It’s Not All Lionel “O” Gauge

e*Train Issue: Aug 2007 | Posted in: Collecting, Combined Eras

By Mike Stella

There are many different styles of train meets across this country and throughout the world. Not every meet can be a York and I’ve found that smaller meets, even very small meets, can be exciting and lots of fun.

A few miles from my house at a local VFW post, an HO club is rebuilding its layout and continues to sponsor a bi-annual parking lot swap meet. It is only 10 minutes away. The Union Pacific mainline from Los Angeles to all points east runs across the street and lots of trains roll by on a Saturday morning. There are always bargains galore in “HO” and “N” and even toy trains can be found in “O” and “S” and there’s “G” as well.

I try to make every meet and I always find something to bring home. This past meet, we had Larry, Darryl & Darryl with their “Anything for a buck” sale and the crowd gathered quickly to spot any treasures. I grabbed two homemade HO locomotives that seemed full of character and couldn’t pass up for only $1.00 This terrific looking little 0-6-0 has found a happy home in my HO display case alongside HO items from Gilbert, Revell, Lionel, Marx, Varney and Tyco.

**You can’t find much for a buck anymore. I think this little 0-6-0 was a real bargain**.

**There was a time long ago when most trains were scratch built. That was a HOBBY!**

Shop Amazon and Help TCA

TCA members who shop at Amazon.com can have each of their normal purchases generate a modest payment to TCA! And it won’t cost you anything!

The Train Collectors Association is now a participant with AmazonSmile, which is a special website operated by Amazon that lets customers enjoy the same wide selection of products, low prices and convenient shopping features as on Amazon.com.

The difference is that when customers shop at AmazonSmile (smile.amazon.com), the AmazonSmile Foundation donates 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases to the charitable organizations selected by customers.

The process is simple. Just search for and select Train Collectors Association when you sign up and shop at smile.amazon.com.

You use your regular Amazon.com username and password, but when you log in to smile.amazon.com, you’ll see that you are supporting TCA with your purchases:

Note that if you just log in to the regular amazon.com, this benefit does not operate.

There are no costs to either you or TCA, but TCA benefits!

This is a great way for TCA to earn extra cash to offset costs, so sign up today to help support TCA.

* Note: TCA is not a party to any of your Amazon transactions, and does not endorse any products or vendors.

Helping TCA with your ebay purchases when you use PayPal

If you’re an ebay user and have a PayPal account you use to make payments, you can designate a donation for TCA when you’re checking out — any amount, small or large.
If you’re a regular seller on ebay, you can pre-designate a percentage of your sales to be donated automatically in your name to TCA as long as the purchaser pays with their PayPal account.

In both cases, you will receive a donation receipt from the PayPal Giving Fund, and enjoy applicable tax advantages.

How to do it:

Click on the image above, or use this link. This will take you to ebay, where you will see the following page (log in to ebay if you are not already):

This offers TCA as an option. Click on the “Add to My Charities” button where indicated with the red arrow. Thereafter, when you make a purchase, at checkout you will be offered the option to make a donation to TCA in any amount of your choosing. Small amounts add up, larger ones are great! It’s always up to you!

The option will appear at the lower part of your checkout page, something like this:

If you’re a regular seller on ebay, you can allocate a portion of your sales proceeds to be donated to TCA. Look at the green arrow marked “Optional” above to see how to do it. Details on how ebay calculates the donation may be read here. This is a wonderful way to share the financial benefits of your hobby with the organization that promotes it!

An added benefit to TCA is that these donations are not subject to normal processing fees, so that makes your donation work harder!

* Note. TCA is not a party to any of your eBay transactions, and does not endorse any products or vendors. PayPal issues the receipts to you for your donation, not TCA.

It’s Not All Lionel “O” Gauge

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