I find myself believing that many who model Pacific NW pre-mega-merger era tried our hand at this one. My how times have changed! Life is so much better today!
I have it on reasonable authority that errors, if found, are now destroyed at the Micro-Trains factory, and have been for some time, at least most of the time that I've been writing the UMTRR. So +1 on the 'no conspiracy' theory.
I'm not delaring it a conspiracy. 35 years have passed from now to back when this car was released. Different company, different people running the company, different employees, different policies. There's no way of knowing how that car, printed on only one side ended up in that file cabinet drawer. The said car isn't worth $3000 or any other inflated price because there's no way of knowing how many are in existence.
Actually, it's just the opposite, we have a much better idea of what is out there now than in the early days of collecting. You might scan train shows for years trying to find that one car you need. Now you just log into Ebay, set up a search and wait for the e-mail to come in that the car you are looking for is listed, if it isn't already out there. The internet and Ebay have made people realize just how many of those "rare" cars were actually out there. Ever since Ebay really came into its own, auction prices have dropped, not just with Micro-Trains but all types of collecting. Once everybody realized that there were more than 5 of that one car and if you waited long enough, another would show up, prices plumeted. When a truely rare item comes up, that hasn't been listed before, then it can command a higher price.
It's not worth $3000 to you. Or to me either for that matter. Whether it's a $3 item or a $3000 item in this arena, it's worth no more and no less than what someone's willing to pay for it. And sometimes what a seller gets for an item is based on timing. Non MTL example: the Con-Cor Hamm's Beer car went for about $21 one week and $11 the next. eBay changed the game by enabling better information. The paper-based auctions knew how many of a given car they had but purposefully limited the number of times that they auctioned that given car... in other words, they tried to manage the supply. eBay allowed just about anyone to list anything, anytime. When an item went for big bucks, more of them came out of the woodwork. Assuming there were more, as Tony notes.
This is another one that is bugging me a bit... http://www.ebay.com/itm/N-SCALE-HOP...920796?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item3382b03f9c It's supposed to be an Atlas-JNJ special run airslide hopper which I would gladly buy if it wasn't for the utterly ugly over-weathering applied to it. In my mind the weathering job has completely ruined the model in this case.
I do certainly remember seeing them weathered, by the time Lines West was junked. But I don't recall many MILW cars approaching that condition until later into the 1980's. Yet memories do fade with the too many passing years.
A couple of years ago, I saw a fairly rare Milwaukee Road car still with "Milwaukee Road" on CSX in Washington D. C. which gave me this idea. Maybe put a patch it for post Soo Line takeover.
Most of the cars kept the MILW marks. Few were lettered into SOO . The CP still owns the marks and from time to time a newer MILW car will be seen. All the Milwaukee hopper cars were beat by the late 70s and early 80s. The car above has a 1956 build date so by 1986 it was a 30 year car. The Milw might have shopped the class but after 1978 the class overhaul's pretty much stopped and the only thing that was left was the RIP tracks. The weathering is pretty typical. Randy
Here another..."Mikado 2-8-2 Traction Driver W/ Tire 11-604 NEW!! RARE!!" http://www.ebay.com/itm/161039149927
That is a lot of money for a KATO Mikado 2-8-2 Traction Driver W/ Tire. I put two assembly's on my Loco (2 Sets) and yes that greatly increased the tractive effort, however if I had it to do over I would use BFS as it is less expensive and works a whole lot better!
Ignorance or criminal? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Kato-GP-35-...908123?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item3f259bd09b
I'll have to dig through my photos. The only reason I know it was rare is that right at the same time, I saw in Trains or Model Railroader that there was only six of that particular car made for the MILW.
If it was not, I am uncertain what else it could be. The ad said it was Kato... If so, it came from their el cheapo junko product line.
You know, without looking at an Atlas catalog, I am almost 100% certain that this is a factory paint job. http://www.ebay.com/itm/N-Scale-Atl...l_RR_Trains&hash=item1c3343a02c#ht_321wt_1328
Is this....collectible? http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Kadee-Micro-...pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item51add0427b&_uhb=1 I'd pay $20.
