The Night Mail

[jamie92208]

3 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I always cringe when certain types gentlemen boast about how much they spend on their hobby, and how their wife does not know how much it's worth.

 

I bet they are tying themselves in knots whilst they lay in their wooden box  and wife sells it all for a pittance to an unscrupulous individual, or worse gives them all away to the little kids next door.

 

 

 

Unfortunately  auctions aren't always the best way to realise good value.  If Diggleby's are going to drip feed this onto the market over some period of time thevwidow might do well. Otherwise much of it will go for a pittance. My other half isn't interested at the moment but there is a spreadsheet with approximate 2nd hand values in existence.  As and when LGA bevones a burden I may well start drip feecing it out on Ebay plus the B& B at Guild events.  

 

Jamie

[TheSignalEngineer]

I keep a spreadsheet of my stock, with original cost and an idea of what items may be worth on the market. It's useful for keeping track of what I have and a starting point when I put surplus stock on the market. When I go I don't know if it will be used, although my 9 year old grandson shows a lot of interest in railways and is a real whizz at shunting puzzles set up in the three sidings of my goods yard.  

Edited September 22, 2021 by TheSignalEngineer

[TheSignalEngineer]

Just checked we are not in ERs so I can talk trains.

2 minutes ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

my 9 year old grandson shows a lot of interest in railways and is a real whizz at shunting puzzles set up in the three sidings of my goods yard

On his last visit we set about devising a new puzzle. It's a multi-location job, based on an LMR through line, WR branch and industrial branch. The idea is that the goods yard has several wagons for the other three lines to be sorted by the station pilot.

Trains will come in on the LMR and WR lines with wagons for the yard and industrial branch. The LMR train drops off and picks up at the yard. The WR arrives and the stock is sorted between yard and industrial traffic. The industrial branch loco comes in with the outgoing traffic and goes back with branch traffic from the yard. The station pilot sorts the wagons arrived from the industrial branch and the WR loco then takes its lot back to the WR fiddle sidings.

The whole thing takes about an hour to run through, requiring 4 locos and about 30 wagons. An added complication can be introduced by running a passenger or through freight train in each direction on the LMR line and a Flying Banana or parcels car on the WR line through to the LMR line.

[tetsudofan]

Being single has its advantages at times. When I got on the ship to Hong Kong back in 1966 I took all my possessions with me (which upset my Mum!) in a couple of suitcases and a small standard sea trunk, when I came home in 1999 a 20ft container followed me.

 

I hate to think how much I have spent on my hobbies, most expensive have been some modern Japanese prints (purchased whilst I was living in Japan) and all my trains which have been accumulated over the years. I enjoyed buying them and have continued to enjoy them.

 

My brother knows what I've got as does his eldest daughter in case he goes before me. My brother has made it clear that he does not want to spend ages sorting out my things so he has not been nominated as the executor. Once things have been sorted he (and she) know that I would like his grandsons to be the main beneficiaries.

 

It would be nice to be able to know that when I'm going to turn up my tootsies and turn off the mortal coil so that I could start disposing of things before it happens but, hey ho, life is not like that. I've enjoyed the things and hope to continue enjoying them......

 

Keith

 

 

[PhilJ W]

18 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

And his SWMBO didn't know.

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/people/widow-amazed-to-discover-husbands-secret-vintage-model-railway-collection-which-could-be-worth-up-to-ps30000-3391094?fbclid=IwAR1aiGl45sbIIaku1DhaGafoi5lTamgaCTX0sMP0bAph2Njs7N-i5bAsFxM

 

4 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

Strangely enough I had just been looking at the auction catalogue on line I subscribe to a few Yorkshire auction house catalogues via email and Dugglebys is one of them. There is some OO in the catalogue as well as dublo buildings and other accessories. I assume it is part of the collection in Question but it does nt give vendor details apart from the Adrian Batty collection. It would be lovely to go to the sale tomorrow and have a day in Scarborough finished of with a battered sausage and chips

I've been looking at the catalogue, it appears the whole collection is being auctioned in one go. Some of the pieces seem to be undervalued by the estimators and some seem to be overvalued. There are some very rare items in there that the auctioneers have seriously undervalued and some to put it kindly are rubbish and overvalued. I was considering bidding for a couple of items but the costs put me off, 20% buyers premium + 20% VAT means that a successful bid of £100 will be added too to the extent of £44.

