U.K. TRAINMEET

e*Train Issue: Oct 2003 | Posted in: Railfanning

By Mike Stella

My recent trip to England was planned well enough in advance that two weeks into it we would meet up with our friends (met through Ebay!), spend three days at the BlueBell Railway camping out and helping with the table sales, and then plan for our return home.

My wife getting sick delayed our return by six weeks but I still spent the weekend at the BlueBell Railway buying a few 7mm (“O” gauge) trains, watching the steam trains (about 5 different ones in all), watching the tables that were set up right on the main station platform, sleeping in the coach cars at night, and calling the hospital every few hours to monitor my wife’s condition.

**My friends Bob & Hazel selling on Platform**

The camping part of our vacation didn’t turn out quite as planned but it was a terrific train meet held under sunny England skies and there is nothing like a few steam trains running past your table every hour to lighten up your spirits. I took a few photos at the BlueBell Railway to share but waited until our return home to shoot pictures of the trains I picked up on my camping trip.

I hope you enjoy them.

**This JEP French electric was my first purchase of the meet and was brought over from Paris by the seller that very morning**

**An 0-6-0 in Southern Green but a different RR then ran in the U.S.**

**A great looking Great Western 2-6-2T Prairie**

**The last loco I found is also my favorite of the meet and was sitting buried on my friends table the entire day before I spotted it**

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.

U.K. TRAINMEET

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