I am writing today to gain some information. I am not involved in the train collecting world but have come into owning a Lionel Commando Assault Train ‘set’. I have no idea what this is about but I have one family friend telling me that I should hold onto it and another one telling me to throw it in the trash. From what I can tell, it’s pretty complete. Tracks, engine, playmat, people, towers etc (again, I am not really sure I am representing it well) are all there. There do seem to be a couple of missing ‘rockets’ (number in the box don’t match what is pictured on the box). Additionally, the stickers ( I am assuming they are stickers) that are supposed to go on the cars were never put on and are not in the box. Part of me wants to just give this to my ten year old and let him play but I am not sure if this is something that a collector would want to have - any advice out there?
Maybe if you pack it away and when he is 80 it might bring a nice price. So for now give it to your 10 year old and introduce him to the world of trains.
It isn’t worth any more than any other Lionel starter set is today, the avrage value would be around $200. Of course the price could be more or less depending on the condition. My guess is your set would be a little less or about the same price as a new Lionel PA Flyer set.
I believe they made the set around 1983 but my memory could be wrong.
[#welcome] to the forum and the train world in general. If it is a big hit with son then you may want to check out RMT(ready made toys) brand of trains they are nice for starting out or adding to a starter set. I mentioned RMT because they have some millitary switchers(small loco for switching(moving cars around)) for each of the branches of the service,also AtlasO industrail rail cars are nice 027 pieces. enjoy
Another company to check out as far as prices go is Williams Train, they are less expensive than Lionel and have metal gears instead of plastic gears, however they don’t have TMCC or DCS installed.