The Rail Philatelist April 2000 Newsletter

The Rail Philatelist

Volume 5 …………… PRICE $1.00 (10 ISSUES FOR $8.00)……………. Number 3 April 1, 2000

 Thanks to your many orders, the first three months of 2000 were my best sales quarter ever, even with only one show per month. Thank you! Keep those orders coming. As to shows...

SHOW SCHEDULE CHANGES: Besides missing the Pleasanton, CA train show because of the car problems previously detailed, some other changes have been made. My friend Pat Dowling, 20th Century Classics, needed another dealer to fill out his two day Colorado Stamp Bonanza in Denver March 31 - April 1 so I volunteered. I looked at it primarily as a good buying opportunity which it was - I delayed completing the E-F lists until I had assimilated my purchases therefrom. It also turned out to be a very good sales show so I was doubly pleased to participate. After several years on the waiting list, the Westpex show in San Francisco finally sent me an invitation. Since it is praised by many dealers as the best stamp show in the country and the Bay area has always been my best market, I had to accept the invitation. Unfortunately, I can’t be two places at once. The three-day Westpex conflicts with the Livingston - Helena, MT train shows I usually do so I had to cancel out of them for this year. I ran into the same problem in September when San Jose’s Filatelic Fiesta picked the same weekend as the Nashville Great American Train Show I have already signed up for. I’ll forgo my GATS deposit in favor of the San Jose show. Please note the schedule changes. I list the coming shows for the next month at the bottom of the newsletter each month.

MORE ON NEW ISSUES:            WOW!            My diatribe on new issues in January generated more response than anything I’ve ever written. Everything from “Please don’t stop your new issue service whatever you do” to “You’re right, Al. Cancel my new issue service”. Jon Digraines offered a seemingly rational approach: “I have during the last years wondered, do I give up my aim to collect a "complete" collection of all railway stamps of the world. The reason is of course the increasing number of "unnecessary" stamps issued. These issues are without exceptions (speculative) stamps without any connection to the countries where they are issued. These stamps tell us nothing about the railway system in the country, and are coming in large (expensive) sets - and always easy to identify. So far my only solution is to apply this fact on my collecting; to exclude all stamps without any relevance to the issuing country. (But because I still suffer from completeness passion, I haven't implemented this rule yet.) About your dilemma of the new issue service I suggest you perhaps could limit the service and exclude the same type of issues ????For me, and probably many more of your customer, this would be much better than to close down the new issue service.”

Remember, my New Issue Service is tailored to meet your needs and interests so if you tell me you don’t want stamps from certain countries or continents or sets over a certain dollar limit, I don’t send them. I can’t control what the countries issue nor what my suppliers send me, but I can control what I mail to you, my loyal customers, so make sure I know your desires and any limitations you wish to implement. I won’t close down the New Issue service nor will I “Censor” certain countries by refusing to offer you stamps from them (unless you so designate). I don’t want to play “Train Stamp God”.  That’s why I suggested the ATA should take a position since I am sure this is a universal problem, not limited just to train stamps. Everyone should have the opportunity to collect whatever appeals to them. I would, however, suggest that you all complain to everyone you can about these unnecessary issues that don’t appeal to you and don’t buy them! Not from me, nor from anyone else. If the buying dries up, maybe the printing will dry up too. {Here I should inject a note of caution based on past experience. Part way through the “Leaders of the World” deluge a few years back, several customers said “No more” or words to that effect. Once the issues finally stopped, many customers came to me requesting later issues to “complete” their sets but many of the later issues are just not available! I still have some customers waiting for them.}

