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Post by winendine820 on Jul 3, 2024 20:10:33 GMT
They say a collection is never complete nor is a layout ever finished however, I finally nailed down MY Holy Grail; the infamous MTH Premier American Orient Express. For those who haven't seen or even heard about this set or the actual train itself, MTH released it some 20+ years ago and it has eluded me for YEARS...until recently. It was a luxury train that travelled throughout the states and was later acquired by AMTRAK. There are photos of it being pulled by their Genesis diesel locomotives hence the AMTRAK reference.
Anywho, it recently came up for sale on a popular e-commerce site and I was able to grab each lot at VERY reasonable prices and it consisted of a set of Premier E8s with PS2 (ABA) with 2 powered units that ran in tandem, a 5-car 70' passenger set, a 2-car sleeper/diner add-on AND a full-vista dome car. I was even able to find an ADDITIONAL dummy B unit, which was never sold by itself, to add to the consist. As beautiful as Lionel's 21" cars are, MTH's 18" cars are plenty big and the detail is outstanding. Now I'm not one to brag, only share in the joy that is this hobby. If there is an engine, passenger set, freight car, etc. out there and you're willing to take the time and effort while being patient and vigilant, you can find it so keep searching for that hard-to-find piece. Feel free to share your thoughts and comments; JUST BE NICE!! Happy Railroading!!
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Post by david1 on Jul 3, 2024 21:32:47 GMT
Congratulations on finding your Grail item. I remember it when it was first announced. Never knew anybody who bought it though.
Please post pictures when you get a chance.
I have been in this hobby since 1970 and I have never looked at something I wanted as a Grail item. I have my favorites and that was it.
Dave
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Post by af3020 on Jul 4, 2024 1:29:04 GMT
Well done! Congratulations on your find!
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Post by frankmulligan on Jul 4, 2024 14:25:26 GMT
Congrats! I picked up one of my few grail items earlier this year. It was an MTH 36' Woodsided reefer car, Pride of Cleveland beer. It was one of a few cars commissioned by a group that calls themselves the Tuesday Night Crew. It was the last MTH Premier 36' Woodsided reefer that I did not have at least one road number of. I had to buy it along with an MTH Railking streetcar but I will sell that to help defray the cost. I would have paid what I paid for the complete auction just for the reefer.
My only other Holy Grail item that I am still searching for is the 64 Woodsided Passenger(baggage, combine, observation) 3-car add-on set in CNJ that MTH had made. I have the 3-car passenger set and the 1-car add-on coach, but not the other (20-62020). Anyone want to part with theirs?
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Post by Country Joe on Jul 4, 2024 16:13:56 GMT
Congratulations on finding your Holy Grail. It sounds like you got a great set.
I got back into N scale about 2004. The closest thing to a Holy Grail for me was Kato’s N scale New York Central 6 car passenger set from the late 80s or early 90s. Kato also offered a 4 car add on set but my focus was the 6 car set. I started looking for the 6 car set around 2005. I never saw them at train shows and rarely on eBay. The sets that were auctioned were selling for well over $300, too much for me. My limit was about $200.
Around 2010 3 sets came up for auction one after the other. The first 2 sold for $300+ but the third was still under $200 as the auction was coming to its end. With a couple of minutes to go I put in a bid. I was going to go with $200 as my maximum but decided on either 205 or 210 and it was a good thing because someone put in a $200.50 bid in the last few seconds. My bid automatically went to $201.50 and my competitor didn’t have time for a higher bid. I finally had my passenger set.
A few years later a vendor at the Amherst show had the 6 and 4 car sets for sale. I got the 4 car set for $64, a bargain, so I’m a very happy camper.
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Post by curtis on Jul 4, 2024 18:21:37 GMT
Got my Holy Grail last Year at the Fall York show. NS PS2 Office train COMPLETE with ABBA and all Cars. Special thanks to Jason Stucks for point me to it as I had been pestering him to sell me his.
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Post by harborbelt70 on Jul 5, 2024 11:09:17 GMT
Congratulations on finding your Holy Grail. It sounds like you got a great set.
I got back into N scale about 2004. The closest thing to a Holy Grail for me was Kato’s N scale New York Central 6 car passenger set from the late 80s or early 90s. Kato also offered a 4 car add on set but my focus was the 6 car set. I started looking for the 6 car set around 2005. I never saw them at train shows and rarely on eBay. The sets that were auctioned were selling for well over $300, too much for me. My limit was about $200.
