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Sorry to hear about the theft

Sorry to hear about the theft, Jim. Good luck on catching the thief.

In more than a few cases, the thieves are actually someone you know, I've seen.

One notable example was from an uncle who went on a vacation, but then returned early by a back road at dusk to find his neighbors toting a number of his furniture items away! Needless to say, he was flabbergasted and he turned his neighbors over to the authorities since they'd been caught red handed!

Follow up

So, I e-mailed back the guy I got the 6-6-4s from.  Seems I beat him to the diner by mear minutes.  He was going to buy it and sell it to me! He is ok though, just removed that item from my list and still looking for the other items I want.

Also ordered the Walthers baggage car from the IC Historical society (cheaper there than anywhere else). 

no joy on that.

got 1 number out of 6 - though it rolled over to 400 mil for next time.

Decals and grab irons

All but one of the above cars had decals and grab irons included.  The remaining one I am trying to contact Walthers on now to see about replacement grab irons.  Worst case. I have templates on the directions for that car.

But the decals, even when included for these cars is a disappointment.  You would think with the original cost of these cars that Walthers would give you decent decals with good choices of names.  You would be wrong.  Take the diner for example.  It shows up with exactly one car name as a choice.  "Palm Garden".  That's great if I am building a City of Miami in Orange and Brown, but as you all know I already did my City of Miami.  How about adding the names of the 2 diners on the Panama Limited trains to the decals?  The 4-4-2 decals do not have the names of the first 2 4-4-2 cars IC ran on the Panama Limited, just some later names.  The 6-6-4 decals are not done very well at all.

Good thing I can make my own decals, but at these prices, howsa about a little more quality in a comparitively cheap part of the car?

Oh, all the above cars arrived, got a Walthers Baggage car on order thru the Historical Society too.

And to complete the consist

Well, almost.  By a roundabout method, scored the 5th and last IC 6-6-4 today that I need for my Panama Limited.  Found out that the same guy who sold me the other 4 6-6-4s won the auction this morning on e-bay.  I talked to him before the auction ended, so if either he or I won - the car was mine.  He won it this morning.

A good set of decals is made by the same guy who painted my engine, and I have a set on order.  The one missing grab iron set (the 10-5) is the same exact grab iron set as comes with the 4-4-2 car - of which I had an extra.

So, my final consist is down to needing 3 or 4 cars (depending on if they become available.) to replace the IHC substitutes or if they come out with an 18 roomette instead of the 10-5 sub I am using.

Sounds like time for some

Sounds like time for some custom work on the decals is in order. I think it is great that you have found the cars needed to model the trains consist so accurately. Sounds like it is very satisfying to find them.

Good luck on recovering your stolen property. At this point I would say that is all that is likely to happen. Since it is over a year ago that property could have changed hands several times before the individual who presently has it acquired it. It might still be in the possession of the thief but mere possession will not be enough to get past the reasonable doubt standard. Maybe the sheriff will uncover some more evidence that will allow them to build a case but it is tough to do on just possession.

Congrats on being able to put together your train, and good luck with the thief and getting your property back.

Rob in Texas

And once again E-bay

Comes thru for another 6-6-4 IC Walters car.  A consist of 6 6-6-4 is better than a 5 6-6-4 consist, and marked the high water mark on the Panama Limited route.  As for decals, I know a place that has some really good ones for this consist and they are on order.

Just remember to never go into e-bay without knowing the value of what you are going after, and NEVER, EVER bid before the last few minutes.  If you do bid early, all you do is push up the final price.  (E-bay pushes the bid early meme, because they makes more of your money that way.)