it is several years down the road. 

My "un-obtainable" holy grail would be a 3rd Rail N&W Class M... un-obtainable in that I will probably never find one given it's rarity and high re-selling price.

My realistic Holy Grail (one that I actually have a shot at finding) is the Lionel PRR 460 Lindbergh Special (2011). I've been looking for one for close to a year now. I spoke with the guys at Nicholas Smith Trains about it to see if they've seen a used one come through the store. They said they had ordered 60 when it first came out, but their Lionel Rep didn't place the order and they got zero. 

Finally got my 700E in LN condition.

Lionel 1975 Christmas car

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Lionel 773 made in 1950 with good Magnetraction and in excellent condition.

I'll take one too, please. And if I can't have it in excellent condition, then at least a solid (no zinc pest) barn find - something I can restore and point to with pride!!

And if I may kindly have two such wishes, I want a 700E, but it has to be an attic find, and preferably I would be the one to pull it out of it's dusty, but intact box - for me, that would be an experience to remember!!!!

Or a 602 Seaboard, in the box, brand spanking new, never opened from the factory - strong memories from Christmas 1957 - thanks Dad!

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Lionel 773 made in 1950 with good Magnetraction and in excellent condition.

Ditto.

More room for a bigger layout... and a bigger layout also

I’m still looking for the Lionel Erie Lackawanna Phoebe Snow B-unit made in 1999 with RailSounds. I pieced together most of the set.

A lithographed  O gauge Marklin Heinz Reefer in L/N condition.

My Pre War Grail is Lionel 203 0 6 0 switcher with Magic Electrol

My Modern Era is MTH Crocodile which I got to ride behind in Switzerland fan trip.

I now have both Locos

Mikey

When I first got started in three rail it was a 700E. As my collection of NYC Hudsons got filled in I mostly lost interest in one. Lately it was a 3rd Rail NYC E7 in early paint. Still would like to find one but have pre ordered Lionel's so fast losing interest in 3rd Rails.

Pete

Regarding the Neil Young cars, I have them, remember ordering them when they were first announced. Two Vapours and a flat car load of guitars. Treasured items!

My holy grails are three, all Third Rail...  a Rio Grande coach, and Canadian National Diner and Observation.

Jan

PRR E44, PRR GG1, B&O E7,  B&O P7s.

@Dave45681 posted:

The original Vapor Records Boxcar.

Note I do not mean the quite readily available 6-29218.  It looks just like that car, but it's basically almost impossible to tell the difference from the deco on the car itself. 

I don't have the details committed perfectly to memory (but I know it's in the back of one of the McComas price guides from years ago ), but I believe you need to open one of the boxcar doors and peer inside to see a stamping on the frame inside the car, and also have the shipping carton, which may be the only thing with the different catalog number called out on it (not sure if this car has a label on the end of the regular box or not  - again, details not quite committed to memory )

I'm pretty sure I've never seen one for sale (and I made sure to look at the Neil Young auction from Julien's a few years ago to check!) .  Every time I look at a table, everyone asks "what are you looking for ?"  And when I explain, nine times out of ten they will not know what the heck I am talking about ant they will only think there is one of the cars that looks like that.

I'm pretty sure I will never end up with one, even if one did come up for sale, I would probably not be willing to part with the price it would most likey command.  But the title of the thread is "Holy Grail"! .

-Dave

dave,

Took me about 15 years to find one, they don't show up very often to say the least.  To further confuse matters the box is mis-labeled 6-29606 where the actual item number is 6-29206.

@HiramO posted:

Regarding the Neil Young cars, I have them, remember ordering them when they were first announced. Two Vapours and a flat car load of guitars. Treasured items!

My holy grails are three, all Third Rail...  a Rio Grande coach, and Canadian National Diner and Observation.

Jan

I would love to see a photo of that flat car with the guitars. Not coming up with anything on a google search.

But I'm with the other poster whose item is more room. The biggest reason my layouts are seasonal is I gotta pack it away and restore the space.

@HiramO posted:

Regarding the Neil Young cars, I have them, remember ordering them when they were first announced. Two Vapours and a flat car load of guitars. Treasured items!

