I recently picked up a bunch of ‘pre owned’ modern era Lionel freight cars. I think they are '80’s and '90s vintage.
I had planned on running them on my layout but didn’t realize utill I got them home that they were mostly NIB! Some are ‘Standard O’. I paid between 1/4 and 1/2 the original msrp.
If I display them they will get dusty, If I run them, they will be used. How much would either affect their value? What should I do?
runtime
runtime - this topic has been debated here time and again. If the items are not sealed in the original box then they can, IMHO, be considered ‘run’ and not ‘collector’. I have a bunch of stuff and not enough room to run it all, so some of the stuff will find a home on a shelf, but I will make it a point to run everything I have at some point in time (although not all at once).
runtime;
Two questions:
Did you buy them to run?
Do you forsee selling any of your trains in the “near” future?
If yes and no, run the heck out of them. Let your heirs worry about the value being less because you ran them.
My 2 cents.
Runtime, I have a different way of seeing this whole “collector” thing.
The only reason that ANY train ever made has any financial value at all, is that at one time, trains were bought to be run and played with. Years ago, this probably meant it would also end up on a child’s layout, or a father/son layout. Fun was had and memories were created. Hence the phrase “Lionel Magic.” What if decades ago, kids got train sets under the CHRISTmas tree, but weren’t allowed to open the boxes because that would kill the value! That would have also killed interest in Lionel trains and Lionel would have gone under to be forgotten ages ago.
Now those kids are adults (for the most part [swg]) and for the past few decades have sometimes been paying premium prices to try and buy those childhood memories back. And any place there’s money, there’s always someone to try to take advantage of that.
Most modern-era trains chances are will not have the same collectibility (meaning here, financial return) that many other postwar trains had. Yeah, a couple decades ago crazy prices were being paid for everything and anything - even MPC stuff. Most prices are way down from what they were, outside of premium mint condition items (with boxes), factory prototypes and limited production items. And even limited production is no guarantee: the Lionel Greendale Set is a perfect example here. Of course, there’s exceptions as there always are. And finding the right buyer is who “must have” what you are selling is just as important as what you are selling.
Runtime, go ahead and play with the trains. Just take care of them, and periodically clean them. At one point in the future you may sell them: maybe you’ll get your money back in full and maybe you won’t. BUT can you really put a price on the fun of operating a layout, especially with a son or daughter or a nephew?
And maybe if more kids today get to actually play with tra
[#ditto][#ditto]
(Hey, Mel, How are ya…?)
Look at it this way:
My Dad didn’t buy this stuff as an investment of the dollar type. He bought it as an investment in fun for us kids, time with us and for us. If he/we were collecting this for monetary value, I probably wouldn’t be typing this. I more than likely, be trying to profit off of it and would have never had the enjoyment and pleasure of playing with 'em. I have a couple of rare items, and I have the boxes, but they see their share of track time. Enjoy them now and let the heirs worry about value. (Gee, I heard that somewhere before…[swg])
Thy name is runtime. Not diplaytime.
Something has to give…
My story: I grew up in the MPC-era. I wore out a couple catalogs during that time. Couldn’t afford most of it, though. About 5 years ago, with a good job, and discovering e-bay, I was able to aquire most of the MPC pieces that I had wanted as a kid, most NIB. They are not NIB now! I bought them for the same reason I wanted them back then, to play with. My FARR#1 set probably has more miles on it than my automobile. Don’t feel bad about it at all. When I die, my wife can sell them for a lot less than I bought them for, but I sure have fun running them now.
If these were trains you bought because you got a deal, sell them. If you bought them because you wanted them for yourself, run them or display them, or hide them in a closet and look at them every once in awhile (I do that with the MPC weathered reefers, and I’m good with that.),or store them away hoping they will gain value over time. They are your trains now, so do what you want with them.
A couple of years ago I sold my late father’s train collection for my mother. There were many trains, both locomotives and cars, from the MPC period. I found the MPC market to be fairly soft, as opposed to the post and pre war train markets. Most of the MPC buyers were buying them to run, and being “gently used” with only “shelf dust” did not seem to be a factor in their decision to buy.
If I were you I would run them, take reasonably good care of them, and enjoy.
You should only run the train that come with wheels.
Jon [8D]
Buy trains to just sit on a shelf and never be run??
I can’t imagine such a thing.
I say RUN ‘EM WHILE YA GOT EM’
CJ Meyers
Run EM! Because when your dead and gone people who inherit them are either going to sell em next to nothing or toss em. Have fun with em now, because you might not be here tomorrow?
laz57
Runtime, what did you pick up? Sounds like a good haul.
Runtime…if I want to invest in something for a financial return over the long haul, toy trains would not appear anywhere on the list.
