Hello,
My Father just purchased a Lionel “James Gang” and “Black Cave Flyer” sets. He’s very excited about it and he’s currently setting them up.
We don’t know anything about toy Trains but the child that they seem to bring out in all of us. He asked me to research and find out if the sets are of any value and if so then how much. The sets are in excellent condition and have never been used. please advise, thanks.
Hi, sounds like he’s having fun. [:)]
However this forum is for Classic “real” Trains, from the 1920’s-1970’s. You’ll probably get a better response from posting this in the Classic Toy Trains forum.
[#welcome] J train,
Do you happen to know the set number or the numbers of the cars that come in the set? Not all price guides list sets, some just list the separate pieces like steam locomotive with tender or a 2640 passenger car. A set may have up to six numbers and the separate pieces can have four or five numbers on each, sometimes you have to look on the bottom of the piece for the number.
I think the James gang set is 027 and runs on DC but not 100% positive, not worth much if it is the set I think it is, maybe $100.00. Have not heard of the other set, the Black Cave Flyer.
Lee F.
On the contrary, the James Gang set is one of the more sought after low-end MPC sets; in LN shape, it can bring over $200. The Black Cave Flyer–CTT published an article several years back on it, written by on of the contributors here–is not as highly valued, and it comes with cardboard accessories and stickers, the condition of which can really influence its value (though it isn’t high in any case).
JTrain, both sets will have more “collectibility” (ie: financial value) if the sets are still sealed. If they’ve already been opened, but are complete with clean near mint condition packaging… well you might as well operate the trains - but take normal care of them.
I will mention both of these sets are DC current operation only. You NEED to use a DC power pack with these or if you use a Lionel transformer, you’ll need to buy a DC convertor box (which Lionel made in the early 1990’s for their “G” scale trains) or you can make one yourself with parts from Radio Shack… basically a full-wave bridge rectifier and a DPDT switch and some kind of housing box with air vents in it.
The power pack Lionel included with these Lionel sets is a little on the cheap side (similar to the kind used in TYCO and LifeLike HO trains), and you’ll find not very sensitive for running the trains slowly. If you get serious about setting up a small layout, I would recommend going to a train shop or show and looking for a low cost used MRC power pack or one of the newer power packs that Bachmann uses with their starter sets. This one sort of looks like a stationary computer mouse. I’ve used these with my trains and though they don’t have much amperage (meaning you can’t run more than one lighted train car with the loco) they do run the trains very smoothly and slowly if you wish.
Adding some automotive lead tire weights to the inner sheet metal chassis of both lcoomotives will help them run much better and pull more train cars.
If they are DC and you want only one direction from the engine just add a bridge rectifier in the engine or tender if a steam loco. No other parts needed as I did that with a Williams engine when the direction board died on me, runs a little faster than with a direction unit.
Lee F.