Large Scale Central

UK members - theft of Gauge 1 collection.....

General Discussion
#1

From Liam Trim in Somerset…

Date: 20 May 2016 at 14:42
Subject: Appeal to help railway enthusiast

Hope you’re well and that you might be able to help me. I spoke to the wife of Richard Harwood this week who said he has a lifelong passion for the railways and has hosted events for fellow Gauge One enthusiasts in the past. His house is full of memorabilia and magazines of yours. Sadly Richard is suffering from cancer and while being treated in hospital recently most of his model railway connection was stolen. I’m hoping you can share my article to help the police appeal (see link below). I think your members would be knowledgeable and might be able to tip off people so that they don’t unwittingly buy Richard’s collection. Also as a fellow member, I’m sure they might like to support Richard. Look forward to hearing from you, all the best, Liam http://www.westerngazette.co.uk/Castle-Cary-man-8216-devastated-8217-model/story-29297467-detail/story.html

I personally hope that the sorry excuses who did this end up suffering from a dose of the most violent runs combined with uncontrollable sneezes.

Not that I’m vindictive, y’unnerstan’…

tac

G1MRA Memeber

#2

Not nice, especially given what the guy is going through. However it would seem that nothing like a loco got lifted as that, if a live steamer, could have been £3000 + on its own. These sort of things, even the rolling stock, are so specialised and recognisable they would be hard to shift. Hope they just don’t get dumped and lost for good. Likewise on the sentiments regarding the scrotes who perpetrated this.

Just had my insurance policy revised to specify my garden rail collection. Not the track outside but all the stuff inside the house, live steamers in cabinets under lock and key. Nothing but gardening stuff in the shed. Max.

#3

Max, thanks for the call. It is my belief that a zero has been omitted from the value figure - any one of his many locos must be worth at least the £3000 quoted, let alone his large collection of passenger cars…

tac

Ottawa Valley GRS

#4

tac, I think petty thieves should be rightly punished. That’s not vindictive, that’s justice. We take our hard earned money, and time, and pursue an interest we like and enjoy, then some punk comes along and takes what isn’t his. The punk has no consideration for how violated he makes people feel, nor does he care about the sentimental value of anything he takes or destroys. I would wish worse on the punk then you did, but wishing doesn’t get it done. I hope the punk is caught and punished for what he did. Please keep us posted on any developments.

#5

tac Foley said:

It is my belief that a zero has been omitted from the value figure - any one of his many locos must be worth at least the £3000 quoted, let alone his large collection of passenger cars… tac Ottawa Valley GRS

I thought it looked a tad low for all the hoopla and wondered, like you, if an 0 had gone missing. So many publications, both local and national, are running without “subs” to save money resulting in these errors. £3K does not buy you much in the G1 world, even in kit form. Never mind a lifetimes collecting.

I do wonder with this being such a sociable hobby and our habits of freely posting on multiple social media outlets that a little more discretion is required when proudly showing our lines and stock. Too many opportunists out there. Max.

#6

Max Winter said:

tac Foley said:

It is my belief that a zero has been omitted from the value figure - any one of his many locos must be worth at least the £3000 quoted, let alone his large collection of passenger cars… tac Ottawa Valley GRS

I thought it looked a tad low for all the hoopla and wondered, like you, if an 0 had gone missing. So many publications, both local and national, are running without “subs” to save money resulting in these errors. £3K does not buy you much in the G1 world, even in kit form. Never mind a lifetimes collecting.

I do wonder with this being such a sociable hobby and our habits of freely posting on multiple social media outlets that a little more discretion is required when proudly showing our lines and stock. Too many opportunists out there. Max.

I agree wholeheartedly with your view Max. I am sorry that this happened and has happened to others. At the same time some continue to supply the thieves with all the info they need to look for prime pickings through simple threads like show us all your motive power or all your rolling stock. Others with this is where and how I store my trains. People not only tell what they have and where it is but show what house is theirs on google earth. Maybe they also leave the spare key under the mat with an arrow pointing the way.

THINK before you post.(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

#7

Think the Saudis have theft weighed off. Steal once and they cut a hand off. Do it twice and they cut the other hand off.

Crude but effective.

#8

Hollywood maybe onto something here… No more pics of my trains or layout. From now on it will be more useful stuff like:

Here is the Remington 1100 I will use to bring you down.

A picture of the knife to finish the job. Note the real rust and dull serrated blade.

