Lookin' fer ideas...

[Knighthawk]

Hey guys and gals, as some of you may know already, one of my hobbies other than model railroading is geocaching. If you're not familiar with it, go to www.geocaching.com to check it out. My question is this: I'm in the process of putting together my fifth cache to hide, and would like to make the contents of it model railroad themed. Any suggestions as to what items I should include? I know I will be putting in some business cards with "The Gauge" logo, and web adress, if the administrators here will allow it, but am at somewhat of a loss as to what else to put in.

Any suggestions would be really appreciated!

 

[MasonJar]

Are the contents for the finder(s) to keep? or as proof they found it? Or what? Do the contents have to be weatherproof? durable ? endure freezing? high temperatures? etc.

I think some business cards na d/or printed info would be suitable, if rather unexciting, to find... What are the contents of other caches like? You could put in anything from a model to a spike. How about one of those pine train whistles to blow when you've found the cache? Local railroad info or patches?

Hope that helps.

Andrew

 

[Russ Bellinis]

I presume you don't want to include a BLI locomotive or anything similar, but do you have any catalogues or flyers from model railroad manufacturers? Another possibility would be to print out a few model railroad related web pages. If you have a model railroad book you have out grown, for instance something like "ABC's of Model Railroading" from Kalmbach. I bought that book years ago when I first got into model railroading, but haven't looked at it in years. I needed something like that book before the internet when I first got interested in model railroading, but I've outgrown the need for a book that basic now.

 

[Knighthawk]

Hey MasonJar, yes, the contents are for cachers to keep, if they want to. The idea is that once you find the cache, you can take somthing, as long as you also leave something behind in trade, as to the durability of the contents, generally, as long as the container is weather-proof, such as a rubbermaid container, or ammunition box the contents should be fine.

As to the contents of other caches, I've found people put in a variety of items, ranging from dollar store trinkets, tools, toys, and in one rather memorable case, the cache owner placed a rather expensive 35 mm camera inside for the first person to find it, which just happened to be yours truly.

Good ideas for the trade items there!

Thanks!!

 

[Knighthawk]

I presume you don't want to include a BLI locomotive or anything similar, but do you have any catalogues or flyers from model railroad manufacturers? Another possibility would be to print out a few model railroad related web pages. If you have a model railroad book you have out grown, for instance something like "ABC's of Model Railroading" from Kalmbach. I bought that book years ago when I first got into model railroading, but haven't looked at it in years. I needed something like that book before the internet when I first got interested in model railroading, but I've outgrown the need for a book that basic now.

Hey Russ,

Good idea with the model railroading book, I've got a few I could include. Can't use the flyers or catalogues though, since commercial material is not allowed.

 

[Doc Holliday]

I would love to get into geocaching. Sounds like a blast. Not exactly model railroad (as opposed to the real thing), but how 'bout a wooden train whistle. They can be picked up relatively inexpensively. Other items like a box car kit or small structure kit come to mind.
Doc

 

[Knighthawk]

I've got an Atlas Passenger Staion Kit I could include, since I model in N Scale, and the box isn't too big. My brother and I actually have a cache in our front yard, and we've met a number of fellow 'cachers who come to find it. I hope you do get into geocaching, as you get to go to places you never even knew about in search of some of the hides. In my case there were parks in my own city that I didn't even know were there. You also meet some of the nicest folks out 'caching as well. You swap stories about the funniest, or hardest or strangest finds you've done, and meet people from all over the world. I think at last count, there were geocaches in 223 countries around the world.

 

[Russ Bellinis]

You might want to put in a cheap freight car, either an old toy train car, or a new one. I haven't looked at Toys-R-Us in years to see if they have anything, but my local hobby shop carries a line of ho toy train freight cars for @ $1.99 each for people who are buying cars for their children to use and don't want to spend the money for something that they would worry about getting broken.

 

[Knighthawk]

I could go to my LHS and pick up a few used passenger and freight cars, as they buy used equipment from their customers, clean it up, and resell it at a decent price.

Not a bad idea.:thumb:

 

[Russ Bellinis]

I think the problem with doing anything for resale, is that most of the used cars you would get would be inexpensive "shake the box" kits to start with, so even if you cleaned them up and repaired them, you would have a lot of time relative to the amount of "profit." They might be a good source of inexpensive geocache goods, though.

 

[Knighthawk]

Yup...that was my thinking. I've never bought any of the used stuff, but I figured for geocaching purposes, a few bucks on some cheap rolling stock wouldn't hurt. Who knows, maybe someone will find something they like, and take the time to fix it up further to their own liking.