The Mythical Creswell 600E

I know, I haven't been posting.  Been loving the trains I have and missing the friend's I've lost the last few years.

I did watch an online auction today that rekindled some of my interest.  I saw quite a few standard gauge lots go on Ebay Live auctions (Craig Miller Collection) offered by Turner Auctions.  Very solid auction that was well done.  The prices were completely reasonable and what caught my eye was this:

The mythical Creswell 600e.  Went for over $5000 bucks with a buyers premium tacked on.  It was clearly the main event of the auction.  I bid once or twice however once it jet past $1500 I had to bow out.  It absolutely doesn't disappoint.  The Hudson in Standard Gauge has always been a "must have" and this is a really cool engine.  The last one I knew of was with my friend Arno.  The story of Harlen Creswell still sits in Arno's un-finished bible of Modern Era Standard Gauge (MESG).   I hope the buyer gets a ton of pleasure out of such a unique and wonderful piece.  The DD1's were also kind of cool.  Most of the auction was fun items at absolutely reasonable prices.

Here's a Creswell 600E one of the guys at the O Gauge forum was good enough to post here.

I hope some other folks take note - thinking outside the box and producing items that are NOT necessarily classic Lionel reproductions are in fact desirable.  I saw the Rich Art monster engines move as well.  For anyone wanting one, they don't disappoint. 

I also heard recently my friend Butch Alvarado passed away.  I was stunned by this as he seemed like a guy that was never healthy and yet was bound and determined to live forever.  He was Dick Mayer's right hand and a hold over from the 60's I always enjoyed talking to.  He's the only way I knew anything about Cal-Stewart and all of the cool train stuff there is in California.  I'll really miss him as he was also my dinner bud when I was in San Diego.  I'll miss Butch!!