Hi all,
Some of you may remember my friend Chile John Pritchard, the owner of Eldorado Railways. He passed away some years ago. His family has asked me to dispose of his remaining property and I began selling some items this week. You can see the first round here:
Cheers,
Matt Hutson
Nathrop, CO
Chile John was a unique character, and we chatted on the phone often. I rode the CTS with him twice, both times getting a running commentary on every rock, road crossing, culvert, bridge, and building. It is one of my most prized memories.
I can give some history on that flat car, and its prototype. The CTS rebuilt the prototype around 2000, and I took extensive photos and measurements of it at the time. I built this car as a gift to CJ since he had a hand in the CTS from the beginning, and gave it to him in October 2003. I signed it on the bottom. I’m glad its still out there, I had wondered what happened to it until Matt emailed me a few days ago. I hope it goes to a good home.
Mine.
The Turnouts are Outback turnouts and those particular ones , though accurate in gauge, were samples. I can tell by the tails of each one that they were a little short and later units were much longer after the frog. Still miss CJ very much.
Hiya Grant! Long time no see.
Hi Boss. Still around. Visit every day.
Ditto what Bob said…(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Hi Grant,
Thanks for the response. I remember you and your turnouts, and John always spoke highly of you.
Cheers,
Matt
Hi guys,
The next round of Chile John’s stuff has been listed/updated:
Cheers,
Matt
Hey Matt
Please check your messages.
Thanks,
Matt
Hi guys,
The sale list has been updated tonight. More Colorado railroad books, large scale stuff, and some of my own item,s as well.
Cheers,
Matt
Matt,
Check your eBay messages. I made three offers and you did not respond to any of them! (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-frown.gif)
Hi all,
The final round of listing of Chile John’s stuff goes live on eBay tonight. Among the remainders is a 1/2" scale unlettered D&RGW/Rio Grande gondola plow I built for John back in the 1990’s:
The pic above was taken right after I built John’s plow - it’s posed next to my own lettered version. I built several of these for myself and friends back then.
John’s plow was pretty tattered when I got it back, but I have fixed it up a bit and hopefully somebody will find it of use.
Cheers,
Matt
Matt what would the shipping be for the coca cola car kits you have to 43333…?
Shipping is listed at $25, does the seller lower that when the real cost is much less than that??
Dan
The short answer is no. Such a discount is not stated in the listing and the buyer should assume they will pay the full amount.
The long answer is E-bay sellers use one of three shipping methods. The built in shipping calculator gives each buyer a unique amount based on their zip code. The second method, used by most sellers is flat rate shipping (this is what is listed in this case). Everybody pays the same rate. Most sellers try to get it close or use the USPS flat rate shipping boxes. The last option is sellers will state a shipping charge and offer to refund any over charge. This is often in conjunction with combined shipping on multiple purchases. The final charge is normally calculated as actual shipping plus E-Bay / Pay-Pal percentage (roughly %15). These conditions will be stated in the listing or may be conveyed to a buyer through the Ask the seller a question feature.
Some of the postal charges on E-bay may seem high…and they are but not because of the sellers. Individuals selling on -line do not get large discounts like Amazon or other big retailers. They pay the public rate and then get %15 E-bay tax to boot. They also have to cover bubble wrap, boxes and insurance.
There is a lot more to the cost of shipping and how it is affecting our hobby, but I already have one foot out of the boat so I will stop here.
Thanks Boomer, couldn’t have said it better myself. I have been out of town since early Monday and was unable to reply until now. Also add in my case that it’s 15 miles to the post office…
AND there’s the fact that my estimates for shipping have been too low on some items, and I had to eat those costs.
Funny thing, some people bid on items and win, and THEN demand reduced shipping costs below those clearly stated in the listing. Weird.
Keep in mind I do not ship a lot of goods and here is what I have done to minimize shipping costs:
I buy most boxes from Wal-mart, reuse packing material that is given to me as well as boxes. I find that I have too much and give extra packing to my local hobby shop to keep their costs down!!! I have never bought airbag or foam chips for shipping.
I have also found small boxes are cheaper to mail than using the USPS priority box at $7.20 (new fee $7.90). Exception would be excessive weight.
