2023 Announcements
Hello railroad fans and model train enthusiasts,
Welcome to 2023! I have lots of news and announcements to explain since my New Year’s Eve blog post. If you recall, I showed you my new Vivitar 4K digital camcorder to replace the older Canon camera. Unfortunately, I am unable to produce new videos at this time because the picture quality of the $150 camcorder turned out to be lower than it should be on a high-definition camera. Oddly enough, many of the Best Buy reviews related to this product are generally positive, but some claim that the quality is unacceptable. I’ll have to find a more expensive camera in an effort to produce the best possible HD picture for my future videos.
Earlier this month, I had just registered to become an eBay seller to make some money off things that I’m no longer keeping. And yes, I have started selling some trains that are not quite significant to my collection. However, please don’t count on the types of trains I will be offering because I reserve the right to choose which ones to give away and which ones to keep. Those items existing on my website’s photo database will be reclassified as “Retired” when sold off or put up for sale. For instance, I just recently sold the non-powered MTH Premier O scale CSX AC4400CW diesel locomotive (product number 20-2790-3) because I honestly don’t consider myself as a real collector but rather an operator of toy trains. I prefer running them instead of making them permanently stationary for no good reason; in other words, I want to make every item useful in my fleet, including some of the most collectible and highly sought-after rolling stock. As for non-powered Premier diesels, MTH discontinued production of them a few years before Mike Wolf’s retirement, so they would certainly become collector's items. While I did run the CSX dummy locomotive as a trailing unit behind a powered unit, it didn’t add up the pulling power to the train. Overall, these are the reasons I retired the dummy diesel.
Also earlier this month, my former college professor sent me a message about her sister who wants to give away an old Lionel train set for good. I was extremely impressed when she immediately thought of me since I told her about my hobby when I was her student. For those of you who are curious, I graduated from Montgomery College (Maryland) in spring of 2021. When the professor emailed me photos, it turned out to be a mixture of postwar Lionel O gauge trains. In fact, I do have quite a lot of postwar stuff, especially some that I inherited from my uncle a few years ago. Initially, the value of the entire train set was estimated to be around $300 and I thought about paying a negotiable amount for it. However, the professor was ultimately kind enough to donate everything without asking for money at all! On January 14th, my father and I visited her house, which is approximately ten minutes away from my home. While picking up the Lionel trains, we absolutely enjoyed talking with the professor as well as her mother who also lives in the same house. I will definitely show you photos of the trains in another blog post.
In the meantime, feel free to check out my eBay store by clicking on the link below. I am currently selling some non-train-related items but I will put some more trains for sale in the near future. Happy New Year of Railroading, folks!
Your trainspotting friend,
Brian