Merit Madness

[MarkyGWR]

Can anyone explain to me why Merit bits seem to be going for silly money?

 

Just noticed that someone has a Luggage Set up for £10 on buy it now. Granted it hasn't sold yet, but there have been other silly amounts paid for what seem to be relatively basic (by modern standards) accessories.

 

Interested in any views.

 

Thanks

 

Mark

[deltic56]

It is probably collectors rather than modellers who are buying,. There appears to be collectors for most things nowadays.

[Jenny Emily]

Some things seem to be, against all expectations, sought after. I don't know why. Recently I discovered that whilst for the most part Hornby-Dublo doesn't go for a lot on Ebay, the D1, D2 and G3 switches do; which was a pain given that they were the switches of preference I wanted for my layout. I can only guess that lots of other people have decided that Hornby Dublo switches are the best for layout electrics control too.

[hayfield]

My old boss and in fact his friend (to a lesser account) were not railway modellers in the sense that they built railway layouts using kit or scratch built items. But gained pleasure in buying and owning Wrenn locos and running them on what I call 'train set layouts'. Nothing wrong in this at all and brought coaches, wagons buildings etc to put on their layouts. Back in the 60's / 70's Merit was the easy to obtain better quality accessory sellers, so I guess that when furnishing their layouts these items are compattable with their collecting / modelling activities.

 

I have a similar problem, I have a small but growing collection of Eames / Jamieson kit built tinplate locos. Some of the locos use RTR chassis of which a few still retain the RTR wheels. Most are not up to the detail standards of later whitemetal / etched kits and to be quite honest some of the charm is in their simplicity. I also have a small collection of wooden coaches (CCW, Kings X, Ratio etc) and early wagons. The question is how should I display them ?

 

One thought is to have a small diorama layout, perhapps based on one of CJF's plans of the 60,s and build the layout in the manor of those in the 60's (see old Railway Modellers), this in turn would mean using Airfix and Merit kits and accessories, and scratch built items from every day bits. Even spiked track? Or thay may still stay on the shelf!

[mozzer models]

My old boss and in fact his friend (to a lesser account) were not railway modellers in the sense that they built railway layouts using kit or scratch built items. But gained pleasure in buying and owning Wrenn locos and running them on what I call 'train set layouts'. Nothing wrong in this at all and brought coaches, wagons buildings etc to put on their layouts. Back in the 60's / 70's Merit was the easy to obtain better quality accessory sellers, so I guess that when furnishing their layouts these items are compattable with their collecting / modelling activities.

 

I have a similar problem, I have a small but growing collection of Eames / Jamieson kit built tinplate locos. Some of the locos use RTR chassis of which a few still retain the RTR wheels. Most are not up to the detail standards of later whitemetal / etched kits and to be quite honest some of the charm is in their simplicity. I also have a small collection of wooden coaches (CCW, Kings X, Ratio etc) and early wagons. The question is how should I display them ?

 

One thought is to have a small diorama layout, perhapps based on one of CJF's plans of the 60,s and build the layout in the manor of those in the 60's (see old Railway Modellers), this in turn would mean using Airfix and Merit kits and accessories, and scratch built items from every day bits. Even spiked track? Or thay may still stay on the shelf!

 

 

But you can still get Merit from Peco but under a new name

[The Stationmaster]

Can anyone explain to me why Merit bits seem to be going for silly money?

 

Just noticed that someone has a Luggage Set up for £10 on buy it now. Granted it hasn't sold yet, but there have been other silly amounts paid for what seem to be relatively basic (by modern standards) accessories.

 

Interested in any views.

 

Thanks

 

Mark

 

They're probably out of the auction lot that went for 95 quid a week ago Saturday, those people like to turn a profit y'know. (As I wasn't at the auction I don't know who bought that lot but it is sometimes amusing to see who buys stuff like that and then watch it come out under one of their Ebay identities and work out their profit margin, and gulp.)

[Il Grifone]

The price has to reflect the box/package!!!!!!!!!!??????????????? as the Peco versions are identical.

 

Anyone want a tunnel?

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MERIT-Railway-Tunnel-OO-HO-Gauge-BOXED-60s-5040-/400111009078?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_Trains_Railway_Models&hash=item5d28797d36

[andyman7]

It is the box and finish, these are nice period accessories. Over the years I've picked up a few, I'm not bothered enough to pay collectors prices for Merit but I do hand on to any original boxed bits that come along. Don't really take up any room either!

[Il Grifone]

One thought is to have a small diorama layout, perhapps based on one of CJF's plans of the 60,s and build the layout in the manor of those in the 60's (see old Railway Modellers), this in turn would mean using Airfix and Merit kits and accessories, and scratch built items from every day bits. Even spiked track? Or thay may still stay on the shelf!

 

This is what I tried with my Dublo Layout. Using the preservation theme, to build a layout using vintage equipment. I couldn't resist a few modern interlopers though. - See the thread I've just started in the vintage section. I'll put up some pictures as soon as I can locate them.

[DavidBelcher]

One thought is to have a small diorama layout, perhapps based on one of CJF's plans of the 60,s and build the layout in the manor of those in the 60's (see old Railway Modellers), this in turn would mean using Airfix and Merit kits and accessories, and scratch built items from every day bits. Even spiked track? Or thay may still stay on the shelf!

 

This sounds scarily like my actual (but still incomplete) layout!! Apart from a few Airfix/Palitoy/Dapol interlopers, Parkside/Ratio vans and a Hornby Fowler 2-6-4T (bought new in 1996; the last loco I bought that wasn't 2nd hand!!), most of my stock basically dates back to the mid-70s and before, albeit with much repainting and detailing. Scenic stuff too falls back heavily on Airfix and Merit stuff and their modern Dapol and Model Scene equivalents.

 

David