Auctions this weekend and beyond....

Looks like we are up for the NETTE auction for July 24th! Some great Prewar (like the above Baby State)...

Stout is having an auction tomorrow (July 10th). Not much prewar though...

Marc

NETTE Feb. 6th Auction Highlites

Hi All,

NETTE (New England Toy Train Exchange) sent over some pics from their upcoming Feb. 6th Auction. Please note they also are on Live Auctioneers if you can't make it to the auction.

Some very nice 200 series cars (near mint).
Marc

New England Toy Train Exchange Dec. 12, 2009

A really nice NETTE auction is coming up with some great Standard Gauge and prewar O gauge as well. Check out this gorgeous Ives set. I've seen some recent postings on the Tinplate forums where people are asking or looking for original prewar standard gauge. NETTE is probably one of the best places to invest in original prewar pieces.

Marc

NETTE Auction for Sept 2009 is up!

As Yogi Berra said "It gets late early out there!" September is upon us and wild as it may seem, 2009 is drawing to a close. Weren't we all supposed to be driving hover cars in 2010?

Well, the cars aren't hovering but NETTE has a pretty darn nice lot of prewar trains up on their website. Go out and take a look...

Train time is getting near! Halloween isn't far off. Get ready for the auctions, shows and York!

Marc

Unusual Trolley #2

Another really unusual Trolley up for auction soon. I seem to remember this being a Knapp trolley. Again, this is just about as a rare as they come!
Marc

The Real Deal

Check this out - for the next upcoming NETTE auction a real Voltamp Trolley will be up. I got to see this thing in person last week and it doesn't disappoint. I could never understand why Voltamp enthusiasts liked this stuff so much. That is until I started seeing them up close. There's just nothing like these anywhere. Lionel never stole squat from Voltamp but they should have!!!

marc

No. 1 Trolley at NETTE

Very nice set of trolleys and they very rarely show up in pairs (power and trailer).

At the NETTE auction in July 2009.

Marc

More NETTE from March

My buddy Joe asked me to post some more pics from last month's auction. The standard gauge was really something!

Marc

Pre-May NETTE Pic

I was over at New England Toy Train Exchange yesterday and I saw this. It is absolutely amazing. Almost like new and with a box that is stellar for its' age. I've never seen anything like it. This came out of a substantial collection that is mostly mint!

Marc

NETTE Auction

Just came from day 1 of the New England Toy Train Exchange Auction. Truly, the tinplate was spectacular. It's always funny, you can talk about Blue Comets all day but when you see an original in pristine condition with nearly like new boxes it really is like a work of art.

Ok, I'll get the pics rolling....

Nette Auction for March 2009

Some real diamonds in the rough in the upcoming NETTE Auction. I'd always recommend going to these, just to see the trains!

Jan NETTE Auction is Up!

The Jan. 2009 NETTE auction is up. The above is one of the huge highlites of the auction: a boxed coal train. Go out to NETTE's website to check out the auction. Also, they've started breaking up the standard gauge, there is a section with standard gauge exclusively and there is also a section with newer standard gauge from MTH and Lionel.

By the way, has anyone been able to get into or look at eBay's live auction area? Every time I click on live auctions now it blips me back to eBay's home page. Has this been shut down? Even with its' quirks I still think this was one of eBay's nicer features.

Marc

Some additional NETTE Pics from last weekend...

Some additional pics from the NETTE Auction on 11.22.08.

Happy Thanksgiving!

NETTE Video

Here is the main prewar table at the NETTE auction. I didn't take a video shot of the O gauge stuff. They O gauge boxed Blue Streak was fantastic. The American Flyer Zephyr and boxed Flyer Comet were two of the best I've ever seen.

Marc

New England Toy Train Exch Today

Stopped by the NETTE Auction today in Connecticut. I gotta tell everyone, eBay is a terrific place to find trains but actually seeing them in person is still way better.

The prices were actually pretty reasonable compared with some of the high prices we've seen in the last few months. I perused the parking lot on the way in and noticed quite a few out of state cars there.

