These ain’t Lionel but 3-Rail from “Around the World”…and more.

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

By Mike Stella

When you are lucky enough to be a world traveler like me, and you travel the world on vacation, you always keep one eye peeled in small shops and anywhere else you visit, for that elusive piece of “O” Gauge that adds to the collection and doubles as a vacation souvenir.

**An absolutely beautiful Swiss Crocodile Electric**.

I’ve found Hornby in English book stores and French locos in antique shops. You ride the local rail lines and you get an appreciation for Swiss electrics or English MU cars. Then it is fun to try and duplicate what you saw in “O” Gauge for your collection. I’ve always liked the Swiss Crocodiles even though they have long since stopped running the rails. You can see a few on display if you are lucky. I mostly stick to the UK as they almost speak the same language as me.

**Three British steam locos with 2-6-4; 4-4-4; and 0-6-0 wheel arrangements**.

Preservation lines are everywhere and most have many steam locomotives that are fully restored and operable. One line visited had five different steam trains running at the same time! It is fun to see what Americans might consider as weird wheel combinations. There sure are a lot of them in the UK.

Back home in the USA, I have tried to get a few representative pieces from every manufacturer of “O” Gauge trains. I’ll do a MARX article sometime along with many other obscure models.

**American Flyer #429 and # 435 that are very close to scale size and great looking locomotives**.

I have come to admire the American Flyer trains made before WWII that run just fine on my Lionel 3-Rail track. I only “collect” Lionel Trains but that doesn’t stop me from adding Thomas, Ives, and anything else that run on my railroad.

**A pair of locos from Thomas Industries**.

**Ives is represented with a #1694 Electric and a well proportioned 4-4-2**.

My biggest regret is that for decades I was a LIONEL ONLY collector and missed out on a lot of great trains at great prices.

**ETS is still making great tinplate trains. These are some of their first offerings**.

One learns over time

HAPPY COLLECTING; even when it is not Lionel!

**A very BIG Marklin-Like steamer that was acquired in 2007**.

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.

These ain’t Lionel but 3-Rail from “Around the World”…and more.

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