Help Fellows "Stolen Trains"

Dude that sucks

you got that right

you cant even trust your In-Laws This is really bad 99 percent of the Collection is missing including post war Transformers Sets including a 1991 Girls set Coca Cola Sets and seperate cars as well as caterpillar train set and Cars and this is just the top of the list.

 

You have nice family members.

Ya Aint that the truth

Bobbie,

Did your in-law pawn the items or sell them to the pawn shop?

I don't know about W VA but most states require pawn shops to

keep pretty detailed records.

John

Please tell us they got in trouble with the law for this.

Collective karma from us forum members...hoping your collection reappears.

Normally the police would try to interview the suspect.  What about his wife,can she give you a clue as to where he might have taken them? 

working with the West Virginia Hinton Police Department from the information i have acquired the one set was pawned to pay the bills and they were to get it back out of pawn if i came after the collection. this is the info i have but i have been trying to get the collection back since the end of august which is when i Found out they had pawned it

Depending on how this is taken i intend to clear this i gave no permission to pawn or seperate the collection.  I am only passing on the information that I have been given which has been given to me by my oldest son who was staying with them temporarily

 

working on it depending on what the officer has found out depends on when i file in court for stolen property in the amount of over 8 Thousand Dollars which from my understanding is this amount is a felony

 

Thank you I need it And so Do I

Wife would rather Rip my head off as well as the fact that she drove the vehicle to take the set to the pawn shop

       
       

I don't get it. She drove them but won't say and she's mad at YOU for this????

Hi Bobbie

     Do you have some photos of the collection you can post. Maybe you will get lucky and someone on the Forum saw them, "Someplace" 

Gary

his wife was part of the pair that took the Train to the pawn shop as a matter of fact i believe that she was the one who brought up the idea to pawn it and as a matter of fact she has always had animosity towards me

i have photos of most of them they would be christmas photos of past layouts and as far as the information i have they have only pawned one but I keep getting ditched when i talk to them

 

here you go fellows

 

MTH- 20-3040-1/20-93097/20-4029/20-4129

 

top right Lionel Polar Express/ K-line Mp-15 pulling Coca-Cola Flats with Vehicles with Caboose/Middle williams GS-4 Custom painted for Coca Cola pulling Freight set/ infront of that is custom painted Engineering sample 0-8-0 switcher pulling a Willims and K-line Coca Cola Passenger cars/ Lower Level MTH Christmas express 4-6-0 upgraded to ps2 pulliing the K-line 12 days of Christmas with Happy Holidays Caboose

 

From the Bottom MTH Caterpillar 75th Anniversary Set with PS 2 Engine. 3rd Lionel 1991 Girls Set/ 2nd Williams GG-1 Girls passenger Set/1st Williams Girls Steam Set modified with Fan driven Smoke unit And Led Headlight

Bottom Row not in picture MTH Gold Set/ behind it MTH 2-6-0 PS1 ateam engine puling 8 Christmas Boxcars and caboose/ Track 3 Coca Cola 0-8-0 Passenger set with an extra advertising car/ Track 4 Williams 4-8-4 Coca Cola freight set/ Track 5 Coca Cola Mp-15 Vehicle Freight set/ Track 6 Lionel 1956 Hudson pulling a set of MTH Pennsylvania Madison Passenger cars

 

 

 

 

here is the display i did for the local library 3 years ago/ Track 1 top inner Williams Steam Girls set/ Track 2 1938 Tinplate donated to run for the christmas party by a fellow train guy/ Track 3 Caterpillar Loco Sound F-40PH pulling the MTH 20-90467/20-90468 Caterpillar 2 bay hoppers/Track 4 MTH30-1137-1 2-6-0 Baltimore and ohio Steam engine pulling 10 mth Christmas box cars/ Track 5 Gold set

Here is a closeup of the 0-8-0 Engineering sample

This is so messed up on so many levels.Well I know he will not be invited over for christmas dinner.I really hope you get your trains back.And I also hope you have a happy christmas.

This is so messed up on so many levels. You got that right

Well I know he will not be invited over for Christmas dinner. Absolutely No way in Hades

really hope you get your trains back.And I also hope you have a happy Christmas.

I do Too and I am afraid that i will not have a happy Christmas because of the fact that due to the finicial situtation the trains were my gift to me to keep me entertained because there will be no gifts under the tree for any of us

That completely sucks - lets hope the police can locate and jail the thieves. 

Wait a minit....is this guy and his wife still able to walk? I mean, here in Joisey, we take care of scoundrel hooligins in a certain kinda way....if my in laws did this, I gaurantee they will lose the ability to put 1 foot in front of the other.....

it is not a matter of the police locating them it is a matter of gathering enough evidence to jail them

which at this moment we are working on

All i am looking for from the forum is to advertise that the collection was taken and if any member might see any information that might be used by the police to recover the collection as well as if any member has purchased a train set in the West Virginia Area.

 

Oldest son age is 21

Son was living with the wifes side of the family  in-law

The Suspects in the Case are the particular inlaws both husband and wife

Son is not living with the inlaws

Collection was not insured due to Finicial Situatrions

 

to be honest i wish i lived in jersey

Bobbie, I have nothing substantive to add except to say I hope this gets resolved with your trains returning home and all parties involved in this transgression getting a colonoscopy with a cactus.

 

Paul

Bobbie,

   Only person worse than a train thief, is a gun thief.  Hope you can recover your stolen trains.  Sounds like you have a dangerous family situation, hope you get it straightened out.

PCRR/Dave

paul thanks i appreciate

Pine creek

I agree wholly and i am going to have mothing more to do with these particular in-laws in the future

thank you

I doubt you would want to live here when the tax bill shows up every 3 months.