I watched Mark Tobias do his magic for a bit. I noticed that the postwar stuff seemed to be pretty hot at this auction. The room was definitely not packed however I got the feeling that many folks were coming and going depending on the items being auctioned and the interest the bidders had in them.

All told, I really did enjoy seeing the smattering of prewar toys they had there. I took some Youtube video as well. If you want me to post it drop me a note in the comments sections. Also, check out that Russian Transformer below (green). I've never seen one like it; the design was really novel and it caught my eye. I'm not sure I'd want to drive any trains with it but it was boxed and definitely was unusual.

Marc

NETTE Auction - June 14, 2008

The NETTE Auction is up for June 13th and 14th. The prewar stuff is all on the 14th, the postwar stuff is on the 13th and 14th as well.

They have some very unusual and rare sets in this auction (check out the Ives Empress Set to the left).

As always, there's some compelling classic standard gauge....

Oh yes, the auction is out on eBay live auctions. I don't think it is posted yet on NETTE's website.

Marc

NETTE April 25th/26th Auction is up!

The NETTE Auction is up in eBay live auctions. This has some rather eclectic standard gauge from Ives and a few others. It is absolutely worth a look or two (or more).....

Oh yes, I've heard the MTH Vol 2 catalog is on the way for York. Anyone care to guess if they will roll out any new standard gauge? My guess is not until next year but I could be wrong....

Marc

PS - Take a moment to appreciate the photography and time that goes into these catalogs. I was at one of the NETTE sessions where they were photographing and cataloging the auction. Believe me, it is hard work to give everyone a good picture that is representative of a toy but not over selling it. The nice thing about NETTE is what you see is always what you get (and that's a whole lot of work).

It's a good time....

In spite of the fact that Wall Street seems to be tanking like a 500 series tank careening off the track in my attic, the words of Frank Petruzzo still resonate true: "Standard Gauge is hotter than ever.". Recession, no recession, politics, the internet, no matter what, standard gauge is hot.

How do I know?

Stout Auctions on February 8th and 9th, 2007. A ton of outstanding standard gauge popped up on eBay tonight. Boxed sets, some very nice variations and on and on.

New England Toy Train Exchange on Feb. 15 & 16th. An incredibly hot standard gauge auction. The April auction from NETTE should be even more outstanding.

Lionel and MTH are about to pop out new catalogs and MTH is on the cusp of shipping the first new 318E's (I think the first that have been shipped in the last 63 years).

Plus the Westchester Train Show in White Plains, NY is this weekend. It's always a good show. Honestly, I just like going into the County Center (built in 1924, it is a wonderful Art Deco building).

Still wondering if people play with trains? I was at a meeting tonight in Jersey City, NJ and I mentioned to one of my customer's that I like toy trains. He got a weird twitch in his eye and said he likes to take his kids to ride the #6 subway. He said that when it dead ends it actually turns around under the old New York City Hall and he's seen it a couple of times. He said there was nothing like it.

I feel like I just unleashed another train nut on the world....

Marc

A Mighty Big Auction

One mighty big auction is coming up from NETTE. There are some bargains to be had, especially in the Friday portion of the auction. I will definitely be there for the standard gauge portion.

This Ives set on the left caught my eye. There is also that wonderful 10 Interurban.

MTH please make the 10 and 1010 Interurban set. This is low hanging fruit! It won't take much to build this and you can re-use the tooling for passenger cars. It's one of my favorite pieces of standard gauge and is literally impossible to find in good shape.

Anyway, I got my rant out for today. Check out this auction. I keep driving by my neighbors homes and they all have trees. It still feels really early for a tree but I guess it isn't. Anyone have a couple of decent under tree train shots yet?

Marc

April 2007 NETTE Auction is Up

Go out to NETTE and check out their new auction. It is very large and covers a wide range of different trains. There are some definite standard gauge pearls in the mix.

Yes, I know this isn't standard gauge but isn't it neat? The more I look at this Voltamp and Boucher stuff the more I wish they produced more of it. I wonder what designs never made it to the drawing board? The one's that did are classics. Toys just don't get better than these.

M