York Magic

I forget which York it was but I was waiting on line to get in the first day of the meet with a buddy of mine  I had just finished telling him how I wasn't going to buy anything because there were very few things I needed  The doors opened and we walked into the Orange Hall  The very first table we passed had a set of K-Line Blue two tone Long ISland RR passenger cars that I had been looking for at the price of 150.  Well I set the record for purchases in the ten seconds that I walked in

You've done pretty well at my booth, too, Ben, setting a few records.

FrankM.

It's always a great feeling when you finally find something that you've been looking for a long time.

And it is even better when that something practically falls into your lap.

 

Andy

After looking for about 5 years for a S/F full dome car which my LHS didn't order with the set, before leaving for home walked through the blue hall sitting on a table with passenger cars I found it at a great price.  Long live York my favorite train place.

 

Jack  

I have found a lot of great things at York Monday thru Thursday.

A couple of years ago on the forum someone posted a picture of their Lionel 1776 set and I decided then and there to get one. I missed out on a few on Ebay going for more than $500 a set and I had pretty much resigned myself to spending that much for a set plus shipping. Fast forward a few months to York, the first hall I walked into the second table I looked at the dealer had one with a price of $325. I hemmed and hawed over it since I had just gotten there and still wanted to look around. Well after a couple halls I went back and he still had it and I scooped it up.

 

Jerry

Passing up a good deal at York and then coming back to find it still there is a small miracle in and of itself.    I know it has never happened to me - every time I have had second thoughts on an item I passed up, it was gone when I went back.

 

Andy

"every time I have had second thoughts on an item I passed up, it was gone when I went back."    .     .     .     .  Andy Hummel

 

Truer words were never spoken. I passed up an Atlas O GP-38 custom Metro North in the Orange Hall. Of course, when I went back to get it . . . . . I have never seen another. ANYWHERE.

 

Scrapiron

 

quote:

Passing up a good deal at York and then coming back to find it still there is a small miracle in and of itself.    I know it has never happened to me - every time I have had second thoughts on an item I passed up, it was gone when I went back.

 

Same thing happens at local train shows, flea markets, and antique shows.

From the perspective of a table-holder: 

I have had this happen so many times at my little booth in the Orange Hall that it became an expected feature of each day there. Somebody would hesitate to buy a particular Insta-Rama, he'd step out of the booth, and in 1 second or a minute later, another customer would step up and say, "Sold!" They had waited for the first guy to make up his mind, would not interrupt, and made their move once the first customer had exited the booth. I have signs saying, "One of a kind" and stating that I do not repeat any vignette, and let it go at that. I absolutely will not "huckster." I just enjoy the moments of the privilege of being there and don't verbally "peddle."

Good advice on the second thoughts.   This October will be my 1st York Meet.   If I spot something I want.   I will get it right then.   At other big shows that I've attended, I've spent a lot of time going from building to building looking for the best price on what I'm looking for.   It's not fun and a quick way to get tired.   At York, I want to have fun.

Hi ANDY,

  I too had the same experience in the Orange Hall while walking the aisle.  I have been looking for Weaver Reading & Northern 4 bay hoppers with the Orange tags on the ends for quite some time.  I always check out the Weaver boxes when vendors have them.  I walked over to the see what a particular vendor had and low and behold there they were.  JACKPOT!!!  He had 10 hoppers,5 in the Orange and 5 in the Blue, but only they were 2 rail.  No big deal, I just put 3 rail trucks on them and we were good as gold.  I now have a nice coal drag of 18 of these cars half in Blue and the other half in Orange, looks great!!  Now the hunt continues for my DAP, NS two sleeper cars, the Pennsylvania and Alabama cars.  Maybe this time at YORK????  WHO KNOWS, I might get LUCKY again?

At 3 different Yorks I have found a very "pricey" 1:43 car fairly cheap.

Passing up a item at York, & then coming back to it later, & it is gone, has happened to me 100 times. You would think that I have learned by now.

I tell myself that every time it happens, yet it still happens.  The up side to this is that the hunt will then continue, and and a big part of the fun of train meets and shows is the hunt itself. 

 

Andy

Eliot,

 

I didn't know you had willpower!   

 

How's that narrow-gauge VL Big Boy working out? 

