I've got a friend who apparantly has an extremely large collection of model trains. He wants me to help him sell them online. I know absolutley nothing about model trains, so if anyone could point me in the direction of some good websites that deal in this stuff, I'd appreciate it. Trying to avoid using EBay if at all possible.

Thanks guys,
Brian.

What scale & make?

trains are one of those things that are worth what somone will pay old lionell sets bring good money the older the better the old monorail sets that did not take off so well way back when are really worth the big bucks old tyco theme sets sutch as the oakland a.s or budwiser sets do well also.

I'll be finding that out tomorrow. Apparantly it's a collection of epic proportions, so I wouldn't be suprised if there was a bit of everything.

Brian.

Well as stated, Lionel, especially up through the 50's stuff is very collectable in "O" Gauge as is American Flyer. My BiL makes a nice bit of pocket change buying & selling AF stuff on ebay and I have sold some Lionel stuff there myself for my St. Vincent's Conference.
The newer Bachmann & the like in HO, & N gauge not so much.

The buildings and accessories by Lionel & AF are where the real bucks can be at.

My FIL has an old Lionel setup on a piece of 4' X 8' plywood in his garage. Even though it's lived life in a very dry climate, it looks kinda rusty. Can't see how this stuff can be worth anything unless it's pristine.

I work with a couple rail roads. It tends to draw some weird dudes who are train junkies. Foamers they call themselves.

PM a rough idea what you have and I'll ask them what's best, idea on value where to sell etc.

Trains are like guns.
Customs are worthless, collectibles are whatever someone wants to pay.
My Mom sold my New York Central Hudson 027 Lionel for five bucks.

I'm primarily an O gauge guy but a lot of the following applies to all model trains. We really need to know the gauge, maker, etc. Saying 'I have trains' is like saying 'I have a deer rifle'.

Don't clean them or restore them.

Condition is important in price.

Ebay is the big dog for sales.

Classic Toy Trains and O Gauge Railroading magazines have forums dedicated to O gauge (Lionel, MTH, K-Line, others). Kalmbach publishes magazines and has forums for other gauges.

I have a couple of reference books for O guage and I think Standard Gauge. David Doyle was the author. I think he did some others. Greenburg produces price guides.

For Lionel, Ives, and American Flyer, the Train Collectors Association (TCA.org?) operates the National Toy Train Museum here in Lancaster. They also have a standardized condition scoring system that can be used when selling.

Dale

I happen to know a lot about model trains as my online name will tell you.

Unless the trains are in excellent condition, and certain brands, they are probably not worth very much.

Lionel and American Flyer are the top American trains.
Marklin is the top non-US brand, and probably the most collectible in the world, in general.
Other good brands are in the US: Marx, MTH and not much else. Except quite a few small specialty makers imported detailed brass models from the far east from WWII until now. These are also worth quite a bit.

Brass locos can also be had in European markets as well, and other European brands such as Fleischmann, LGB and HAG can have some collector interest.

Unless the item is extremely rare, it must be in mint to excellent condition and have the original box to be worth very much at all. Most plastic locos, cars etc that are out there are worth very little if anything, and not worth wasting time on eBay.

There are also antique toys from the pre WWII era, but most of this would not be classified as "model trains" although they can be quite valuable.

Ya mean my kitbashed Athearn DF-45X 7200 horsepower, eight-axle road units aren't worth their weight in gold? Dang!

Trust me, it is there are collectors that lovingly restore what looks like junk and they pay well for the privilege!

I agree with you. I think any restorer would at least need a source for spare parts. The stuff not working or missing something may still be of value.

Wow, thanks for all the great info guys! I'm going to be meeting up with my friend in a couple of hours and I'll get more details. I might also get a chance to take a few photos. I'll report back here with the info.

I really, really appreciate ya'll helping me on this.

Brian.

Yep, my BiL buys lots of "junk" AF stuff and rebuilds them or uses them for parts to rebuild others, he does quit well on ebay.

The internet made world wide trading so very easy.
I found SAAB parts all over the world.
From Sweden of course, but even traded with folks in Austrailia

But that distribution also brought down value of other collectables.

Now, they need to be in like new condition in original boxes to make money.

My SIL passed on and left a huge collection of Nascar stuff.
We tryed selling it , with very little luck.
Anyone want it?

Talked to my Foamer guy. He uses Ebay but also understands the adversion to using it.

Said that there's little $ to be made unless you get lucky. There's a TON of junk out there from 1950 to 1990 and after 1990 the hobby changed a lot.

His recommendation was to find a local hobby shop with an active RR section. Club affiliation is better yet. Deal with them. They probably know the local buyers of things and can point you in the right direction.

Good luck.

I don't have the information at my fingertips right now - yesterday was sort of a general overview of what needs to go - but as far as the trains go there's lots of Lionel stuff as well as some newer production stuff by a company called Row (I might be wrong on that).

There's also a LOT of AC planes that need to be sold - we're talking about the big suckers that are a good 6 feet long and have three and four cylinder engines. For those I'm going to have to see what I can find in the way of hobby shops or trade papers or whatnot in this general area, as these planes would be very difficult (and very expensive) to ship.

I've got to try my very, very best to do this right, as this kind man has had a seemingly endless string of people who "helped" him sell stuff and pocketed 100% of the money. He's an older gentleman and not in the best of health, and people have been robbing him blind left and right. It makes me sick thinking that people would do this to such a nice man, particularly one who is very vunerable.

Brian.

I'm surprised a huge collector doesn't know if there is a better venue to sell in than ebay. Most larger cities have or had stores that catered to model trains, planes, cars, etc. I'd seek one of them out and see what they can tell you. They might also do a consignment thing.

Not sure if this place was mentioned, but these guys did a good job for me when I consigned some brass HO locomotives years ago-I think they may also deal in Lionel and other antique O scale stuff:

http://www.caboosehobbies.com/brass/brasspg.htm

Good link Tim. I figured there was something like that out there. Here's their general link:
http://www.caboosehobbies.com/catalog/index_brief.php

You'll make a lot more money on eBay. You don't need to know what your selling on ebay. The buyers know what they are buying.

Thanks for the links guys, I'm going to check that all out. I should be finding out the nitty gritty on the train stuff today and will report back with my findings and hopefully some pictures as well.

Brian.