Your "Holy Grail" items . . .

@HiramO posted:

Regarding the Neil Young cars, I have them, remember ordering them when they were first announced. Two Vapours and a flat car load of guitars. Treasured items!

My holy grails are three, all Third Rail...  a Rio Grande coach, and Canadian National Diner and Observation.

Jan

I would love to see a photo of that flat car with the guitars. Not coming up with anything on a google search.

But I'm with the other poster whose item is more room. The biggest reason my layouts are seasonal is I gotta pack it away and restore the space.

@HiramO posted:

Regarding the Neil Young cars, I have them, remember ordering them when they were first announced. Two Vapours and a flat car load of guitars. Treasured items!

......

I do not believe we are talking about the same car . 

The one I am describing was not something a person could "order" when it came out.  I believe the back story is they were done for employees of Neil Young as gifts.  This rare car then resulted in the creation of the much more common 29218 that started this series for the general train collecting public.  Though the 29218 may have been uncataloged and somewhat limited when it was first offered - they certainly would qualify as "common" now. 

I do have (I think, from memory, and a quick google image search ) 6 "different" boxcars and the caboose.  (I say "different" because 2 look identical aside from a small numbering graphic.  This is the one with the Wolf with the Santa hat on, white background car with red-ish colored Vapor logo). 

So there is the gray/purple 29218 that is like my "Holy Grail" Car, the 2 Wolf with Santa Hat variants, the Blue car with the Snowman playing the guitar, the Santa and Wolf pulling sleigh one (white car, but large green background for the wolf pulling the Santa sleigh), then the dark blue one with the Wolf near the chimney dressed as Santa. Then the caboose.  There is a chance I forgot one.  Like I said, didn't just compare to my inventory list.

@ed h posted:

dave,

Took me about 15 years to find one, they don't show up very often to say the least.  To further confuse matters the box is mis-labeled 6-29606 where the actual item number is 6-29206.

Yes, that is exactly the car!   Congrats on finding one!

-Dave

I'd like a Lionel SP AC9, but even the TMCC versions are selling for more than I want to pay. They aren't hard to find, it's just I want one cheaper than average 😉.

A Williams N5C caboose in MONON paint scheme.

My current “holly grail” item is Lionel’s Santa Fe 3000. When I first saw this locomotive I just knew I had to have it but I did not have the money. I have been looking for one for awhile but when one does come up I either miss it or I preordered something else. Thanks for reading and happy railroading!

@sinistar posted:

I would love to see a photo of that flat car with the guitars. Not coming up with anything on a google search.

But I'm with the other poster whose item is more room. The biggest reason my layouts are seasonal is I gotta pack it away and restore the space.

I'm not sure if this is what Hiramo meant, but try searching for "Lionel Martin Guitars" and look at images.  It wasn't actual guitars, but 4 wood boxes on a flat car meant to suggest there were guitars inside.

I think, or maybe it's pallets of the wood used to make the guitars - there is a sign with a wood type(?) on top of each of the 4 items on the flatcar.  While I know what this car looks like, I never paid a lot of attention to studying it.  Maybe it's even guitar product lines?  I know literally zero about guitars... the signs say Mahogany, Sitka Spruce, Rosewood, and Ebony, and the boxes seem to be colored to coordinate with the names.

-Dave

@Lou1985 They aren't hard to find, it's just I want one cheaper than average 😉.

my man will stretch out a penny to make copper wire......😜😜😜

Pat

@harmonyards posted:

@Lou1985 They aren't hard to find, it's just I want one cheaper than average 😉.

my man will stretch out a penny to make copper wire......😜😜😜

Pat

Why pay more just to have one? If it's not necessary for my survival I can wait till I get a really good deal 😁.

Big issue is with no train shows the ability to get a great deal is limited. I picked a really bad time to start looking for an AC9....

Modern pennies are bad for wiring. They're mostly zinc 😆.

I don't have any.  I have a list of "nice to have" items including a number that have never been made.  It is unlikely there will be any items though that will give me the sheer joy of acquisition that I got when I got a few key items back in the 1980s.  The closest thing in recent years was getting one of Malcolm's cabooses, something I have now done.

I found my engine holy grail, but it took 10+ years.  It was a 3rd Rail post-WWII (unskirted) Q1.  I first saw it, and wanted it,  about 2005 and didn't finally find one I could afford until 2015/2016.

My current holy grail is any accurate Railway Express Agency car WITHOUT the red diamond.  The red diamond didn't come about until the early 50s, and my layout is set in 1949.  There just are not any out there (okay, there is apparently an the Atlas 53'6" wood express reefer (3001013) but I haven't found one yet).

Just a grail, I would like to find a GGD 54' reefer in original ACL colors.

My holy grail came into my life when I was probably about 11-12 years old. I went with my mother to visit this lady in a real fancy-pants Park Ave apartment.  It was like an apartment in a Fred Astaire movie. It had ten foot ceilings and a band room full of sheet music stands.   That was the second most thing that impressed me.

