N scale Question of the week! 6 July 2011

[delamaize]

Hey everyone! so last weeks question got good turnout, so we will continue for now!!  ;D this week I ifnd myself in London for a few weeks, so I have to ttake advsntage of internet access when I can!

so for this week, a fairly easy one. This one revolves around the suprize of the hunt. My time is limited today, so my back story will be as such.

2002, I was getting back into N scale after a 2 or 3 year break, and decided I needed to find some stuff to finish some sets. First of my list was finding a mate for my first run Kato F7a. at the time I looked and looked and couldn't find anything, I was finding F3's and F7a units, but no b's. then out of the blue one show, on one of the smaller tables, kinda at the end, there it was, Not only a F7b, but one matching the road of the A unit I have, New in box, Never run (wheels were totally unmarked) and the best part, the guy only wanted $10 for it 

So to this weeks question: Whats is your Best show/swap meet find? Not nessicarly something to buy, but something that was one of those 1/100 finds, or the deal to end all deals. Basicly, if you found it at a swap meet/show and it suprized you in some way, it goes in here!

Cheers Mates!

[jnevis]

A few months ago I went to a show in Fredericksburg just to get out of the house.  Show was pretty slim for anything smaller than O, even HO wasn't that well represented.   Getting ready to leave I see a guy with a table of N in the corner.  Looking through his stuff I come across an item I had been looking for, four trays down, a Rivarossi Centipede tender.  I have most of the peices for a close-enough FEF but needed the tender and Athearn wanted $100 for one from a warrantee turn-in.  No dice.  This guy wanted $50.  Now I need to get a Round-Tuit to get started
 

[conrail98]

This one is easy for and I get to kick myself every time I see them at shows and listed on eBay. At the Pittsburgh NTS in 1991, I think, my dad and I passed a booth that was selling the complete set of Micro-Trains Beer Reefers for $40. My dad attempted to convince me to buy them but we passed. I kick myself every day passing that up, I could've bought a whole lot of stuff I actually need for the layout by selling them off,

Phil

[Bendtracker1]

Way back when Atlas released the very first run of the U25B's, some friends and I went to the GATS in Des Moines to sell some train photos that they had taken and that I had framed for them.

After we got setup, I started to make the rounds and quickly found a table that had twelve brand spanking new U25B's.  The guy was asking a whole $15.00 each for them [I think they were listing for  $40-$45 at the time IIRC].  I almost depleted my entire stash and bought all twelve thinking I could sell some of the others when I got home, then headed back to the table to show off my prize. 

Not long after I got back, a gentleman tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I was the one who bought the U25B's.  Then asked if I would interested in selling any or all of them for $35.00 each.  I quickly agreed but kept the four Red and Yellow Rock Island units and sold him the other eight.

I took that money and bought decals to change the numbers and the coupler pilots for the four units I kept and still came home with a little more money than I had started with!

On the way home, we discussed the possibility that for the price I paid for them, they had probably been lifted from somewhere, then sold at the show. 

But I didn't care!  Because I had four SHINY new ROCK ISLAND U25B's and extra cash in my pockets!

I smiled all the way home....  ;D

[Bob Bufkin]

My best deal wasn't at a show but at a local hobby shop.  A brass PRR M1b completely painted for $150.00.  They were going on eBay for $500.00 and up.  Could not resist that one.  Did manage to get a Walthers Northeastern caboose for $3.00 at a show, which I thought was a good deal.

[wm3798]

There's nothing better than the convergence of a nice commission check from a client, a train show, and some poor schnook going through a messy divorce.  I picked up two Kato SD45's in Reading, and Atlas U25 and GP30 in Penn Central, whole shebang was $150.

I could have done a lot more damage than that, but I was debating the whole Conrail vs. WM thing at that time.  The guy had two milk crates full of Conrail and predecessor engines, all Atlas, Kato and "right generation" Life Like...

Lee

[NorsemanJack]

Found a MT "Chicago" trailer at a local show for $7.50.  Sold it on ebay a few years later for a high bid of $62.  Can't beat that return!

[chuck geiger]

I was transfering all of my HO into N scale ($) at a show/meet near
LA in 2006 when a table was selling a lot of cool N scale buildings.
Took the lot for 25.00! - ADM Grain Elevator, Several AHM houses,
Feed Supply and Cold Storage building.

[John]

best deal I got was 60 C55 turnouts for $3 each

[Catt]

Bought a complete set of N scale"Con-Cor" AMTRAK Super Liners for $40.00 walking two tables down and buying 2 Bachmann HO Dash 8-40Cs for $50.00 then finding out after I got home that everything I had bought was Overland Brass.

