I am the train nut in the family. When my inlaws were cleaning out the attick, they ran across a 50 or so year old American Flyer steam trainset. No one in the family wanted it so it was given to me. It had a circle of track on a piece of plywood. Due to space restrictions, I didn’t keep that. I did, however, keep the trains and transformer. I thought it would be cool to clean up and display in my train room. None of the original boxes or packaging are left. Does anyone know if these would be worth anything to anyone? I have checked with the family and they have no sentimental value to anyone.
The fact that they are American Flyer gives them the potential for having value. Value is based on rarity and condition. Each piece will have a number, either 3 or 5 digits. If you gather those numbers, and try posting them over CTT forum you might get a better answer.
Do the market research before coming to any conclusions, as Big Boy 4005 stated American Flyer is worth something depending on the condition of the set, that is one of the most important values. It sounds as if you will keep the set for yourself which is a wise choice.
Keep in mind, what the piece is, is more important than it’s condition to start with. That’s the job of the numbers, identification. One box car could be $20, while another could be $500. Condition comes into play after that. A rare car in fair condition is usually better than a common car like new.
There are published price giudes, but Ebay also may be useful. If you try to check Ebay, you will need to look for the exact pieces you have, and even then that won’t give you an exact value, just a good idea. The thing about Ebay prices is they represent a spot market, and prices can fluctuate wildly even for the same piece in the same condition, depending on the people bidding.
The guide books are more of an average price based on known sales.