......

I do not believe we are talking about the same car . 

The one I am describing was not something a person could "order" when it came out.  I believe the back story is they were done for employees of Neil Young as gifts.  This rare car then resulted in the creation of the much more common 29218 that started this series for the general train collecting public.  Though the 29218 may have been uncataloged and somewhat limited when it was first offered - they certainly would qualify as "common" now. 

I do have (I think, from memory, and a quick google image search ) 6 "different" boxcars and the caboose.  (I say "different" because 2 look identical aside from a small numbering graphic.  This is the one with the Wolf with the Santa hat on, white background car with red-ish colored Vapor logo). 

So there is the gray/purple 29218 that is like my "Holy Grail" Car, the 2 Wolf with Santa Hat variants, the Blue car with the Snowman playing the guitar, the Santa and Wolf pulling sleigh one (white car, but large green background for the wolf pulling the Santa sleigh), then the dark blue one with the Wolf near the chimney dressed as Santa. Then the caboose.  There is a chance I forgot one.  Like I said, didn't just compare to my inventory list.

@ed h posted:

dave,

Took me about 15 years to find one, they don't show up very often to say the least.  To further confuse matters the box is mis-labeled 6-29606 where the actual item number is 6-29206.

Yes, that is exactly the car!   Congrats on finding one!

-Dave

I'd like a Lionel SP AC9, but even the TMCC versions are selling for more than I want to pay. They aren't hard to find, it's just I want one cheaper than average 😉.

A Williams N5C caboose in MONON paint scheme.

My current “holly grail” item is Lionel’s Santa Fe 3000. When I first saw this locomotive I just knew I had to have it but I did not have the money. I have been looking for one for awhile but when one does come up I either miss it or I preordered something else. Thanks for reading and happy railroading!

@sinistar posted:

I would love to see a photo of that flat car with the guitars. Not coming up with anything on a google search.

But I'm with the other poster whose item is more room. The biggest reason my layouts are seasonal is I gotta pack it away and restore the space.

I'm not sure if this is what Hiramo meant, but try searching for "Lionel Martin Guitars" and look at images.  It wasn't actual guitars, but 4 wood boxes on a flat car meant to suggest there were guitars inside.

I think, or maybe it's pallets of the wood used to make the guitars - there is a sign with a wood type(?) on top of each of the 4 items on the flatcar.  While I know what this car looks like, I never paid a lot of attention to studying it.  Maybe it's even guitar product lines?  I know literally zero about guitars... the signs say Mahogany, Sitka Spruce, Rosewood, and Ebony, and the boxes seem to be colored to coordinate with the names.

-Dave

@Lou1985 They aren't hard to find, it's just I want one cheaper than average 😉.

my man will stretch out a penny to make copper wire......😜😜😜

Pat

@harmonyards posted:

@Lou1985 They aren't hard to find, it's just I want one cheaper than average 😉.

my man will stretch out a penny to make copper wire......😜😜😜

Pat

Why pay more just to have one? If it's not necessary for my survival I can wait till I get a really good deal 😁.

Big issue is with no train shows the ability to get a great deal is limited. I picked a really bad time to start looking for an AC9....

Modern pennies are bad for wiring. They're mostly zinc 😆.

I don't have any.  I have a list of "nice to have" items including a number that have never been made.  It is unlikely there will be any items though that will give me the sheer joy of acquisition that I got when I got a few key items back in the 1980s.  The closest thing in recent years was getting one of Malcolm's cabooses, something I have now done.

I found my engine holy grail, but it took 10+ years.  It was a 3rd Rail post-WWII (unskirted) Q1.  I first saw it, and wanted it,  about 2005 and didn't finally find one I could afford until 2015/2016.

My current holy grail is any accurate Railway Express Agency car WITHOUT the red diamond.  The red diamond didn't come about until the early 50s, and my layout is set in 1949.  There just are not any out there (okay, there is apparently an the Atlas 53'6" wood express reefer (3001013) but I haven't found one yet).

Just a grail, I would like to find a GGD 54' reefer in original ACL colors.