As I wandered about in the apartment I stumbled upon a good size oval of track on the dining room floor. And there it sat. A double AA NYC F3 and several extruded aluminum passenger cars. OMG, I really wanted that set. I was quite pleased with my 1959 NP GP set with the aquarium and fire fighting cars. But, this set was too much for me to ever forget about.  I thought her grandson was the luckiest kid in the world. I really, really wanted to get down on the floor and play with it. But, I knew that my mother was there on business, and not to have me play with trains.  That made the set even more enticing. 
Well, when I got back into trains in 1982 I didn’t forget about it.  So, when I started acquiring trains this was on the “gotta get” list.      And so what do you think I did?  Yep, I got it. I had to build it item by item as I later learned it was not a cataloged set. 
It’s been sitting on a happy shelf now for years, but when I look at it I still see that set on the floor of that fancy- *ss apartment. 

K line NYC J1e.

Your "Holy Grail" items...

For me, a nice Lionel postwar set headed by a #45 U.S. Marines operating diesel, complete with all the boxes.

enjoy your toy trains...

My search was for an Erie Dunmore caboose. I considered a couple custom made versions and even constructing one of my own. With the help of a couple friends at various forums, I ended up finding two inside of a month of each other. They are the 3rd Rail models in three rail versions.

Here is the C-108. The other is the C-104

Tom

A bundle of $20.00 bills,

Dave

This has become such a great thread, I really enjoy the back stories, thank you for sharing!

I have three.

Dad worked for the N&W from 1952-1988. From 1954-1957 he was working for the Motive Power Department and was assigned to the 2300 steam turbine electric. I am eternally grateful to Scott Mann for making this.

The 2300 was very seldom seen w/o the N&W Dynamometer car.  The NWHS had drawings, and Brother Love scratch built one for me. He also built the beautiful N&W CF Caboose. His artistry is amazing. 

@Dave45681 posted:

I'm not sure if this is what Hiramo meant, but try searching for "Lionel Martin Guitars" and look at images.  It wasn't actual guitars, but 4 wood boxes on a flat car meant to suggest there were guitars inside.

I think, or maybe it's pallets of the wood used to make the guitars - there is a sign with a wood type(?) on top of each of the 4 items on the flatcar.  While I know what this car looks like, I never paid a lot of attention to studying it.  Maybe it's even guitar product lines?  I know literally zero about guitars... the signs say Mahogany, Sitka Spruce, Rosewood, and Ebony, and the boxes seem to be colored to coordinate with the names.

-Dave

 

Thanks for the tip. Yes, looking at the images they are definitely pallets of the different specialty wood types that go into building a guitar (body, fret board, bridge, etc.). Actually kind of neat, especially as I am a fan of Neil Young, guitars, and the obvious here -- trains.

When I was into contemporary Standard Gauge it was the "Purple Comet" cars MTH made for the MTHRRC (I think in 2004).  I had the engine, and I knew someone who has the 4-car set.

Currently I have no Holy Grail item.

I have been lucky enough to find two of my Holy Grails , I am sure there must be another one out there to make it a Trinity , but two is already being greedy ....

As I am a clockwork guy ( ducks underneath all the pointed up noses ... lol ) I coveted nice early European Manufacturers ... but generally we are talking fairly decent numbers that I really cant put into the game ... and so for many years they went begging .. until I spied a little "something" that was being sold on ePay and apparently no-one saw the little embossed plate inside the drivers cab of a winged wheel and letters ... Very hard to make out in the photos but it was indeed an Ernst Planck Locomotive ... It was the runt of the litter with no fancy lithography but it still had its factory dipped paint ... very rough .. but a survivor .... sometimes the planets just align and it came home to me with no other collector noticing her

So rough ... but so rare as well .. her fancier siblings of the same year can still be found occasionally but the years have obviously not been kind to his plain jane enamelled brothers as this is the only one I have seen

And that view inside the cab that made my heart flutter ...

The second Holy Grail is completely the opposite ... it is very minty fresh and came to me as an affordable surprise ... It is a John Van Riemsdijk 4-4-4 controlled clockwork .... A highly specialized form of clockwork escapement that used an expanding rotating governer to control the rate of unwind , this had been played about with prewar by Walker & Fenn , but after the war it was perfected by JVR and although it featured in 0-6-0 arragements and in trams that he built .. the 0-4-0's were thought to be a production of only about 600 units in the late 1940's

They do come up occasionally but fetch too much money for this bum ... luckily that was not the case with this particular one

Frank: What happened to your MTH Standard Gauge train?  I'm in love with McCoy's big trains.  The Glacier Green Great Northern box cab electric locomotive with Rocky displayed proudly waving on the side of this magnificent machine with the matching freight cars and caboose is something just short of heaven to me!  Not a sign of any "Plastic Fantastic"anywhere in sight here, just HEAVY METAL!

MTH Turkish Taffy Banana.  I have the other three but this one is especially elusive.

My Holy Grail items are 2 engines I missed

Central New England GP-20 from the 2010 MTH Catalog - Never saw one, only heard of 1 person who ever had one.

Weaver NECR GP-20 - Saw it once at a show, didn't buy it. Missed it when Weaver was closing down.

Aster 1 Gauge Live Steam Big Boy is my "Holy Grail" item. I'll eventually own one.

