I have come across some old Ho scale locos and rolling stock. Brands include Tyco, Lima and Jouef.
If any one can help me out, or knows someone i can contact to find out if these items are worth anything, please let me know.
Thanks, Anthony.
If you can find a serial no. - either on the equipment or on their boxes - you could do a web search using that. You can always check ebay and see what similar items for those products are going for.
Tyco’s name came from (IIRC) “Tyler Company” and was a subsidiary of Mantua, which is now part of Model Power. Mantua originally mainly did kits, Tyco was kind of their ready-to-run versions. Like many folks my age, I started in HO with a Tyco train set back in 1971. The equipment is generally “toy train” or “starter set” quality…that is, not all that great. I’m sure some folks collect Tyco, but generally they aren’t going to be worth a whole lot.
Lima and Jouef are I believe European builders, so I don’t know if what you have are American prototype models or European (pics would be helpful).
Hi!
Welcome to the Forum! It is always a pleasure to hear from MRs living outside the US. Sometimes I forget that the hobby is not just here, but is everywhere!
As they say, the value of anything is really what other folks are willing to pay for it. Typically, older HO stuff is not worth much (there are exceptions - i.e. brass locos & rolling stock, etc), especially if it is not in excellent condition without original packaging.
However, to get a feel for the value of your specific items, I would do searches on Ebay to see if anything is currently out there or has been (you can do a history search). IMHO, Ebay prices will give you a realistic feel for the worth.
One caveat is that living “down under”, you may have trouble finding a buyer in the US or Europe due of course to shipping costs and “wait time”.
Good Luck!
Mobilman44
HI
Old Tyco stuff isn’t worth anything, really. It was like the Life Like stuff of today…cheap trainset material for kids to play around with {and destroy if they played too hard} or for around the xmas tree.
Lima I’ve only barely heard of and have never heard of the Jouef stuff.
Check over on Yahoo groups HO yardsale or Ebay to see what that type of stuff is selling for.
The Tyco stuff is only worth the price of a garbage bag, like most people have already said it isn’t worth anything. All Tyco stuff is really just poor quality toys. Lima did produce some interesting equipment as well as Jouef, they produced European style stuff. Post some pictures if you can of the Lima and Jouef trains you have.
If there is a train store in your area, take the stuff in and ask if they’ll look at it. Some shops will sell used equipment on consignment.
Of course, you could always put it on eBay with some absurdly high price, and hope someone buys it.
But, in general I’d agree with the other guys. Old, used HO stuff isn’t woth much. If it’s not heavily worn, and particularly if it’s still in the original boxes, it might have some value to collectors.
I checked the piles of European trains that I’ve got on the shelf and found that Jouef is French and Lima is Italian. They were okay cars but not very detailed and too light to track well in a longer train. It didn’t matter so much way back when because European layouts were on the small side and the trains wouldn’t be all that long. The few pieces that I have were bought at train shows and I never spent more than a couple of bucks on any of them. One thing to watch out for is the wheels. I believe that most of them came with wheels for DC operation but some might have had AC wheel sets for Marklin, or been converted by the owners. If they are AC they will not be insulated and will short out on a DC layout. DC wheels would work on an AC layout electrically but the flanges were not as deep and couldn’t handle the Marklin switches very well. Unless you can find someone that is modeling French or Italian railroads they probably don’t have a lot of value and even then they were not the best. Good luck with it. Werner
In “my” opinion, those items are not going to be worth the price of shipping, but could be invaluable to a small child just starting out in model railroading, or to just try to spark ones interest. Todays prices on cars can make this hobby out of reach for most kids when cars are typically $10US each, (new) for the cheap stuff. Better cars start at $25ea and go up (way up) from there. I still have the first Tyco set me and my brothers received for Christmas some 35 years ago. I would NEVER sell them, but would definately consider donating them to a kid looking for them.
They are worth less then the time you will spend figuring out that they are worthless.
Drop them off at a local kid’s club or such and move on.
David B
I don’t know about other countries, but there is no real collectors’ market in the U.S. for HO. There are folks who collect HO including Tyco but there are no price guides like there are for Lionel and American Flyer so it’s kind of hit or miss when you sell them. For collectors condition is very important as well having original boxes.
For users, the operational characteristics as well as level of detail are important. Here Tyco generally falls short and is not highly desired. I don’t know about Lima and Jouef.
Places like Ebay where you can see what items are actually sold for, are probably your best way to find an idea of worth.
Good luck
Paul
Thanks all for the replies. Now that i know these items dont have much [if any value] i can save myself the trouble haha. Ill work something out, probs just donate them to our club to put on display.
Not so fast.
Oddily there are folks interested in older Tyco…
Maybe this will help.
http://www.tycoforums.com/tyco/forum/default.asp?sectionid=0
Hi again!
Just wanted to add that there is also a collector’s market for vintage Athearn items. And, there are at least two books on the subject (Greenberg’s Guide to Athearn Trains, Standard Guide to Athearn Model Trains), and they sit in my bookcase.
That being said, there is really nothing of really significant monetary value, but a lot of us cut our teeth on those 1960s BB kits, and there is some sentimental value.
As the OP doesn’t have any Athearn, the above is a moot point, but I have a soft spot for old Athearn and just wanted to share…
ENJOY!
Mobilman44
Do you realize how annoying that is for shop owners and staff? I can’t count the number of times a person off the street that has never been into my LHS before has come in and asked for help in trying to figure out what something is worth. 99.9% of the time it’s worthless. If the store isn’t busy it’s not a big deal but when there is customers in the store, well that’s the time they show up looking for advice, lol. Just something to think about…
Like my boss told me years ago when I worked part time in a hobby shop when I mention that subject…That’s part of the job and we do it as a public service for perspective customers since we never know if they will return…
TA:“99.9% of the time it’s worthless”.
Only because 99.9% of the time the shop owner or helper may be clueless of the real value…There is many different types of collectors in our hobby its hard to keep up…A junk Tyco locomotive could be worth $20.00 for the shell.Knowing which shell is valuable is the key especially the hard to find shells.
I highly doubt that Larry, lolol. Another thing, when people ask about putting something out on consignment they often want the full retail price they paid. What’s with that??? My LHS is more then happy to help out BUT like I said, it’s more of a pain in the rear then what its worth. Half the time the items just reek of cigarette smoke which then causes the cabinet they are placed into to stink. Junk is junk if you ask me…
This is how I put value on train items. For your everyday, run of the mill RTR car or locomotive its usually worth half what you paid for it. If anything is broken or missing knock off another 25%. If it stinks of cigarette smoke then it’s 10 cent’s on the dollar. Of course there are exceptions but they are very rare and most people who have them know what they have.