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The price of Amazon

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized July 8, 2013July 7, 20131980s, electric trains, greenberg, lionel, marx, New York, new york times

Slashdot posted a link to a New York Times piece that asserts that the full extent of Amazon’s existence hasn’t been felt yet, but it asserts that book pricing is becoming whimsical.

My experience disagrees with that. The market will stabilize. I think the cost fluctuations are because the market hasn’t stabilized yet.

Dave Farquhar

David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He has written professionally about computers since 1991, so he was writing about retro computers when they were still new. He has been working in IT professionally since 1994 and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He holds Security+ and CISSP certifications. Today he blogs five times a week, mostly about retro computers and retro gaming covering the time period from 1975 to 2000.

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Are video games a good investment?

Dave Farquhar Retro Gaming June 3, 2013January 20, 20251950s, 1980s, 1990s, american flyer, atari, Baby Boomers, baseball cards, collectibles, lionel, nintendo, old trains, pi, playstation, raspberry, Raspberry Pi, real estate, video game, vintage trains

An article on Slashdot asked this weekend whether video games were a good investment. So are video games a good investment? Will they appreciate over time?

The answer is generally no. Collectibles in general are not–they follow a boom and bust cycle. I’ve seen it happen in my own lifetime.

Dave Farquhar

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Farewell to a St. Louis Christmas tradition

Dave Farquhar Toy trains May 24, 2013February 22, 20221960s, 1980s, american flyer, christmas, lionel, New Year, shrewsbury, toy train, train layout, video game

I saw something sad in the papers this week: Macy’s is closing its downtown St. Louis store, the former flagship Famous-Barr (or Famous and Barr, if you’re old enough) store.

And that means this past Christmas was the last Christmas for the American Flyer storefront Christmas layout. Read more

Dave Farquhar

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Collecting parameters

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing, Toy trains April 12, 2013November 21, 2018american flyer, commodore, lionel, marx, o gauge, tin

I missed this bit of collecting wisdom from Rob O’Hara when he first posted it last month, but Rob describes his concept of mini-collections to keep his hobbies from taking over his life. Read more

Dave Farquhar

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Scratchbuilding, Marx-style

Dave Farquhar Toy trains April 2, 2013April 1, 2013boxcar, boxcars, greenberg, KCS, lionel, marx, marx trains, tin, Wayne Wesolowski

I saw a modern-production Lionel box car in a hobby shop one weekend. I wanted it, but I really wanted it in Marx 3/16 style, so it would look right with my Marx #54 KCS diesels pulling it. But I face very long odds of ever getting that car in Marx 3/16 unless I build it myself.

So I started building. And you can too.

Dave Farquhar

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I have a new favorite juice for oiling my train cars

Dave Farquhar Toy trains February 24, 2013December 27, 2015lionel, marx, Quantum Hot Sauce

I’ve heard the suggestion several times now to use Quantum Hot Sauce fishing reel oil on model and toy trains. I finally decided to try it myself. I like it, for several reasons.

Dave Farquhar

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Clean up the white goop on postwar Lionel and American Flyer with a hair dryer

Dave Farquhar Toy trains February 15, 2013December 11, 20201940s, 1950s, american flyer, lionel, Lionel Scout, postwar lionel

I picked up some dilapidated postwar American Flyer wheels at the local train store this afternoon to fix up some stuff from my junk box. The wheels were covered in milky white goo/powder/gunk/residue/stuff–whatever you want to call it. Almost anything molded of black plastic–wheels, couplers, truck sides–by Lionel or American Flyer in the 1940s and 1950s is prone to this. Fortunately, the fix is easy. Aim a hair dryer on high at it, and watch the whiteness melt away, leaving clean plastic behind.

Dave Farquhar

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Non-derailing Marx switches

Dave Farquhar Toy trains February 1, 2013April 23, 2017american flyer, lionel, Lionel O27, lionel train, marx, Marx O34, marx trains, o27, RADIUS, train layout

The Marx 1590 is the best O27 switch ever made. It’s durable, works well with all makes of trains (just put a track pin in the center rail where the switch pivots so that Lionel trains can pass), and can run off accessory power without modification.

The only downside is that it (allegedly) can’t be set to automatically switch to a position to accommodate an approaching train like a Lionel 1122, which makes it unusable in a reverse loop. That’s true if you wire them the way Marx said to wire them.

Here’s how I wire them to get that coveted feature.

Dave Farquhar

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A good reviewer doesn’t seek out special treatment

Dave Farquhar Uncategorized January 24, 2013January 24, 2013lionel, Lionel Polar Express

The Consumerist asks whether flashing a “reviewer” ID card in search of special treatment makes you savvy, or makes you a jerk.

Let me think for 1/1000000000000000 of a second. It makes you a jerk. Read more

Dave Farquhar

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A cheap and easy replacement for insulators on American Flyer, Lionel and Marx track

Dave Farquhar Toy trains January 8, 2013December 3, 2015american flyer, lionel, marx, toy train

When you’re dealing with vintage toy train track, sometimes the insulators on the track will be damaged or missing. This will cause a short circuit and keep the train from running. This is one of the most common problems with vintage track.

But there’s a cheap and easy repair using material from an unlikely source: 2-liter soda bottles.

Dave Farquhar

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