BEST STATIONS: Theron Smith e-mailed “Another station on stamp that we've used is Vienna's Westbahnhof where we departed for Zurich in 1972 and for Budapest in 1989.  The highlight of the latter trip was the forced removal of a compartment mate by the police when we made  the last stop in Austria before the Hungarian border.  Never did find out why.  Station in Budapest was not Nyugati however.” Don Kesler also e-mailed: “Neither station you mentioned in your February 2000 "News and Notes" strikes a bell with me.  However, since you asked for choices from the field, here goes! Best train station:  Nurmbuerg (Germany) Haupt (Main) Bahnhof.  Now the reason:  Located just a mere couple of blocks from the old walled Nurmbuerg City, the Haupt Bahnhof is a magnificent, classic station with old world charm.  Restaurants, newsstands, comfort stations, a bank for currency exchange, etc. add to the functional side of this station.  Trains (both passenger and freight) pass through (or stop) on the station's tracks 24 hours a day.  Since Nurmbuerg is a major German city, the Trans-European-Express (TEE) and a couple of international trains make scheduled stops.  When you walk outside the front door of the station, you see trolley tracks and a transfer station.  Across the street is one of (in my humble opinion) Germany's (if not Europe's) best and grandest hotels, The Grand (no pun intended).  Also within easy walking distance of the station (even for an old guy like me) is the German National Transportation Museum.  This museum has one of the best model railroad displays I've ever seen anywhere - and yes, I've seen a bunch!  This is THE layout that is featured in the Fleischmann train catalogue annually.  In addition to the model railroad, the museum also has several classic European trains (including a couple of the Bismark and Prussian era Royal Trains) that have been restored to mint condition; or maintained that way.  Also, "Mad" King Ludwig's Royal Train (for those that are not familiar with Ludwig, he is the person that built the castle that Disneyland and Disneyworld castles are modeled after).  Most of the trains can be walked through and closely inspected.  Last time I was there, I spent a full day.  There are also several displays of rail items such as signal blocks, crossing guard devices, relic posters, etc.  Almost all displays are explained in German, English, and French.  Multi-language tour guide books of the Museum may also be purchased for a reasonable price. Then another couple of blocks away is the National Toy Museum.  As the name implies, toys of all sorts.  Included are many classic train sets including original Lionel and Marx train sets!  If I remember correctly, the Lionel display is set up "American-style" - under a Christmas tree, complete with a village, and working Lionel accessories.As you can see, in my opinion, because there is so much "train-stuff" in the area and, well, because it is such a classic, my vote goes for the Nurmbuerg Haupt Bahnhof!” Then he added “Thanks for all you do Al to keep me young and full of remembering life's

best times!” Now that’s a compliment that made my day!

THE STAMP HOBBY...: Thanks again to Michael Laurence, Editor/publisher of LINNS STAMP NEWS  for this insight from his APS Tiffany Dinner speech:

“3. The stamp hobby promotes capitalism and freedom. Communist and fascist tyrannies both tried to suppress stamp collecting. Both saw (correctly) that stamp collecting is inherently individualistic and antisocialist. In fact, the stamp hobby is the free market in microcosm. Every collector is a part-time or potential dealer, and every collected object is a potential sale. For many youngsters, stamps are the first hands-on introduction to the workings of capitalism.”

AUCTIONS?MAIL SALES?: Several customers have suggested that instead of offering the scarce, one-of-a-kind items I acquire as “Monthly Specials” where the fastest check gets the item at my offering price, I should offer them in an auction or mail bid sale format with a specific closing date/time. Peter Hewitt make the case as follows: “I've been giving some thought to your issue about how to dispose of the "better" elements from the collections you are buying. An auction house like eBay is one possibility - you'll get a market price from a wide audience, but you'd have to give away a commission. You could run your own auction - like "monthly specials" except that you list material for, say a fortnight (maybe a month if you don't feel that enough clients have internet access) and just award to the top bidder of the lot at month end.   No commissions and the opportunity to get a better price than normal listing. My view is that there may be 10-20% of items which should come close to paying you back for the collections after which the remainder is free stock.  On that basis a quick turn on the "good" end should help the cashflows. Of course, I could well be cutting my own throat here because a combination of the competitiveness of other bidders and an unfortunate necessity to recognize that there must be a budget to a hobby could prevent me getting things that I wanted. But that's life isn't it!” Maybe my “Monthly Specials” format is not the fairest way to offer my best material to my best customers. Should I consider a periodic mail bid sale (combining e-mail & snail mail bids)? If so, should it be in lieu of the “Monthly Specials” or in addition to? With a mail bid sale, you would know in advance that your chance of buying the item was limited. And you wouldn’t send any money until you received notification that you had won the lot. Give me some feedback (or should I send out another survey), particularly those of you who have tried to order a “Monthly Special” and received the “Sorry, sold out” reply.

