Toy trains and cacti

Last weekend (March 17th and 18th 2012) several toy trains ran through a green house filled with cacti in Ruurlo. And obviously, American toy trains combine a whole lot better with those spiky plants than European toy trains. It was a remarkably sight and although I would prefer scale zero, these LGB trains were fun to see as well. I never been a rivet counter, but seeing those LGB-trains being out of proportion, makes me feel much more relaxed having Lionel trains myself. Perhaps some desert state inhabitant in the US has a Lionel garden railroad running in between cacti outside. Anyway this is how the whole thing looked like at Cactus Oase. The trains belong to the local train operating group named "de seinpaal".

Please bid according to value

Auction sites for toy trains can be funny. Every now and then a daft petty thief will try to sell a rusty pile of junk as a toy train gem. The sentence that amuses me most is: "Please bid according to value". But "only serious bids" or "nonsense bids will be removed" make me smile as well. I read these beauties most often on http://www.marktplaats.nl/ (a local type of Ebay with few rules) in the Dutch equivalents; "Serieus bieden" etc., but you will also read it on Ebay now and then. This is really good for my mood.
What is substantially less good for my mood are the shipping costs that many American Ebay-sellers currently command. Especially Trainz spoils my appetite for toy trains; the shipping costs are double or triple the item cost. No way José. I will not only bid according to value, I will also demand reasonable shipping costs and limit my trade to honest toy train enthusiasts.