Twitter - Facebook- Linkedin -- to be or not to be

Yes - Klaus is doing fine. His eyesight is wonderful and his workshop is really humming!!! Yours Truly has also been busy collecting more and more historic data about Old Original LGB locos in preparation of  "Famous Klaus" clinics at the Chicago 2012 NGRC. One clinic, on Saturday, August 18, 2012 will be about the value of your personal LGB loco and how LGB train collections change/evolve in value over time.
In the past we have repeatedly stressed that eBay.com  is not necessarily a good site to tell you properly about the true value of your LGB engine. We have, however observed that asking prices on eBay for LGB Moguls and other fine OLD LGB locos have been increasing. Yours Truly has also noticed that asking prices for high-end priced LGB engines such as the  Orient Express sets, the Asters or similar, are gaining on eBay and getting closer to their values as collectors items. Those are very good signs for the evolving collector's market for Old LGB engines made before 1999.

Spare parts supply for original LGB locos whether mechanical parts, motors, gadgets or decorative parts will stay sparse and some may be hard or impossible to come by. That is sad for very old analog locos where the oldest  soundboards will come to their life's end and just give up. There are no replacements of that kind anymore. However- some German suppliers like Uhlenbrock have taken note and are manufacturing soundboards that can be installed and run in very old LGB locos without being operated in digital mode.
Your Famous Klaus spends quite a fair amount of time searching for and purchasing old and oldest LGB spare parts and looking for adequate, re-engineered parts that he will utilize for his restorations, repairs and installations. If all fails, Klaus then will re-manufacture the part in his workshop - if you want him to.
Why - you may ask- isn't there a better supply of spare parts? Like there used to be? Motors for 59.00 dollars? 10 bulbs for 5 dollars and so on? You might still find some of these items being sold to you for the old prices. Grab them!! The truth is, in a market where (in a defined term) 400 engines are sold compared to 4,000 or more 25 years ago, spare parts are not manufactured in 10,000'er bins but in 500. That volume has the term "not profitable" written all over it with the consequence that they are not made anymore or prices go up steeply. The LGB market has been declining for years now. From a factory with 150 employees and more in their heyday, 3 (!) of the original crew have survived all the changes.

The good news in that? If you have Old LGB trains dating from before 1999 - you have collectors items on your hand. If you are a diehard LGB fan wanting to increase your collection your answer lies in estate sales. There are many now and Klaus knows who is reliable. And of course, Märklin/LGB manufactures again. In small numbers. Most Forums, newsletters and what not will tell you about them. Which brings me back to the headline.

Klaus wants me to tell you: he doesn't twitter. He is not on Facebook. No Linkedin, no MySpace, no forums. Nope, none. He appreciates deeply when you think of him and invite him. But no- thank you. He will not do it. And there is one simple reason - Klaus wants to spent his (workshop) time on YOUR engines. Period. Whether it is repairing, or restoring, or installing or making parts or evaluating - and sometimes recruiting parts for your engines. That's it. And when the workshop day is done, Klaus will sometimes tell Yours Truly little stories from his workshop.......and -after a while -you get to read them here!