Since it’s been 22 yrs since I’ve done anything with the hobby, I’ve got 2 cases of old stuff that I probably will not use and start over from scratch. Is any of the old stuff worth anything, maybe on Ebay? I’ve got brass and nickel track mix up together, old Tyco power packs, 2 old Santa Fe locos (I think they call them F7s??) and a bunch of old buildings. Any thoughts?
As someone has pointed out, if you leave that stuff by the curb, the trash truck will probably take it. (I am assuming the locos are also Tyco; if not they might be worth trying to sell.)
Keep the powerpacks for running lighting circuits or accessories. Maybe you can rehab the structures, depending on how badly they were assembled.
Me—I’m piculous enough to keep most of them around for scenicing possibilities—the powerpacks definitely would be good for building lighting and the buildings–even if kind of roughshod could become part of a delapitated district or other—possibilities, think possibilities,—oh, need to brush up on weathering locos? Keep locos around—do weathering on them then leave them around a ‘bad order’ or service track as if it needed work—or salvaging—[swg]
One thing the owner of my LHS taught me is “Never throw anything away”.
Old junk engines could be made into dumbs or in my case wrecked engines being hauled back to the yard for repairs. Old brass track could be used for old spurs that will never be used again.
If the old engines happened to be Athearns, well worth hagging on to.
Cuda Ken
If the old F7’s are Tycos, they may be worth a few bucks to me. I need a couple parts. Pictures would help.
There are guys that collect and operate Tyco trains. And they also make great scrap yard engines. Brass track is excellent for side tracks and at the end of long yard tracks that wont see locomotives on them. Cheers Mike
I doubt if you’ll get much money for that stuff, so the previous suggestions are good ones. Like Ken says, “Don’t throw anything away.”. [;)] The “scrap box” that many of us old timers mention isn’t really a scrap box: more like a parts department. [swg]
Old brass rail, remove from the tie strip with pliers, then cut to length and painted, makes a good gondola load:
Or a common trackside detail:
Wayne
Doc,
Thanks for the nice scenes, Those eye-level shots are very effective!
Mark
We used stuff like those engines and track to create junk yards and a railway museum on our HO scale club layout.
The old power packs can be used for building and signal lights, etc. Just be careful with the old power packs and check their cords carefully. If the cords have become stiff and brittle and the insulation cracks when you bend one, throw it away or replace the cord.
The buildings, depending on their condition, could possibly be a city block under demolition.
That may be well and good, but how many of the really top notch layouts even on this forum use that crap. I dare say none. (I would keep the old athearns though for practice painting and such). Although this guy sounds like its life-like crap that he’s got.
Over the years I’ve made some visits to other peoples layouts and noticed they seem to use some of the old stuff like AHM, Tyco, and other names for scene filling. There was one layout owner that had a Tyco Choo Choo 2-8-0 that was sitting next to a abandon round house, it was all rusty and weatherd and detailed to look like it was ready to be scrapped. The other I seen had all kinds of old AHM and Tyco buildings on it that were weatherd and detailed, they were very nice looking. A older Walthers catalog from the late 1990’s had an old RS1 I beleive in a insert of the Magic photo’s sitting on a siding that seemed to be out in the middle of no where. This old RS1 was being taken apart for parts, was weathered, rusty, and had piles of parts around it. I am pretty sure it was a AHM unit.
This so called “crap” does have a use for some, even the top notch builders so to speak use some of the out of production items for something now and then. The people that collect the older out of production items have their own thinking, and thats ok. I had a bunch of old AHM items laying around a few years back and was tired of moving it around from box to box, so it went on ebay. I think after it was all gone I had a nice little pile of money. So there is still a demand for it.
See if the engines have a builder anywhere on them, like the chassis. If they’re by Athearn or Atlas they should be worth hanging on to…I don’t think Stewart F’s were around yet 22 years ago?? Seems to me they came along a little later, maybe 1990.
The buildings should have a use, if nothing else they can be used as stand-ins until you get better ones. Of course many old kits from decades back are still around and being used on layouts. A simple kit like the Atlas signal tower can turn out really well if you paint and weather it, plus add a few details like an interior.
I thought the original question was would you use it as it is on your layout. Not kitbash or weather the heck out of it until it looks good. That was not my intention. I mean, would you take this stuff “as is” and employ it on your layout. The answer is no, you would not. I don’t see Joe Fugate using brass track on his layout or running 30 year old K-mart life
Hey, we have a frequent poster on the forums that uses and photographs this stuff all the time![:o)]
Lothar, I’ll have to check…all the Christmas decorations are in the way in the attic right now!! I’ll let you know.
Skip
Doc,
Awesome pics and ideas! I can only hope that my layout will look as good, one day! Thanks for sharing…
Skip
The HO collectors market is very small, and there are no established price guides. But you may be able to sell it on ebay. Personally, I have kept all my old Tyco, mostly out of nostalgia. Eventually I may set up a display of it somewhere. If space gets tight I’ll get rid of it, but for now I keep it in an old bureau along with my other HO goodies that I haven’t used since I switched to O. I keep my O scale goodies in another bureau and haven’t used them since I switched to S.
Enjoy
Paul
Most of my old Tyco stuff is active on my layout, both steam and diesel This is in addition to a good number of freight cars, and even a few passenger. The cast metal frames on the freight cars give good weight, though not quite up to NMRA RP20.1, and the low center of gravity makes them track well.
Here’s the original post:
After asking if it’s worth anything on Ebay, he solicits “any thoughts?”. The subsequent replies are merely the thoughts and suggestions of the individual posters. While there is some nice new stuff available, not all of us can afford it, and not all of us even want things that are ready to use.
Wayne
Drilline,
I don,t think he was implying to plug and play here. The original poster was asking a question or trying to get an idea on what to do with it, be it salvage or throw it away. There are plenty of collectors out their who might be interested in his items he has. Plus allot of posters said the same thing pretty much I did about using for salvage or practice. I’ve been to auctions and bought boxes of old train items that had one or 2 things in the box I was interested in, but found it had items like Tyco, AHM and other brands mixed in, I always give them a look, might be something I need. The old engines go to the test track to see if they run, and if they do, they are sold or go into the salvage tray depending on condition. Its hard to believe what someone will pay for an old running engine on ebay sometimes.
As for running an original engine that was one of my first ones from the late 1960’s when I was young? I have 3 of them that sit in my case that were the first three I ever owned, and I do run them every so often. But I won’t give up my Proto’s, Atlas, Athearns or Kato’s for the old school loco’s. Old brass track? If its Atlas track I use it on my Layout on dead end spurs or make rail piles out of them. Old buildings? I have several of them on my layout, that date back to the early 1970’s that I have, most are AHM kits that have been dolled up over the years. The rest of old parts and peices get kitbashed on different things.
I can’t speak for everyone else here, but I have to much old stuff I think, seems I don’t throw anything away. You never kn