Help Identifying some trains (pictures)

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

My neighbour gave me these trains and I have limited information. Could you please help me identifying some? Maybe the year they were made, manufacturer, model name? Thanks so much!

I have many more where these came from. My email’s luismveloso@yahoo.com

Thank you

2

the 2nd one is a Southern Pacific GP35…the bottom 2 look like F units…thats all i can identify.

3

Thanks. You wouldn’t happen to know the years they were made?

4

Are you looking for the real-world manufacturers/years or the years the models were made? The GP-35 and the Santa Fe SD right below it look like Life-Like, judging from the thick handrails, intended for their cheap toy-train line.

5

The toy train manufacturers and years. Not real life. thanks

6

I’m thinking the first three are made by Life Like I’m not sure on years but that’s my guess!

Hope this helps!!

7

My dad has that exact same New Haven one. I don’t know exactly how old it is, but its from some time around 1980-1985.

8

First photo could be Atlas, AHM, Model power or Life/Like.
http://www.visi.com/~spookshow/mehano147.html

Second photo, A promotional givaway by Readers digest manufactured by High Speed.
http://www.visi.com/~spookshow/gp28.html

Third photo is an RSD 15 , see link
http://www.visi.com/~spookshow/rsd15hn.html

Forth could be AHM, Model Power or Life/ Like.
http://www.visi.com/~spookshow/ll060.html

The two F7s look to be from Lima.
http://www.visi.com/~spookshow/limaf7.html

9

Thanks for your replies. You’ve been very helpful.

10

Take a good look at the couplers. I think these are -->N<-- scale.
Q: what distance between the wheel flanges along the axels?
This could qualify the Manufacturer.
RBC

11

I would guess that the GP35 is one of those foreign models from the early 70s as evidenced by the absolutely horrible handrail detail. It shows that there was a time when nscale wasn’t taken too seriously.

12

I’d say the distance is about a quarter inch.

Are these trains worth anything???

13

The best way to find out the Mfr of these models is to look for marks on the bottom of each unit. Then you can go to the Spookshow pages & determine approximate dates.

The fourth unit may be a LifeLike Little Joe steamer, sold at some LHS & other places with 4 freight cars & a small circle of track for $10-20.
The Santa Fe RSD15 should never have been painted in the red Warbonnet scheme.
The rest only have value from the bad old days of Nscale more than 20 years ago when thick handrails, truck 4 wheel motors and ugly Rapido couplers were common when imported by Model Power & others.

14

some may be old, just remember they were FREE!!!

15

I’ve got one of those give-away SP GP-35’s(the second photo), unpowered. Don’t remember where I got it, but it will help rebuild my N-gauge empire.

The third photo is an N-scale Alco RSD-15. Never seen one in AT&SF lettering.

16

The two Fs could potentially be Minitrix - I know they made an F7/F9 in Pennsy colours (A hobby store fairly near me had these for ages, never got round to buying one though!). Minitrix locos are superb - they will probably need servicing but will be excellent if this is carried out. Look for “Trix”, “Minitrix”, or “Made in West(ern) Germany” - I think the Minitrix Fs date from before the Berlin wall came down so pre-1989.

17

eek! I didn’t even look at the couplers…indeed, those things are N scale.

cpuwizshot: Worth anything? Well, that depends. Certainly they’re worth a few dollars, maybe $10 or so each at a train show. But they are not rare, nor are they valuable, so their dollar value is fairly low. You might eBay the whole batch and expect to nab maybe $50-60 for all five…

18

I know a lot about the Southern Pacific GP35. It was part of a cheap train set given out by readers diagest which comes up all the time. It has no motor and usually sells for 99 cents if you are lucky.