Find any thing hidden gems in junk bins at train shows

All the time. How about two Lionel #715 tank cars?  The next year a set of perfect 717 trucks.

but my favorite was a set of four F-M welded Erie Built trucks and a roof for the same, all in sand cast bronze.  If I could only find the sides . . .

Not lately, but I used to find a lot of cars I could strip and refinish....beatup, and, IMO,

not collectible....

I once found an Exley dining car and a Bassett Lowke operating Royal Mail car in a junk box at a train show. I got both for $20. These are both high end  British O gauge from the 20's or 30's worth far more than $20 bucks. 

At at another train show I found a great pair of McCoy Standard Gauge boxcars for $5 each. One was the sought after Knotts Berry Farm car. 

Several  MRC HO power packs perfect for solenoid and motor driven switch machines

and circuit relays.

a beat up rusty early 675 i bought for parts for $15.00. i put it on the tracks for kicks when i got home and the smoke unit came to life, so much for parts a it's almost finished!

dave

How's this for a junk bin find???

This was a Lionel 2018. Don't have a before pic. Looked like someone had tried to paint it using a paint brush. Globs and Globs of paint. Picked it up for $18 bucks. Completely stripped it and wanted a pink loco. The boiler is the same one Lionel used for the 2037 and the pink 2037 girls loco. So I bought a spray can of "ballet slipper" pink and cleaned her up and gave her a couple coats of pink. Had several people try to buy her at shows when Im running it. I tell them its NOT original. and they say I don't care. did not sell her. shes still running on the Walker Model Railroad.

Always.        Lots of useable stuff can be found under the table.

I would have loved to have found that.

I'm the guy on the floor at the show going thru the treasure boxes. Last  show I went to I found four 1600 series passenger cars. One had been repainted by a youthful owner and is now a diner, and the other three still had very nice green paint. Some missing trucks(which I found in other junk boxes at the same show) and a call to Jeff Kane got three Madison Hardware roofs.The cars were a whole dollar a piece.

So true. Best spot is under the tables

Dealer box for #40 wire cable reels, insert, and 3 reels of wire with the Lionel celophane wrap intact for $10, red frame Marx 3/16ths O gauge PFE reefer for $1, separate sale 614 Alaskan switcher box $4 - if you don't mind getting dirty and wading through 99 piles of garbage, that 100th pile may just yield some goodies...

I bought a box of stuff one time because it looked like it was 027 track and some switches. It had a pair of old K-Line switches in it and an 027 switch(in bad shape), a couple of bridges and a transformer for $25.00. Should of haggled but what can I say, after going through it all at home I was amazed at what I got; a Troller TAC 2001 transformer for use with 2 trains and has 2 different voltage settings, one of the bridges was metal the other plastic, the K-Line switches were too rusty to use, also found 2 Lionel station platforms with lights; one broken  and one in decent shape.

If I was to buy all that stuff new it could have been close to $100.00, so I think that I did very well that day.

I have been using the Troller transformer with my Williams engines and they work well. No need to modify any wiring inside the Williams engine as they run slow enough on the 0 to 9 volt setting, and the transformer whistle button works with the Williams True Blast 2 horn.

Lee Fritz

Awesome very nice job

while not found inn a proverbial junk bin, This repainted beauty was a junker since someone had it cheaply painted in rattle can amtrak silver with the pointless arrow logo....

Very nice one

I occasionally find something but the champion at that is my friend Stan.  He just has that eagle eye and seems to rarely miss things.  Just like last weekend when I missed the deal of the day on Atlas track, he didn't and called me.  He said the blue Atlas boxes caught his eye. 

Art