Sad to report that Just Trains in Concord, California was burglarized the other night. The thieves knew what they were looking for, broke in, stole a bunch of brass HO equipment and were gone in two minutes. What is heartening to me, however, is that in less than a day, their Facebook post had received over a thousand acknowledgements, 282 comments and 994 shares at last count.
Aw man, that’s low. (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-frown.gif)
Found this local news article about it, https://patch.com/california/concord-ca/thieves-break-steal-valuable-model-train-pieces-store-owner
That, however, is not low, (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-smile.gif)
Anthony said he’s been heartened by all the support he’s gotten. He said one person sent him $200 — no purchase, just cash — to help ensure the business survived. The trains are insured, Anthony said, so the burglary won’t kill his business. But he said he cherishes the sentiment.
Yeah, and while it’s clear the thieves had cased the joint prior, at least we know it could not have been true model train people who did it. No way one of us could only spend two minutes in a train store …
True, on both counts.
Its a shame that there are so many people out there who have so little respect for other people and their property.
Gregory Hile said:
No way one of us could only spend two minutes in a train store …
Truth! (https://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)
I don’t have an alibi, but I can prove I’m not guilty: none of the 1:24 scale roofing or brick siding was stolen.
I really hate to see this happen to a nice guy like Jim. He and his wife are good people. He didn’t have to open the store due to the pandemic, but he did anyway. The store emphasizes the smaller scales, but he has a nice large scale layout in his back yard where he and his wife host open houses sometimes. He’ll bounce back real soon with a little help from his friends.
I’m going to guess that while the thieves may have cased the shop, they probably thought those gold colored trains were gold and not brass. Joke will be on them when a pawn shop will offer them $50 for the lot.
I was thinking the same thing, Bill. It’s like a jewelry store with gold plated jewelry sitting right out there in the display case attracting attention.
I own a 1969 HO Tenshodo brass GN S2 and it’s worth between $800 to $1,000 on some boards …
I suspect a collector directed the pilfering …
My Dad brought it home from Japan on a tour of duty… the men at my model railroading group in Long Beach were mighty impressed!
Gold plated my arse;
Trains will get you through times of no money, better
Than money will get you through times of no trains!
John Caughey said:
Trains will get you through times of no money, better
Than money will get you through times of no trains!
We have a keeper.
John Passaro said:
John Caughey said:
Trains will get you through times of no money, better
Than money will get you through times of no trains!
We have a keeper.
Aw shucks, it’s a direct rip off of The Fabulous Furry Freak Bros …
C’mon stimulus, I have trains to buy!
I stopped by as Jim was working on the repairing the damage to the front door. Apparently there were at least two of them. One stood outside while another one did the entry and smash/grab. Some of the items were consignments and one of the locos was valued at $2,000 but insurance and/or Jim will cover everything. The storefront windows are dark tinted so you would have to have been inside the store beforehand to know what the inventory looked like and where to go quickly.