Buy anything cool lately?

Back in the day, one of my aunts was married to a bartender on the LIRR. She had to meet him every payday to get his check from him while he was still sober. As a kid, I remember my mother driving her sister, and a carload of us squirming kids, before seatbelts, gunning it to get ahead of an LIRR train and beat it into the next station, where my aunt would run up the stairs, get on the train, and get off with his check, before the train doors closed. Great fun for us, but pretty pathetic if you think about it.

@Donnie Kennedy posted:

Got these mpc Santa Fe gp9. The power unit was from the bay, and the dummy from a forum member! A little tlc to the power unit and they're running awesome. Gonna add lights to the dummy.  These hold a special place in my heart. My dad, who didn't make a lot, but darn did he work his tail off 7 days a week for us. Still managed to go to church twice a week as well. I remember when I was about 6 he came home from the hobby store with the power unit. He was so proud of that engine. We ran it every Christmas and had it on our 5x9 layout. I know she's not a top of the line Lionel engine, but it brings back a lot of good memories of him and I together. This hobby has really helped me cope with the loss of him back in November of 2020.

HEY AGAIN DONNIE.

You have inspired me with your reply on this thread to have some fun on a project that I had given up on .

A rather inexpensive Lionel ( I think it was a 48045 ) that I had bought for Christmas back in the late 70s for my daughter and my then wife .

It was in bad shape in my boneyard with a missing drive wheel , missing intermediate drive gear , missing truck side plate , no maintenance,  etc. , etc.    It too had memories attached and your love of your memories convinced me to revive the ole Santa Fe.   She once again provides the ozone atmosphere I remembered.

The Santa Fe can now reside with the Santa Fe switcher 6220 that my Dad surprised us with in the 50s.

A BIG THANK YOU DONNIE .

@Pingman posted:

Can't forget these guys -- a bag of 100 painted, seated figures to populate my NP NCL 10 car pax train as it nears completion.

The opportunities for humorous posing seem evident; I just hope they're of a suitable size; they're advertised as 1:50.  I'd have preferred something closer to S scale, 1/64 for my 15" aluminum cars.

One thing about LIONEL interiors, they went overboard on population control; no wonder intercity passenger trains failed.

Try this again...

I bought 2 bags of unpainted. I need to come up with a cute blonde. Many of them will be sacrificed to my lack of skills.

@Dallas Joseph posted:

HEY AGAIN DONNIE.

You have inspired me with your reply on this thread to have some fun on a project that I had given up on .

A rather inexpensive Lionel ( I think it was a 48045 ) that I had bought for Christmas back in the late 70s for my daughter and my then wife .

It was in bad shape in my boneyard with a missing drive wheel , missing intermediate drive gear , missing truck side plate , no maintenance,  etc. , etc.    It too had memories attached and your love of your memories convinced me to revive the ole Santa Fe.   She once again provides the ozone atmosphere I remembered.

The Santa Fe can now reside with the Santa Fe switcher 6220 that my Dad surprised us with in the 50s.

A BIG THANK YOU DONNIE .

Wow. That's awesome. This is what I love about this hobby! All the great old and new memories that are made. This is a great group of quality people. Love it! Have a great new year. And thank you, and all the others for their kind words!! I'll be posting pics of the cars i got for the geeps, but once the light sockets come in for the dummy and I have time to wire them up!

I just picked this up from METCA yesterday. I have two stories not sure which is more plausible. The Farmingdale (NJ) and Southern extended their trackage rights further South. Or the engine was purchased at auction from The Panama Canal Railway.

@Pingman posted:

After a surprise purchase on Christmas 🎄 morning from eBay, these K-line Northern Pacific F7s arrived today.

Cosmetically they look great, and they'll be test run after inspection at the club on Saturday.

Ran them briefly at the club and they performed flawlessly.  The hardest part was coupling the two units together; must be a learning curve to deal with the diaphragms and tether.   Very pleased with this purchase; it exceeds my expectations.

Watch for the LIONE NP F-3s, 6-18147 (AB) and hard to find dummy A, 6-14561, in the For Sale or Trade forum shortly.

Posted a WTB for a dummy B unit since I'd rather repaint one than use K-Line's K2550-6514 that matches the AAs.

I bought my first new Lionel set in decades (since the very early 80's)

And my first MTH ever

Recently picked up a Plasticville Hospital (With all the furniture intact! In the original box!). Not sure where I like it best, if anywhere, on the layout. The white is kinda glaring and I'm not sure my small country town merits a full on hospital. I am contemplating gifting it to my Uncle, who is a doctor & a county coroner, actually. He's been a long time model railroader & railfan.

