awesome school gala score

it would seem to be the season of school galas lately, with 3 in the last few weeks, and another at the start of april.

the most recent was tonight, and i went before club, arriving with 5mins to spare. it was raining, so being a motorcyclist meant i had the associated kit to deal with first. jacket over the backpack with a bungy cord, helmet in the box, and the rain pants stayed on cos they are a mongrel to deal with.

wandered over, and waited for the door to the toy room to open. finally got in, spied a toddler push along thomas and knew that wouldnt fit on the bike.
went a bit furthur along and saw two dark blue tomy slopes in a box. a box marked $3.
needless to say, i scooped it up. it was a mix of tomy dark and light blue, and some brand of wooden track. i told the girl serving she could take the wooden out and resell if, but she said no. i got a few other bits and bobs, paid, and went back to the bike. got the backpack off, and started loading up.
managed to squeeze all the tomy stuff into the pack, and knew the wooden wouldnt fit, so took it back for them to resell. they actually offered me some money back! i told them no way. was more than happy to pay $3 for all that! i saw someone else with the box not long after, so they doubled the profit on the trains, which is great for the school.

the thomas case, books and a couple of other items brought the days total to $6. was worth getting drowned

[Super]

So in these school galas people donate stuff and the profits goes to the school? Thats cool, I don't think we have that around here. They are always selling cookies, candies, popcorn etc for fundraisers. Nice haul and lucky they all fit on the bike with you. Did your train club ever finish the addition to the club house?

thanks, super.

yes, thats generally what happens, and they mostly tend to be primary schools, though on occasion a secondary will do it too.
most items tend to come from families that attend that school, but the public can donate as well. we donated stuff to the school down the road from us for their gala a couple of years back.
schools sometimes do sausage sizzles and car washes as fundraisers, especially secondary schools for overseas trips etc.

yes, we got the extension up end of last year. currently, it is being used to store goods for our own yard sale.
http://wanganuimodelrailway.weebly.com/b...nsion.html

[Super]

Thats quite a lot of additional space. The addition looks great. I like how extending the outside stoop will alight all 3 doors. Very well constructed and I'll bet everyone has many ideas of what and how things should be set up in there. I can see many wonderful open house shows in the future. When will the yard sale be? Wish I could stop by.

cheers, super. yes, its a huge area. we are going to shift the portable layouts and library out there. first we need to line and put interior walls and ceiling up, plus all the wiring for lights and power points.

the original plan was to remove the two windows in the middle building and put in a sliding door, with a deck and ramp for wheelchairs. unfortunately, money did not go far enough. we also have plans to alter the kitchen and put an internal door to the new building, along with altering the bathroom set up.

the yard sale is in early april, with an open day in the afternoon on the same day. so i need to plan a basic layout for it.

Reminds me of those charity shops that collect Thomas and Cars merchandise for Leokimvideo. Nice to see all that vintage, LEGO compatible Tomy stuff in there in addition to the current Plarail style. I see that Percy has the fuel tanker and mail coach that originally came with him! Pity that Clarabel is missing, and so are Thomas' faux middle wheels. There doesn't seem to be too much great value in there, though.

this stuff wasnt kept for me. its pure good timing with a little luck thrown in. had i not been there on opening, someone else would have got it. as it was, the weather is what helped, as it kept people away until the rain eased.

it was more than worth it for two, fully functional vintage engines. i would have paid two or three times that for those on their own. bit of a clean, and new tyres on one with some lube and they are good to go. plus the dark blue track and accessories. for $6 plus the dribble of gas used, im not complaining.

i actually found a bag of tomy thomas at a charity shop today with 4 slopes, some basic track and a james for the same price, but less than half the amount of track.

thomas, annie and percy will be parts box material. already have so many, i dont need more, lol. the james from today will be kept, as im not sure i have a working one in the collection and need to check.

[Ucwepn]

for $6 I think that's a steal.