Around 2010 3 sets came up for auction one after the other. The first 2 sold for $300+ but the third was still under $200 as the auction was coming to its end. With a couple of minutes to go I put in a bid. I was going to go with $200 as my maximum but decided on either 205 or 210 and it was a good thing because someone put in a $200.50 bid in the last few seconds. My bid automatically went to $201.50 and my competitor didn’t have time for a higher bid. I finally had my passenger set.
A few years later a vendor at the Amherst show had the 6 and 4 car sets for sale. I got the 4 car set for $64, a bargain, so I’m a very happy camper.
I don't think that I am going to find this at all let alone at a realistic price but it's mildly amusing to look for it. I also have an HO set in mind that would be a substitute.
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Post by Country Joe on Jul 5, 2024 17:01:11 GMT
Congratulations on finding your Holy Grail. It sounds like you got a great set.
I got back into N scale about 2004. The closest thing to a Holy Grail for me was Kato’s N scale New York Central 6 car passenger set from the late 80s or early 90s. Kato also offered a 4 car add on set but my focus was the 6 car set. I started looking for the 6 car set around 2005. I never saw them at train shows and rarely on eBay. The sets that were auctioned were selling for well over $300, too much for me. My limit was about $200.
Around 2010 3 sets came up for auction one after the other. The first 2 sold for $300+ but the third was still under $200 as the auction was coming to its end. With a couple of minutes to go I put in a bid. I was going to go with $200 as my maximum but decided on either 205 or 210 and it was a good thing because someone put in a $200.50 bid in the last few seconds. My bid automatically went to $201.50 and my competitor didn’t have time for a higher bid. I finally had my passenger set.
A few years later a vendor at the Amherst show had the 6 and 4 car sets for sale. I got the 4 car set for $64, a bargain, so I’m a very happy camper.
I don't think that I am going to find this at all let alone at a realistic price but it's mildly amusing to look for it. I also have an HO set in mind that would be a substitute.
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Post by Traindiesel! on Jul 5, 2024 23:11:28 GMT
I would say that a “Holy Grail” train item is one that you liked and wanted but missed out on it when it was available and haven’t been able to find it since its release for a long time.
I’ve had a few that eventually turned into Holy Grails.
*A K-Line N. V. Sattui tank car from the Napa Valley collection. I saw these cars back in 1998 at a hobby shop in Napa Valley that were selling for $25 each and I bought several of them. Except for the tank car which I was told was rare and was priced at $100. An O27 car with plastic trucks and couplers for $100, in 1998. Sorry, no sale.
After a short while I was visiting Nicholas Smith’s Trains and I was telling Chris Gans about it. He tells me “Yeah, they bought them from me, they’re $15.” Of course he didn’t have the tank car. I didn’t give it another thought until I spotted it at a Great American Train Show 20 years later here in California, for only $10!
*K-Line Amtrak Surfliner bi-level set. These cars were/are selling for $350 to $500 per car when you can find them. At the same Great American Train Show I found the tank car, the whole five car set was there for $200 per car. They had an extra coach car that had broken trucks. I bought the set and the broken car for less than asking price for the five car set. I had the broken coach repaired. It’s a beautiful set.
*Lionel Scale Penn Central “Black Jack” GG1 (TMCC). I wanted this locomotive when Lionel cataloged it in 2005. But I had other trains I wanted. This was before the BTO era so I figured I’d get one later like I always did. I found out later that they only made about 50 or so of the PC version, accounting for the $1500 to $2000 price tag on the secondary market. It was 15 years before I even found one at a price I was comfortable with. But it was worth the wait!!
*Lionel Legacy Santa Fe 4-8-4 #3751. This is the one I recently posted that I picked up at the York Meet. This locomotive was on my “B” list until I moved to California in 2017 in Santa Fe territory. Especially since it is operating again. I spotted one at a previous York Meet but relinquished it to a friend who I knew was looking for one and he already had matching passenger cars. This time it was mine!!
