Speaking to somebody at the sale of a collection that I attended a few weeks ago with a lot of medium to large American stuff, there is a very big export market for older O gauge and upwards American models as the Americans simply are not able to pick up spares these days. You can make a good living picking up older American locos in Britain and Europe and breaking them up and exporting spares to the USA. If you have the contacts of course.
The gent I was speaking to was also into classic cars and owned an MG TF. He advised me to pick one of these up as they can currently be purchased in nice condition for about £9000. He reckons that the MG TF will appreciate significantly in value over the next 10 years. Don't say I don't ever give out investment tips!
Unfortunately spares are a big business and thieves now target anything which has a significant value when broken down. Think of the car spares ring that the police raided in London a few weeks ago.
All I can say is be very careful when speaking with somebody who seems more interested in the value of a collection and how you look after it rather than in how good your layout looks.
And obviously take care when participating in forums such as this. Don't publish any contact information.
Model Rail Forum protects you as whilst you are asked for your email address when you sign up it is not published and you can only contact other members through the server owned by Model Rail Forum so at all times your email address remains entirely hidden and confidential. This very important measure safeguards you! Model Rail Forum is the only model railway forum (as far as we know) in the world with its own dedicated server owned by a hobbyist. I cannot stress how important this is for your security.
Happy modelling
Gary
The gent I was speaking to was also into classic cars and owned an MG TF. He advised me to pick one of these up as they can currently be purchased in nice condition for about £9000. He reckons that the MG TF will appreciate significantly in value over the next 10 years. Don't say I don't ever give out investment tips!
Unfortunately spares are a big business and thieves now target anything which has a significant value when broken down. Think of the car spares ring that the police raided in London a few weeks ago.
All I can say is be very careful when speaking with somebody who seems more interested in the value of a collection and how you look after it rather than in how good your layout looks.
And obviously take care when participating in forums such as this. Don't publish any contact information.
Model Rail Forum protects you as whilst you are asked for your email address when you sign up it is not published and you can only contact other members through the server owned by Model Rail Forum so at all times your email address remains entirely hidden and confidential. This very important measure safeguards you! Model Rail Forum is the only model railway forum (as far as we know) in the world with its own dedicated server owned by a hobbyist. I cannot stress how important this is for your security.
Happy modelling
Gary
