Hi guys,
My neighbor showed me these and I thought I’d get an appraisal for her from the forum. Junk?
More pics of them here;
engineerkyle/donna - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
They seem pretty old, any info would be appreciated. 
Thanks in advance.
Certainly worth keeping, I would say !! Can’t tell which Lionel building or Bungalo that is without a front shot ! You may want to restore those engines !!
Thanks, John
I’ll bet with a lot of work on those locomotives, she could have her layout up and running again. I’d keep them if I was her. Go on Lionel website and find a local repair shop and see if they can help her.
“My neighbor showed me these and I thought I’d get an appraisal for her from the forum. Junk?”
Kyle, from the way you ask the question, I get the impression your neighbor (she) is looking to sell these for as much as she can get for them. I would assume it is unlikely she is running these or has plans herself to do so.
According to TCA standards…
Good condition: scratches, small dents, dirty
Fair condition: well scratched, chipped, dented, rusted and/or warped
Poor condition: not working, beat up, some usable parts or components, junk condition
As said above, most of us train guys wouldn’t consider them junk as many of us could fix and restore them. But as far as what a train guy will pay for them… another story. If something is in poor condition and needs a lot of work, I personally am not paying more that I need to for the items - espiecally if I don’t need them.
I was once given a truly beat up Lionel postwar operating searchlight car. I didn’t pay anything for it, but I was very thankful. My friend laughed and said “I’ve never seen someone get so excited over a piece of junk.” And I told him “that’s because you see it as it currently is, and I can envision it as it will be when I’m done with it.”
If money is all your neighbor is interested in, you could consult the price guides (which I have never put much stock into) or better yet, look up the items on eBay and see what recent auctions that have closed in the past 30 days have brought for these items.
If you are thinking of buying this stuff yourself Kyle, you could make an offer to satisfy your neighbor while explaining you are saving her the trouble of trying to sell it herself and that you will have to put some work into fixing these items up. If these are trains you like Kyle, sure, it’s worth it.
A closing thought Kyle: my collection is easily 70% repainted now. According to any so-called "financial train expert&
Hello Kyle! That 1689E Engine should be worth a restoration & the Whistle Shack is definately worth saving as well. Take Care.
Thanks for the quick responses guys!
I only wish someone would go out on a limb and ballpark a monetary value. 10 bucks each? $900.00 for all three? Somewhere in between I’m guessing…
I’m an HO guy with a model railroad layout so these pieces are interesting to me historically, and as you speculated, she’d like to know what she can get for them, “as is”
Thanks again.
48W Whistle station - 1937 to 1942. Good condition, $30; Excellent condition, $65. Based on the photo, the station looks good (very good if it cleans up well)
1689E Commodore Vanderbilt 2-4-2 loco with 1688T (non-whistling) tender - 1936 to 1937. This was a very common, low-end locomotive packaged in train sets. Good condition, $60; Excellent condition, $100 (add $10 for 1688W (whistling) tender). The loco looks only fair, and it’s missing a tender.
Prices are from the 2005 Greenberg’s pocket price guide, based on prices paid at train shows in 2004. Except for pieces in excellent to like-new condition, prices since then generally have trended down.
The engine in good shape shoud bring around $170 so as you can see it is on the low end of the post war engines. I can’t tell the shape of this one from the photogaph but if it run and is just chipped I would say somewhere around $50. I am thinking the rest of the train is in poor shape.
I’m not much into older building so I don’t have a clue.
Well what do you know I’m pretty close to the book on this one. [:)]
In my opinion, the whistle shed looks best of all and could be interesting for someone who collects them, but the locomotives are in bad shape. They could be refurbished and brought back to a good working order, but it’s not a collectors item in this state and only operators value when repainted and rebuild. Someone who wants to spend time and money on refurbishing those engines would be interested because of the price, not because of the type or shape of this (common) locomotives. I guess 20-30 dollars for the engines would be interesting for rebuilders…
Not everything which is old has potential to be valuable.
Thanks guys!
That’s JUST the info I was looking for. [swg]