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The Train Collectors Association Western Division |
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Our club holds 10 train meets every year. The next Western Division train meet is scheduled to take place on Saturday April 27th, 2024. This meet will be conducted at the Arcadia Community Center, 365 Campus Drive (at Huntington Drive & Holly Ave.). All TCA Members and their families are invited. Come enjoy the camaraderie and enjoyment of model and antique toy train collecting! The meet will include trading tables, a display theme and operating layouts. The doors open at 9 AM for setup and the meet starts at 10:00 AM. The meet typically ends around 2 PM. Parking is free. The meet also features a free repair clinic and an auction. TCA members are admitted free (please wear your current membership badge and show it at the door when you enter the hall). Non-members/train enthusiasts are welcome to attend 1 meet per year for free. There is no charge for use of trading tables for sellers but you must be a member in good standing of TCA in order to have a trading table. Email info@tcawestern.org to reserve a trading table.
For a detailed listing of all upcoming TCA Western Division train meets, click
here.
For information on how to join TCA Western Division, click
here.
Now shipping & Still Available For Ordering
Limited Edition O gauge Union Pacific Flat Car With 2 Die-cast 1:43 Scale Broguiere's Farm Fresh Dairy 1950's DIVCO Milk Vans!
Examples of fake Lionel Postwar Trains - Topic of presentation at April Western Division Train Meet.
At the April 27th, 2024 Western Division train meet we will have a special presentation made by TCA member and Lionel collector Robert Caplan. In honor of 'April Fools" Bob has graciously agreed to provide an informative and educational lecture and presentation on how to identify antique toy train repaints, reproductions, fakes and forgeries. Bob is a long time TCA member and participated on the TCA Standards Committee for many years. He was instrumental in getting the TCA to publish the "Postwar Lionel Reproduction Handbook Guide" and contributed to the content contained in this valuable train collectors guide.
Bob's presentation will include a short video showing some of the most common examples that dishonest people have tried to pass off as original Lionel trains, as well as slides with photos of other examples of fakes, forgeries, reproductions and repaints that have been represented for sale as originals. Bob will explain how to identify originals, and what important things to look for when making purchases to authenticate the originality of the rare and highly collectible Lionel trains.
What is TCA?
The mission of the Train
Collector’s Association (TCA) is to develop an appreciation of and to
preserve an important segment of history -
tinplate toy trains - through research, education, community outreach, fellowship,
establishment of collecting standards and to promote the growth and enjoyment of the hobby of
collecting and operating toy, model and scale trains. The By-laws of TCA Western Division are viewable by clicking here.
TCA Western Division carries out this mission by holding 10 monthly meets during the calendar year. At these meets, the trading and displaying of tinplate toy trains and toy train related items takes place. TCA Western is the only Southern California based toy train club that provides free use of tables for these purposes. We have plenty of them available, in a well lighted, spacious hall.
There are over 30,000 members in the TCA organization nationally. Western Division boasts a membership of over 300 train hobbyists.
TCA and
Western Division have been in existence since 1954. For a little bit
of history about TCA Western Division click here.
Do you have a box of old tinplate trains that you have been storing in the attic all these years since your childhood? Are you anxious to break them out and run them again? Do you need help in getting your old trains to run again - perhaps they require some servicing? Have you been meaning to perhaps convert those old trains into some cash in your pocket? Then bring those trains to our next TCA Western Division toy train meet in Arcadia. Those dusty old electric trains could potentially be something rare and unusual. The club layout would be a great place to see those trains running again after all these years. Or, if you have intended to get rid of those trains, selling them at the TCA Western Division meet can yield cash for you and make a collector happy as well.
To request more information about TCA contact any Western Division board member or send e-mail to: info@tcawestern.org