Hope Springs Eternal.

And I've been in the biz for 50 this year.

Still doing my thing full time, mate. Over the years, I've worked in more than 30 countries. Is this "belly bucking" going to go on much longer? It's Friday night here and I've got a gig in 90 minutes.

Thanks for the advice, amateur. But hey, if it's that important that you somehow "win" this discussion, I conceded defeat.

-- Ray

On second though that boxcar isn't Athearn. It appears to be paper sides. It might be Mantua as their very early stuff had paper sides with a brass plate the sides were glued to. The gon looks a little like this type of construction and might be Mantua also. He got the name from the one package he had. That package might be the couplers but I don't remember all the early couplers. It is possible that the cars were copied from early US designs which would make the cars _just_ post war.

Well, thats 5 minutes I'll never get back.

On 5/8/2009 12:22 AM snipped-for-privacy@my-deja.com spake thus:

Heh; I should probably write eBay customer support back and tell them don't bother trying to figure out what this crazy sumbitch was trying to do.

Shouldn't you be better by now?

Ah, I see. I was good enough to semi-retire at the age of 56.

Right. The nitwit calls me an amateur. And when I refute him with facts, trys to claim that it's unprovoked boasting and bails out.

Sure thing, liar. (You *do* know that when you say something that you

*know* isn't true it's called a "lie", right? And that you don't gain any self-respect by doing it?)

Oh well.

Okay, I'll stop holding my gun to your head and forcing you to read my posts, then.

~Pete

On 5/8/2009 11:32 AM Twibil spake thus:

Pete, you really should understand that Ray "Blowhard" Haddad really is a consummate professional.

Why, he does several shows a week for selected audiences at geriatric-care homes and other treatment facilities where he has the crowds eating out of his hand. Literally.

He just needs to wipe the dribble off afterwards ...

There were also Japanese kits with the same construction materials and techniques. I have a couple, which I will build Real Soon Now. Maybe I can then sell them on eBay as Really Rare Trains. ;-)

cheers,

wolf k.

But the joy of performing. It overpowers with its allure. I hope I never get better. I want the Tommy Cooper way out of the biz.

Oh, dear. Did your fans abandon you? And then above, you stated "so far." Does that mean you're not really retired as you now claim?

Bail out? Mate, I had a gig. I'm back now. Do you even know what the word gig means?

Comparing ages and amount of time in the biz was your idea. Based on my experience being longer than yours, you are an amateur.

The bottom line in all of this is you have no sense of humor. You understand it, sure, but you have no sense of it. It's much the same as this. You don't have to have cancer to understand cancer. Understanding humor and then denying that an observation contained humor shows me you have no real sense for it.

Read the book Eat, Shoots & Leaves. It'll give you some idea of humor that is related to grammar and the English language. Maybe then you won't get so upset over a comment that was humorous. Or was your upset from the fact that I inadvertently hijacked your thread? Only you can know the answer to that one, mate.

-- Ray

Poor David.

-- Ray

Truth to tell, for all I know he may really be good at what he does. But I got such a chuckle out of his "amateur" put-down that I gave him quid pro quo to see what he'd do.

Alas, "oops" doesn't appear to be in his vocabulary.

~Pete

It's all relative is what I say. Like I mentioned earlier in another post, you were the one who started comparing experiences. But I have a better offer. Compared to most, you seem a civilized sort of fellow.

Shall we just bury this particular hatchet here and agree that your idea of funny wasn't met without turning it into more rancor?

-- Ray

Twibil wrote in news:f41b9a99-b914-4f30-bb88- snipped-for-privacy@d7g2000prl.googlegroups.com:

At $21.95

Still high, but within the range of sanity.

I suspect somebody got a wake-up call from eBay.

~Pete

It appears to be paper

=BDThat package might be the

The couplers in one of the shots looked to be Mantua.

They are Japanese couplers.

Thanks for that. It's a *wonderful* example of how people will type things on Usenet that they'd never *dare* say face to face.