Favorite find at train show?

I find that online pricing variances may be wider than a train show for the same item.  I started a thread a couple of weeks ago after I bought a TCA convention car, NIB, for $49 plus shipping.  There were contemporaneous listings for this exact same car ranging as high as two listings over $300.

Years ago, when there might be three train shows the same day in a circle aound

Cleveland, Ohio, and I had just gotten back into three rail, I was walking through a

train show in a church meeting hall, and a guy was offering passersby a Marx train set,

that he was carrying around.  I picked up the brown roofed "box" car, saw it was

the Pa. stock car (seen on eBay now for $100-$200) in an original Marx boxed set,

and immediately paid him his requested $50 for the set.  My best train show find.

Best deal I ever saw at a model train show was 1:1 scale. A pal of mine lives and breathes Southern RR stuff, and he found a builder's plate for a PS-2 Pacific locomotive at a show I was at, too. It was a little beat up from probably being ripped off the engine during scrapping, but the person selling it had no idea what it was or what it was worth, even though it was labelled on the back. I always assumed the seller was selling off the estate of a collector.

Anyway, my buddy got it for $20!  And you don't have to be into builder plates to know what a screaming deal that was!

And yes, he still has it, on a place of honor on his living room wall. He even says he'll be buried with it...

My train show "find" occurred at York 15 years ago.  At the time the 2373 CP AA diesels and passenger cars were on fire.  Walking down an aisle, I glanced at what had to be the worst train display by a seller--junky bricks separated by used 1 x 4's creating a few shelves.  But on the shelves was a very clean pair of CP AA's and four passenger cars--the good ones LIONEL issued in the second year that dropped two of the vista domes and replaced them with coaches.

The seller said he wanted $700 for the set; out came the wallet and they were mine.

The sequel is I got the set home, put it on my layout and didn't like the set.  The cars were fine; the AA's color seemed dull--no shine at all.  Sold the set which funded train purchases for a good while.

While looking for a MTH EVO for my O36 layout my wife said she really liked the DCS Demonstrator Engine because it was purple, so I bought it too. Got it home and ran it for her and now it's one of my favorite engines. Runs smooth, looks great and just seems if fit my layout perfectly.

Dan

  A few weeks ago at the Rocky Mountain Train Show there was a women there on Sunday with 3 tables full of o scale cars for 2 bucks apiece. Good ones ! No boxes just the cars. I walked away with 2 bag loads.

  I told some friends of mine and they too returned with bags full !

I have found the York Meet to be the best source to find rare items I have been on the hunt for. Just this past October, I found two of the hardest to get K-Line 21" passenger cars sets.

Bnsftrains,

   My favorite find at a train show was not any kind of deal, Andy and the guys from the Pitt Hi Railers were running a new Legacy Shay engine at the Monroeville, Pa train show one year, it was my undoing as to Lionel legacy engines.  My Great Grandfather actually drove one of these engines, as they logged the mountains.  Please understand I am a licensed Professional Engineer (PWE) all I had to due was see the Shay's actual gear driven wheels and I was a goner.  I had to have one of those engines.

Course I will blame Andy for all this for the rest of my life.

PCRR/Dave

My favorite thing I ever bought, train-wise, is a beautiful hand-made, detailed model of the HellGate bridge, which I found at York about 2 years ago. It is compressed scale, like the Lionel version. Since it is too large for my small layout, I display it with 2 postwar AF trains on it. I cross the real bridge about 8 times a year.

I had picked up a Marx NYC passenger car, and was looking for the other coach and observation car. Dad and I went to the last train show at Oglebay Park, and I think it was the first or second table I went to there were the two cars I needed, and at a great price. Then a few tables down I got a Marx crossing shanty for $10, and I had been seeing one at a local antique shop gather dust for over a year at $100. Then also at the same show I found four 1630 Prewar passenger cars in a junk box for $1 each. Three run behind my 225E under the tree(with original paint) and the fourth has been turned into a diner.

I'd say any one of my 'rescues'. Sometimes people don't even realize they're selling a diamond in the rough. Every once in while I catch a break, find something I like dirt cheap  because no one else thinks it's any good & they don't see any potential, buy it for a steal, take it home, fix it up, paint it, or whatever it takes, & then use it like it was a brand new item. I love it when that happens. 

Here's a few of my "fixer upper" specials. I bought all of these at different times here & there for pennies on the dollar because they were shot, made repairs & did some paint work to turn someone's junk into a serviceable piece for the layout.

best part of the hobby for me.

Our find was MTH's Scale GG-1 #4877 a few years back in 2011.

My son really likes New Jersey Transit (It's a long story).  He has this video of how they obtained PRR's #4877 and pulled NJT passenger cars with it.

That was the only thing he wanted for Christmas.  According to the MTH product locator, none were to be had.  I scoured the internet for weeks.

That fall I went to York... and there it was sitting with a whole bunch of other engines on display.  It did not have a price tag on it. 

Inside I was excited and wanted to burst out, "It's Mine" and grab the engine.  But I held back.  I casually asked him for a price.  He said, $400.  I sort of paused... and he said, but I'll do $350. 

I remember trying to be very nonchalant about it, but the guy had to know I was excited.  My wife says I have a lousy poker face.

It was a great Christmas indeed!

Ron

Have not been to a train show in a very long time, but if I ever go and see any AC6000's, I'll be sure to post a thread about it because that is absolutely my most favorite locomotive of all time.

Pete

My favorite "find" was the almost three years ago when I went to O Scale West for the first time. It was there that I was introduced to the old wood and metal boxcar kits from Reynolds, Athearn, etc. It introduced me to an aspect of the hobby I wasn't familiar with and one that I've come to really enjoy. 

I'm pretty sure that if I hadn't seen those pre-painted sides up close in person (as opposed on the internet) I never would have been as interested. So I guess it was less a "find" than a "discovery", but it really raised my level of enjoyment in the hobby.

Fred