I went shopping with my wife on a long day trip and I Googled train shop in this small city. We walked in the door and I asked the gentleman if he had any MA & PA rolling stock he said yes and I have a SW-9 also. Couldn't believe it when I saw it but decided to decline. We shopped and had lunch the whole time it was eating away at me. As we were leaving town my wife looked at me and said do you want to go back after the SW-9. I'm thankful it didn't get away.
Alfred E Neuman posted:I thought it was a K-Line Cotton Belt RS-3 with TMCC and RailSounds, but there are two fixed price offerings on eBay, so I must conjure up another elusive desire.
Careful, those BIN prices are double what eBay and Trainz auctions fetched for NIB models in 2017.
Lionel Milwaukee Road # 261. I saw one in Nassau Hobby right after they shipped...for $899.99 (I think that was MSRP...a bargain even without discount). I passed on one of their best.
I can't think of anything that "got away", but I have a few things that I'm glad I didn't walk away from.
"Weaver Santa Fe Valley Flyer 4-6-2."
They show up on eBay regularly, usually at better prices than when announced.
"Weaver Southern Tennessean (4-6-2 or 4-6-4, don't remember) Streamlined green boiler. May have been styled by Henry Dryfus"
It was a Ps-4 Pacific (SRwy had no Hudsons), and not styled by Dreyfuss; Otto Kuhler was the industrial designer; he also styled the MILW F-7 hiawatha Hudsons and the GM&O ACF Rebel lightweight streamliner in the 1930's - and the Alco DL-109 diesels.
I have one of the Weaver Kuhler Pacifics; hard to find and often overpriced - I did manage to get mine for a surprisingly not-too-high price a few years ago. I installed ERR Cruise Commander and RS in mine.
Kuhler did the LV Pacifics, too - and they favor the SRwy engine.
GGD '51 Super Chief Set. It would be ideal behind my El-Cap for the later combined train.
For me it was the MTH Amtrak Genesis locos in Phase V paint. First I took a pass when they were offered in Walthers catalog since there were not any modern Amtrak passenger cars to go with them. I sure didn't want to buy the locos to run with rehashed old style cars in decades old paint schemes. Then I passed on the same locos when Ready to Roll in Miami was blowing them out the door for an amazing deal. next up they were all over eBay at $600 a piece. Held off and now bought the reissues with newer electronics and better details!! I'm I sad I missed that one? No way!! It's fun to keep searching and waiting. It keeps the hobby entertaining.
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Honestly, I thought the focus of this question was locomotive based, but I have to agree with Jonathan above in that I had to pass on the “B” version of the GGD Super Chief set at the time. Try finding a set today… almost impossible.
Trains (engines) that I let get away, not so much. I have way more then I need at this point. Too many with no passenger cars to pull.
Charlie
The one l hate missing out on was an O scale brass McKeen car in an auction. Nary a one seen since.
NUMBER 90: l have the Weaver Valley Flyer new in box....Catch 22... this was custom relettered by Weaver as a similar Colorado and Southern loco that hauled a passenger train from Texas to Cheyenne.
The Lionel scale "Black Jack" Penn Central GG1.
It got lost in the shuffle amongst other preorders at the time, so I thought I'd just get one later. I had seen several of them since, but Lionel didn't produce many of them and the ones I saw were double the price by then. I refuse to give in to extortion. I ended up buying a Williams version that I will upgrade to ProtoSound 3.0, but it's not as nicely appointed as the Lionel version.
And now, although I wasn't interested at the time of its release, I'm searching for the K-Line Amtrak Surfliner 21" passenger set since we are moving to the San Diego area. 
Ugh... The freaking B-Unit that goes with the MTH NYO&W FT ABA set. A store had one for the longest time, but not the ABA set. Well, years later I found the ABA Set but can't get my hands on a B-Unit!
Well this is more than I thought would answer.I can see that this happens to us all.The best we can do is to keep on tracking with the trains we have.
Mine isn't a complete train, but a locomotive part, and I lost it tonight. I "need" a replacement frame for my prewar Lionel gunmetal 763E Hudson, as its frame is warped. I placed my maximum bid, but lost. One will come up for sale again at some point, but for now this loco will have to look beautiful on a shelf.
Lionel scale S-2 PRR turbine, for $300. I didn't have a lot of money with me at the time, so I wanted to see what other dealers at the train show had.
You guessed it -- by the time I got back to the S-2, it was gone.
The New Haven F3 set from 1959.......I have an original 1958 set (brought by Santa!). Saw this one at York in the late 80s, early 90s.....$750. A good price, but I was just starting out with a young family......that was 3x my usual York budget at the time.
Would love a PWC remake with Legacy or a Collectible Classic remake....probably will never happen.
Peter
Peter
Loved that 59 NH set ---I remember as a kid seeing that set at Red Lion hardware store in Northeast Philly --- my local train store
Very colorful set with the State of Maine boxcar and the Aquarium car --- nice set 
A bunch of unique items from the Seacrest Collection recently auctioned...
dorfj2 posted:Peter
Loved that 59 NH set ---I remember as a kid seeing that set at Red Lion hardware store in Northeast Philly --- my local train store
Very colorful set with the State of Maine boxcar and the Aquarium car --- nice set
Absolutely........one thing I could do is acquire the original cars and switch the engines back and forth.....
Peter
A Toonerville Trolley.....in O3R....in de box, mon!
Corny to the lithographed bone....but I smile every time I see one (rarely!!)...shudder at the price asked....and then regret not competing.
So Frasier?....Niles?.....What '-otic' or '-osis' is that?
Actually, I think I let something like that 'get away' just so I'll be able to have a never-ending search at all the Yorks and other meets, shows, markets, auctions, etc.. If I had nothing to search for, it would be a rather dull adventure, eh what?
Let the search continue!!!
KD
There are three:
Postwar #45 boxed.
LN Postwar U.S. Marines Alcos
MPC J C Penny 8006 Silver Streak.
Started hunting for the Silver Streak couple of years ago and couldn't find it anywhere. I found the display board but nothing else. Did a complete search of all items in the inventory and found the three engines above were missing.
I have no clue where they went, but somehow i have "let them get away".
Modern Marx Stock Cars. Got into the Flynn era Marx a bit late and rapidly bought their products, but by the time I wanted to focus on stock cars, they no longer had much in inventory. Now in the aftermarket, they are seldom seen.
Steve
I few years back I missed on the Lionel CSX "Heritage" WM AC6000 units. I will catch up them one day. (Not in a hurry).
Steve "Papa" Eastman posted:Modern Marx Stock Cars. Got into the Flynn era Marx a bit late and rapidly bought their products, but by the time I wanted to focus on stock cars, they no longer had much in inventory. Now in the aftermarket, they are seldom seen.
Steve
Steve, I missed the whole Flynn era of Marx. They offered some beautiful trains. I will catch up with that some day as well. 
Two engines
- Weaver NECR - saw several and never pulled out my cash/credit card fast enough. By the time Weaver shut down, they were out of them.
- MTH Central Connecticut GP20 - Did not preorder
NECR runs through the woods behind my house. Central CT runs along the University of Hartford where I am a professor
Lad
Henry J. posted:I few years back I missed on the Lionel CSX "Heritage" WM AC6000 units. I will catch up them one day. (Not in a hurry).
Webb's Market in Frederica, DE had one a few years ago. I'm sure it's gone now, it was a good looking engine.
