I always thought that if I got my hands on a nice 116 Station and Terrace, that would be the end of it. I'd have the nicest station in the world and I could go on my merry way scheduling the mid-morning 408E express and let the 384E pull the 500 series freights out of the yard.
Well, this is probably the nicest station I have ever seen. The Ives original glass domed stations come close but this thing is just unbelievable. It does have the obvious European flare but I think I could live with it, especially since this architecture is essentially timeless. Is remaking an item like this impossible (is something like this with this kind of quality a lost art)? Maybe that's why it will command a nice price?
M
3 comments:
There are people making "recreations" of early Marklin accessories - not really nuts and bolts reproductions. Tucher and Walther had made some stations and smaller accessories, and there is a European guy who shows up at York with huge stations and bridges (and even a casino) done in the manner of Marklin. Overdone is actually the word, there is so much gingerbread and detail put on that most of the stuff looks more like wedding cakes than train accessories. However he had a credible reproduction of a small marklin customs house I almost bought for $1200 (the originals are too rare to even think about owning). The big stations are around $3000, but compare that to Ward's big station which I think will bring about $50-$65K. Maybe more if people get carried away.
I guess if you are a purist and you have a bottomless pit of cash, $50k to $100k isn't bad for a station. Still, at its' face it is kind of a shame. The prices are going to be absurd. What more can I say, it sort of sucks the joy right out of the hobby.
By the way, I have heard from a reliable source there are exact copies of this station out there. Yes, exact copies!
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