My holy grail came into my life when I was probably about 11-12 years old. I went with my mother to visit this lady in a real fancy-pants Park Ave apartment.  It was like an apartment in a Fred Astaire movie. It had ten foot ceilings and a band room full of sheet music stands.   That was the second most thing that impressed me.

As I wandered about in the apartment I stumbled upon a good size oval of track on the dining room floor. And there it sat. A double AA NYC F3 and several extruded aluminum passenger cars. OMG, I really wanted that set. I was quite pleased with my 1959 NP GP set with the aquarium and fire fighting cars. But, this set was too much for me to ever forget about.  I thought her grandson was the luckiest kid in the world. I really, really wanted to get down on the floor and play with it. But, I knew that my mother was there on business, and not to have me play with trains.  That made the set even more enticing. 
Well, when I got back into trains in 1982 I didn’t forget about it.  So, when I started acquiring trains this was on the “gotta get” list.      And so what do you think I did?  Yep, I got it. I had to build it item by item as I later learned it was not a cataloged set. 
It’s been sitting on a happy shelf now for years, but when I look at it I still see that set on the floor of that fancy- *ss apartment. 

K line NYC J1e.

Your "Holy Grail" items...

For me, a nice Lionel postwar set headed by a #45 U.S. Marines operating diesel, complete with all the boxes.

enjoy your toy trains...

My search was for an Erie Dunmore caboose. I considered a couple custom made versions and even constructing one of my own. With the help of a couple friends at various forums, I ended up finding two inside of a month of each other. They are the 3rd Rail models in three rail versions.

Here is the C-108. The other is the C-104

Tom

A bundle of $20.00 bills,

Dave

This has become such a great thread, I really enjoy the back stories, thank you for sharing!

I have three.

Dad worked for the N&W from 1952-1988. From 1954-1957 he was working for the Motive Power Department and was assigned to the 2300 steam turbine electric. I am eternally grateful to Scott Mann for making this.

The 2300 was very seldom seen w/o the N&W Dynamometer car.  The NWHS had drawings, and Brother Love scratch built one for me. He also built the beautiful N&W CF Caboose. His artistry is amazing. 

@Dave45681 posted:

I'm not sure if this is what Hiramo meant, but try searching for "Lionel Martin Guitars" and look at images.  It wasn't actual guitars, but 4 wood boxes on a flat car meant to suggest there were guitars inside.

I think, or maybe it's pallets of the wood used to make the guitars - there is a sign with a wood type(?) on top of each of the 4 items on the flatcar.  While I know what this car looks like, I never paid a lot of attention to studying it.  Maybe it's even guitar product lines?  I know literally zero about guitars... the signs say Mahogany, Sitka Spruce, Rosewood, and Ebony, and the boxes seem to be colored to coordinate with the names.

-Dave

 

Thanks for the tip. Yes, looking at the images they are definitely pallets of the different specialty wood types that go into building a guitar (body, fret board, bridge, etc.). Actually kind of neat, especially as I am a fan of Neil Young, guitars, and the obvious here -- trains.

When I was into contemporary Standard Gauge it was the "Purple Comet" cars MTH made for the MTHRRC (I think in 2004).  I had the engine, and I knew someone who has the 4-car set.

Currently I have no Holy Grail item.

I have been lucky enough to find two of my Holy Grails , I am sure there must be another one out there to make it a Trinity , but two is already being greedy ....

As I am a clockwork guy ( ducks underneath all the pointed up noses ... lol ) I coveted nice early European Manufacturers ... but generally we are talking fairly decent numbers that I really cant put into the game ... and so for many years they went begging .. until I spied a little "something" that was being sold on ePay and apparently no-one saw the little embossed plate inside the drivers cab of a winged wheel and letters ... Very hard to make out in the photos but it was indeed an Ernst Planck Locomotive ... It was the runt of the litter with no fancy lithography but it still had its factory dipped paint ... very rough .. but a survivor .... sometimes the planets just align and it came home to me with no other collector noticing her

So rough ... but so rare as well .. her fancier siblings of the same year can still be found occasionally but the years have obviously not been kind to his plain jane enamelled brothers as this is the only one I have seen

And that view inside the cab that made my heart flutter ...