HAPPINESS IS A HOSTLER’S TRAIN SHOW: I spent the first weekend of March in train heaven again at the Hostler’s Railroad Fair, held in the beautiful, historic Ogden (UT) Union Station. The murals and high beamed ceiling are spectacular enough, but, when combined with views of three well-sceniced modular layouts plus real trains passing by on a regular basis, it becomes an event any train nut would die for. And I enjoy all this ambiance while talking trains with customers and selling enough merchandise to pay for the trip. To make a great show even better, they now have a Saturday evening banquet. This year Bob Larsen of Portola, CA, author of the new Morning Sun book Western Pacific Trackside with Bob Larsen, gave a great slide show presentation on his years as an engineer starting out of high school in Wisconsin and finishing with the WP (UP) in Portola. He was an avid photographer who jumped off his train at every opportunity to take pictures of both his and approaching trains. One time on a long slow climb west of Winnemucca, NV he jumped off his train while it was crawling along at 3 mph and ran up ahead to snap it’s picture as it  passed by. He had many other humorous anecdotes. While working the night shift in a signal tower at a Soo Line - Chicago & North Western junction when he first hired on, he fell asleep. When he awoke, he saw a bright light on the C&NW main. He quickly aligned the signals and track so the train could highball through, hoping no one would be aware that he had been asleep at the switch. But the train didn’t seem to be moving very quickly. About then a Soo switch crew approached the junction and had to stop since the signals were aligned for the C&NW. After several minutes of waiting, one of the switch crew got out and walked up to the signal tower to see what the holdup was. It turned out to be one of Bob’s cousins. Bob pointed to the bright light down the tracks. His cousin said “You fool. You’ve got this whole railroad shut down for the moon!” Sounds almost apocryphal to me but stories like that and two trays of excellent train slides more than made up for the tasty but over-priced prime rib dinner. And to make the evening complete, I even won a door prize - an Athearn C44-9W that is a little modern for my early diesel era layout but I’ll put it to good use. There are many other activities at the Hostler’s show that I don’t get to participate in because I have to man my tables during show hours. They have train movies showing almost continuously, tours of the museum’s real locomotives, rides for kids of all ages on an outdoor inch & a half scale train, model contests, hourly door prizes plus other historical museums housed in the station are open as part of the show admission. And great food! The Conductors serve standard show fare (hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, etc) but good quality at reasonable prices - their Chili is excellent! And the Union Grill restaurant, a permanent resident of the station is one of the best eatery’s in Utah - I had an outstanding Cajon salmon pasta salad there as a late lunch- early dinner after I unloaded and set up on Friday. And  you won’t meet a friendlier, more helpful group of people anywhere. The Hostler’s Model Railroad Festival is a great experience in all aspects - an event not to be missed!

MARCH TRAVEL: And if the Hostler’s show wasn’t treat enough, the train watching to and from Ogden was great too, especially during my stops in Green River, WY. The trains on the route were pretty much as described in other newsletters but every trip has it’s highlights. The rail grinding train I had seen in Denver in February was working near Rock River, WY on my way out - seeing it in operation was a site even if it did cut down on the other traffic. On my way back Monday morning, I was standing on the Green River yard foot bridge when a Santa Claus-like fellow came up to me and introduced himself as the yardmaster. He wanted to know who I was and what I was doing. Seems I was making his crews nervous. They were concerned I might be a Federal Railway Administration or Association of American Railways inspector, particularly since I had a radio (actually, my scanner). They had evidently observed me up there the previous Thursday evening and Friday morning on my way to Ogden also. When I assured him I was just a railfan and intended no one any harm, he seemed relieved. He was too busy on a Monday morning to give me a tour of the yard tower but offered to do so some other time I’m in the area. (Maybe I can impose on him on the way to Westpex?). I made a one day buying trip to the Westphilia stamp show in Denver on the 25th. Didn’t see much of interest in real trains on the trip, but I did buy a thousand dollars worth of train stamps, mostly A-C items. Staying home has allowed me to get back to my morning exercise routine but so far I haven’t lost any of the weight I need to, In fact, I may have gained a pound or two - muscle? To lose, I may actually have to consider cutting back on my food intake. There has to be a better way!

 

STAMP OF THE MONTH: The stamp on this Fred Collins first day cover has nothing to do with trains but the cachet says a lot! Using some of Fred’s words, the Prostrate Cancer Awareness stamp, Scott #3315, “is designed to encourage early detection and treatment, and I decided to go with the theme “BE THERE!” A longer life means more years to share with family members - especially children and grandchildren. In my handpainted cachet, a grandfather, with engineer cap, provides a fun-filled model railroad session with his grandkids. The boy is attired in his scout uniform, and the girl cuddles her pet kitten. This scene provides a poignant reminder that preventive health care is so very important.” Thanks, Fred, for the great thoughts and cover!

RAIL THOUGHT OF THE MONTH:  "If a few idiots want to risk their necks flying across the country, that's fine, but nothing will ever replace trains." From a compilation of quotes from the 50’s. Author unknown. Actually sounds more like a quote from the 30’s.

RAIL FACTS AND FEATS: The biggest railroad station is (was?) New York’s Grand Central station built in 1903-13. It covered 48 acres on two levels with 41 tracks on the upper level and 26 on the lower. On average, more than 550 trains and 180,000 people used it each day with a peak of 252,288 on July 3, 1947.

May all your signals be green,

 

AL PETERSON

THE RAIL PHILATELIST

P.O. Box 25505
Colorado Springs, CO 80936
1-800-807-RAIL access code RR
http://www.collectors-mall.com/trp/trp.htm
railphilatelist@aol.com

 

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APR 28-30         WESTPEX STAMP SHOW                                CATHEDRAL HILL HOTEL                SAN FRANCISCO,CA
MAY 6-7            GREAT AMERICAN TRAIN SHOW                  CASHMAN CENTER                           LAS VEGAS,NV

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