We are cleaning out my Grandfathers garage and found a Lionel train set. It is in the original box and I am guessing it has all of the parts because everything fits just right in the box. It has the #1479 on the box. I think it has a WS behind it. It says it whistles and smokes. Each car in the box is in its own box with #'s on them. I do not have it here with me so I don’t know the numbers. The outside box is in very good shape. The cars, track and control box look like new. He gave it to my son who is 16. He really has not iterest in trains but will never get rid of it because it came from his great grandfather. We are wondering if some one culd tell us about how much it is worth or where we could look to find out.
If you have no intention of selling it, why would you want to know what it’s worth? Just to know?
It’s worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it.
Just curious…It is actually my son who wants to know. I have lots of antiques that I have gotten from my parents and grandparents and will never sell them but I always try to find out what they are worth.
Appraising a train set online, without being able to see it, is very difficult. If someone happens to have a reference book that has your set number in it, they may be able to give you a ballpark figure. But not all sets are well documented. Lionel is better documented than most, but there are always oddities being discovered.
Lacking a reference, we would pretty much need a list of all the numbers on every box. And of course, condition is everything, and condition is very hard to grade without seeing it in person. I’ve seen a lot of things hailed as “nearly mint” that a truly objective grader would say is “very good.” The difference in price is huge–a truly mint piece will fetch 50-75% more than a merely VG piece.
It’s possible that someone here may be able to come up with a ballpark figure, but in all honesty your best bet to get a ballpark figure would probably be to go to the library, see if you can find a recent Lionel price guide, check the book out, and appraise it yourself. Read the condition guide in front very carefully, then evaluate the pieces as objectively as you possibly can. Add up the values of all the pieces and you have a ballpark figure. Since you have all the boxes, you can add anywhere from 10-25% to the value of the set. In extreme cases boxes increase a set’s value more than that, but those are the extremes. If it looks like you might have something really special, the only way to find out for certain is to have an experienced collector examine it in person.
And there’s a lot of truth in Jim’s answer, “it’s worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it.” Want a real-life example? My dad’s Lionel set from 1953-ish, objectively, is probably worth $200-$300, but it’s worth a whole lot more than that to me. And if someone had a duplicate of that set and I had two sons and wanted to give one of the sons a duplicate, I’d probably be willing to pay more than book value for it. Likewise, if I ever s
Sandy, our public library has a number of ‘guides’ that list item numbers and ‘ball-park’ figures for worth. Another option when you get the item or set # as David suggests is to browse eBay and see if you can find comparable auctions.
Sound like another “basement” find tattered and used. Unless it is some kind of museum quality collectors piece (which I HIGHLY doubt), it’s worth no more than any other Lionel set made today. Completely off the top of my head, I believe what we have is a late 40’s 2025 or 2026 freight set. Possibly a 2465, X6454 and some kind of an SP caboose. Judging by what I generally see when stuff has been covered after many years; VG condition…I would say $250 w/o seeing it. Post some pictures and then we can tell fo sho.
Prices found in guides are for complete sets. You should have set box, indiviual boxes and inserts, inspection slips, instructions, lube, smoke pellets, transformer, 027 track, remote control track section, lockon, wire, and a brown envelopes where applicable, Lionel catalog (usually thrown in at the dealer).
Honestly, I love postwar but sounds like another case of if it’s old Lionel it must be worth something.
I have the set. The box should say in blue Lionel Trains Outfit NO. 1479 WS. The price should say in blue $49.95. It should have a caboose #6257, hopper # 6456, gondola #6462 and tanker #6465. The tender is #2046 W and the locomotive is #2056. Track and transformer, etc.
The price depends on condition of everything so I can’t say how much yours is worth. However it it is in extremely good condition with all good boxes I would guess about $1,200. The actual price can drop pretty fast if the boxes are damaged, soiled etc.
To be honest there are just too many factors to give an exact price but at least you know an approximate value. Now if they are well used and not everthing is there it could be far less. If your looking for that million dollar train set this isn’t it though it is a very nice set.
So I hope this gives you a very rough idea. A better source would be a book unfortunatley I don’t have one to check the price range for you.
