in the window, to my shock and delight, was the thomas holiday set! for $35NZD! SCORE! i rushed in and bought it immdiately, hardly able to believe my luck.
got it home and checked it out. there was an extra percy engine, which was nice. the talking thomas doesnt go... same fault the others have, which is a broken drive cog on the rear axle. also harold is missing his festive banner, but i think i can make a new one.
i replaced the thomas with a standard one that had room to fit the snow plow.
i am going to spray paint thomas, percy, annie, clarabel and the tracks white to help blend them with the rest of the set.
also, i won the auction for the boy in the blue overalls and had a friend from kiwibiker pick it up for me.
i also have a lead on the animal stock wagons. they are in aussie and part of a larger set, so freight will be huge, but the chances of my finding the wagons with animals intact locally is almost nil.