My "Holy Grail" is the missed 3rd Rail PRR T1 Baldwin Version with Portholes.

The only other Holy Grails are:

Altlas O Conrail MP15

and  another Trainman Conrail U23B 

I wouldn't mind this version Either! 

@Ricky Tanner posted:

Aster 1 Gauge Live Steam Big Boy is my "Holy Grail" item. I'll eventually own one.

WOW!!! Amazing - How big is that beast!!!

@prrhorseshoecurve posted:

My "Holy Grail" is the missed 3rd Rail PRR T1 Baldwin Version with Portholes.

 

Sweet!!! Gotta love the Loewy streamlined design. I have the more generic but still attractive Lionel TMCC version.

THIS! American Flyer standard gauge “Piper” with PS2/3 in black or blue. 

Outside of accurate CNJ coaches which I think I may have finally tracked down in kit form, I have all my Holy Grail items.  As the classic movie of this name says, "Tell them we already got one!"

@Apples55 posted:

WOW!!! Amazing - How big is that beast!!!

Loco and tender are just over 48" and weighs 41 pounds!

The Spider-Man F40ph

rat

I have hunted the George Bush caboose numerous times at York and other train shows never found it.

I do have the first Lionel Bush engine it was a match for and just received the new Lionel train Bush Funeral set.

But with age and slow down and my enthusiasm is dwindling for any "Holy Grail Items".

I been way to blessed finding odd ball stuff .

Larry

The Holy Grail?  In the prewar Flyer category there are many things that could be considered a "Holy Grail" to collectors.  For instance the 1907 3 Window Chicago Cars with unpunched windows

Or the 1910 cast iron trolley

The Imperial Limited Parlor Car c. 1915

The 1916 Caboose that uses the B&O boxcar body

The 1918 Caboose that says "Caboose"

Any of the Lithographed 9.5 Inch Freight Cars

The 1927 20th Anniversary Clock

The 1928 3211 Caboose with fancy Handrails (OK so mine is restored, I could not find a nice original and settled for a $20 original needing restoration)

The Original 1930 Flyer Catalog Cover Artwork

Which was acquired with a large photographic image of an artist's rendition of the Halsted Street Factory

The Streamliners, especially red, blue, yellow, and chrome with 6 wheel trucks

The Mack's Junction Water Tower

But I would have to say that for me the Holy Grail items are finding those items that you never knew existed, such as the Macks Junction 91 Station Platform

The 1915 Continental Flyer Line Parlor Car

The American Flyer Zephyr that was engraved and presented to the President of the Chicago, Burlington, & Quincy RR (Currently on display at the Chicago History Museum)

Or making an important discovery relating to W.O. Coleman Sr. and the Halsted Street Factory (Sorry guys you will have to wait until that article is published in an upcoming issue of the TCA Quarterly).

So my Holy Grail is the next undiscovered and unusual item.  

NWL

Since a couple members have mentioned Standard Gauge, I’ll go with a wide gauge American Flyer blue lithograph Presidents Special. I’ve come across a few but none in the quality I’m looking for.

Steve

Would love a N&W #475 3-rail. The Weaver Lackawanna Caboose though, got a tip from a fellow OGR member.

Mine is a us army signal corp , telegraph key set mint in the box ,from ww two , made by the lionel corp, NY,NY , And a police badge from Boston terminal company Boston MA , A lapel pin shaped like the New England states ,in green with gold trim , with a white scroll in the center with gold letters NETCA  , on the scroll  , the pin i have no info about  i found it in a box of trin junk .   techman

The Standard Gauge Brute.

I move out of the country and MTH decides to make the engine I’ve always wanted.

Someday, someday...

one of my holy grail items is not even out yet but it is the lionchief plus 2.0 union pacific tier 4 and csx tier 4 engines

photos from trainworld.com copy and pasted google search

lionchief plus 2.0 pennsylvania limited

i really want to hear that announcement coach

photo from lionel.com

i mostly want the tier 4 s though

 i won't have money for atleast a tier 4 until next year but as quick as some other 2.0 items sold out i don't know if i can wait that long and still get one and a god given miracle has to happen for the pennsylvania limited and i still haven't seen any in hand photos or videos yet of that thing in action

I have a three of mine already.

TMCC Equipped K-Line J1e

6-28084 Dreyfuss With the Lionel matching 20th Century Limited + StationSounds Diner

6-38000 Century Club 2 Dreyfuss With matching Century Club 2 Consist + Optional PT Tender

Only missing one item on my list of holy grails and then I have no more.

The 2006 NYC E7's with RS5: 6-24579, also the matching Breakdown B Unit

My "Holy Grail" would actually be quite attainable, but at the moment I'm all-in on one my other interests that often edges out model trains: Vintage "enduro" type motorcycles. Spent a ton of money on 'em the past month or so.

So what is my "Holy Grail"?

A nice 736 w/tender. I think the PW Lionel Berk's are the absolute meanest looking of all the PW steam engines. Had one once... I'll have another "one of these days".

(My tastes in traditional 3 rail are actually quite frugal and very modest.)

That's it: A 736.  Very attainable... but I'm not willing to spend the $$ right now.

Andre