Thank you for the warm welcome everybody. I particularly like the Prewar & Postwar Lionel O gauge locomotives, cars, accessories & more. I just recently have really had an interest in these particular cars & scale. I also am interested in N & HO scales as well. All eras, early days to modern / present time. I originally got into the "train stuff" about 6-7 years ago. I have a small online business which has grown a lot more recently. My husband & I have an online business and were originally just selling auto parts. He works in body shop & I have a part time job outside of our business. It slowly began to grow into something else once I started dealing with vintage jewelry & then we bought our first couple of train sets. Didn't think much of it at the time, but we happened to come across a person that was selling everything they had, including an entire hobby shop buyout that they had purchased & just sat on. So that was the beginning for us, especially me.
It was two trailers full of locomotives, cars, track, an abundance of accessories and so much more. It all ranged in scales of N, HO & O for the most part. That is where my interest really came together with trains. I had things that were no longer in production, NOS, New without boxes, some Used, etc. My husband got a few Ives engines & cars that started a hobby for him. He started to refurbish his first engine & it was as a hobby & to keep, not to sell on our store.
My interest was peaked as I learned more & more about the companies such as Lionel, American Flyer, Bachmann, and many more. I started looking for the rare cars. Of course some I put on my store but I started collecting as well. I prefer to leave the cars or items as is. Whether I am going to keep it for myself or sell it on my store. I started to see pictures of the layouts from my customers that purchase items from us and I am so lucky to have so many rare & unique items.
Basically I joined this forum to learn more and chat with other like minded souls that are interested in trains. In the beginning it was about selling and making a profit (which some of course I still do) but I have got a real interest in them and found myself wanting to learn more. Like how to care for my trains, test them & fix them as well. I never ever thought this would turn into a hobby like it has. But I absolutely love it now.
I am interested in learning more & looking to really start my own diorama layout. I just recently have received another huge lot of train cars, engines, buildings & much more. Had to get a Uhaul for this load..lol
Basically I am interested in the history of the stuff I have and figuring out where to start with setting up my own layout. I ran across this website when researching some of the cars I have and it looked like a great place to meet other train hobbyists. Looking forward to meeting new people and trading information & just making some new friends. I can possibly even help out some other hobbyists as well. Thanks again for the warn welcome and looking forward to my journey on what to do or where to start my own layout & collection to keep for myself. I am very excited about this forum and excited to go through all of the stuff I have.
Dina
