Yesterday, I went to the local flea market, for the usual entertaining rounds of the vendors, to look and laugh at the junk, maybe pick up a book or two. As a rule, I never buy anything at the flea market that needs electricity to work. This time, I made an exception. For $20, I went home with a complete Bachmann "Rail King" train set (small label indicates packaged for Wal-Mart), with a CN GP40, three CN freight cars and a CN caboose, and a 3x4 foot oval of EZ-Track. And a pile of telegraph poles, a village load of people, signs, etc. Not a bad haul! What was wrong with it? The power pack is kaput. The voltage jumps wildly when I turn the throttle, and from the sound and feel of the rheostat (oh, that brings back memories), I suspect some loose turns and probably shorts. Likely a Christmas present that didn't live up to someone's expectations, and ended up at the flea market. The GP40 is remarkably detailed for an inexpensive train set loco, on par with some older Athearn BB I have. It runs pretty well considering the small truck-mounted motor. A far cry from the cheap toy train sets I knew as a kid. It was numbered 5075 (an SD40 road number) and the misshapen, undersized CN noodles were set about halfway under the radiators. So I blacked out the old noodles, sanded off the numbers on the cab, renumbered it 4012 (an accurate CN GP40 road number), changed the horn (too big and bent out of shape), and did a bit of handrail work. A nice afternoon's work, and the result is not shabby. Heck, for twenty bucks, who could ask for better? The caboose may become the Possum Lake RR's property. A pretty cool way to start off one's vacation.
flea market nice find i buy stuff from goddwill and other thirft stores also yard sales you would be suprised what you will find sometimes:thumbs_up:
I found a similar deal a few months ago. It wasn't even opened. But no little peoples. I to was surprised with the detail on that cheap engine. And it runs good. I'm figuring on maybe using the cars as scene items as they don't seem to be to scale and the couplers are very good. And then at Christmas time I can run them around the tree. :tb-smile:
Great find! That's why I keep looking through flea markets, because every once in a while you will find something like that. Last year while driving through Tennessee, we stopped at a flea market. An hour walking through it (it was a big one) and nothing but junk. On the way out, we walked through the outdoor vendor section and found a guy that was liquidating his entire HO layout - locos, rolling stock, scenery, everything. Lots of unopened stuff too. I bought all I had the cash for and wish I had brought more.
I had a good luck hit at a local yard sale. My daughter called me this past friday and said she found a open but unused Norscot Catapiler HO trainset, Limited run of 5500 sets. I told her no, I do N-Scale. Well the more I thought about it, I said what the heck. I went to the yard sale and it was still there. Walked away with it for $35.00. Opened but unused. Deciding now wheather I am going to keep it or resell it. I have no idea what they sell for. I saw one on fleabay for $399.00.
My dirty old caboose... I mentioned that the set's caboose may become the Possum Lake RR's property? Well here it is: I just painted the sides drab green, applied decals and, of course, filth. It just wouldn't be Possum if it wasn't filthy. I'm thinking of some light graffiti like "H-loves-B" or "Duct tape forever"....
Nice-but needs some duct tape. I can try cutting some rolls for ya, as I am working on some 1/87 TP rolls. -Mark
Power pack autopsy Here's the reason why the set was $20: The moving contact was also well blackened and the underside of the contact support too. It got hot enough to lift the copper trace off the PCB - probably a prolonged short across the rails. I'm surprised nothing else fried.
Never hit "pay dirt" at a flea market but I did chance upon an estate sale at an antique shop once and walked out with a PFM GN 4-6-2, a UP 2-8-0 and one or two other engines. These locos ran for about $170.00 each and were in pristine condition, all brass of course with some painted, some not. There was a lot of GN steam and a few electrics from the Cascade Tunnel and foolishly, I let them sit and when I went back for them, they were all gone. It was a "golden ring" find that probably won't come around again but when it does, take advantage of it!
Another $20 train set, seems to be older Bachmann, an F9A, a hopper, a boxcar, and an ugly yellow caboose - all Canadian Pacific. And a power pack that works. Loco runs fine - though one can see the light shining through the plastic of the nose... It looks enough like an FP9 to attempt a conversion and repaint to CN 6500 series - close enough is good enough. Lose the dynamic brake fan, block off the second headlight, and give it a zebra stripe paint job. A nice companion for my Alco FPA-2 in the same colors... The boxcar is glossy green... what the heck?!?! Not for long - it will join the ranks of the previous set of rolling stock that got weathered. So will the hopper. I don't know what to do with the caboose... maybe a roadside chip stand.
There was a time period where all the Bachmann rolling stock came with a high gloss finish. Why they took that extra step to make them less realistic only Bachmann knows....:tb-err:
Another trip to the local flea market, another interesting purchase. This one caught my eye last Saturday: When I saw it, I already pictured it as the Possum Lake freight depot office. Of course, it will need to be dirtied up and a few more details added to "possum" it up. Five bucks.
