My Fathers Collection

[Johnson Bar Jeff]

 I can personally recommend Caboose Hobbies in Denver and Fifer Hobbies in Las Cruces, NM.  These places will not insult you or your equipment.

Caboose Hobbies is a wonderful place! Well worth the visit if you ever get to Denver. I've been teased that I go to Denver to visit Caboose Hobbies and only incidentally to visit my buddy who lives in the area. 

[jward]

here's a site you might be interested in, which attempts to catalog most of the trains from the 1960s to 1980s.
http://ho-scaletrains.net/

[Balrog21]

Hey DH,
Sorry you had such a bad experience with the train store. I bet it was awesome to get all those boxes of train stuff. Even if it can't be fixed it's yours to have as a keepsake from someone very dear to you. The one's you can get running is just a bonus!
I am glad that you are thinking about getting into the hobby. It's a great one with a multitude of possibilities, especially now with todays technology. You are at the right place. There are plenty of great people on this forum who love to help people out who are new to the hobby. I KNOW because they've helped me when I got back into the hobby just a little over a year ago. Welcome aboard and I can't wait to see what you decide to do!
Best,
Bal

[jbrock27]

dheaton, the price you paid for the conducta lube is comparable with prices found on line for the stuff, if you also throw in the cost of shipping.  I have purchased it from an on line operation called: Northwest Short Line for about the same total cost for what is maybe an ounce or two.  Not much is needed per use.  There is only a few conducta lube types/makers that I have found, so there are not many to chose from.
The bearing lube, I have found for less at a local hobby shop that has more interest in RC vehicles than HO trains.  More choices out there for this kind of lube. 
But, it is good you have both lubricants on hand, they come in handy.
Stick with it!

[NarrowMinded]

It is a shame that that guy treated you that way.

I will say I have been in my LHS more then once when people have brought in their dad or grandpa's collection and seen the customer get very upset and say unpleasant things when they are told the low value of what they have brought in, many times they have visions of $$$ in their head base on the myth that every old dusty train is worth thousands.

The guys at my LHS just explain the facts politely and advise them to check Ebays completed listings to get an idea on market prices.

NM-Jeff

[Ken G Price]

It is a shame that that guy treated you that way.

I will say I have been in my LHS more then once when people have brought in their dad or grandpa's collection and seen the customer get very upset and say unpleasant things when they are told the low value of what they have brought in, many times they have visions of $$$ in their head base on the myth that every old dusty train is worth thousands.

The guys at my LHS just explain the facts politely and advise them to check Ebays completed listings to get an idea on market prices.

NM-Jeff

Jeff, from reading dheaton's  postings it seems to me he is not trying to sell it, but get the stuff working.
As well as to buy more items to go with it. Or am I wrong and did not read all of his posting correctly?

[GG1onFordsDTandI]

 I think you have it right Ken.

If you would have asked me 30 years ago I would have said most (not all) ho on the shelves was junk too. I am an Og fan first and full-most for running ease (and because of Gramps*). But last year I got into ho for a bit. About $250 worth, just to finally play around with decent trains of small scale. It was great stuff! No more junk! Well not much , you get what you pay for and some was used. Anyhow I had a GP7 climbing 20%+ grades with half a dozen heavy cars like it was a joke (just to see what it could do). Sounds were great. I was very impressed with the difference and anyone calling it junk today has a hidden agenda, be it personal or economic.
Atlas is a quality company. Likely used a generic label to keep costs down.
Normally I toot the support your local hobby shop horn, but at 4 hrs its not exactly a local hobby shop anyhow. I think developing an online relationship with a "not so local shop" would be a good idea for you.

[jbrock27]

I don't think NM was necessarily confused about dheaton trying to ascertain a value for his items for the purpose of selling them; I think NM was merely relaying a story that draws a parallel to those that have certain expectations about their HO equipment, that to their disappointment, they find those expectations are not met.

[Jerrys HO]

I don't think NM was necessarily confused about dheaton trying to ascertain a value for his items for the purpose of selling them; I think NM was merely relaying a story that draws a parallel to those that have certain expectations about their HO equipment, that to their disappointment, they find those expectations are not met.

So true JB.
I believe the owner of the shop may have thought he was trying to sell them at first so he bashed the items. Boy no customer relations there? Could have been a big sale day for him .

[jbrock27]

Excellent point Jerry!  That could have very well been where that shop owner was coming from when dh walked in.  He may have said to himself, "here is another guy looking for me to tell me these will fetch him $200 each on EBay."  And he let that effect his dealings with dh, a potential customer.

As an aside, I recently found 3 more EBay sellers who think steel track is nickel silver   and think that is "ok".

[mabloodhound]

The locomotive in your picture looks to be a 4-8-4 Northern.    If you notice, most steam engines are classified by their wheel arrangement.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4-8-4

That might make a good running engine but certainly the newer ones will be better.   It is also possible to replace old motors in those engines with newer motors for better performance.

[Ken G Price]

I wish to thank every one who posted after mine. I agree that there may have been some confusion among the Original Poster (OP) and the HS. But, it was the shop owner who lost on this one.

Dheaton, welcome to the fold!!

[jbrock27]

Absolutely correct KGP, he sure did!