The second Holy Grail is completely the opposite ... it is very minty fresh and came to me as an affordable surprise ... It is a John Van Riemsdijk 4-4-4 controlled clockwork .... A highly specialized form of clockwork escapement that used an expanding rotating governer to control the rate of unwind , this had been played about with prewar by Walker & Fenn , but after the war it was perfected by JVR and although it featured in 0-6-0 arragements and in trams that he built .. the 0-4-0's were thought to be a production of only about 600 units in the late 1940's

They do come up occasionally but fetch too much money for this bum ... luckily that was not the case with this particular one

Frank: What happened to your MTH Standard Gauge train?  I'm in love with McCoy's big trains.  The Glacier Green Great Northern box cab electric locomotive with Rocky displayed proudly waving on the side of this magnificent machine with the matching freight cars and caboose is something just short of heaven to me!  Not a sign of any "Plastic Fantastic"anywhere in sight here, just HEAVY METAL!

MTH Turkish Taffy Banana.  I have the other three but this one is especially elusive.

My Holy Grail items are 2 engines I missed

Central New England GP-20 from the 2010 MTH Catalog - Never saw one, only heard of 1 person who ever had one.

Weaver NECR GP-20 - Saw it once at a show, didn't buy it. Missed it when Weaver was closing down.

Aster 1 Gauge Live Steam Big Boy is my "Holy Grail" item. I'll eventually own one.

My "Holy Grail" is the missed 3rd Rail PRR T1 Baldwin Version with Portholes.

The only other Holy Grails are:

Altlas O Conrail MP15

and  another Trainman Conrail U23B 

I wouldn't mind this version Either! 

@Ricky Tanner posted:

Aster 1 Gauge Live Steam Big Boy is my "Holy Grail" item. I'll eventually own one.

WOW!!! Amazing - How big is that beast!!!

@prrhorseshoecurve posted:

My "Holy Grail" is the missed 3rd Rail PRR T1 Baldwin Version with Portholes.

 

Sweet!!! Gotta love the Loewy streamlined design. I have the more generic but still attractive Lionel TMCC version.

THIS! American Flyer standard gauge “Piper” with PS2/3 in black or blue. 

Outside of accurate CNJ coaches which I think I may have finally tracked down in kit form, I have all my Holy Grail items.  As the classic movie of this name says, "Tell them we already got one!"

@Apples55 posted:

WOW!!! Amazing - How big is that beast!!!

Loco and tender are just over 48" and weighs 41 pounds!

The Spider-Man F40ph

rat

I have hunted the George Bush caboose numerous times at York and other train shows never found it.

I do have the first Lionel Bush engine it was a match for and just received the new Lionel train Bush Funeral set.

But with age and slow down and my enthusiasm is dwindling for any "Holy Grail Items".

I been way to blessed finding odd ball stuff .

Larry

The Holy Grail?  In the prewar Flyer category there are many things that could be considered a "Holy Grail" to collectors.  For instance the 1907 3 Window Chicago Cars with unpunched windows

Or the 1910 cast iron trolley

The Imperial Limited Parlor Car c. 1915

The 1916 Caboose that uses the B&O boxcar body

The 1918 Caboose that says "Caboose"

Any of the Lithographed 9.5 Inch Freight Cars

The 1927 20th Anniversary Clock

The 1928 3211 Caboose with fancy Handrails (OK so mine is restored, I could not find a nice original and settled for a $20 original needing restoration)

The Original 1930 Flyer Catalog Cover Artwork

Which was acquired with a large photographic image of an artist's rendition of the Halsted Street Factory

The Streamliners, especially red, blue, yellow, and chrome with 6 wheel trucks

The Mack's Junction Water Tower

But I would have to say that for me the Holy Grail items are finding those items that you never knew existed, such as the Macks Junction 91 Station Platform

The 1915 Continental Flyer Line Parlor Car

The American Flyer Zephyr that was engraved and presented to the President of the Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy RR (Currently on display at the Chicago History Museum)

Or making an important discovery relating to W.O. Coleman Sr. and the Halsted Street Factory (Sorry guys you will have to wait until that article is published in an upcoming issue of the TCA Quarterly).

