Any toy collectors on here?

[RochesterRob]

  If so what do you collect and what do you consider your favorite?  My cousins do farm toys and I find quite a bit of that appealing.  I never did much as an adult but I was very fond of Lionel trains growing up and had a small set.  A good friend does 1/32 scale 60's and 70's muscle cars.  I regret that space limitation always prevented me from doing much of any collecting.  Somewhere around here I have a second edition AMT USS Enterprise with the drooping nacelles (quite common from what I am told).  

[Marv's Neighbor]

Still running the Lionel's from the late 40's early 50's.  They were made to last!

[Gray Beard]

I have a Lionel set from the 60s that I used to put up around the Christmas tree. I haven’t done it in a few years. I’ll do it again someday. 

[RochesterRob]

6 minutes ago, Gray Beard said:

I have a Lionel set from the 60s that I used to put up around the Christmas tree. I haven’t done it in a few years. I’ll do it again someday. 

  Any Erie Railroad stuff?  I always wanted to have some ER stuff.  Thankfully, I am not all that old yet so there is still time to get some of that done.  I just need to build a place to house it all.

[Gray Beard]

1 minute ago, RochesterRob said:

  Any Erie Railroad stuff?  I always wanted to have some ER stuff.  Thankfully, I am not all that old yet so there is still time to get some of that done.  I just need to build a place to house it all.

No. My Lionel is a pretty inexpensive, generic set. I was jealous when I was a kid because my friend had a much nicer set with smoke, a horn, and moving matching scenery. 

[Mike in Horseheads]

The Hess Trucks used to be a great item unfortunately I ruined them playing in the dirt or the year they had a Oil Tanker and it was a toy in the tub. Bought some as a adult but they are plastic crap now and price is redick.

[Cripple Creek]

1 hour ago, RochesterRob said:

  If so what do you collect and what do you consider your favorite?  My cousins do farm toys and I find quite a bit of that appealing.  I never did much as an adult but I was very fond of Lionel trains growing up and had a small set.  A good friend does 1/32 scale 60's and 70's muscle cars.  I regret that space limitation always prevented me from doing much of any collecting.  Somewhere around here I have a second edition AMT USS Enterprise with the drooping nacelles (quite common from what I am told).  

Do you prefer battery operated or electric?

[apuszczalowski]

I would say yes

I have collections of

- bobbleheads

- Funko Pop figures (mostly super hero and star wars)

- hockey and baseball figures (used to be the McFarlane ones, now some new company, mostly goalies)

- mini star wars and super hero Lego sets and figures, I also started collecting the small replica race cars too.

 

My wife hates it.......

[Helpmenow]

1 hour ago, Marv's Neighbor said:

Still running the Lionel's from the late 40's early 50's.  They were made to last!

Selling off Lionel 2343 Santa Fe.

[RochesterRob]

3 minutes ago, Helpmenow said:

Selling off Lionel 2343 Santa Fe.

  Pics?

[Johnny Hammersticks]

I had a bunch of really old Star Wars stuff that my brother game me when he was in his early teens.  I had outgrown it and put it all in a large box and put it up in the attic.  I had at least 25-30 toys.  All in used condition, but I had the Millenium Falcon and a bunch of the action figures.

 

Yeah, so I got a job washing dishes at a restaurant when I was 14.  I don’t even know how we got on the subject, but one of the line cooks learned about my stash and offered to buy it from me.  I remember I brought it in to work, he looked it over for a few minutes, and promptly offered me $30 for the box.  That was almost a week’s pay fo me at $4.25 minimum wage.  I accepted the deal in about 2 seconds.  He probably made 200-300 off that deal ?

[Marv's Neighbor]

3 hours ago, RochesterRob said:

  Any Erie Railroad stuff?  I always wanted to have some ER stuff.  Thankfully, I am not all that old yet so there is still time to get some of that done.  I just need to build a place to house it all.

Lionel really didn't make very much Erie.  You can look on EBAY, and specify Erie.  If you see something you like, record the number(s) and price, and do some comparison shopping.  There some Erie cars made by various O Gauge manufacturers such as MTH, Weaver, even some newer Lionel.  Lionel was based in N NJ, so they did much more Lackawanna RR than Erie.

