Hi, I am troy from Lake Tahoe. I just inherited a large toy train collection. My uncle was a WW II veteran and he collected trains. I am planning on keeping a few I picked out but I have questions about what to do with the rest and where to sell them. I have never been into trains and I have no idea of their value. I figured what better place than a site like this.
I am keeping his lionel collection.
I have an old Tyco Chatanooga Choo Choo new in the box set. I have two old Bachman Consolidation and Empire builder sets new in the box. I have an old Life Like Little Joe. The little Joe looks to be from around 1970? It is new in the box still wrapped in plastic. Can someone help me or point me in the right direction.[:D]
Hi Troy, welcome! I’m glad you’re keeping the Lionel - this forum has a special interest in O gauge trains. The others you mentioned are HO and N scale - you might find the Model Railroader forum a place that is better equipped to answer. My personal opinion is for you to look at comparable offerings on eBay.com. Also, there are advertisers in Classic Toy Trains and other magazines who may be willing to buy your trains. The ‘sad’ news is, in my opinion, you’re not going to make oodles of money unloading them.
If you want go over to the Model Railroader Forum, they know more about your trains you have. But, don’t take me wrong you are always welcome in this forum!
Hi Troy,
Welcome, glad to hear you’re keeping the Lionel trains… That means you have found the right Forum to ask about getting them back on their wheels on a hopefully nice layout you and your family can enjoy.
I hope you’ll have a good time over here and with you’re Lionel machines.
I’m very curious about the Lionels you have, though you have never been into trains, as you said, you have a good taste about what to keep yourself.
Enjoy those trains and I hope we’ll hear more from you.
You can start by making a list of what you want to sell complete with any numbers.
Buy a current price guide for reference.
Contact several hobby shops and dealers to compare prices.
If you have any ‘O’ gauge you may be able to sell it right here. [:)]
Troy, I second Doug’s opinion of checking eBay for similar items. Based on that, you can get an idea of how much time you’re willing to invest in trying to sell them. Some of the cheaper HO and N sets are, sadly, worth less now than they were when they were new.
I applaud your decision to keep the Lionel items. I have my Dad’s old Lionels set up in my basement and run them a lot. I’m sure I’m in the minority but the connection to the past is a bigger draw for me than love of trains. Watching a Lionel or Marx train run the circuit in my basement is one of my favorite ways to unwind after a long day.
Thanks for the warm welcome. My youngest son loves trains. I’m sure he will have a field day with them when he gets a little bigger. I think most of what I have is N scale. I have no idea what O scale is. I have one train set that is larger than the rest. O scale? Troy
It’s easy to find out Troy, 0 scale is 32mm between the two outside tracks. If you have 0 gauge Lionel, you also have a third rail in the middle.
N scale is 9mm between the tracks and h0 is 16mm between tracks. There is also S scale, which is unfamiliar in Europe, so I can’t tell
you about that.
(I don’t know excactly what it should measure in inches…)
Lionel “standard” gauge is 2 1/8 inches. G (Maerklin #1) is 1 3/4 inches. American O is 1 1/4 inches (31.75 mm, close enough to 32). HO is 16.5 mm (about 5/8 inch). S is 7/8 inch. N is, as Daan says, 9 mm (about 3/8 inch). Measure between the inside edges of the running rails.
(Jerry, I think your smilies are what is making this page look so strange. Can you edit some of them out?)
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