So my Holy Grail is the next undiscovered and unusual item.  

NWL

Since a couple members have mentioned Standard Gauge, I’ll go with a wide gauge American Flyer blue lithograph Presidents Special. I’ve come across a few but none in the quality I’m looking for.

Steve

Would love a N&W #475 3-rail. The Weaver Lackawanna Caboose though, got a tip from a fellow OGR member.

Mine is a us army signal corp , telegraph key set mint in the box ,from ww two , made by the lionel corp, NY,NY , And a police badge from Boston terminal company Boston MA , A lapel pin shaped like the New England states ,in green with gold trim , with a white scroll in the center with gold letters NETCA  , on the scroll  , the pin i have no info about  i found it in a box of trin junk .   techman

The Standard Gauge Brute.

I move out of the country and MTH decides to make the engine I’ve always wanted.

Someday, someday...

one of my holy grail items is not even out yet but it is the lionchief plus 2.0 union pacific tier 4 and csx tier 4 engines

photos from trainworld.com copy and pasted google search

lionchief plus 2.0 pennsylvania limited

i really want to hear that announcement coach

photo from lionel.com

i mostly want the tier 4 s though

 i won't have money for atleast a tier 4 until next year but as quick as some other 2.0 items sold out i don't know if i can wait that long and still get one and a god given miracle has to happen for the pennsylvania limited and i still haven't seen any in hand photos or videos yet of that thing in action

I have a three of mine already.

TMCC Equipped K-Line J1e

6-28084 Dreyfuss With the Lionel matching 20th Century Limited + StationSounds Diner

6-38000 Century Club 2 Dreyfuss With matching Century Club 2 Consist + Optional PT Tender

Only missing one item on my list of holy grails and then I have no more.

The 2006 NYC E7's with RS5: 6-24579, also the matching Breakdown B Unit

My "Holy Grail" would actually be quite attainable, but at the moment I'm all-in on one my other interests that often edges out model trains: Vintage "enduro" type motorcycles. Spent a ton of money on 'em the past month or so.

So what is my "Holy Grail"?

A nice 736 w/tender. I think the PW Lionel Berk's are the absolute meanest looking of all the PW steam engines. Had one once... I'll have another "one of these days".

(My tastes in traditional 3 rail are actually quite frugal and very modest.)

That's it: A 736.  Very attainable... but I'm not willing to spend the $$ right now.

Andre

@Jedderbob posted:

I have a three of mine already.

..........

6-38000 Century Club 2 Dreyfuss With matching Century Club 2 Consist + Optional PT Tender

..........

 

I think maybe you mean Empire State Express?  The Dreyfuss was not a CCII Engine.

-Dave

@Dave45681 posted:

I think maybe you mean Empire State Express?  The Dreyfuss was not a CCII Engine.

-Dave

Yes, I mean the Empire State Express consist. The Hudson pulling it all still has the Dreyfuss streamline shroud. But either way it's the 6-38000 CC2 Hudson

@Patrick1544 posted:

K line NYC J1e.

Is this what you want ? This is the Williams Masterpiece hudson in brass. If you can find one buy it!!!

Nation Wide Lines: I had an uncle (my grandmother's half sister's husband really) who had an American Flyer 20th Anniversary clock.  He didn't have any tinplate trains to my knowledge and years later never thought to ask if he ever had had any.  I am back in contact with one of his grand daughter's (a close but no kissin' cousin) and will ask her if she received the clock when he passed away.  She, being the oldest of three female cousins, I assume she may have received it and may still have it to this day?

@Trinity River Bottoms Boomer posted:

Nation Wide Lines: I had an uncle (my grandmother's half sister's husband really) who had an American Flyer 20th Anniversary clock.  He didn't have any tinplate trains to my knowledge and years later never thought to ask if he ever had had any.  I am back in contact with one of his grand daughter's (a close but no kissin' cousin) and will ask her if she received the clock when he passed away.  She, being the oldest of three female cousins, I assume she may have received it and may still have it to this day?

They are tough to find.  The estimate is there were c. 50 to 100 of them made.  Mine came from the estate of a clock collector.  

