Does everyone with a train in a dusty box think it's worth a million $$

[NarrowMinded]

Just curious, has any body else had this experiance? it seems like everytime a friend of a friend finds a train in a dusty box, they ask me to tell them the value of it, then when I give them the news that their 1999 vintage big hauler isn't going to be the funding for their new car, they get upset at me and act as if I am trying to scam them because I want it or something.

I wonder how this "IDEA" that all old trains are lworth their weight in gold got started?

NM

[Jim Banner]

Could it have started with those guys collecting Lionel?  There are some valuable Lionel trains out there - a real pink girls set in excellent condition can go for $1000 or more.  That is why there are so many spray can fakes on the market.  But once somebody hears about one Lionel train selling for $1000, the word gets around and everybody with a cheap, plastic Lionel trainset that has been trashed by three generations of kids suddenly thinks his set in worth $1000.  And they won't believe you that it is worth $50 max.

Or is it those brass locomotives?  I had one fellow claim his steam locomotive was worth hundreds and hundreds of dollars.  What he had was a 70's plastic model of a USRA Pacific in a bad imitation of a CPR passenger locomotive paint scheme.  After a little gentle probing, it turned out that he had seen a brass Royal Hudson in a hobby shop in Vancouver.  These listed at $1500 or so and were mostly purchased by Japanese tourists who had just ridden behind the real thing.  I didn't have the heart to disillusion the fellow, but have often wondered since if some con artist had sold him this "valuable locomotive" for a "bargain price" like four or five hundred dollars.

Against that background, is it any wonder that people with a 10 year old bargain basement train set think they have a valuable antique?  The ones I love are the sets that are in real good condition - they are mostly there and only some of the parts are broken.

Jim   

[jward]

i had a neighbor do that recently with some football cards. we looked them up on ebay, buy it now price for what he had was a buck a card.....

i think it's the lure of easy money. people think they're going to cash in with some old, mediocre quality to begin with, beat up train set. and sometimes it works. it never ceases to amaze me what tyco sells for at the train shows......it makes me wonder if people actually try to run that stuff.....

[Woody Elmore]

There are some really collectible train items e.g. the Lionel Blue Comet in Standard gauge. For the 'Soprano" fans out there, that was the set Bobby Baccala was looking at when he was killed.

The girls' train set is another hard to find item. I remember a friend getting hold of one of the cabooses and spray painting it red. I read somewhere that the Lionel 6464 Timkin roller bearing box car can fetch a few bucks if it has the right kind of door.

A friend once called me and showed me this worn out American Flyer train set. He said that he would put it on Ebay and what should the starting price be. I did some exploring on the internet and he was disappointed with the result; no new Boston Whaler in his slip!

I do have an original 1989 yellow Big Hauler flat car (complete with stakes.) It's vintage, it's rare and you probably would like to have one in your collection. It is one of only 150,000 so act quickly!!!!

[CNE Runner]

My wife and I vendor [mostly] Lionel products at several train shows across the Southeast. I have been involved in appraising train collections for years - and am well aware of people's misguided opinion of train value. I remember appraising a good quality Lionel Scout set for a client's insurance purposes that ended on a bad note. The client thought I had 'low balled' the appraisal and asked me to leave his property (no, he didn't pay the appraisal fee either).

Check out eBay and see what model railroad items are bringing. A case in point is a mint Lionel Walbash passenger set (Fallen Flags #1) that we have been trying to sell for a couple of years now. This set has been out of the box twice (once to inspect it and once again for insurance photos) and is listed in TM as having a value of $900+. In today's marketplace, you would be very lucky indeed to fetch that kind of money.

Excepting brass items (of which I know little about), used model railroad items are decreasing in value...not the other way around. I would suspect this is a reflection of the current state of our economy.

Remember: an item is only worth what someone else will pay.

Ray

[Johnson Bar Jeff]

It never ceases to amaze me what tyco sells for at the train shows......it makes me wonder if people actually try to run that stuff.....

I presume you mean the 1970s "brown box" stuff (although some people will collect anything). The Tyco of my childhood, early to mid 1960s, was quite good. The engine to my "Petticoat Junction" set still runs. Cosmetically the poor thing looks like it's been through a tour in Iraq, because it was dearly loved and played with hard, but mechanically it's quite sound. The little completely metal 0-4-0s and 0-6-0s can be refurbished into quite wonderful runners that will pull just about anything because of the weight on the drivers of all that metal.

[SteamGene]

My understanding is that Tycho and Bachmann are the Ying and Yang of model railroading.  One started out as good quality and went down hill and the other started out as poor quality and went uphill.   
Gene

[CNE Runner]

Dead on, Gene, dead on! Bachmann deserves all the credit in the world for turning itself around and producing some of the best equipment on the market today (plus keeping the price point within reach of us all). I defy anyone to name a better product (for the price) than Bachmann's Spectrum American 4-4-0s (I have two). Please don't misunderstand my point: Athearn, Atlas and others also produce super stuff...it just seems Bachmann has gone to furthest to join their ranks.

Just my opinion,
Ray

[jonathan]

I have to agree.  Of all the fixit stuff I do on my trains, it NEVER involves fixing a Bachmann product.  I may be lucky, but all my Bach. locos run like swiss watches.  Well, then there's the gandy dancer, but let's not go there .

S,

Jonathan

[jettrainfan]

That statement reminded me about a chat i had with my grandpa except we had anthem and con cor to the chat too.

[Johnson Bar Jeff]

My understanding is that Tycho and Bachmann are the Ying and Yang of model railroading.  One started out as good quality and went down hill and the other started out as poor quality and went uphill.   
Gene

Tyco went downhill when the Tyler family sold the line. Poor John Tyler must have been spinning in his grave. When the family bought it back and reintroduced it as Mantua, the locomotives got quite good, though not matching Bachmann Spectrum in detail.

[jward]

tyco stuff from the 1960s was definitely better than the stuff from the 1970s, but the diesels still couldn't comapre to athearns. though they were better than the diesels ahm put out. it is a shame tyco couldn't have added a quality line like bachmann did with spectrum. those alcos they did would be allright with a decent drive under them. and in the case of the c630, correct wheelbase trucks.

[Woody Elmore]

Tyco was always geared to the train set market and never pretended to be thoroughly scale. The ten wheeler and several freight cars were actually OO scale to make them bigger. The Mantua steamer line was introduced a half century ago and even with the lack of detailing they sold in the tens of thousands. 

When the line was initially sold the quality went way down so that even the train set stuff was basically junk. I am reminded of  the short GG-1 and the ever popular Chattanooga Choo Choo with tender drive. These were items that really gave Tyco a bad name. However there is a small but committed group of Tyco collectors out there who are happy to collect all the many variations of items that were produced over the years.

[Johnson Bar Jeff]

Tyco stuff from the 1960s was definitely better than the stuff from the 1970s, but the diesels still couldn't compare to Athearns.

Well, maybe with the Athearns that had the rubber-band drive. ... 

But, seriously, I agree. I'm kind of a serious collector of Mantua and Tyco from the late 1950s to mid 1960s, and some of the diesels in sets that I've obtained from that period that still run are just awful (though, to give them their due, they are still running). Only one truck was powered.

On the other hand, the diesels Mantua put out in the years before the close of operations, which had flywheels and both trucks powered, could compete favorably with Athearn's "super-power" engines.

BTW, last night an Athearn "super-power" Santa Fe freight F-unit sold for the ridiculous sum of $78 and change. I know--I was bidding on it! 

[rustycoupler]

 Only if you are at york.