Flooded Hobby Store.

C

csxengineer

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May 16, 2003
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Pittsburgh, Pa
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Millvale (10 min from Pittsburgh)
Stopped in Esther's Hobby a week after the flood from Hurricane Ivan. 4 ft of water ruined THOUSANDS of dollars of n scale & Ho trains. This was custom brass engines, hundreds of kato engines, thousands of Micro-trains, etc. Owner hopes to reopen, but no flood insurance. If you wanna help, grab a mop, paper towels and roll up your sleeves! This was the place for the good stuff, now, who knows what will happen :(
 
I'm sorry to hear that, having worked retail for 8 years, I can empathize with the heartache. I know there are pros and cons but I myself would Ebay it out. Even with the flood damage, there would be an "as is, where is, no guarantee" market that should make it worthwhile. Sell the engines and brass separately, put the kits and detail parts in 3, 5 and 10 lots, start them at 10% of their value and don't look back. Maybe enlist the help of your volunteers in packing and mailing. Don't cut yourself short on the shipping and handling and you should do better than you think. Just make sure it's clear up front that the items are flood damaged. The USPS provides all your boxes, tape and mailing labels if you use Priority Mail. Wish I could be there to help you out.
 
Bikerdad, i've asked myself the same question, the plastic boxes should have remained closed. Of course anything on display would have been water logged, even still careful cleaning and drying, should have most items working, and weathered as well adding to the price.
With the electrics, spraying with contact cleaner will dispell any moisture left behind.
Controllers would be a throw away, unless you were prepared to replace the Transpormers & an moveable parts like Potentiometers, the other vulnerable part is the Circuit board, if washed withe CLEAN WATER soon enough the sprayed with contact cleaner this can be saved as well.
In the long term, Hook up wires may corrode and cause trouble, once again a simple matter to replace whilst the item is opn on the desk.
As Shaygetz says every thing is sellable and any return is far better than none.

If only a Flood sale advertise locally & on here, DIY'ers will crawl out of the woodwork for a bargain, pity i'm so far away, or i'd be there for sure.
Cheers,
Damien
 
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