This is quite a coincidence.

300 percent markup is not abnormal.Go buy it back and take a cop with you. IMHO the important thing is it gets back in time for Christmas

When I was a kid, my Dad owned a music store.

I was a tenor saxophone player. I had gotten good enough that he wanted to give me a better horn for my birthday. He had a very nice professional grade Buffet in inventory.

When he went to look for it, he found it was missing. He filed a police report, but moved on.

Several weeks later, he saw a Buffet sax for sale in the local newspaper. He called the guy, and asked what he could tell him about it.

The guy started by saying, "Well, it's a "Buff it"... (the correct pronunciation is "buh fay"). He also didn't know if it was a Tenor or Alto.

My Dad got suspicious, and asked if he could take a look. He got the serial number from the store, and went to the guy's house posing as a buyer. Sure enough, it was a match.

Dad left and called the cops. They eventually found that this guy had walked out of the store with a bunch of stuff- guitars, amps, horns, etc. He would go in with an empty case pretending he was there for lessons, then walk out with it full.

The instruments were all restored to the store, and the guy went to jail.

The moral is, sometimes it works out OK.

I realize you don't have serial numbers, but I like the finger print idea. Cops really do like busting people, so it might be worth a suggestion.

Hope it all works out!

How about starting a gofundme or kickstarter "help me buy back my stolen trains". I would gladly send some cash so a fellow GRMer doesn't feel double berkeleyed.

I know that you want your stuff back, but if you're interested in converting to HO scale, I might be able to help out.

The_Jed wrote: How about starting a gofundme or kickstarter "help me buy back my stolen trains". I would gladly send some cash so a fellow GRMer doesn't feel double berkeleyed.

I would make a contribution also. Situations like this really annoy me.Selective enforcement by the Police is a sure way to hook a flounder. Sorry.

Thieves suck. Thieves that will actually go into someone's home to steal, on the other hand, are dangerous. I wouldn't be surprised if the police take this a little more seriously than you expect. Reaching over the fence to steal a weedwacker is a whole different animal than actually entering someone's home to steal stuff in terms of risk to the homeowner and the thieves. At least around here, home invaders usually go to prison.

A surprising number of home invasion rings get cracked when they try to unload the merchandise.

Woody wrote: I know that you want your stuff back, but if you're interested in converting to HO scale, I might be able to help out.

my email is jonmoller2011atgeemaildotcom.

im VERY interested in specific HO stuff.

/hijack

OP-update? id love to see the guy get busted and you get your stuff back. remember though, put yourself in the shoes of the pawn shop. if you get your trains back by order of the law, and the thief goes to jail, the shop keep gets zilch. he did follow the law and record everything, so if you DO get your stuff back, especially without much hassle from the shop, keep in mind how this sucks for him, too, maybe toss him some cash.

-J0N

I left a message with the police to call so hopefully I will hear from them today. Depending on how it goes I'm ok giving the store something but I've been on that side before and lost money so if he doesn't get anything I won't lose sleep. It comes with some businesses.

"I left a message with the police to call" . How quaint! I'm still laughing and they probably are too. Is the train set still in hock?

Don't worry about the store. That is why they have insurance.

In reply to TRoglodyte:

That's about all I've had time to do. So far this week I've worked almost 40 hours, taken the wife therapy, acupuncture and down to Long Island to take our nieces out for a birthday. I haven't slept more than three hours at a time since Thursday. Anything beyond a phone call is going to have to wait until my next day off on the 18th.

Not ripping on you Wally,just the apparently casual attitude the police have. Is it still on eBay?

The auctions are still up. There have been more patrols by both the town PD and the Sheriff do they've already done more than other departments when I've had things stolen.

when does the auction end?

Two more weeks. I am finally off tomorrow so we will be visiting the pd and the store.

Chief Wiggum called to say they weren't my trains. The were still in the box so they had to be new ones. Because no one would put them back in the berkeleying box would they?

In reply to Wally:

Did you have the original box with them?

Yes, every year they got wrapped up in their original packaging. They slide into a plastic sleeve and a fitted styrofoam box.

Egads. I'd start looking through every picture you have and find a defect somewhere in them, then point out that same defect.

Also, maybe bring the officer to your house to show that you keep all the boxes?

In reply to Wally:

I'd let Wiggum know they were in the original box.......dipE36 M3s.

I told him they had the boxes, and showed him other trains in their boxes.

In reply to Wally:

And his reply was?

In reply to Nick_Comstock:

Wiggum obviously needs a box of donuts shoved up his arse.

Unfortunately the police did what I expected. I'm disappointed but not surprised.