The Western Electric 500
Another year, another cordless telephone/answering machine. I bought a cordless phone to replace an aging and failing 2.4 GHz model this week. Our luck with modern phones makes me long for the old...
View ArticleThe kind of guy who could save America
I went to several estate sales today (it's what I do on Saturdays, after all), but one was memorable. Some sales just jump out at you, and this one had evil genius/mad scientist written all over it.
View ArticleHow to go bankrupt and/or lose your house
I have a Saturday ritual. On Saturday mornings, about 49 times a year, I go to estate sales. On numerous occasions, I've been to estate sales of millionaires who, for one reason or another, were...
View ArticleCleaning and storing Lionel track
How to clean and store Lionel track is another common question when the subject of trains comes up. Now that you’re getting the track out for Christmas duty, there are some things you need to do to get...
View ArticleThrift-store PCs
In the comments of a recent post I did, reader Glaurung Quena brought up a good topic: secondhand PCs, acquired cheaply, strictly as rebuild fodder. I like the idea, of course, because I’ve been doing...
View ArticleAdvice on scraping by
Here’s a good, timely Google search query: scraping by advice. I looked, and I’ve never written anything that matched that query well. I know a lot of people are hurting right now. I’ve been in some...
View ArticleGreenberg’s Marx Trains Pocket Price Guide, 9th edition: A review
I received my copy of the new 9th edition of the Greenberg Pocket Price Guide for Marx trains this past weekend. Marx used to print on its packages, “One of the many Marx toys. Have you all of them?”...
View ArticleSaving memories
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch ran a story this week about vintage baking. It profiled Chris Leuther, an area baker with 30 years in the business who collects old bakery equipment and recipes from...
View ArticleValue Village and Affton could be very good for one another
There’s a Value Village thrift store in Shrewsbury that’s being displaced because the plaza it’s in–the same place I used to go to buy Commodore gear–is going to be demolished to make way for a...
View ArticleThe Card wasn’t real!
Somehow I missed this a couple of weeks ago, but the former owner of the most valuable baseball card ever, a 1909 tobacco card picturing Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Fame shortstop Honus Wagner, admitted...
View ArticleHow to build Lifehacker’s retro coffee table on the cheap
Lifehacker posted a nice weekend project this week, a retro coffee table, but the price tag seems steeper than it needs to be. If you’re craving some retro goodness but think $300 is a bit much to...
View ArticleDon’t build a drill press out of PVC pipe
This past weekend, Lifehacker posted instructions for building a makeshift drill press out of PVC pipe. Although the finished contraption looks kind of cool, it’s not something you want to build...
View ArticleHow I fixed a Lionel RW transformer
I had a Lionel RW transformer that I bought nearly 10 years ago, at one of my first estate sales. I’m sure I remember using it after I bought it, but it was far from in working order when I found it...
View ArticleKickin’ my wireless oldskool, WRT54G-style
I found a couple of old Linksys WRT54G routers and decided to load DD-WRT on them. The first one, an abandoned-by-Linksys WRT54GS model, gave me some trouble, which led me to buying a TP-Link unit to...
View ArticleMy greatest estate find
If you’ve been reading this blog for a few years, you know I kind of like trains. But my favorite way to buy them isn’t to buy them at a train store. I like to buy them from estates. One week, I...
View ArticleTips for using Dept. 56 and Lemax-type buildings with Lionel trains
A frequent question I see regards the proper scale of snow village-type buildings, like Department 56 and Lemax, and whether they’re suitable for use with Lionel trains. The answer is that their scale...
View ArticleThe estate find that broke my slump
I wrote a few weeks ago about finding a scarce Marx windup train at an estate sale, but I actually went a good couple of years without finding a train worth buying until recently. The train that broke...
View ArticleRe-attaching prewar Lionel trucks
This past weekend I scored a poorly repainted Lionel #602 baggage car (made from 1915-1923) and an Ives #71 passenger car (made 1923-25) at an estate sale. The Ives was in good shape and original, but...
View ArticleGarage sale tips and tricks for buyers
I am a garage sale pro. Over the course of a decade, I attended thousands of garage sales, saved thousands of dollars buying things for my own use, and made tens of thousands of dollars reselling my...
View ArticleEstate sale tips for buyers
I talked earlier this week about garage sales, but what about estate sale tips for buyers? The overall strategy is similar, but there are definitely tips that apply specifically to estate sales. Simply...
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