scrap

[ScaleCraft]

I do not understand, I guess.
I have a lot of 2-rail, most I have been told is quite nice.

I thought it was all going away in one fell swoop a while back, that didn't happen so re-group.

Local guy, 30's, trying to move out of 3-rail into 2-rail. Keen to do so.

About 4 boxes of freight cars, around 50 pieces, all ready for use.
4 months ago. Take them home, tell me what you can afford. I knew my minimums.

Week ago, he's bringing them back.
They are "too custom" for him.
WTF?

I queried what he meant. These are Athearn, All-Nation, Westbrook, Walthers, SMR.
KITS.
Somebody else built them, I re-did any failings.

He said that's what he means, "custom" is "kits".

Again, WTF?

I am going to set up a table in my garage, tools and chairs, some of my younger friends over, take them all apart.
Neighbor has a portable fire pit.
All the wood gets burned, metal bits to my machinist friend what knows somebody with a commercial shredder.

All passenger cars next.

TruScale, being wood, yard waste, all 400 feet plus of it.

I think he's looking for cast plastic, cast-on detail MTH style 3-rail cars with 2-rail trucks.

Why bother? Stick with 3-rail.

Second round of radiation makes you get a little less understanding?

[bob turner]

I'll say! I have a friend halfway through the same process - we had an imaginary beer together yesterday. He reports mostly just tired.

Plenty of folks would appreciate your collection - why not kick back, watch some mindless TV, and let the rolling stock sit in a box for six months. Then find some nice kid who would appreciate such things and make his day? I am sure that would give you more joy than burning it.

I have a lot of rolling stock that I consider valuable that, to a Lionel collector, would be true junk. What is important to me is the value I place on it, not the value others will assign. All of my models have served their purpose, and on croak day I assure you I will not care what happens to any of it, but in the meantime, I intend to visually enjoy it.

Brings to mind how fortunate most of us are, with the gift of sight. I think I would rather have prostate problems than vision problems.

My problem is the true junk - the boxes of roofs, ends, metal scraps, unsorted fasteners, etc. I am even having problems categorizing Diesel gear boxes and related parts. Today the all go in the same box, to be sent to scrap I suppose when I depart.

[ScaleCraft]

kicked back now for a long time!

My wife says the oral chemo and results of radiation makes me grumpy.

Might be.

[Johnbeere]

I guess some people don't realize what they have - would be a shame for any of these old pieces to be lost. I personally find great value in any of the old kits or anything scratch build - at least if it's well done. There's something about having and preserving pieces that meant something to someone in the past for them to take the time and energy to build them. I'm much younger than probably anyone here - I grew up with my grandfather's old Lionel trains and had a great respect for them, but slowly my interests shifted towards scale and accuracy. The modern models are interesting, but nothing compares to a quality, hand built model by craftsmen decades ago.

That is all to say, while any of these old models aren't worth that much and it's hard to find someone to appreciate them, there's those out there who do. It's a shame to think any of it will be lost, but that's the unfortunate fate that most of these old models probably meet.

[ScaleCraft]

wait until I shred the steamer trunk of 40-60 restored ScaleCraft freight cars.
Or the pre-war cast SC passenger cars.

I think. once I started verbalizing, I went from grumpy to pissed.

[up148]

I think. once I started verbalizing, I went from grumpy to pissed.

I totally get that and I would have been pissed too, but I would have never let someone take them before paying. Sounds like maybe he was looking to resell and realized after researching the market, that it is a little weak for kits these days. I don't know any 30 something modelers, but about 90% of the 30 somethings I have to deal with in pretty much anything today, seem to be "flakes".

Good luck with the treatment and you can't expect to be your old self when taking the medication you take.

[Dennis Holler]

That's just crazy Dave! That guy is clueless.....

[bob turner]

I don't think so. The guy was given a box of trains - Dave says "make me an offer." The guy looks at them, then decides he wants to go another direction and brings them back. Sounds pretty fair to me.

Now it is time for Dave to decide - if Dave thinks the guy is correct and these cars have no value, he destroys them, thus validating the guy's opinion.
If, on the other hand, Dave disagrees with the guy's assessment, as most of us would, he could start again, and propose another course of action.

Here is what I would do - "make me an offer - but include in that a commitment to pay for packing and shipping. I will deliver the boxes to the shipper after I receive payment, and you can contact the shipper with your credit card."

This is working for me for aircraft parts - of course, I am giving some of them away, so the packing and shipping fees are not quite so painful. But it relieves me of the work of finding boxes, and taping things up, and driving by UPS. I just walk them across to Arcelia's Postal Shop, and her successors accept a phone call from the potential recipient. Done.

Again, if Dave destroys all these things, he is simply agreeing with the guy who brought them back without making an offer. That is his right.

[ScaleCraft]

or, once shredded, one less thing to worry about for the wife to deal with.

Primary.

[ScaleCraft]

He is one of the irregulars who run on my outdoor railroad.

He knows they have value. Just not to him because they are "custom".