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 Posted - April 09 2016 : 11:34:33 PM
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I never had a train set as a kid, nor a slot car set, I did not even have a teddy bear and went through that phaze and put a stop to it. I now have several slot car sets and last year rescued a Lionel O gauge locomotive, coal car and one more car from the garbage, the model dates to 1952. That started me on a search for trains at the local thrift store, turned out they just tossed them away into the dumpster. I have been having them save me all their train sets and over the past year got four garden scale, G scale, sets that only the most recent one has a working engine. They will become a yard feature possibly this summer. A few weeks ago I got several boxes with HO gauge brass track and a shoe box with cars wrapped up in plastic bags and a controller. I also got a box of fastback and two damaged cars. Both engines are Sante Fe, the O 4 O does not have the coal car. I tried setting it up and got no reaction from either engine, the read up on the net about them, took them apart and cleaned them of all the hair and gunk, oiled them, cleaned the tracks so they shined, plugged it back up and got the big engine running first and then the locomotive, even their lights work. Now I have joined a local model railroad club in Eureka that has been in the same location for 40 years.
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Posted - April 10 2016 : 08:26:22 AM
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* Well Martin, welcome to the Tyco train forum. Well your in the northern part of the left coast, and I am in the kind'a northern part of the right coast, New Jersey.
*It seems that you have become a model railroader. Good luck in your choosing a gauge to model. There are a few different types to choose from. I've seen layouts where O gauge ran around the perimeter of the layout. HO or S a little further in, and N gauge just past that. Everything was detailed and all in perspective. The closer you are that is where the bigger trains were. The further out the littler they got. In Ho there was a amusement park with rides. One of the rides was a Z scale train set that HO people attending the park could ride with there kids.
* Well again welcome and enjoy the hobby.
frank
toptrain
" It's a Heck of a Day " !!!
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Posted - April 10 2016 : 12:11:52 PM
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& I in the middle of USA
West Nebraska 
welcome to the forum club 
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Posted - April 10 2016 : 1:38:31 PM
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I can't believe a thrift store would just throw away model train sets. After seeing the garbage they usually have out in the toy sections at most thrift stores, I can't imagine why trains would be singled out and chucked.  That being said, I have come across (and purchased) some model trains and slot cars at my local thrift stores.
Good on you for saving them. Welcome to the forum!
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Posted - April 10 2016 : 2:56:03 PM
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They throw them out because they cannot often get them to operate. I got my O gauge Lionel 2026 from a client that was going to toss it out, only 7 pieces of track, the coal car and one more car. That got me to asking the thrift store I go to if they ever get train sets. They said they do, but they throw them away, especially if it is just cars or tracks and no transformer. I told them to hold all train sets for me. I got a partial O gauge plastic set, 4 G gauge sets with one working engine and recently the HO that was pretty much complete, I got it to work after cleaning it up. I go to this thrift store for all my hobby projects, they get something different every day from donations. They get the stuff they sell for free and the proceeds go to an animal rescue organization to feed dogs, cats, horses and so on. I paid all of maybe $8 for about 50 feet of HO track, two engines by Tyco Mantua, nine cars, the transformer, three houses and a Grand Central Railroad station. Last year doing a clean up job, I got enough balsa wood cut into a variety of sizes that I plan on building a balsa wood trestle, telegraph poles, fences and bridges out of wood.
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Posted - April 10 2016 : 4:06:01 PM
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I got two sets of tracks, one on plastic and shiny, the other is of two brass sets, one much older and very flexible with some over 3 feet long. One diesel engine and one steam Booster locomotive plus nine cars.
This is all the track supply
     
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Posted - April 10 2016 : 5:24:13 PM
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These are the two engines. And a shot of the engines with the nine cars and the train station I got a few months ago for 99¢
   
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Posted - April 10 2016 : 5:31:07 PM
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You got a nice little collection going on there. If
you're interested in getting some more black
EZ track and turnouts, I've got quite a bit on
hand for trade or for sale. I'm often
wheeling and dealing on this site.
