The British are Coming! The British are Coming!!!

e*Train Issue: Nov 2008 | Posted in: Collecting, Combined Eras

**It’s time to hold the annual British Railfair on Lionel Lines at a small station with a very long name!**

By Mike Stella

I’ve been to York twice. No, not that big toy train meet held twice a year in Pennsylvania, but to that great city in England that plays host to the British National Railway Museum.

It costs a bit more to get there but there is NO CHARGE to visit the museum. We in the USA could learn a few things from our British neighbors!

It takes many hours to see all that is on display but our most recent visit found us in the back rooms labeled “The Achieves” and it is impossible to describe to you the thousands of train items hidden away.

Some of it is full size, much of it models. And what fantastic models there are in cabinets and on shelves in large scales and in small scales. You could spend an entire day just in this area and I almost did.

I have been to the United Kingdom about seven times in the last ten years and have really come to appreciate British STEAM and have spent a small fortune trying to collect as many different looking locomotives as I can.

There are no British 4-8-8-4’s running about but there are a variety of smaller wheel arrangements we have never seen over here. I will let the pictures I took to accompany this article show you a bit of what I am talking about.

Please enjoy!

**The first to arrive are an 0-4-0; a 2-4-0; and an 0-6-0**.

**The most famous British Locomotive “The Flying Scotsman” arrives**.

**The most famous British Locomotive “MALLARD” is next**.

**Here is a beautiful 4-4-0 from the builders at Hornby**

**A 2-6-0 built by Bassett-Lowke shows off**.

**A 4-4-2 and an 0-6-2 add to the variety**.

**A huge 4-6-4T arrives. This loco was repowered by Lionel, a small American company!**

**A 4-6-0 from Leeds running great but in need of new paint!**

**A beautiful 2-6-2 now arrives at the show**

**An early 4-2-2, this nearly didn’t make it!**

**A classic 4-6-2 Princess Elizabeth from the Hornby shops**

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.

The British are Coming! The British are Coming!!!

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