I also got a Plasticville "House Under Construction". This one is definitely staying, and might be joined by some completed houses... I have to remember to take a picture of it on the layout, because it looks great. It's incomplete, unlike the hospital, so I don't feel so bad about doing whatever with it.

I found these at Savers, my local thrift store\vice. Passed on a covered bridge and split level house of the same vintage: early 1960s if I'm not mistaken. I knew I didn't have space for the covered bridge and the split level seemed like it would look off scale to me. One of these days, I'll learn to buy everything I see and like instead of waiting and regretting it! Regardless, it was a real find!

@pennsyfan posted:

I just picked this up from METCA yesterday. I have two stories not sure which is more plausible. The Farmingdale (NJ) and Southern extended their trackage rights further South. Or the engine was purchased at auction from The Panama Canal Railway.

Bob - I’d offer a 3rd scenario, more dramatic - a runaway, all the way from Central America!!!😳😳😳

R34 Subway set. Video is on my YouTube

@Mark V. Spadaro posted:

Bob - I’d offer a 3rd scenario, more dramatic - a runaway, all the way from Central America!!!😳😳😳

Ok Mark, in that case finders keepers  

😂😂😂

I couldn’t pass this up on the bay. I wasn’t aware it existed. It originally came with tractors and trailers. My son is a NJT Engineer and this is a fitting addition. The 4300 was on the ready track so it looks good with the cars. I’m planning some loads such as rail, maybe a load of ties.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Right before Christmas I made a trip to Grzyboski’s and picked up a really nice ceramic Railroad Station and 3 short sections of tubular track. I already need to glue the one lamppost due to my clumsiness. On a side note, I’ve never seen Grzyboski’s so packed with customers of all ages! It was great! Plus they have some wonderful decorations on display. I only took one photo of the one inflatable train.

Next up is train I purchased at a local hardware store during their one day after Christmas 50% off sale! LoL

Merry (belated) Christmas Everyone!

Not something I bought but my wife was at the American Legion helping put away holiday decorations and cleaning up the storage room. This was laying in the bottom of a box and they were going to toss it so she brought it home.

I went to a few Tractor Supply stores while out over the holidays traveling. I was able to find a few different trucks but no red Mack crane truck or any bucket trucks unfortunately. I’m still very pleased with my finds all at 40% off!

@pennsyfan posted:

I just picked this up from METCA yesterday. I have two stories not sure which is more plausible. The Farmingdale (NJ) and Southern extended their trackage rights further South. Or the engine was purchased at auction from The Panama Canal Railway.

Looks at least as good as, or maybe even better than, the catalog image used for advertising, which you can see here:

https://metca.org/store.html

Stu

@NOT LionelLLC posted:

Looks at least as good as, or maybe even better than, the catalog image used for advertising, which you can see here:

Stu

They [https://metca.org/store.html] sure sell some nice trains.

@Richizzle07 posted:

I went to a few Tractor Supply stores while out over the holidays traveling. I was able to find a few different trucks but no red Mack crane truck or any bucket trucks unfortunately. I’m still very pleased with my finds all at 40% off!

Really nice for the modern layout, love the garbage truck.

Recently purchased a Lionel 2228110 Hallow's Eve LED caboose and after a bit of kit bashing she is now in German U-Boat (DAS BOOT) flotilla service.

Bought my new train roomIt is 12x32.  Needs electric, insulation, and sheetrock and it will be ready to go.  

That would be wonderful!  Enjoy your new train shed!!

The last engines of 2022. Picked these up with the help of @EricTrainMan. MTH GP 40s been looking for the dummy for some time now. This will go with my Lionel SD45 and be my road power once the layout is done.

My little people arrived today.  They're advertised as 1/50 scale, but they are huge compared to the ones Lionel used for the 15" aluminum cars. So they go back.

Used up my train budget for a while but found a 50th anniversary 6-31705 set with 5 passenger cars plus the add-on dinner.  Last catalog for this was 2002. 50th anniversary of the 1950 773 passenger set that is.

Original 1950s set was a 773, 2426 tender with Madison, Manhatten and Irvington Passenger cars.   The Saeger observation and Baggage car to match the set didn't arrive until the modern era.

The anniversary set came with TMCC, the 5 passenger cars listed above and the addon dinner car with TMCC controlled sounds.  O54 track min, not O31 as listed on the lionel site.   A few sample pictures plus some comparing the original vs the new.  Original cars were 14" with window silhouettes. Anniversary set are 18" with detailed interiors.

Had to reseat 2 passengers, fix a couple of loose light connections and all working now.  Just waiting on the correct traction tires to arrive.

Made a donation to the @mike g. layout rebuild fund.....he sent me this York commemorative car in exchange.

Thanks Mike.

