They never came with a Gon; or, flat car that I know of. There was a work caboose that worked as a tender for it. I looked at Cranes for years and finally decided I’d better buy one as a kit, at about the time Horizon bought Athearn out and I understood, by knowing how Horizon operates that Athearn kits would no longer be available. I also bought the work caboose for it.
My asking how much would people pay, was in jest. Now, if I didn’t already have one and really wanted the Athearn crane, I suppose I’d maybe pay $25.00 for it, only if an unbuilt kit, not built by someone else, as I want the fun of building it!
Thanks NP2626, I offered Dave 20 dollars but he laughed and said ten. He sold my son a Proto 2000 ONR GP38 for all the money he had in his pocket, 5 dollars. He got the better deal, lol. I said no but Dave gave it to him anyways. My son was grinning from ear to ear and still does when we are working on the layout and playing with our trains.
In looking at this, I noticed a couple of things… It is plastic, according to the picture title that pops up… and I find even crazier the price of this box… not a loco, but just the box… from the same seller…
If anyone knows someone who will pay that, please send them my way… I have some great looking boxes I would sell for half that price. they are great to ship things in. (I have a secret stash of them at the post office, and since I know the guy, he gives them to me for free, just don’t tell anyone)
Considering you can get a new box with new foam plus a repro label from Reboxx for a fraction of that…
I must say, I did benefit back when I was getting rid of most of the Tyco train set quality stuff I had left over - got $75 for an AHM/Pocher Lincold Funeral Car - even had the $1.99 Two Guys price sticker ont he box. But I didn;t START it at anywhere near that - in fact back then it got quickly more expensive to list an item as you upped the starting bid, so I put almost everything on at 99 cents ($1 was the next break in cost). That was the singular highest dollar item but I also got more than original cost for some Tyco passenger cars, and a Bicentennial Alco.
By the way that’s a Mantua coupler on one end, not a Baker. But it does tend to show the unit is old.
Anyway … the original Athearn cast metal crane was a nice looking replica but I seem to recall its cast zinc castings suffered the same deterioration as similar zinc alloy castings of that era. To me the photos have a plastic sheen to them, but the trucks do not, and if it is indeed one of the old zinc castings, and is in that good a shape, it is indeed a rarity. It was enthusiastically reviewed in the February 1952 MR for those who have the issue or the DVD and was $8.50 when new. The Buckeye trucks were sprung. The fully strung up cables are an impressive feature in that old Trade Topics photo. By comparison in that same issue, the International Models USRA 0-6-0 with a heavy brass body and full valve gear was $17.50, and the Lionel operating dump car was sold by Madison Hardware for $8.95. So that Athearn metal wreck crane was an expensive model for its time.
Obviously the plastic Athearn model that replaced it can be seen at just about any swap meet although frequently the modeler gave up the rather intricate stringing of the cables and thus is often grossly simplified.
Is it worth this asking price? Well the classic Econ 101 definition of an arms length transaction involves a willing buyer and a willing seller … but again if this indeed the old cast metal version it is now a rarity and there may well be a collector or modeler prepared to pay that.
Obviously all you guys can be categorized as belonging to the 0.1% who would not give that ebay lister positive feedback.
In all fairness, I believe it should be pointed out that the item is actually listed as $94.95 or best offer.
The thing that I’m really curious about is why there seems to be this obsession with the prices people ask for their “stuff” on Ebay, at a train show, or where ever. Who cares? Seems to me that if I had that crane and someone actually offered me $94.95 for it, I’d be happy to sell it at that price. And I’d bet most of you would also.
If I were searching for a steam crane, like the unit on the ebay listing, and found one at a train show/swap meet, I’d likely be willing to pay $10-$15 for it. Although crudely detailed (such as the molded on ladders), units like this can be fun to detail and spruce up. Imho, $15 seems reasonable which would be “my best offer”. Of course, the seller may feel differently, which is his right.
Some of you probably remember my thread regarding this diesel crane from 2 years ago:
I won it on ebay for $14. With shipping it came out to $17.50.
Although a crude AHM model, the railroad I primarily model (SCL) had cranes that are strikingly close in appearance to the AHM unit.
Two of these were donated to our rail museum last year. We get a lot of used HO trains from locals that probably won’t be used here on our layout, so I end up giving them to local children who have an honest love for trains. I actually donated four totes of HO trains that don’t work for our layout, and at least one of these cranes were included. This guy is typical in the collectors community, thinking he has something valuable or trying to dupe some poor fella! One thing I’ve learned from collecting railroading, don’t let someone like your wife “surprise” you for your birthday or Christmas, they end up being the one who get stuck with this kind of “deal”! The other EBay gimmick is the inflated shipping and handling cost. Buyer beware!