 

What I have/operate is old.  Now they have more hi-tech stuff that can be controlled by a separate walk around controller and even a cell phone.  It can be expensive, and it's too late for me to consider changing over, but there are a lot of more detailed engines and cars now, compared to when I was buying.

[Helpmenow]

2 hours ago, RochesterRob said:

  Pics?

 

2 hours ago, RochesterRob said:

  Pics?

It’s been on eBay for a long time. Gave up.

[RochesterRob]

1 hour ago, Marv's Neighbor said:

Lionel really didn't make very much Erie.  You can look on EBAY, and specify Erie.  If you see something you like, record the number(s) and price, and do some comparison shopping.  There some Erie cars made by various O Gauge manufacturers such as MTH, Weaver, even some newer Lionel.  Lionel was based in N NJ, so they did much more Lackawanna RR than Erie.

 

What I have/operate is old.  Now they have more hi-tech stuff that can be controlled by a separate walk around controller and even a cell phone.  It can be expensive, and it's too late for me to consider changing over, but there are a lot of more detailed engines and cars now, compared to when I was buying.

  I'm a little foggy on my railroad history but I think you are correct and in particular for the time Lionel was a big part of the toy/hobby business I should have said Erie Lackawanna.  I've seen Penn Central but that was not a proud time in the history of US Railroads but remember the real thing on the actual lines until everything came to an end in 1976.

[apuszczalowski]

I had some train sets as a kid that I believe are still in the basement at my moms, don't think the brands are anything special, just HO type and one was from a grocery store chain here I believe. Solid and nice stuff

There was a really cool hobby store around here that I went to a few times with my dad that used to have model cars and train sets with a huge setup in the basement area. We had a small setup in our basement for a little while

[Marv's Neighbor]

17 hours ago, RochesterRob said:

  I'm a little foggy on my railroad history but I think you are correct and in particular for the time Lionel was a big part of the toy/hobby business I should have said Erie Lackawanna.  I've seen Penn Central but that was not a proud time in the history of US Railroads but remember the real thing on the actual lines until everything came to an end in 1976.

Lionel was very big before and after WWII.  Erie didn't merge with DL&W till 1960, and by then Lionel was in a slow decline.  EL started in 1960-61.  So you will find mostly Lackawanna and some Erie from the 50's.  Lionel couldn't make the transition into kid's interest in the Space Program.  The were bankrupt then eventually emerged as a strong company thanks to Richard Kughn, who bought Madison Hardware in NYC, when they closed.

[Gugny]

In 2008, I bought a Lionel O-Gauge Union Pacific train set for my son.  We set it up around the Christmas tree most years.  I'd love to expand the track setup, but those FasTrack pieces are kind of pricey.  Someday.

[RochesterRob]

5 minutes ago, Marv's Neighbor said:

Lionel was very big before and after WWII.  Erie didn't merge with DL&W till 1960, and by then Lionel was in a slow decline.  EL started in 1960-61.  So you will find mostly Lackawanna and some Erie from the 50's.  Lionel couldn't make the transition into kid's interest in the Space Program.  The were bankrupt then eventually emerged as a strong company thanks to Richard Kughn, who bought Madison Hardware in NYC, when they closed.

  I was not around during the 1940's and 1950's but recall model train only hobby stores as a kid during the 1970's.  But your right in that a lot of what came after 1950 competed for a kid's interest.  Star Wars in the late 1970's provided the permanent push away from traditional toys.  It kind of gave an indirect push to the model rocket hobby as well.  I built a number of Estes rockets during the 1970's.  Anyways, as a middle age guy who does not give a darn as to trends if I have some money to play with once retired I would not mind setting up some track to run some trains on assuming I get the space issue resolved in the house.

[Gugny]

4 minutes ago, RochesterRob said:

Anyways, as a middle age guy who does not give a darn as to trends if I have some money to play with once retired I would not mind setting up some track to run some trains on assuming I get the space issue resolved in the house.

 

Are you a hoarder?

[RochesterRob]

3 minutes ago, Gugny said:

 

Are you a hoarder?

  Nope.  I just don't want the living room and den dedicated to a running train set at this point in time.  Maybe at some point I will add onto the house for the express purpose of having a hobby room.  Don't really want the stuff in the basement, either.