I like your brass track- I prefer it for its
nice, vintage patina. A lot of modelers
disdain it, and the urban myth is that it
does not conduct as well as Nickel Silver.
With a decent cleaning (I use, and swear by,
Wahl's Hair Clipper Oil) it works just great.
Edited by - Chops124 on April 10 2016 5:33:52 PM
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Posted - April 10 2016 : 5:46:40 PM
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I like the brass track too. I have a polishing sponge, very lightly abrasive on one side and very flexible that I ran along the brass tracks, it shined them up in two passes. I used Singer sewing machine oil, it is very light and thin. Before I cleaned up the engines, the connectors and the rails, I got barely anything from the diesel and nothing from the Booster locomotive. After cleaning, the 4301 diesel took off like a breeze. The long pieces of brass track are flexible, so they can be straight or complexly curved. I am going to use one to build my trestle. I am figuring on using tea or coffee to stain the balsa wood afterwards to age it. I have been making a variety of miniatures for over 3 decades, usually furniture out of balsa wood, but some cast paper clay items and turned wood for 1/12 and 1/6 scales. I also do bonsai and that is what the garden scale railroad will go around. The sponge is in the picture of the train station, its on the perf board behind the house. The perf board is 4 x 4 set up on a stand 32 inches above floor level, I have another 4 x 4 perf board I will set up as the second addition so that I have room for a forested mountain valley scene.
this is what started me on model railroads last year, an early 1950's Lionel O gauge a client was tossing out.
Edited by - TheDragonslayer on April 10 2016 5:50:24 PM
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Posted - April 10 2016 : 6:03:19 PM
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Dang, you've had some great hauls!
Edited by - DaCheez on April 10 2016 6:03:34 PM
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Posted - April 10 2016 : 6:55:43 PM
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Also got a line on a ton of cheap Lionel tubular track, also, if interested.
I understand the old stuff is out of production, nowadays. I'm glad to
see someone else oils their track. People act like I'm crazy for that.
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Posted - April 11 2016 : 12:36:06 PM
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My 040 Booster locomotive does not say Tyco on it, on the bottom is says Mantua, the 4301 diesel says Mantua and Tyco. I have attached photos of the bottom of the Booster, the bottom of the diesel and a coupler. As I said earlier, I am new to model trains. How can I tell the age of my set? The carpet fibers I pulled from the wheels and gears was that nasty pale green from the late 60's that I recall as a kid.  
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Posted - April 11 2016 : 12:51:19 PM
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99 cents was a STEAL!
the big station is actually the Union Station in Denver, CO
& there is a lighted sign for it too
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Union-Station-Animated-Billboard-Sign-3881-HO-O-Scale-Miller-Engineering-New-/201124769246?hash=item2ed3f86dde:g:K~oAAOxy7odRzMdw
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Posted - April 12 2016 : 12:14:57 AM
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| I found the controller to the fast track and set it up, now I have the little booster running on one set of tracks and the C430 running on the brass tracks. I have more of the fast track, but was able to set up a large oval with 3 curved sections per conner and four straight sections of track on each side, that way it goes around the round brass track setup. The little engine flies on the EZ tracks, the C430 cannot keep up with it. I still cannot get it to go in reverse, but the light will come on when in reverse.
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Posted - April 16 2016 : 12:27:34 AM
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When I got home from mowing lawns today, I checked Craigslist to see if there was anything interesting and under Toys saw an ad for HO cars, engines and a controller. For $30, I went to check them out and figured that $30 was probably okay for what I got. They are not in great condition, quite dirty actually. First pictures is three engines and the cars that are intact, I left a broken engine and cars that need work in the cardboard box. One car in the box is tin, the yellow car at the top. 
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Posted - April 16 2016 : 09:13:45 AM
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I put several boxes of stuff ranging from loose Tyco
junk to batches of factory mint AHM freight cars
up on ebay ranging from 99 cents to $30 starting
bids for each batch. Make me an offer on the $30
batch of AHM (about 17 cars, mint in box) and
I'll see if Diana will go for it. Under Chops124.
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