I was the Conway Scenic RR this weekend and the old notion about “if it’s old Lionel, it must be worth it’s weight in gold” popped into my head when I saw one guy’s offerings. He had a set of 2343s, and they were beat to death. The power unit had a repro frame, which he acknowledged, no horn mechanism or even the horn compartment door. Obviously repainted, and not well. The dummy unit was even worse. He wanted $100 for the dummy and $275 for the power unit. My wife’s head spun around so quick at me I heard it snap, and she asked “how much did you pay for yours”? She thought, because of the condition, it was a lot more than what this guy was asking. When I told her it was about 1/4 of that price, she didn’t believe me. C’est la vie…
Jim
Major reason why I don’t take my wife to trains stores. [:D]
If she only knew what I paid for all of my Arttista figures.[%-)]
But I was telling her the truth.
I throw nickles around like they’re manhole covers. Still, I don’t take her with me to train stores or shows. One just never knows, does one?
Very wise, Jim. My bride equates train prices with items she is familiar with - $125 for a trolley is x equivalent in… decorative pillows or what-not. I can’t wait. And in relative terms, it’s still ‘only’ $125. Good thing I’m not into Standard Gauge.
It is still true that the magic word “Lionel” seems to add 50% or more to the most puerile junk - I’ll bet a lot of us would have stories about overpriced items.
Check out this web site addy, http://www.trainshoppe.com/images/1479WS.html
That organization continually overprices to such an extent that some may find it offensive. That paticular set has been for sale there for about a year. You would think that they would want to actually sell it. Overpriced by about $500-600.
Ain’t that the truth. I once saw (and I will never forget this) a Lionel 225 C&O Alco A at a train show in C5 (good if lucky) condition for $650.
When asked why it was $650 I was told because it was “Lionel” and “rare”. On the engine there was a post-it-note that said “if you don’t like the price I’ll take it home then.”
A least we know it was worth $49.95 at SOME point…
Roland
I love some of the prices I see on ebay I need to start printing some of these out it will have a starting price of about 10 times the value and they honestly think because its an lionel its worth it. To top it off ( I never get this lucky) about half the time someone that doen’t know any better will bid on it for a present or somethin. I remeber there was one guy who use to list a 1060 or 1062 and he had a starting price of $65.00 and said it was a rare version as it was green (it had mildew on it ) you could see his finger prints on the side of it. but he ran it for about a month and lo and behold one day I saw a bid on it I couldn’t believe it.
Hey at least that site gave you $200 more than I did. However regardless of what the price would be this is a good example of what you would need to get the higher end of the price. Of course you always need a willing buyer.
If your set looks and has everything in it then you can hope it is worth the high end. In any event I think you have a idea on what it is worth based on the high end by viewing that site and the low end by the rest of these helpful members.
I expect this is enough information to satisfy your need to know how much your train is worth. I would guess you were hoping for thousands but would settle for hundreds.
If it has the original boxes and paper(manuals and wiring instructions) this tends to help the value a bit. In my personal opinion and it is an opinion only the market for O gauge trains is flooded with some nice new production trains and the big time collectors with the deep pockets are getting old and dieing off leaving us younger operaters(those who play with our trains) as the majority of the hobby. Like the beckket baseball card price guides they are just a guess and comes down to how much a buyer realy wants it. Dealers and hobby shops need to buy low so they can turn a proffit when the resell. For some reason people think that just because it says lionel that it is a cash cow, what determins vale is rarity,condition and last thing a collector thinks about is does it run as a collector keeps them on a shelf where as an operrater thinks first is it affordable does it run or is it salvagable, and lastly ihow rare is it.
Sandy, based on what he listed this is what you would have:
Here are some links for each one above:
http://www.postwarlionel.com/cgi-bin/postwar?ITEM=2056
http://www.postwarlionel.com/cgi-bin/postwar?ITEM=6465
http://www.postwarlionel.com/cgi-bin/postwar?ITEM=6462
http://www.postwarlionel.com/cgi-bin/postwar?ITEM=6456
http://www.postwarlionel.com/cgi-bin/postwar?ITEM=6257
Might be good to know its worth in order to have proper insurance on it.