If You Have A Spare $600,000...

Have a spare $600,000 burning a whole in your pocket?   Ever wish you owned a train collection worthy of a toy train museum?  Well, you can own such a collection complete with the museum building for a mere $600K.  The only catch is the museum is located in Brazil.  The latest crazy toy train auction on eBay is for a museum of toy trains, collection and building, in the city of Fortaleza, Brazil.  Not only is the price hilarious but the broken English descriptions are funny too.  Check out the auction here.

Old News Worth Mentioning...

My daily routine of maintaining OGaugeWatch was interrupted over the past month or so as I was searching and eventually landing a new job. Some interesting news items broke during that time that didn't hit OGaugeWatch as a result but are worth mentioning....

• After over 30 years in the business, Korber Models, maker of fine HO, O and G scale buildings, was sold to Kirk Mitchell, the owner of Just Trains of Delaware.  The transaction closes on January 1, 2008.  Also, Ernest Korber, the founder of Korber Models, passed away recently.  My condolences to the Korber family.
• Lionel released the official instruction manual for their new Legacy Control system.  You can view it here. Lionel also started shipping the long awaited Legacy equipped Big Boy locomotive,  however, the included Legacy Control System will be sent separately at a later date as it is still under development.
• Atlas started producing a quarterly all scales catalog.  The 4th quarter '07 catalog is available on-line and can be viewed here. 
• There are several new posts on the Lionel centric Hi-Rail Times blog with one vaguely predicting more legal issues on the horizon for Lionel.
• The Williams Electric Trains website now features a landing page announcing Bachman's acquisition of Williams along with a short list of FAQs.
• Lionel's Harry Potter Hogwart's Express train set is now available at your local train shop.
• The Model Train Journal forum has started a 3-Rail Scale forum for those who play with trains at a different level.  3-Rail Scale layouts would be considered to be scale to real life in every sense with the exception of the 3rd rail running down the center of the track.  I would consider Norm Charbonneau's layout to be a great example of 3-Rail Scale.  Thanks for the tip Al.
• Ready Made Toys new 2-bay coal hopper sets have started shipping.
• Weaver Models released a Fall Sales Flyer that is available on-line here.  Sale ends Nov. 30, 2007.
• The TCA Eastern Division released the statistics from the Oct. '07 York train on their home page.  More than 14,500 people attended the meet.
• Golden Gate Depot's new coaling tower has shipped.  I recently got a good look at one at Just Trains of Delaware and it is a beauty.

Be well everyone and look for more frequent updates to OGaugeWatch as a settle back into my daily routine.

Dave

REVIEW: Using Evan Designs' Model Builder Software

Everyone knows it’s the small details that make a model train layout more interesting.  Whether your layout is 4’x 6’ or 16’ x 30’, the addition of a few simple buildings to a scene can add extra detail to bring a layout to life.  O Gauge buildings and structures aren’t cheap so a well-developed town can set you back some serious dollars.  Because of limited budgets, many have come up with ingenious methods to fabricate buildings from scratch but these techniques can be cumbersome and time consuming.  The folks at Evan Designs realized this and created a software product called Model Builder Software to simplify the construction of model buildings from scratch using card stock and printed images.  I had a chance to use this software and here are my thoughts. 

Be sure to read how to enter a chance to win a copy of Model Builder Software at the end of the review.

Click on the link below to read on

Lionel at Target

I was in Target this weekend and noticed 3 Lionel trains sets prominently displayed on an end cap in the toy department.  The 2 O Gauge "Lionel Lines Super Sets, 1 steam and 1 diesel, were $199.00 each and branded with "Only at Target" on the boxes.  There was also a battery operated Polar Express G Scale set for $129.99.   "Super Set TrackPacks", a set of O Gauge track pieces and a Polar Express G Scale track pack are being sold for $29.99.    

Target.com is also selling other Lionel sets including the O Gauge Polar Express set for $289.99 and the G Gauge Holiday Express set for $279.99.  Last year's "Only at Target" Lionel set is also still available for $249.99.  Target is offering free shipping on all Lionel sets.   

I did notice that the Target web site's description of the Lionel diesel set is a bit different than what was offered in the store.  The following is from the website:

Click on the link below to read on

Post War Photo Thread On Model Train Journal Forum

Frank53 started an interesting thread over at the Model Train Journal forum that is worth a look.  Frank53 is asking everyone to post a photo of a post war Lionel item (items produced between 1945 & 1969) along with the Lionel item number.  You can post photos of as many items as you like as long as they have not been posted yet.  The thread started on 10/30 and has 22 pages of photos and counting.  The thread is becoming a great free photo reference of post war Lionel items (wiki anyone?).  Use the forum's search function to search by item number to see if a photo of your favorite post war item has been posted yet.

View the thread here.

Thanks for the tip Frank.   

Review: Two New Conventional Lionel Locomotives by Erol Gurcan

Below is a review of a couple of conventional Lionel locomotives, the Baby Trainmaster and the Junior Mikado, that first appeared in the October '07 issue of the LCCA magazine "The Lion Roars."  Articles like this is one of the many benefits in being a member of the LCCA.  Enjoy.  Erol

I have reviewed two new, inexpensive conventional locomotives – one diesel and one steam.

I. The Baby Trainmaster

In its 2007 Volume 1 Catalog (page 85), Lionel® introduced an all-new locomotive, the Fairbanks Morse H16-44 in New York Central décor, commonly known as the Baby Trainmaster (6-18385). The loco arrived in stores in June 2007. It is also shown in the current 2007 Volume 2 Catalog (page 95).

Click on the link below to read on