Railroad paraphernalia

[jmendez29]

My dad will be retiring at the end of this year, and I would like to get him a nice retirement gift. He started his career on the railroad, I think it was as a switchman, but he got laid off in the early 1980s and never got a chance to return. My grandfather also worked on the railroad and retired from it. I was looking at railroad pocket watches on ebay, but I quickly realized I'm over my head. There are a lot of imposters there and the prices range greatly from around $50-$700 and up. There seem to be a lot of options in the $200 range, but I can't tell if I'm looking at the real deal or a modern replica.

Anyone have any insight? Or maybe even alternate ideas? I suppose something railroad related isn't really necessary, but I thought it would be something that he would really like.

 

[Goofynewfie]

What about a model set of the trains he worked with?

 

[jmendez29]

That thought had occurred to me a while ago, but he has a fairly short attention span and switches hobbies somewhat frequently. Some of his past hobbies include stained glass, picture matting, and wood carving. He still has all of his tools for them but hasn't picked them up in years.

 

[Airplanedoc]

What about a switch light. It also has practical use if the power goes out.

 

[jmendez29]

What about a switch light. It also has practical use if the power goes out.

That's a pretty good idea. I'm going to look into that.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

My dad has a couple early 20th century railroad pocket watches. They are big, gold and very fancy. I have no idea how much they are actually worth but if they are worth anything close to how they look I would guess those on the higher end of the price range would be most accurate.

I would look at auction houses or reputable jewelers for those kind of watches. Not something I would buy on ebay or buy without being able to obtain an independent appraisal first.

 

[aygov]

I'd look in to switch lights and lanterns.