Turner Auctions + Appraisals is pleased to present The Armond Conti Collection of Model Trains, Part 4, on Sunday, December 3, 2023, at 10:30 am PST. Offering over 235 lots from the estate of a Northern Californian who collected trains for over 75 years, the auction features mostly post-war and modern-era train offerings – some new old stock, some unused, and many in their original boxes. These include locomotives, tenders, cabooses, numerous sets and groupings; a diverse array of train cars, including freight, box, reefers, stock, hoppers, passenger, sleeper, diner, gang, mail, beer, pullman, sleeper, and flat cars; water tenders; TTOS, TCA and LCCA club cars; and more. There are also accessories and train and controller parts on offer. Many lots are Lionel model trains; other manufacturers in the sale are K-Line, MTH, Atlas, Williams, 3rd Rail, Rail King, Pecos River, Crown Model, and Peterson Supply. Almost all trains are O gauge, with several Lionel Classics in standard gauge.
About Armond Conti & His Collection
Born and raised in San Francisco, Armond Conti attended St. Ignatius High School and graduated from San Jose State in Industrial Technology. He met his wife Chris in the late 1950s, when they were both audience members of the popular radio show of Don Sherwood, who billed himself as the “world’s greatest disc jockey.” In 1964 the Contis and their then-three children moved to Livermore, California, then San Jose, where Mr. Conti worked as a nuclear engineer at General Electric for over 35 years, until he retired.
Armond Conti collected model trains for over 75 years, introduced to a lifelong passion around age 4, with a Christmas present from his parents. He continued to build and enhance his collection through the years, adding top-quality model trains from train shows and online sources. Perhaps no surprise as an engineer with an interest and skills in mechanics and technology, he also began to repair model trains for others, working after his day job at Bill’s Train Station in San Jose for over 15 years. He also set up an 18’ x 18’ shop in his backyard to pursue this aspect of his train hobby. His train layouts burgeoned as well, increasing as his homes got bigger: first at the top of his San Jose garage, where the layout platform hung down two feet from the ceiling and Mr. Conti would stand on a ladder to work on it. Later, when Mr. Conti moved to a nearby town, his train layout expanded to one-third of the basement of the family’s large and spacious new home.
Through the years, Mr. Conti enjoyed ‘train chasing’ with fellow train buffs, and visiting the Tehachapi Loop near Los Angeles, an engineering feat completed in 1876, where he would go watch trains with his son Mike and others. As Mike said, his dad liked trains because they were “big, noisy, and kind of cool.” These traits were shared with Mr. Conti’s other lifelong hobbies – muscle cars and World War II airplanes.
After Mr. Conti’s passing, the family decided to part with the vast collection for several reasons: no one has the same love of trains that Mr. Conti did, the family has other interests, and the model train hobby takes up a lot of space. Fellow enthusiasts who share Mr. Conti’s passion for model trains are sure to benefit from and enjoy the astute rewards of collecting for over seven decades.
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