"Bookish" question

[Boonter]

New to hoby and need lots of guidence. I see a book advertised...."Greenberg's Guide to Lionel Prewar Parts & Instruction Sheets"
As pre-war is what I'm interested in, is this a worthwhile book to learn from and use as reference for part #'s ? Is it a 'rare' volum, or readily available?
Lastly, is it worth $65-75 range ? More questions will no doubt follow !!!

[daan]

I don't know the book itself, but you can ask a lot of things here too. Also on the internet there's a enormous amount of information on postwar and prewar Lionel.
One thing you really need is a priceguide, which you can use when visiting trainshows and swapmeets to see if things are a bit reasonable priced. May be someone elso knows the book?

[Bob Keller]

I would almost say you should check it out before you buy it. I'm not a prewar guy, but I suspect there are a large number of Lionel items you won't find diagrams for, though in its 380-odd pages it has plenty of parts lists.

BTW it is still in print and can be ordered for $39.95 through kalmbachbooks.com, not the $65 to $75 you cite.

Out of print, but occasionally in the market, is a thinner volume called Greenberg's Lionel Prewar Train Repair and Operating Manual by John Hubbard. My only use for this book has been to try and find info for readers and I've found it pretty worthless unless you happen to own the items it covers, of course!

Good luck!

[Dave Farquhar]

Always always check your local public library, and any other libraries in your area, before buying a book, especially an out of print one. My local libraries have an amazing selection of the old Greenberg books and other titles, including long out of print books. Some of them I probably couldn't buy even if I wanted to. Others are the kind of thing I see myself needing once a year. Which is fine--it might as well be sitting on someone else's shelf if that's the case.

And yes, I found one or two titles just weren't of any use to me. But at least it cost me next to nothing to find out.

Oh, one more thing. If your library doesn't have any books on this hobby, suggest that it buy some. I can't speak for every author, but I know if every library in the country had bought a copy of my (non-train-related) book when it was in print, I'd be a lot richer than I am now. It supports the authors and publishers, and it promotes the hobby, since the book undoubtedly will do some time on the "New Titles" shelf.