The total value in something isn’t just the purchase price versus the price when selling. It includes the pleasure you have derived while owning it.
If your pleasure is in buying and selling, do it. If your intent is to realize the highest possible return on investment, don’t run the NIB items. If your pleasure is in the play factor, do it.
I have a close friend with a 1966 E-type Jaguar XKE. He purchased the car used in 1979, third owner. He has meticulously maintained it in original condition. And he usually finishes in the top 3 in his class at car shows.
He gets beaten routinely by guys who trailer their cars to and from the shows while he drives his to the venue and back home again. Yes, he drives the car from April to November, taking the car on road trips to Mid Ohio, Watkins Glen, Road America, and non car venues as well. He gets track priviledges for the high speed vintage car parades. He just finished a body off frame restoration of the sheet metal, an expensice proposition.
No, his car won’t draw the market price one of the 99 point trailer babies will. But he can claim an enjoyment factor and memories that for him are irreplaceable. The car is in the best condition since he purchased it. And it keeps on giving.
Who is ahead of the game? My friend or the ones with the trailer babies? I say I am ahead because he lets me drive the Jag when we get together!
Your choice, and that is the beauty in it.
Jack
And just to add to Jack’s statement…
My avatar is my 1970 Road Runner Convertible…built on August 19, 1969 total production: 824, mine is 1 of 179 produced with a 383 cid/4 speed made that year. I have run this car, used it as a daily driver, have come home “toasted” (many many years ago…), have street raced and DRAG RACED this car. I have shown it NO mercy. It is a MUSCLE CAR. It has been to Rochester NY TWICE!, Pittsburgh, PA TWICE! I towed a Mustang II home from VERMONT with it. I TOWED my 1970 Road Runner 440 6 barrel to the race track every week for a YEAR with it. And the stories that my wife, ex-girl friends and my kids could tell you…Is it valuable, sure, it’s rare. But to make a trailer queen of it would be a sin. Enjoy what you have, run it, 'cause after yer dead, it’ll still be here and gotten rid of real quick. Some people don’t care or enjoy our passion(s). Use it while yer still above ground.[2c]
I would definately say that you should run what you can. For those that you can’t run, keep adding to the layout until you can! [:D]
Jim
Thank you all for your enthusiastic and helpful responses!
Obviously, given the name I post under, I will want to run these 30 or so mostly NIB cars (once I make room on/ expand? the layout. But, because most are absolutely 20-30 year old brand spankin’ new, I have hesitated. I’ve nver hesitated to run any prewar or postwar, whether ‘inherited’ or purchased. Since that stuff’s already used – no problem.
I think you’ve all helped move me towards where I want to go - which is to run the stuff. I think I just need to determine if there is anything with a particular rarity value first. I don’t have a modern era guidebook, and I wasn’t following the development of the hobby during the last 30 years, until very recently, so I can’t even date anything very well. The engines I picked up at the same time I think are from the late 70’s (not NIB - being run). Wish I could have (should have? where do you stop?) bought more, it was such a fabulous modern era collection. But I didn’t know how much I would like MPC stuff, having never had any.
Doug, I’m still cataloguing, perhaps I’ll post nos. or descriptions later (or could e-mail you).
Thanks for sharing your thoughts guys.
runtime
Runtime,
I cannot help but add my 2 cents here. My Dad and my Uncle where big collectors, and everything they collected they ran. When I was a kid, and my friends would come over to see them, the train bug was cast in stone with-in us ( this was a time when trains were out and slot cars were in). If the trains would have stayed on the shelfs or in the boxes, the interest from the new generation (us) would not have been there.
After my Dad passed on, the trains were packed away with my Mom for 20 yrs. She knew of some value and wished to sell them, However, after weighing my known interest… passed them on to me. My 2 nephews never saw them, they grew up and are 7 and 15 now, and when I showed them the trains opperating around a temperary layout the 7 year old was hooked, but the 15 year old was like “so what”. That is one less train enthusiast that might have been. So I say share the wealth, share the experience, its the memories that count, not the monetary value, remember that the investment is in the future generations that will make the hobby continue to grow, this intern will increase the value of trains tomorrow.
Runtime, if ya bought them because ya liked them run-em. If ya bought them so your heirs can sell them for megabucks then put them in a dark closet and buy something to run. I have some pre war and postwar stuff that is worth big$$$$ and I run it when I want to, knowing all the time that if I decide to sell them i’ll still get big bucks for them. For example,I just sold my well run, Lionel 2351 Milwaukee ‘little joe’ for $510.00 on fleabay.You have to decide if you’re a runner or hoarder.
My wife won’t let buy em if I don’t run em!!!