@RSJB18 posted:

Made a donation to the @mike g. layout rebuild fund.....he sent me this York commemorative car in exchange.

Thanks Mike.

Hey Bob, Thanks for the donation! I can't wait to see it on your layout!

@VHubbard posted:

Used up my train budget for a while but found a 50th anniversary 6-31705 set with 5 passenger cars plus the add-on dinner.

Had to reseat 2 passengers, fix a couple of loose connections, but all working now.  Just waiting on the correct traction tires to arrive.

Sweet set… enjoy!!!

@RSJB18 posted:

Made a donation to the @mike g. layout rebuild fund.....he sent me this York commemorative car in exchange.

Thanks Mike.

Your preoccupation with all things Reading/Pennsylvania, is beginning to concern me, Bob Really nice car - really like the Savings Bond tie in (I still have a bunch of them floating around somewhere at home!!!).

@Apples55 posted:

Your preoccupation with all things Reading/Pennsylvania, is beginning to concern me, Bob Really nice car - really like the Savings Bond tie in (I still have a bunch of them floating around somewhere at home!!!).

This coming from the New York ex-pat..

Can't wait to do the same....😉😉😉

Thanks

Wow, I never knew such a gem existed.  Beautiful 50th Anniversary Special from Lionel. 

I bought this PRR caboose and sent it to Christine to redo ad PRSL. I am really happy with the result

Most of my consists start with the purchase of an engine I like and followed up by adding a variety of matching cars over time, including a caboose. Often the caboose is hard to come by or awfully expensive. At York in the Fall, I found a Montana Rail Link Atlas extended vision caboose that I had on a "want to buy" list. Last Saturday, just for the heck of it, I did a search on Rutland rolling stock and a MTH Premier Rutland (#50) extended vision caboose popped up for $35. I bought it and got it today. Needs a bath, but I just don't see that many Rutland caboose for sale so I'm happy to get this one.  Ironically, someone else has the same version in #57 up for auction right now.  When it rains it pours?  I saw somewhere warm water and dish soap is good for cleaning the shell using a soft toothbrush. Disassembled of course.

The LC2 Genesis Set is arriving tomorrow! Hope those long passenger cars can make it around my tight curves….

@Mooner posted:

Most of my consists start with the purchase of an engine I like and followed up by adding a variety of matching cars over time, including a caboose. Often the caboose is hard to come by or awfully expensive. At York in the Fall, I found a Montana Rail Link Atlas extended vision caboose that I had on a "want to buy" list. Last Saturday, just for the heck of it, I did a search on Rutland rolling stock and a MTH Premier Rutland (#50) extended vision caboose popped up for $35. I bought it and got it today. Needs a bath, but I just don't see that many Rutland caboose for sale so I'm happy to get this one.  Ironically, someone else has the same version in #57 up for auction right now.  When it rains it pours?  I saw somewhere warm water and dish soap is good for cleaning the shell using a soft toothbrush. Disassembled of course.

My same problem with Reading equipment has been well documented over the past couple of pages.

A Rutland caboose is on my list. Your's is very nice. Soap and water is a good plan for cleaning the shell.

Bob

This has been a year when I've had to increase the discretionary budget several times.  Sometimes I just can't pass up on a good deal for something I never thought I wouldn'tm own.  I found both on the bay with a Make Offer.  I made a reasonable offer for both the red and the blue Lionel Commodore Vanderbilt.  To my surprise, the seller accepted.  I now have all three Lionel Commodore Vanderbilts, the Gray, the Red, and the Blue.

A N & W A is somewhere between Lionel, Mr Muffin, and Harry Heike. Invoice paid; maybe we will see it next week.

Ordered a bunch of retaining walls, tunnel portals, and other stuff from Scenic Express and the last made it into the train room yesterday.

That’s about it.

@GregK posted:

The LC2 Genesis Set is arriving tomorrow! Hope those long passenger cars can make it around my tight curves….

Snuck it in the house after UPS dropped it off...have to open it after the wife goes to sleep later.

We were at Menards in Watertown, SD buying seeds & planting soil today & I thought a new dump truck would be a nice compliment to our purchases !       It’s too clean & shiny, but it’s a good starting point for some weathering, etc.

@Bill Webb posted:

A N & W A is somewhere between Lionel, Mr Muffin, and Harry Heike. Invoice paid; maybe we will see it next week.

Ordered a bunch of retaining walls, tunnel portals, and other stuff from Scenic Express and the last made it into the train room yesterday.

That’s about it.

I hear you; my PRSL is somewhere between the latter two.

@FrankRazz posted:

  Sometimes I just can't pass up on a good deal ......

.............seems like this could be  our mission statement for a lot of us on the OGR forum Frank .