Model Train Journal

As of Sunday evening this rather unremarkable Walthers RPO is over $100, with over $50 shipping (and now they add tax).

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Walthers-9128- ... SwJ9dgRgvV

I really like good Walthers passenger cars, but you can even see the wood grain on this one. Am I missing the runup?

Nope, just clueless stupid bidding.

bob turner wrote:.........with over $50 shipping (and now they add tax).

I'm seeing shipping of $26.15. Given weight and size of box, that might not be too far off to me

I really like good Walthers passenger cars, but you can even see the wood grain on this one. Am I missing the runup?

It's pretty well done compared to the majority of slapped together cars, but seems a bit high.

Calculate out your time to do one per your hourly rate and see if that stays under $100. Many just want a model to plop on the layout and watch go round and round from3+ feet away.

If you tried to buy the trucks alone. You would pay $50.00 plus $8.00 in shipping.

A pair of Walthers trucks? No way. But I will happily sell my Walthers trucks at $50/pop. You can have them with those wonderful plastic wheelsets even.

I don't pay half that for good Lobaugh trucks - not that I need any.

Yes indeed, if I could justify selling my labor costs, a good Walthers kit would bring a grand. That is not how the used train world prices things - you know that. Same with cars and airplanes - much cheaper to buy them already restored, unless your labor is free.

bob turner wrote:A pair of Walthers trucks? No way. But I will happily sell my Walthers trucks at $50/pop. You can have them with those wonderful plastic wheelsets even.

I don't pay half that for good Lobaugh trucks - not that I need any.

Yes, those are not brass PSC trucks!

Yes indeed, if I could justify selling my labor costs, a good Walthers kit would bring a grand. That is not how the used train world prices things - you know that.

Perhaps that's not as true as it was as younger folks that do not want to spend their time building models enter the marketplace and just want a finished model now.

A well-built 9000-series Walthers car with All Nation or Lobaugh trucks tops out at maybe $50 or so. Shipping of one passenger car - even a 20" long one, coast to coast, is not $51 - I just shipped a couple of heavy cast bronze locomotives for under $30 each.

Yes, if extremely well done with full interior and no wood grain showing - $100, maybe. Not this one.

bob turner wrote:I just shipped a couple of heavy cast bronze locomotives for under $30 each.

How? What size box and weight and how far? A 3lb 6x6x20 box to you from me is $20.40. Add insurance, packing, etc. and you're at $30. Your locos probably weight 3 x's that amount and I'd hope you'd double box and pack them well.

Odds are that shipping this car in a 6x6x20 box will result in it arriving in kit form.

9 lbs, 22" long, $300 insurance, to Dallas, UPS.

At the same time I shipped a 2 lb radio to Alaska at UPS - $60. That one should have gone USPS.

Rufus T. Firefly wrote: I'm seeing shipping of $26.15. Given weight and size of box, that might not be too far off to me

Agree, given the closing price and your point about these kit-builds tendency to disassemble themselves in-transit I would tend to over-pack this too, and probably wind up with the over-size carton dimension surcharges.

Rufus T. Firefly wrote:It's pretty well done compared to the majority of slapped together cars, but seems a bit high.

Agree, opinion, and per the description, this is a nice new build, which means it's likely the best the car will ever look baring someone re-sealing and finishing that roof again. Though the inadequate seal on the roof is a common failing with these builds, so is poor fitting, glazing, decaling et al. This one overall is pretty "tight" looking. Only other nit I'd make is the lack of the visible interior portion through (otherwise nicely barred) RPO windows.
Kudos to the builder-seller.

Rufus T. Firefly wrote:Calculate out your time to do one per your hourly rate and see if that stays under $100. Many just want a model to plop on the layout and watch go round and round from3+ feet away.

True and true; I hope this sale price is a harbinger for future listings of good composite kit builds like this.

Unrelated to all that - I have an eBay search - "O Scale 2-rail Lobaugh." Usually there are between three and ten items. Then eBay helpfully appends similar items. Lately about half of the "similar items" are Marx tinplate. Guess that is better than barbie dolls?

Whoever messed with the model train categories has their head so far up their arse they ain't never going to see daylight. In 20 odd years of searches, I don't think I've ever seen one of their "suggestions" that I even remotely thought about bidding on.

Yeah, the changes made to searches and listings since EB's inception in 1998 have all been to make is easier for EB and more confusing for posters and buyers. All changes, IMHO, have made it harder to find what you want. Even when you fine tune a search to eliminate the "crap", they change something and that search quits working. But, EB has been phenomenally successful, so I don't expect anything to change in a positive way for individual.