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Post by af3020 on Jul 6, 2024 1:37:22 GMT
I can’t say I’ve ever had a holy grail item on my train want list but I have had several instances of major elapsed time from the start of one part of the collection until I found the last piece and completed a series. The most memorable was my hunt for a nice example of one of each of the 10 road name boxcars Bing exported to the US both before and after World War I. My first encounter with Bing was at my very first TCA York train meet many moons ago. At that point my knowledge of tinplate consisted of some information concerning Lionel, Marx, and Ives – I had never heard of Bing and I was then under the impression American Flyer only made S gauge trains. The ten road names Bing made for the American market were B&O, CNJ, Canadian Pacific (outside braced boxcar), Canadian Pacific (woodside boxcar), Illinois Central, NYNH&H, Philadelphia and Reading (P&R), PRR, Santa Fe, and Erie. My first purchase consisted of two of the cars – the Santa Fe, and the NYNH&H. At the time I had several friends who were very knowledgeable about the various toy train manufacturers and, as it turned out, were also very keen on collecting Bing. When I showed them my find each of them complimented me on my “beginner’s luck” with respect to having found two of the more difficult Bing road names. Each of them also said, “I’m sure the next car you find will be the Erie. It’s very plentiful and everyone has one.” And so the hunt for Bing began in earnest. Years passed and one-by-one I added first one and then another to the collection but I never managed to find an Erie. Time after time, when I showed off my latest find to a knowledgeable Bing collector they would always say, “You don’t have an Erie? Well, that won’t be a problem for long they are very plentiful and everyone has one.” It’s true, I did find a few of the Erie cars. The first one was part of a boxed set. The engine and cars were resting on their sides in the set box and the entire set was in absolutely new condition. I wasn’t really in the market for an entire set but as I approached the vendor’s table I decided I’d just have to splurge. When I got to the table, I removed the Erie car from its place in the box and it almost fell apart in my hands. I turned it over and the entire back side of the car as well as a portion of the roof was completely rusted away. The same was true for every piece in the box. The set had obviously rested in water for what had to have been decades – everything was mint on one side and missing on the other. The second Erie car I found was part of a train list I received in the mail. The seller was local so I went over to his house to see the car. He pulled it out of storage and it was just the body – no roof, no frame or trucks. When I asked about his listing he said, “ Well, it IS an Erie car and you shouldn't have any problem finding the other parts at the next train meet.” After that part-of-a-car for sale there were probably 4 to 5 others I found at the train meets but all were in various states of advanced distress – extreme rusting, missing trucks and doors, one that looked like it had been used for BB gun practice (“but the roof is in great shape” said the seller), etc. Finally, about 20 years into the hunt I saw a listing for a local estate auction which mentioned they were selling a large number of trains as well as other things. I arrived, looked over the trains, and there, in the middle of one table, was a near new Erie car. As luck would have it the trains were the last things auctioned so I got to watch all sorts of items go under the hammer. When the car came up for auction I made sure I was the winner. After the auction ended I went over to the checkout table and paid for the car. I was just walking out of the auction house when I ran into one of my collector friends. He looked at my purchase and said, “Why did you get the Erie boxcar? Everyone has one of those.” And I said, “Yes, I know, and now I do too.”  |
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Post by harborbelt70 on Jul 6, 2024 1:46:23 GMT
I always like a happy ending. I have something in my sights at the moment that is also passenger car related but not small scale:
I don't think that I am going to find this at all let alone at a realistic price but it's mildly amusing to look for it. I also have an HO set in mind that would be a substitute.
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Post by winendine820 on Jul 6, 2024 14:22:05 GMT
Thanks everyone for sharing your stories. There's a special feeling of satisfaction and joy when you're able to attain something you've wanted for quite some time; whether it's an accessory, single piece of rolling stock or complete set, it's fulfilling.
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Post by harborbelt70 on Jul 6, 2024 17:07:10 GMT
I can’t say I’ve ever had a holy grail item on my train want list but I have had several instances of major elapsed time from the start of one part of the collection until I found the last piece and completed a series . . .
My version is that I will diligently scour the internet for detail parts - mostly 3D printed or laser/photo-etched these days - and try to incorporate them in my projects. It's quite amazing what is still out there although I fear that this situation may not last much longer; some of my best sources have already closed their doors but they were highly specialised miniaturists. Anyway, I have too many examples of my efforts which I have already posted to justify a photo example until I do something new. That is unlikely to happen until next month as I have had to suspend train hobby work to deal with real life. Bummer.
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Post by frankmulligan on Jul 6, 2024 17:17:41 GMT
This was the last MTH 36' Woodsided reefer that I didn't have at least one road number of: Attachments:
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Post by frankmulligan on Jul 6, 2024 17:24:51 GMT
I collect MTH 36' Woodsided reefers. I would feel sorry for anyone starting to collect them. A lot of the earlier releases almost never come up for sale. Although when they do, they generally are not that expensive. I suppose there is little demand for them.
One thing I have noticed about when they are released, they either sell out right away or are very hard to find about a month or so once they hit the streets.
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