The George Indig Auction At Maurer

I attended both sessions (Friday and Saturday) for a few hours each day. Funny how some commentators opinioned that many of the pieces were in poor condition. But as far as I'm concerned you would never know that from the prices realized, particularly on the rare stuff. From my perspective prices across the board were equal to or greater that what I'm used to on EBAY and elsewhere, and at least for me there were no "deals" to be had. I made no purchases either day, not because there were no items that I was interested in, but rather, the bidding was intense and items quickly exceeded my predetermined maximums. I'll let others who were there comment further and simply say that it was fun to watch the auction, examine some of the rare pieces, and chat with attendees.

Jim

HOLY COW!

OK, will someone please tell me what I'm missing here. This is a Lionel thick rim #6 and tender that just went for $1,625.00 on our "favorite" online auction site. I don't know that much about these locos, so when I saw this listed I went to Doyle's "O'Brien's" price guide to see about what it was worth. He has it at $500 in C5 and $1,200 in C8 condition. This one is C5 to C6. SO, of course, any train is worth what you're willing to pay for it. If it makes you happy then it doesn't matter what you paid for it. I'm just trying to understand what's going on here. Tell me something I don't know.

Jim

A Whole New Gauge For Me

I've somehow stumbled into Lionel 2-7/8" gauge. It was nothing I planned; it just sort of happened. I won an auction, and so now I have this whole new area to explore and learn about.

I've been doing a lot of reading about 2-7/8" gauge. Most of the reference books on standard gauge have chapters on 2-7/8" gauge. I've glanced at this material in the past but I never really paid much attention to this area because I didn't think I'd ever get into this stuff. The originals are rare and expensive, and even the reproductions are costly and somewhat scarce. And, then there's the whole question of layout space if you want to run this big stuff.

The track is a whole other matter. It's not readily available (is it?), and I suspect it's tricky to assemble, not really child's play. I can see how the move to three-rail tubular track was necessary. Yesterday, I built this display stand for my first 2-7/8" piece. I made a quick trip to home depot for a piece of scrap oak, some scrap steel, and some wood to make ties out of. I think it turned out pretty good.

Jim