The catalogue.

https://www.davidduggleby.com/auctions/23092021948/TheAdrianBattyCollectionofModelRailway.aspx?search=&auction_id=948&page=2#lotno4142

Edited September 22, 2021 by PhilJ W

[Happy Hippo]

51 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

 

I've been looking at the catalogue, it appears the whole collection is being auctioned in one go. Some of the pieces seem to be undervalued by the estimators and some seem to be overvalued. There are some very rare items in there that the auctioneers have seriously undervalued and some to put it kindly are rubbish and overvalued. I was considering bidding for a couple of items but the costs put me off, 20% buyers premium + 20% VAT means that a successful bid of £100 will be added too to the extent of £44.

The catalogue.

https://www.davidduggleby.com/auctions/23092021948/TheAdrianBattyCollectionofModelRailway.aspx?search=&auction_id=948&page=2#lotno4142

The problem with on line auctions is you very rarely pick up a bargain as there are plenty of knowledgeable people out there who know what something is really worth.  

 

In the good old days you had to be there to pick up a bargain, but now it is very rare for a model loco or a machine tool not to have not to realise it's reserve/lower estimate.

 

Auction houses are one of the few places where they will try to maximize the selling price... Obviously as they pick up 20% from the buyer and 20% from the seller.

 

At least when you buy a loco privately on the second hand market, it might not be a wonderful bargain, but you don't end up having to give 20% to HMRC.

[Dave Hunt]

I'm currently disposing of a great friend's model railway collection as well as an extensive library of books, photographs and research material, not because he has died but because he has advanced Alzheimer's disease and is in a nursing home that is costing his wife the best part of £1,000 a week. The model collection is in a much more niche part of the market than RTR 00 equipment so the potential avenues are more defined but even so, the work involved is considerable. The worst aspect is knowing that my friend has no idea that he was interested in railways or models and all his memories of them have disappeared.

 

Dave 

[pH]

3 hours ago, tetsudofan said:

 Being single has its advantages at times. When I got on the ship to Hong Kong back in 1966 I took all my possessions with me (which upset my Mum!) in a couple of suitcases and a small standard sea trunk, when I came home in 1999 a 20ft container followed me.

Yes - last time I moved before I got married, I took one suitcase and two plastic bags of LPs. First time my wife and I moved required one trip in a hired Transit. Second time - 4 trips with a Transit. After that we hired movers.

[SM42]

Uh-oh!

 

Cycling has been promised again this weekend (Cromford and High Peak) and it doesn't look like the weather will get me out of it.

 

Mind you the secondary target in  case of cloud cover over the primary is shopping at Merry Hill 

 

17.5 miles up hill might be the better option 

 

 

Andy

Edited September 22, 2021 by SM42

[Happy Hippo]

20 minutes ago, SM42 said:

Uh-oh!

 

Cycling has been promised again this weekend (Cromford and High Peak) and the it doesn't look like the weather will get me out of it.

 

Mind you the secondary target in  case of cloud cover over the primary is shopping at Merry Hill 

 

17.5 miles up hill might be the better option 

 

 

Andy

I suppose the less physical option is being unwell and requiring your feet up and being cured with alcohol and cake.

[simontaylor484]

Dugglebys send out an email a couple of days after the sale inviting offers on unsold lots it will be interesting to see if there is stuff they can't shift

[PhilJ W]

3 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

Dugglebys send out an email a couple of days after the sale inviting offers on unsold lots it will be interesting to see if there is stuff they can't shift

Do you have to have made a bid or just ask to be put on their mailing list?

[SM42]

15 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

I suppose the less physical option is being unwell and requiring your feet up and being cured with alcohol and cake.

 

The words "No chance" spring to mind.