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

Some of the contemporary holy grail items remind me that if I really want an item I should pre-order it.  I know some say that you can always find the item on the secondary market for cheaper.  Sometimes not!

Here are the Neil Young purchase cars I referenced in my original post. All four were commercially available, not the super scarce car Dave describes. The flat car does not carry crates, but piles of wood used in guitar manufacture. It was Wellspring that bought Lionel; I believe Young owned 20% of Wellspring at the time.

Jan

NWL: I will decline to ask how much you paid for the AF clock, but when did you find this treasure?

@Trinity River Bottoms Boomer posted:

NWL: I will decline to ask how much you paid for the AF clock, but when did you find this treasure?

I found it on ebay, under Clocks of all places.  I have had it for approximately 10 years.  They come up on ebay and at train auctions every so often, you just have to watch.

NWL

I forgot to post this under my list of Holy Grail prewar items.  It is the globe to a factory produced store display from c. 1929 or so.  Very few have survived and I have never seen the display layout / shelving unit that this would have been attached to.

NWL

@Oscale_Trains_Lover_ posted:

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

Second the MU cars and subways. Hopefully one day I'll find them. Especially the R1. 

Rule #1 : ALWAYS buy the add-ons when they are cataloged with the set.  

(OK, maybe that's rule #2, behind "buy it when you see it" if you are at a train meet(assuming price is acceptable), or it will likely be gone when you "go back" (because someone right behind you maybe also found the price acceptable) )

Sorry, I know that doesn't help people who were not in the hobby when an item came out and are trying to buy them years later.  So a modification would be to try to be aware of any add-ons before you buy a set.  You are more likely to find someone selling a set including add-ons as a group than you are to find someone selling just the add-ons alone, particularly for a 4 car / 2 add-on type of subway  or MU set.

-Dave

MTH SF Blue Goose - The J class with ps/2 and all the matching cars. I think the railking was ps1 only though.

@Dave45681 posted:

I'm not sure if this is what Hiramo meant, but try searching for "Lionel Martin Guitars" and look at images.  It wasn't actual guitars, but 4 wood boxes on a flat car meant to suggest there were guitars inside.

I think, or maybe it's pallets of the wood used to make the guitars - there is a sign with a wood type(?) on top of each of the 4 items on the flatcar.  While I know what this car looks like, I never paid a lot of attention to studying it.  Maybe it's even guitar product lines?  I know literally zero about guitars... the signs say Mahogany, Sitka Spruce, Rosewood, and Ebony, and the boxes seem to be colored to coordinate with the names.

-Dave

 

Never knew about the flat car with wood pallets that are supposed to be miniature Martin Guitars. Very nice. Would love to have one since my most treasured tangible non-living thing is a nylon string Martin Guitar made in the mid-1960s. Arnold

@Dave45681 posted:

Rule #1 : ALWAYS buy the add-ons when they are cataloged with the set.  

(OK, maybe that's rule #2, behind "buy it when you see it" if you are at a train meet(assuming price is acceptable), or it will likely be gone when you "go back" (because someone right behind you maybe also found the price acceptable) )

Sorry, I know that doesn't help people who were not in the hobby when an item came out and are trying to buy them years later.  So a modification would be to try to be aware of any add-ons before you buy a set.  You are more likely to find someone selling a set including add-ons as a group than you are to find someone selling just the add-ons alone, particularly for a 4 car / 2 add-on type of subway  or MU set.

-Dave

Dave,

That is a rule I stick to but sadly no one had the extra 2-car add-on in-stock when I got my 4-car set two years after MTH made them. I did use the product locator and found one but the dealer never updated it saying it was no longer in stock. 

I see several 4-car NYC MUs for sale on da'bay frequently but never the 2-car set (either by itself or with a 4-car set). I might end up getting another 4-car set and re-numbering the cars. At least I will have two powered units! 

Bryce

Great thread, very interesting to read the various "Holy Grails".

Mine is a K-Line Tank Car lettered for Colfax Pawtucket Rhode Island.  I switched out the Pawtucket yard while working for the Providence & Worcester RR.

I have a tidy sum stashed away to entice someone to sell this to me.

Paul