 

George

I suppose it does, but I've never had it happen to me at any of these other venues, and I tend to mull over purchases at these venues unless it is something on my "Must Have" list (as opposed to my basic "Want" list).  I chalk it up to the fact that York TCA member attendees are mostly train buyers, while the other venues mentioned have a large number of non-train people and people there to "just look."

 

Andy

At the Fall 2013 York I was wondering around the Orange Hall and saw the East Coast Enterprises booth.  They had a number of great bridges.  I started talking to them about my PRR Panhandle bridge and they were interested.  Long story short, they actually made the bridge and then customized one for me.

 

After 10 years of hunting and countless attempts to buy / build it, the bridge is mine and awaiting installation.  When you know how many bridge vendors I've talked to, that is true York magic.

 

George

My batting average on things still being there is pretty abysmal Andy. This is the one and only time it worked out in my favor, most times it's long gone even after making one pass thru the aisle and then going back. I saw a Skyline building kit one aisle over in the blue hall, by the time I got down the aisle and back up to were it was it was gone.

 

Jerry

Frank, you have BEAUTIFUL Insta-Ramas. I am proud to have purchased one and it is on the layout and visitors always talk about it. Looking forward to seeing you this coming York.

Yepper....been there...suffered that.

 

OTOH, my wife seems to have better luck.  Several 'Yorks' ago, she spied a complete set of Lionel aluminum NYC passenger cars...the later edition in 1938 Century scheme having interiors/riders...and thought it might look nice with the newly-acquired Dreyfuss loco.  Well, she talked with the seller, asked some questions...'Any wiggle room in the price?'..., and decided to 'think about it'......which is her way of saying, 'If it's there when I stop back, maybe I should have it!'

 

So, several hours later we wander by again.  The set is still there.  She offers a price.  The seller agrees....and as he's gathering up the boxes, counting the money, these two guys rush up to the table breathlessly. 

 

"Did you just buy this set?" they asked.

 

"Yep!" she replied with a smile.

 

And, as they walked away you could hear...."I told you you shoulda gotten over here sooner!!!!"

 

 

That's it....our once-in-a-lifetime by a nose grab....at York, no less!!

 

But, the 'If you see it now, BUY IT!' advice is pretty solid, IMHO.  The regrets can be oh so painful.  

 

ouch.

 

 

 

 

 

Several years ago I was looking for a black Vision Line Hudson. There were a couple  at outrageous prices. I bumped into a forum member and he asked what I was looking for. I told him and he said he had 2 Hudson's . He was willing to sell 1 for the price he paid which was very reasonable. We shook hands on it. When I got home I mailed him a check and he shipped me a new Hudson in the box. Great deal. Good friend.

Jim D. 

Rich and his team can, indeed, perform magic. And the results last.

FrankM.

My magic was in selling an item, not in buying it.  Several years ago, I had a bridge that no dealer at the local TCA meet could help me identify, but every one of them wanted it, "just name your price".  Turns out it was a hand painted 1 Gauge Marklin bridge from 1907.  It was 70" long.  After a few months of talking to people around the country I eventually found a person in California who looked at the pictures, let me know what it was, and what it was worth.  $7500 with the flags and about $6500 without the flags.  He put me in touch with a man in New Jersey who wanted to buy it.  I sent him pictures, we agreed on a very favorable price and I drove up to York with it.  I met him at the Sheraton parking lot.  He looked at the bridge and then handed me the cash money. 

I think there are some deals that need to be done in person and York is probably the most likely place to get that done given the % of train people who do go there.

OMG!!!

 

New Joisey??  I'll bet it's the same guy that won an auction we ran online for a client!

 

A local friend was thinning his collection of stuff.  He carefully listed the items in multiple boxes on several sheets of paper.  As we sorted through the items, there was this one item, a glass-canopied shelter-thing that looked VERY old....but was in quite good condition.  No broken glass...which was etched in a beautiful artistic design...and minimal paint scratching/chipping.  It had not been listed on the papers, so we contacted the client for clarification.

 

"Oh, that thing??  Many years ago my mother gave that to me.  She bought it at an antique store somewhere in Ohio, I think, and, since I was into 'trains', thought I'd like it! Frankly, I thought it was ugly as heck, so I just graciously kept it....hidden.  Other than that, I have no idea what it is....get what you can." 