 

On a positive note, all this cycling means there is less of me now. 

 

 

Andy

[simontaylor484]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

Do you have to have made a bid or just ask to be put on their mailing list?

I'm on their mailing list as well as Morphets of Harrogate and Tennants of Leyburn and Gary Don's of Leeds

[J. S. Bach]

3 hours ago, pH said:

Yes - last time I moved before I got married, I took one suitcase and two plastic bags of LPs. First time my wife and I moved required one trip in a hired Transit. Second time - 4 trips with a Transit.  ... snip...

And that was just for the LPs!

[jamie92208]

I'll have a go at uploading a video of the lovely Aster Duchess that we watched on Friday.   If it doesn't work I'll put it up on You Tube and post a link.

 

It appears that I can't upload videos so it will have to be You Tube in due course.

 

 

 

Jamie

[Dave Hunt]

I saw an Aster gauge 1 Duchess of Sutherland running at a friend's garden layout once - a lovely model. I think that they sometimes come on to the market at about £5-6,000.

 

Dave

[TheSignalEngineer]

When we bought our first flat just before we married most of our stuff took one trip in Dad's Austin 1100. Anne brought over her personal stuff and clothes in a black cab a couple of days before the wedding. 

[Northmoor]

It's definitely a generational thing; when people talk nostalgically about when they "could leave the doors unlocked", it was not just that they weren't aware of crime in the same way (due to much slower moving media), it's that people had so little worth stealing.  Most people worked all their lives just to pay the bills and if they were lucky, had enough to have short UK holiday every year.  Having the money to acquire lots of stuff  (which was getting cheaper) really only happened from the 1960s onwards.

 

I heard the statistic once about self-storage companies in the USA.  In the 1960s, there was no such thing; by the early 21st century, the total square footage available was into the billions.  A couple of generations of people have amassed so much physical "stuff" but it does appear to be changing, as it appears that increasingly people acquire experiences rather than things (plus things like books and music are much more likely to be on a digital device, or used on-demand where the only space they take up is on a server somewhere).

[Tony_S]

When we moved from our first house to this one, the removal firm said we would only need a very small van. On the day we moved, about 10 days after exchange of contracts, the only van they had was huge. Our stuff was just at one end looking very small. At least we got to meet the new neighbours as the van was blocking their drive for a while. They were really nice. The man who owned the removal van noticed we hadn’t got any wardrobes and came back and lent us a couple of clothes racks. I am sure we have cleared more clutter from the loft over the last few days than we moved with 30 years ago. 

[PhilJ W]

I have been looking in on that auction. Most items seem to be selling at the estimate or a little below. Just now the overhead electric locomotive (class 81?) went for £460, one of the few well over the estimate. I spotted an unsold lot that I might put in a cheeky offer for.

[Dave Hunt]

When we got married I was living in Singapore and after the wedding (for which I made it back in time to UK by the skin of my teeth having hitched three rides via Muharraq and Cyprus) Jill came out to join me with all her goods and chattels in one large and one small suitcase. When we left Singapore 18 months later we had to get a smallish wooden crate for the stuff we had amassed then over the years the space requirements for house moves gradually expanded to fill a large removal van. Considering how much junk stuff that we may use again some day there is in the loft, garage and shed, I think that a fair proportion of our belongings is, in fact, really surplus to requirements and could be disposed of. The trouble is that every time I/we have a clear out, the space released somehow gets filled again in quite short order. Since we have now more or less decided that we aren't moving anymore, getting rid of our stuff will probably become what The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy refers to as part of an SEP Field*.

 

Dave

 

*Someone Else's Problem

[PhilJ W]

The Auction is over. Another one that exceeded the estimate by a long way was a 3-rail Castle in British Railways blue livery.

[simontaylor484]

I had hoped to get chance to have a look at the auction but i was told I had other things to do.

[simontaylor484]

Just had a quick scan back through the catalogue there is a lot more unsold than I thought there would be I was expecting a "white glove sale" ie everything selling.

It ages since I have actually been to a sale I loved the atmosphere.