 

Seriously, I really bad for you. That is a beautiful set. I wanted to buy that gold plated set myself but I didn't have the funds at the time. I sincerely hope you can get your trains back and the guilty parties can be prosecuted. I wish there was something I could do to help. Good luck Bobbie.

This is even sadder than the thread earlier this year when somebody stole a locomotive from Harry Henning's North Penn O-Gauge open house!!!  What is wrong with people??? 

 

David

 

 

P.S.  At least Harry's story had a relatively happy ending.  Hope yours does too.

Bobbie,

I think I'd need a flow chart to have a grasp on what the heck happened here as I just don't get it (I thought it was your wife who assisted in the theft), but in the end that doesn't matter anyway.

The important part is some no-goodnick swiped your trains and sold them. I wish you equal luck in getting them back as well as putting everyone involved behind bars. I'm on the other side of the country, so I can't assist you in any material way, I'm sorry to say. I'm a big believer in smiting wrongdoers and a 'what's right it right' mindset.

Suffice to say, if my wife of 15 years (who I love more than I ever though anyone could love anyone else) decided to assisted someone in stealing anyone's property to sell it (let alone something so rare), I'd have tossed her headfirst into the front yard, changed all the locks in the house and would be on the phone with a divorce attorney right now.

Good luck with this, and please keep us posted.

There is no justice in America. Folks get put in jail but get out and uncle Sam gives them money..Brent

Thank you and yes it is a beautiful set.  I was lucky to have gotten it

it was the crowning jewel of my collection and i am really heart broken that it is gone

At this point i will be unable to replace 3/4's of the collection due to finances and the fact that 95% of the collection was gotten from manufactures that have gone out of business

Rocky Thank you for your kind words I hope the collection shows back up it is really ridiculous that I have to disappoint so many people that see my trains every year at this local library at christmas.  I am really gonna be sad when the kids start asking where are the trains

I am not really this way but the more I thought about this.The more fed up I got.But the kids that come over and ask about the trains.I would not hold back nothing.I would tell them the truth the whole truth.And I would tell the rest of the family.I don,t know your family but in family.You do some thing like this.The whole family would just cut them off.They would be barred from all actives.And if they came over they would not even make out of their car.Turn them away is this mean.Yes it is but what they did was a lot meaner.These people who were trusted to pull a chicken ^%$# move this.

They are not welcome at my home or near me however the Christmas display that i do for the Local library is really going to suffer as I am unable to set up and run for them to which the kids in the local area really love my trains and i have several that loved the Gold set and have asked for it each time before the next display.

Bobbie:

 

Like others, I'm having a hard time following along.

 

This would be what I understand:

• You had to move in April but you needed help with the move due to some physical ailments.
• You asked your inlaws for assistance and they agreed to help.  OR, they offered to help and you accepted.  (I cannot tell which is correct.  Please clarify.)
• You either asked the inlaws to put the trains in storage and they did not, or they offered to store them for you and you accepted.  (Again, I cannot tell which is correct.  Please clarify.)
• Your oldest son participated in packing the items.  Presumably he can verify that the trains were together and in good order at the time they were packed.
• I am also assuming that your son can tell you that they were in fact stored and specifically where they were stored (e.g., in a garage, an attic, a basement, etc.).  I.e., I am assuming that he can verify they did not go directly to the pawn shop.
• Finally, your oldest son let you know in August that the trains were pawned and you called the police shortly afterward.

Now, here's where things start getting unclear to me:

• If everything was packed in April, what was it that happened in August that caused your oldest son tell you the trains had been pawned?  Did he discover it himself?  Did the inlaws tell him they had pawned the trains?  Did he just randomly check on the status of the trains and found them missing?  OR, did you ask for the trains and the inlaws didn't give them to you and then you asked your son if he knew anything about it?
• When you found out these trains had been pawned, did you call these inlaws first and ask them about the situation?  Or did you call the police first?
• If you spoke to the inlaws, what exactly did they say?  You said above, "I keep getting ditched when i talk to them".  Sorry, what does this mean?
• Have you said something to them like, "I entrusted my trains to your care.  I would like them back now."?  If you said that, what response did they have? I mean, forget about "ditched", there just aren't too many answers that can be given to simple statements like:
  
      You packed and stored my trains for me.
      I would like them back now.
      Where are they?
• What have the police told you is the next step?  August is now 2-3 months ago.  What is happening next?
• Have you visited the Pawn Shops you believed were used and asked them (in Princeton and Lewisburg)?  It's not every day that someone would pawn a gold-plated O gauge train, is it?  Perhaps the owner could at least remember.  It might help you to know how much your inlaws received for the trains.

 

I am not a lawyer, so this isn't that kind of advice, and you can take it or leave it, but here's what I think you should do:

1. Clearly ascertain what the dollar limit is in your state at which petty theft becomes felony theft.  You said "8 Thousand Dollars which from my understanding is this amount is a felony".  You need to be absolutely clear on this point before you file anything.
2. Please prepare a detailed inventory of what is missing.  This will help substantiate the value of what was stolen and, more importantly, will help everyone on forums like this to keep an eye out for these items for you.  The photos above help, but they aren't the same as a detailed inventory.
3. After you've gotten that inventory together, post it here,and let everyone chime in concerning what they think it's worth.  And, again, we can all keep an eye out for these items for you.

Please let us know more if you think we can help.  I am sorry that this happened to you.

 

Steven J. Serenska

I might be out of line here but I would bet good money that drugs are involved. Drug addicts will steal and lie to anyone (especially family members) to get what they need. They think that they will probably not be procecuted and most times they are correct.

Good luck in your search.

here are the clarifications you requested