This is the remote spot in the desert where I will bury your remains on a dark moonless night in a shallow unmarked grave.

These are the two pennies I will place on your eyes.

And of course here are my glasses so I can read your drivers license/car registration/personal info and track down where you live and end the scumbag gene source that spawned you. (note to self: bring plenty of large garbage bags)

Silly me, I always get carried away thinking about criminals. Lets just go back to that cutting off the hands thing. Do I get to do the cutting or do they have someone that takes care of that?

:slight_smile:

#9

Nice talk Boomer, BUT I would love to see you take a perp down with a rifle/shotgun that NEVER existed! (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

edit: I see you corrected the shotgun model. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

#10

On a similar forum a gent was showing off his walls and walls and walls of trains AND telling of his travel plans. Who is going to X show? Plus how many days.

When I pointed out doing so could be foolish, he reacted by getting mad at me claiming that I was a sudden liability, for pointing it out. He felt safe as long as no one mentioned it! I said if I could figure it out anybody could, just made him madder!

John

#11

Well, John and I both live in Arizona, known for open carry, concealed carry and miles upon miles of desert to bury things you do not want to found. Plus I know people with backhoes, so I do not need to lift a shovel, except to knock the bugger down. Its a shame you have to even worry about things like this, I would personally love to run my trackwork into the front yard of my home but figure some worthless punk would destroy it.

Tac, I wish tere was something we could do to help you way over there, but all we can offer is hope they find the SCROTES ( I love the proper English terms) and hang them by their scrotes. I hope it is all recovered.

#12

I would personally love to run my trackwork into the front yard of my home but figure some worthless punk would destroy it.

I feel the same way. A few years back the In Baldwin magazine did an article on my garden railroad. When I read the article I was quite nervous. The author used my last name and said what street I lived on. He probably was using my last name, because he was also writing an article about Dave Bodner’s railroad at the same time, and that helped him keep the 2 separate in his mind. But the street I live on is only 2 blocks long. So, even without a last name to work with, any bad guy would have a pretty narrow area to search for my railroad.

#13

I was worried in the beginning, but the only thing that is out when I’m not, is the track. My 4 buildings are cast in CementAll and are as heavy as a rock. You’d need a dolly to move 'em.

Now I must admit I live rural, but with no fences and for me, a foolish amount of money on the ground, I had doubts.

I wonder if; since I grew up, if the mischievous one didn’t too?(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif) I can’t see me stumbling around starring into an electrical device … won’t they be preoccupied now?

Being on an unmarked dead end, my driveway offers the best turn around though it can’t be seen from the road. One couple asked to take pictures!

It’s been a decade of track in the front yard, for half or so of those my two train sets (freight and passenger cars) have stayed in their unlocked barn, safe and sound. There was a 4 yr. period of pressing matters when I spent 70% of my time at my sister’s home. Nothing was touched by humans, critters are another story!

I do leave out 1 low favor car, just because. The wind and critters move it sometimes…

Y’know I have read the worries, but reports of actual vandalism haven’t matched them.

I’d suggest doing it low key to see how it works, your neighbors may watch out for you too. They are a great conversation tool.

Happy Rails,

John

#14

Here in UK, in most cases, if you were crazy enough to put track out front in the yard, it would be gone the next morning. The only person I know who DOES have track in his front yard has concreted it in over the ties, so removing it surrepticiously would be a real chore.

tac
Ottawa Valley GRS

#15

I don’t overly worry about vandalism or theft, but it is something I do think about sometimes. The one police officer told me that “Nothing ever happens on Page Drive.”

Before the last bunch of neighbors moved out, I knew they would do something if they saw something, but with the new batch of neighbors I am not so sure. Besides, the one neighbor put up a vinyl fence, we call the great white wall. It makes my backyard semi-private. That could be a good thing, or a bad thing.

Since my stuff is locked up inside my house, or in my storage unit, someone would have to put forth some effort to get anything. I have pictures of most of my stuff, and several spreadsheets of what I have. If something were to happen, I could at least supply the police and local hobby shops with a list of what to look out for.

#16

on a recent and shown on this site layout tour, one absolutely stunning layout is in the gentlemans front yard, and I was amazed noone had messed with it. We have in my nice neighborhood, on my short street alone 3 police officers, but we also have one bad seed(scrote) who I do not trust , so things will stay in the back. It sucks we live in a time where you have to keep everything under lock and key, because if I could I would have something running daily in the front yard to get interest in our hobby, and to grow it.