[NS-CRE]

Back in the mid-80s, my father and I were attending a train show at the Great Lakes Mall in Mentor, OH.   It was at that show that I caught a glimpse of one of the Model Railroader Video Layout Tours done by Allen Keller.  The scene I saw was a freight train behind blue and white diesels rolling along behind a downtown scene.  Something about it made it the most believable model railroad scene I had ever seen.  I walked over to the television and found out that the layout I was watching was Allen McClelland's Virginian & Ohio.

During that show I found several back issues of Railroad Model Craftsman that contained a series on the V&O.  I read and reread those articles until I finally got a copy of the V&O Story for Christmas that year. 

That "find" at a train show was the moment that started me in model railroading the way I know it today. 

Marcus

www.kntower.com

[SkipGear]

I haven't hit the big one yet, a buddy did though last year. We have a local show that our shop participates in, because of that, I have my laptop handy and tied into the hosting schools internet.

There was a local shop that was basically a museum, he ordered one of everything, never discounted and even raised prices to match inflation. It was the place to go when you had given up hope of finding something anywhere else. Anyhow, the gentelman passed away recently and his family didn't want to keep the shop going so most of it has gone to auction and broken up to a few different resellers in the area. One was at this show and was blowing out inventory. Peco turnouts for $5 each, lot's of old lost detail bits and other goodies.

My friend is digging through the boxes and comes across a Con-Cor box. He looked at it and didn't know what it was, thought it was interesting, so he brought it over to me to ask what it was. It turns out it was one of the Con-cor/Kato powered snow plow, with the powered rotating blades. I told him buy it if you can get it for less than $100. He looked at me and asked, "Really, what is it worth?" I told him they regularly go on Ebay well over $200 for used versions that might run. New, good condition ones have gone over $300, this was brand new, un run. He smiled and said, "Then I made a good deal." He got it for $35.00. That vendor still sneers at my friend everytime he sees him at a show. He had no idea what it was worth when he bought it, just that it was interesting.

[Chris333]

Way long ago there was a run of brass HOn30 0-4-4 Forneys made by Car Works. I bought one for $350 and later traded it and kicked my head for it. When I wanted one again they were going for $500 plus on e-bay. Then I was at a yahoo group and a guy posted he had one that didn't run. I messaged him and got it for $150. When it arrived I saw all that was wrong is the cylinder saddle came unsoldered from the frame, 10 min later it was a runner.

[chuck geiger]

I haven't hit the big one yet, a buddy did though last year. We have a local show that our shop participates in, because of that, I have my laptop handy and tied into the hosting schools internet.

There was a local shop that was basically a museum, he ordered one of everything, never discounted and even raised prices to match inflation. It was the place to go when you had given up hope of finding something anywhere else. Anyhow, the gentelman passed away recently and his family didn't want to keep the shop going so most of it has gone to auction and broken up to a few different resellers in the area. One was at this show and was blowing out inventory. Peco turnouts for $5 each, lot's of old lost detail bits and other goodies.

I ran across a shop in St. Louis in the late-70's like that, they hoarded everything and
never sold anything. They had original Revell HO kits, out of production like the great
small town depot (with the decals for the cigarette machine), Superior Bakery, Weekly
Herald, the yard and switch towers, all the Plasticville USA kits...Don't know if they ever
went out of business, they were near Hampton Ave between Maplewood and The Hill, it
was an electronics shop...Just in case some St. Louis readers remember.

http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r132/tonycook1966/Revell%20HO-Scale%20Trains/RevellsignssignalsMOC.jpg
http://ho-scaletrains.net/revellhoscaletrainsresource/index.html

My friend is digging through the boxes and comes across a Con-Cor box. He looked at it and didn't know what it was, thought it was interesting, so he brought it over to me to ask what it was. It turns out it was one of the Con-cor/Kato powered snow plow, with the powered rotating blades. I told him buy it if you can get it for less than $100. He looked at me and asked, "Really, what is it worth?" I told him they regularly go on Ebay well over $200 for used versions that might run. New, good condition ones have gone over $300, this was brand new, un run. He smiled and said, "Then I made a good deal." He got it for $35.00. That vendor still sneers at my friend everytime he sees him at a show. He had no idea what it was worth when he bought it, just that it was interesting.

[reinhardtjh]

Best I've done is a Trix PRR K4 Pacific in running condition for $15.

  John H. Reinhardt