 

So, as is my wife's practice, she started researching.  There was a logo...and the word "Germany" underneath on of the two platforms.  She determined that it was a Maerklin logo....from the early 1900's!!!!  She searched the internet.  She asked other hobby friends.  No one had a clue.  There was no identity help to be found.   So, how would you describe it?....What price could you expect?...What category should it be entered under?

 

"I wouldn't let it go for anything less than around 300-400 dollars!", was one recommendation.  So she led with a opening bid of about $100, if we recall.

 

Ha, ha....so much for that!  By the following morning we had blown through that number and were headed to 6 times that amount!!  GOOD GRIEF!!  What have we got here?  And our client was dumfounded, to say the least.

 

Over the next week the price creeped upward.  Holy moly!

 

Then came the emails.  'End the auction early.  Here's a good offer I'll make you.', etc..  But one email we respected.  A collector said he was aware of this Maerklin piece, and that this item in our auction was only the second one he had ever seen or was aware of.  Furthermore, as much as he wanted it, he predicted that 'Mr. X'....in New Joisey...would probably bid on it at the end. 

 

And 'Mr. X' did.   

 

Our client was not online watching the auction close....but his wife was.  She said he was pursuing his other passion at the moment...playing golf with 3 buddies.  But at the close, she called him on the course.  $4,500!!!!   ....for that "ugly thing" his long-departed mother had given him out of love and respect for him and his hobby!

 

In the end, that one item...the "ugly thing"...accounted for about 40% of the entire collection he had us sell for him. 

 

Yep, I've got to believe it's the same collector that you sold your bridge to.  Nice to know that there is someone out there who appreciates what you have and is willing to give a fair/proper price for it!!

 

Don't ya just love stories like this in this hobby????? 

 

I do!!

 

 

Well a lawyer/TCA member in Philadelphia convinced me over the phone that the bridge was worth $1800.00 tops.  He deals with it all the time and a very common piece.  I was gullible and I almost made the deal with him.  Turns out that my Mr. New Jersey was very honest and knew about the lawyer/shyster member in PA.   Said he would wait a year or so and then let the lawyer know that he had it.

That episode taught me volumes about the train business from A - Z.

quote:

 I was gullible and I almost made the deal with him.

 

I learned early on that there are a lot of ethically challenged people out there. Some of them belong to the TCA. You have to do your own homework.

Really cool thread.

Although, not at York but at the last Spring Thaw show in Allentown I spotted a MTH 20-3020 PS1 Hudson. I already have one that I converted to 2 rail but I wanted another one to either convert to 2 rail or keep 3 rail. Price was $275. I paid $1,200 for mine in the late '90s. Anyway, I asked my friend what to do and he said come back in a little while. No one wants PS1 these days. Yup, it was gone when I went back. Cheapest I have seen one recently is, I think, $375 plus shipping. I will get another one someday. No big deal but I should have snatched that one up.

       
       


Yup, I got sort of swindled once myself. Since then I have become a lot wiser.

This is also very true in the car hobby.

I've found several desirable Atlas Billboard reefers and Lionel accessories at bargain prices.  They weren't on my list per see but buying low and selling high enabled me to obtain items which were.

-Greg

Eddie G, You asked, "What is a shyster? I can't find it in the dictionary."

Shyster: Noun,informal.

1. a lawyer who uses unprofessional or questionable practices.

2. a person who gets along by petty, sharp practices.

Origin: 1835-45, Americanism; probably German Scheisser, equivalent to scheiss(en) .

I know that guy. He somehow was entitled to the TCA mailing list and sends me spam even after I told him personally I'm not interested.  That, sir, is a real shyster.  

 

Frank,

 

They have performed magic.  You saw me that day with the bridge!  I didn't know I could grin that big!

 

George

 

One of the first train collectors I ever met became my best friend and taught me the Golden Rule of train collecting: The time to buy a train is when you see it! 

 

 

I'd love to see the bridge in situ once you have it on your layout, with you standing next to it with the same happy grin. I am sure we all would . Have any such photos yet?

FrankM

I spent $200 more than my allocated budget back in April.  My wife didn't yell at me.  York magic!

York magic.

I haven't been in 15 years.

I recently got back into trains in February because of my 2yr old grandson.

About 2 months ago, I told my wife I was going to York this October.

 

She started with the usual:

Why are you going?

Don't you have enough trains?

etc.

 

I held my hand up in the air like the traffic cop to stop traffic.

She stopped talking.

 

York Magic !