I am a model railroader who recently inherited a dozen or so New Bright locos, and I’m not familiar at all with the toy train arena. Can anyone point me to any websites where I could: 1) do some research on the locos, and 2) see if I could find any collectors who might be interested in the locos?? Thanks for your help.
I’m sorry to say that those aren’t considered toy trains by our standards. They are “toys” yes, but are battery-operated. Without meaning to offend, I will stop at saying more. Suffice it to say, the trains we collect and operate are made by Lionel and other ELECTRIC TRAIN manufacturers. I realize the words, “TOY TRAIN” is confusing the issue, but unlike the other scales, our large size and oft-times FUN and amusing rolling stock have left us with this less than deserved title—IMHO
ATJ
Dr.Fu-Manchu, The Train Guy Here: What you have, If I am not mistaken is the G gauge
Locos? Are they battery or Power pack Locos? If they have metal rimmed wheels, then
they run on a power unit. other wise they have plastic wheels and then they are run on batteries on plastic track. They are not worth a lot. They were made for Christmas
Display and I have three: two christmas and one standard. One Xmas runs on batteries
They are not worth alot, sorry to say. Try selling them at a yard sale or on E-bay. Good Luck.
I assume we are talking about the cheap “trains” that are sold in Walgreen’s, Wal-Mart and Kay-Bee toy stores (to mention a few). If so, I was not aware that ANY of those plastic trains were power-pack operated. They are just junk. There I said it.
Thanks for your input, and no, I’m not offended–I figured that these “toys” were probably worthless/junk. But if nothing else, I can keep them around for the kids to mess around with–maybe they’ll be less likely to want to play with my model trains!! By the way, the locos are battery-operated (not power-pack run), have plastic wheels, and do look cheap!
Hello,Amtrack jack : Dr.Fu-Manchu The Train Guy back to answer the Question:
Yes, New Bright made some electric models. I have 2, one is a Xmas set and the 2nd
one is a CNW freight set. The Xmas set plays tunes and the freight has loco sounds
in the tender. They are not bad as G gauge starter sets and I have seen other G gauge
cars at train shows that have the same couplers. As to your comments: I am of the
opinon that our hobby has a roundhouse with many stalls, and there is a stall for all.
Be it Scale, Tinplate, Post & Pre War and all gauges N to Full size(for the guy that can
afford it) You should not be short sighted. If not for (JUNK TRAINS!) as you call them,
many people might never have gotten into the hobby in the first place. Judge not, Lest
they Judge you!!!
When I used to post on the OGR Forum there would be the comments on how early K-Line was junk and that 027 was junk. Then I’d notice some of the same folks saying this were posting on how their new top line loco didn’t work. It got to a point where I wanted to say this:
“Gee I paid $50+ for my engine. You paid $500+. Your engine is more detailed and accurately proportioned than mine, and has many more features that make for enhanced operation. But mine worked straight out of the box and yours didn’t. Mine may not do as much nor look as scale, but it does what it is advertised to do. So who has the ‘junk’ now?”
BUT I never did. Because I agree wholeheartedly with what Dr. Fu-Manchu has said, and said very well! And although I like Amtrak Jack’s straightforwardness and bluntness, ultimately one man’s junk is another man’s treasure.
I realize EJEman posted in part because he wanted to know if the trains he has are worth anything monetarily. And that’s understandable.
But in my view part of what is wrong with the 3-rail train hobby is that everything comes down to “collector” value and what the “book” says. Instead of having fun and enjoying the trains, there’s too much emphasis on “what will it be worth in the future.”
I go by market value, and e-bay is a good place to get an idea on that. Then I go by personal value… knowing full well what’s worth something to me may be worth nothing to the next guy.
brianel, Agent 027
I couldn’t agree with you more! I have many New Bright and simmilar battery powered G scale trains that I display along the top of my O gauge shelves in my train room, many of which have been bought used. While I seldom run them, they look really nice there and I enjoy them. Electric G scale trains are quite expensive and I’d sooner spend larger sums of money on collectable O and S gauge trains.
And to EJEman: Wow! A dozen or so New Bright locos! Your kids could build quite a railroad with that much motive power. I’m sure they’ll have a lot of fun with them.
Well, guys I didn’t think that I’d offend you. If you look at the answer by the guy who started the tread, he seems to have gotten the meaning of my response. You others, while trying to be diplomatic to me, have gotten totally off-base and if I were less of a person, I’d be offended. Take it easy. The question WAS posed if there were any websites on these and if collectors were interested in these: 1) Where can I find information on them–answer–no where because they are NOT main-stream electric trains–2) Are collectors interested in them–Answer–NO. They are not main-stream electric trains, they are cheap plastic toys that fall apart.
Now, if he had asked, “Are these fun to play with??”–I would have said, “YES!! Go for it! Play!!” But that was not the questions being asked.
As a good Christian, I can say that I was not judging anyone. That is Jesus’ role. The original questions did point in a round about way to what they are worth and where he could find answers about them. Re-read the original questions. And please,
PEACE BE WITH YOU
Thanks be to GOD
Hi Amtrak Jack! I’ve always been a big admirer of John Lennon… he almost always told things as they were, straight up - be it well received or not. I know I didn’t take what you said in any bad way. There are certainly items made today that I feel are junk, but it’s also what I feel. Many of my trains would be considered junk by others, but I love working on them and making them better… just my nature… I love to tinker with stuff and use my creativity. I bought my nephew a 8700 Lionel Docksider for 95¢. We worked on it and improved it and he loves it now. And it does pull like a champ now. But again, I’m sure many would pass on buying that loco - but may be not for 95¢.
Anyways, liked your last response… you seem like a pretty decent level headed guy. I like this Forum for that very reason… because of guys like you and others.
We all naturally have opinions. It’s inevitable. I do admire those who not only can honestly speak their opinion, but permit others the courtesy to also speak theirs and allow them the respect they deserve. Not always an easy task (I know), but certainly a worthwhile goal.
brianel, Agent 027
Thank you for your honest response as well. I am a nice guy and you all seem to be as well…I hope we all can get to know one another better. You’ve already had a peek at how I do things. I do not pull any punches and I mean to offend no one. But oft times those two things do not go hand-in-grove. I never told anyone they could not speak their mind, just that what they said was ALMOST offensive and off-the-mark. PLEASE! Speak your mind. But if like I do, be ready to expect a retort.
Peace out
To EJEman
If you decide you dont want ot keep them, ebay them. I have noticed that almost every New Bright item on ebay does sell, though not for very much, so people are out there that will buy it. Personally I think they arent good for much, but thats just my opinion. As a kids toy they are great cause Jr can kick them around all he wants and they’ll probably survive. But I wouldnt consider them for anything else. Good Luck.