Recent Additions

[early0electric]

My lone Oct YORK purchase for my collection was an unopened wooden bulb case. Expensive! Not hardly worth the trip if you take away the camaraderie.

[starfire700]

Nice to find one that is unopened.

[early0electric]

Thanks, Jim. Always looking for something to enhance the collection. Anyone with early period O Gauge for sale, let me know. My want list is quite short. My upgrades are few. Contact me.

Mike

[Terry]

I did a little parking lot show in Tucson yesterday. I dug these four items out of a junk box and paid $10. Normally I don't dig in garbage, but there was little else to look at, and I saw the one car without a roof as I walked past.

 

The cars are certainly brown. I didn't have brown 600 pullmans before. These have 600 on one end to right of door and no stamps on underside.  Here's some brown items with them including a 150 that is just as beat up.

 

The 150 loco has been cleaned somewhere along the line. The brown 150 was given to me about 30 years ago by a man after I helped him set up his trains.  Maybe the two whole cars will clean up?

 

I grabbed the IVES shell  because it has a Dummy headlight and I think I can get my $10 back by listing it on ebay.

[early0electric]

Not a bad grab for $10!

[Terry]

I bought this 53 loco because it's clean and was cheap. It's brownish rather than maroon, and better matches my mid-teens cars.

 

The two locos have different NYC ovals, and the brown one has a simpler frame and other later features including a LL stamp on the end.

Here's a comparison of the color and the ovals with the brown on top.

 

Neat.

Unfortunatly someone over the years wrapped this loco in bubble wrap. Check out the roof:

 

The seller made no mention of this damage, but it's slightly shown in the auction photos. This was cheap enough that I'll keep it, but it's sad when trains get ruined by people with bubble wrap.

mn

[starfire700]

Yes it is sad when a collectible train survives for near 100 years, then gets damaged when the hands of a collector or dealer (or auction house) that should know better. I bought a nice 516 hopper from an east coast auction house years ago that was ruined by bubble wrap. It not only imprinted the finish with circle marks but actually softened and melted the paint. I think it was shipped during hot weather which accelerated the reaction. I set the car "out to dry" for a few months, but the chemical reaction between lead-base paint and plastic bubble permanently softened the paint, it never dried. 

[early0electric]

You'd think sellers, be they auction houses or individuals, would know by now not to wrap directly in Bubble Wrap. Those that use shipping services should insist that bubble wrap not be used for wrapping but for cushioning. I've also had problems with shippers using too small of boxes that just fit which results in dents and bends in merchandise. I bought a boxed outfit 162 that just fit but arrived with a nice crunch in the side of the box. For what's paid for shipping these days, we should expect more.

[starfire700]

Too many sellers do not know how to properly pack items, or do not care. I pack items that I send out as if it was being sent to myself, the way I would want items packed that I purchased. Surprisingly there are some buyers that complain shipping is too high and request items be shipped in a flat rate box that is barely large enough for the item, let alone packing material.

[early0electric]

Exactly, The items I sell I pack as I would want to receive them.

[Terry]

I always send the seller a note asking that the items be wrapped in paper first if they use bubble wrap or peanuts. I think the yellow soft peanuts also react to the old paint.

My dad was a chemist and said what was happening was the plasticizer in the bubble wrap reacts to the paint. The plasticizer is the chemical that keeps the plastic pliable.

My biggest peeve is the people who make cocoons with items. They enclose the bubble wrapped bundle in tape. Then I have to cut the tape without cutting the train. Once I managed to cut a finger.

I do paper, then bubble wrap, then kraft paper from a butcher's roll, then it goes into the box- maybe add peanuts or wadded paper if needed. 

This year I've had one item broken and one item lost out of about 3000 packages. The broken train was an AF S gauge boxcar that had the sides broken because the box was slammed in a door or had something heavy dropped on it.

[starfire700]

I believe the yellow squishy nuts are a corn-based product. They are bio-degradable (for you GREEN fans) and melt into a glob if moisture gets into the package, then will eventually harden like a rock. Not a chemist, but I think there is nothing petroleum based in the "corn-nuts". They could eventually adhere to a painted surface of a train and lift the paint if not removed properly.
Bottom line is I agree, always wrap an item in tissue or other paper before bubble or other wrap. I use all the above, tissue, newsprint, foam wrap, bubble wrap, air pillows, different types of foam peanuts and corn nuts, even pieces of rigid foam, when I can get it. If these items are used properly, there will be no problem.

The last time I had an item damaged was when we were putting Fragile stickers on every box and shipping everything through the post office. I had 2 items, one was an AF Wide Gauge Electric loco, impaled by a sharp object, destroying the train. All my packing material and internal bracing plus double-boxing, could not prevent this. Our postmaster, at the time, told me employees in the sorting facilities resent seeing fragile stickers and tape and go out of their way to damage such items. Have had no damage since we stopped using Fragile stickers, also shipping 90+% through UPS now.   

[Terry]

I haven't bought many new items for the collection lately. I grabbed the 38 loco in the front because it was cheap and has a interesting nickel plate on the end door.

 

The lower loco in the photo above is the new one. (The upper one has reversed lettering, and since I don't have that loco with regular lettering this is a variation on that point too!)

Here's a photo of the ends showing the two types of plates:

 

I have a round cab 53 loco with the same nickel plate, and I've seen one other black 38 loco with the nickel plate in the almost 10 years I've been looking for the nickel plates. The round cab 53 was made in 1920 and 21, and has all the same features as these two black 38 locos.

Looking at my list of 38 locos, these are the last black 38 locos. They also made gray locos in this trim/feature variation. If this plate is good for dating, it means all the colors of the 38 except dark olive, black, and gray were made after 1920/21.

 

[early0electric]

Here's a couple of recent additions to my Early O Collection.

First is a 901 PENNSYLVANIA Gondola. BUT... It's Olive!

 

Also got a nice Upgrade of a Gold Lettered 801 Caboose.

 

Real happy with both. I've never seen or heard of an Olive 901 PENNSYLVANIA Gondola till now.
They're always grey

[Terry]

I don't have a single Olive green gondola in O or STD. I saw a 116 dump car on eBay years ago.

You have a rare car there Mike. Nice find.