I have inherited several model train cars and parts, along with a copy Model Railroader, the January 1953 edition and was wondering if any of these items is worth any thing.
[:-^]
Hi Golf, Welcome to the Forums.
To give any kind of a definative answer you would need to post much more information on the cars such as.
type of car, Road name, number, color, type of coupler, if there is a manufactures mark underneath it. all you can give us as it is important.
The mag isn’t worth much, they usually give them away at trains shows.
Johnboy out…
If all the cars are also from around 1953, they are probably train-set quality and not worth much. A listing of the manufacturer’s names from the bottoms of the pieces, their road names and numbers, etc. would help us identify their value.
That’s kind of hard to say since some of those old cars have a small collector’s value while others isn’t worth a plugged nickel.
On a good day your magazine might fetch a quarter.
Good clear photos would help.
Actually there wasn’t much train set quality stuff in 1953. If the cars are Varney with the beautiful lithographed sides there is a collector market for those, and if you are prepared to destroy the collector value, they can be redetailed into very acceptable cars for a layout. Some of the cast metal cars from Model Die Casting also look good, unless the paint has chipped. The old Athearn metal cars have a few gems within that line. I’ll be interested in learning what the guy actually has but be aware that in the days before injection molded plastic there were often few trademarks on the bottom of the cars, although I think Varney put his name on the trucks if memory serves. Of course I am assuming the rolling stock is the same era as the MR
The January 1953 issue of MR has two articles that are just parts of multi part series articles, so as an individual issue there is not much separate content of use. Plans for a suppy car and a Pennsy open platform coach of teh 1880s by J Harold Giessel might intrigue some, and a good article by Paul Larson on grade crossings has some good prototype photos. The back cover is one of those classic Varney ads with a John Allen photo. Not all in all a compelling issue - again largely due to articles that are mere parts of a larger series
Dave Nelson
[;)]If you have a digital camera, pictures always help.
An odd thing about model railroading is that an unbuilt kit is often worth more than the completed model.
First, [#welcome] to the forum.
PERHAPS we can be of help.
Your question is kinda like saying " I inherited an old dresser. Is it worth anything?"
Now if you say “I inherited and old shaker style hand-craftedl looking 5 drawer chest circa 1870 from the delivery tag on the back, maker’s stamp of “Bassett Set #545” on 2nd drawer down” along with a picture of the dresser, the tag and the stamp, we might could tell you something aobut it, IF we were an antique furniture site.
So, as others have suggested, look for and take clear pics of the items to share here…the bottom makers marks, the makers name if visible, type of RR equipment,etc. There is NO SUCH THING as “TOo MUCh info” in this case!
Also; whwere have they been stored? in a musty damp basment will not be good. NOr in a hot attic. A BR closet would be better.
WHo’s were they? how were they collected? What scale? O? HO? O27? Were they used at all or still “New in Box”{meaning old but never used}
Cheap “trainset quality” maynto be worht anything as mentioned, But a Lionel collectrible or tinplate train mihgt be worth a small fortune. Are they brass, tinplate, or plastic?
ALso:
~look at Ebay for like kinds of train products,
~do a google search with the manufacturer part and such with description from the bottom {ex: Value of Tyco #378 HO scale Wells Oil tanker car}
~ check to see if that is a local Model Railroading club near you who can appraise it for you, or buy it form you
~ attend a few local trains shows and see if anyhone is interested in b
Our model railroad club is frequently asked to appraise or advise people on selling their childhood trains from the 1940’s or '50s.
Usually the trains in question are Tyco, Bachmann, or other brands of cheap Christmas train sets that don’t even run any more, but people think they are worth a fortune due to their age.
Just this week, a person sent us photos of 14 Lionel, American Flyer, and Marx O-scale train sets for which he is asking $2,000 and wants to sell the entire lot as a package deal. Our club is G, HO, and N-scale, and none of us have any idea of their value.
Our Club gets this all of the time (asked to Appraise Trains for Value)!
We have the Greenburg Hand Books of prices and will look them up for the person having the trains.
We usually ask them to bring in the stuff - so we can look it over.
We find that it is usually well worn and scratched but we still give them a price using the values in the books and state that this is for Good to Excellent condition and then explain and show them why their stuff is not worth the prices shown in the Books!
We usually see a big let down in their faces and also when the prices at Good/EXC are not up in the Thousands they were hopping for!
We have to tell them that the stuff was the least expensive as the parents were NOT able to spend a lot back then and usually got the starter stuff that had hundreds of them made - so there were no collector value to them!
BUT!
Once in a while we get that Gold Nugget and someone has a really nice piece that is a valuable piece!
With us being a Club - we never purchase any of the trains as we really don’t get into collections just for the Clubs use - even though we have HO - Lionel & G Scale layouts!
We usually let them try e-bay or selling local - and give them the option to Donate the items to us for a Tax Break as we are a 501c3 organization and can provide that type of receipt for them!
Some do take us up on that but most just take the stuff back home and throw it in the basement again!
What a loss! or wors
Hi, Golf,
No doubt that, since no one has heard from you in the 5 days since your initial post, that you’re disappointed inthe answers given. That’s usually what happens. Ending up with Great Uncle Fred’s old train stuff is almost never the windfall someone expects it to be.
It may, however, have value – sentimental value – to you, depending on who you acquired it from.
Generally, though, all you’re going to get for something like that is a few dollars if you sell it on eBay or at a train show. You could also try to contact one of the companies that advertise train collection purchases inMR, but don’t expect to earn much from the sale.
Remains me of a lady that ask me about her Dad’s “old Lionel trains” during the county fair and I agreed to have a look.
I ended up referring her to a Lionel collector that I know and fully trust since there was lots of 1950 era Lionel that is highly valuable and was way beyond my limited knowledge…I found out later she had around $6500.00 worth of Lionel.
I wonder how many well meaning modelers would have told her those trains had little no value?
The takeaway isn’t that there is NEVER anything valuable, just that it’s a rare valuable find. The collection that a relative sunk thousands of dollars into over the years is unlikely to return that investment.
Ask me for advice on something I have never seen and with virtually no information about it, and that will be my answer every time – not likely, and getting the value out of it will require some leg work on the owners part. They have to be willing to put that effort in, with full knowledge that it may very well be wasted effort.
I would also say that Lionel is much more likely to have a collectors value than HO.
Some older Brass locomotives and some older brass cars have a hefty collectors value-a 1960 $39.95 United 2 truck class B shay will fetch around $500.00 today.
A Trains Inc RS1325($32.95) will fetch between $200-250.00 today…
There are some novelties of that era that would probably be worth more then the plastic cars and locomotives of the time.
As far as Lionel…The 1950 era NYC F7 and Santa FE F7s commands top dollar has does the NYC GP7.The Micky Mouse/Donald Duck hand car of that era is another high price item.
A Lionel 5344 NYC Hudson will fetch a tidy some-you could buy a use work car for its going price.