My father Joe passed away in 2005, to which his life’s collection of model railroad kits sit unassembled and apparently so old, no Google or research engines have responded back. For the deepest respects and love for my father–I know he would want good homes for these kits but, I just don’t know where to begin and how much to ask for things, to defray the cost of shipping and a modest profit to benefit the surviving family.
William K. Walthers, Inc. kit for Gas Electric Car (Father was going to pattern in after the #46 Car of Washington & Old Dominion Railroad Car - photo of the actual car was in the kit and fact is that the line closed in 1951). I have 7 (seven) unassembled La Belle kits in O Guage purchased in 1985. I have 11 (eleven) unassembled kits by All Nation, some have purchase date of 6-11-1956 and some dated 1958. I have 7 (seven) Art Fleming Models that are unassembled with the invoice date of 1954. I have Scale Models Inc. Boxs–one marked K1964-C and one box holds 2 Reynolds RR Products–2 Reefer car kits. I have 2 (two) Silver Sides “O” Gauge passenger kits (really long red boxes) N&W Coach by JC Models and Baggage-Coach by JC Models. I have 2 (two) Hawk Model Co. kits - #301 Gondola (date 3-1-1937) and #304 Flat car. I also have Great Western Model Locomotives -Old Time Car kits 1 (one) Sway Belly Gondalla and 1 (one) Sway Belly Hopper. I have a Rail Chief- 1890 Combine or Coach in a box that reads plainly “Wartime Conservation pack” (WWII I believe) and a Rail Chief Model RR Equipment with a Logo with a locomotive. I have 5 (five) Westbrook brand kits. It is believed to range from 1937-1939
The above is just a small dent into the collection that we’re slowly bringing up from the basement.&nbs
A dealer named Jay Cohen buys and sells old model train merchandise.His website is www.jaystrains.com/ he is in Florida,phone number is on website. Joe G.
From your list of items, it sounds as though your father was modeling O scale 2 rail. This is a small segment of the model railroading hobby. There is no established market for these type of items, and given their age there aren’t many in the resale market. If you join eBay and search their sales in the Toys and Hobbies>O scale category you’ll find some of these. La Belle is still produced. Kits unbuilt and unstarted have value, built and partially-built depend on the kit and quality of work. At least some of the kits you listed should have value.
The term Tinplate dates from pre WWII when Lionel and other toy train manufacturers made cars out of tinned metal. Today the term refers to toy trains that run on 3 rail O gauge track or American Flyer 2 rail track. Current manufacturers are Lionel (which also makes American Flyer), Mike’s Train House, Williams, and others. There is a trend towards scale models in the tin plate word by Atlas and others. There is an established market with price guides for tin plate/toy trains, but none of what you have listed would be considered tin plate or at least covered by the guides I have seen.
There are agents who sell on eBay for you, but usually at significant percentage of the sales. I have no knowledge of who’s good or not. There are also auctioneers of train collections. I don’t know what the financial arrangements are and again I don’t know of any personally. Ads run from time to time in the magazines - Model Railroader, Classic Toy Trains, Railroad Model Craftsman, etc. - some of these may be in your local libr
I also want to especially thank you for explaining about Tin Plate. It gives me an idea of what era these kits were acquired. It becomes more evident that these kits came into possession during my father’s teen years. Facinating really.
I have put the kits partly assembled and or incomplete aside. The kits I am interested in selling have not been assembled at all. Many have the original envelopes that came with the kits remain sealed and kits remained packed as factory assembled them. I’ve taken cotton white gloves to handle all the pieces to peek to see if any dates or other leads could help me. One kit has the original seal and I left it alone. Amazingly, the wood looks like it was cut yesterday and details amazing.
You are indeed correct about my father having O Gauge. We have one flat car that looks to be something rather old, having four blades from the body that wouldn’t be found on a real time car. It is presumed this is “third rail.”
I have not seen much other than O Gauge. I have found one steam locomotive kit from Ken Kidder, that seems to be HO. I haven’t found his name anywhere on my searches.
I am so thrilled I have these web sites to explore. Much more than what I starte
Yup, that sounds like an old Lionel flat car. My c.1957 O27 set had two of them, one yellow and one gray. [:)]
A lot of these kits are probably worth more to a collector unbuilt than the finished models would have been. Also, I think these kits would be of more interest to collectors than to modellers or operators - that is, I don’t think most people buying them would buy them to build them, they would want to display them as collector’s items.
Just a thought - the Atlas Co. (mentioned in an earlier post) also runs a model railroad forum, they have forums divided by scale - N, HO and O. You might want to pop over there and put a similar post in the O scale column. I suspect they would have some knowledgeable guys on O over there:
My father’s original Lionel train set is up in his closet. Only on the rarest of times did he stand on a step stool and bring it down to show me, still in his hands. He was more proud of the ‘fort’ that came with it.
BTW you might also want to try posting on Kalmbach’s Classic Toy Trains forum. This forum is related to their “Classic Trains” magazine which deals with vintage real trains, not models. [:)]