...NO! No, your old piece of junk toy train that is all scratched and cracked and doesn't run is not worth a fortune. Ok, I have to warn you: I am in full on Gripe Mode now - fasten seat belts! Sure there are collectors out there, but they want pristine in the box with factory air quality, or they do not pay top dollar. I actually do collect old trains, but I like to run them. I don't care about scratches because I run the wheels off of them when I can. Here is my greater problem. I actually like to take old plastic junk and build new things from it. So an old Tyco gondola gets a thin veneer of wood in order to become a narrow gauge 1/55n3 car. And yes, that's a watch gear being used as a stand in for a break wheel. The cheap crap plastic Tyco tanker is now a 3' gauge tank car. And the truly awful 35 ton whatever loco is my new 1/55 scale loco project. Here is a wood shell on a cut up tyco caboose frame and wheels. I am not making contest quality models. I am doing what I call crap building. That's where I just build things to the best I can in the least amount of time and then move onto something else. It's all about fun. My new planned future projects are a set of Gilpin Tramway ore cars and some Pagosa Springs log cars. There are lots of drawings for the Gilpin cars, but all I have for the log cars are maybe 7 old photos, so they are more of an imagineering project. But I need some junk parts. All I need is parts from old tyco trains. Seriously, all I need us under frame plates, trucks, wheels, and the old couplers which I modify by trimming. I will cut the bolsters from said parts and then glue them under wood models. Hang on, I'm coming around the bend. Maybe I'm going around the bend? Here's the rub... Ok, so how come when I go to Ebay everyone is selling their beat to crap crap as if it's some fine collector's piece? I just placed a .99 bid on a junker yet my shipping is 4 dollars. I don't even want most of the model. About 90% of it will end up in the trash. Sorry folks, just had to vent.
Yupp! I see a lot of that at local swap meets. Box cars and tankers that wouldn't even need weathering at higher than new prices.
It's ridiculous. Feel free to trawl ebay for junk and you'll see some top dollar junk. And theeeeennnn there is the shipping! I'm like, can't you bundle 4 piece of crap cars together for a dollar? No, individual shots of broken plastic. I must commend this seller. Pile o junk 2 bucks. https://www.ebay.com/itm/HO-Plastic...616735?hash=item1a974deedf:g:fXAAAOSwsG9eq4OS Oh, but here's a bunch of those highly prized horn hooks for 15 bucks! https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ho-scale-h...401768?hash=item3fe0bcafa8:g:zasAAOSwJD1ep1if Better get those now, they're going fast.
