The status of Postwar?

[msacco]

I went to York primarily for postwar. I am mainly a postwar operator/collector who dabbles, albeit cautiously, in a little of the new stuff.
I was delighted to see so much postwar stuff and a lot of it very nice condition. I wasn't so delighted to see the price of this stuff. I got a 455 oil derrick in excellent shape without a box for a fair price. I had to pass on a lot of stuff because I thought prices were moslty on the high side.
My question is this: with all the interest in the modern stuff and baby boom collectors getting older, who want this stuff besides me. I'm 40 and trains were not really part of my generation (not quite boomers, and not X'ers either) and I'm pretty much a rarity. Heck I was the youngest guy on the bus trip to York.
I keep waiting for prices to fall for unboxed excellent stuff but maybe it's not going to happen. I'm not talking mint/boxed stuff here, just nice looking pieces that I don't have to be afraid to run.
I wonder if dealers sense that postwar desire might be declining and are try to grab these high prices for the next couple of years while they can.
Any thought on this?

Mike Sacco

[Anonymous]

Well, you may have a point about some folks trying to get what they can while they can, Mike, but I think that if you're patient and willing to look around a bit, you should be able to find excellent condition postwar items at pretty good prices--certainly more reasonable than they were a few years ago.

There's still a good deal of interest in postwar production, and likely always will be because those were American made in a period when trains were an important part of virtually every boy's life. And the history of that era and the prewar era is richly documented and interesting, which helps to maintain collector interest.

While you were at York, did you try to negotiate with those dealers who had stuff you wanted? Many guys selling there (I used to be one of them) will price stuff at what they would like to get, but will settle for something less--sometimes considerably less. I know I did that myself when I used to sell at York, and let things go for far less than my original asking price because I didn't want to haul the stuff back home. It sure never hurts to ask "can you do better on that price?" All the seller can really do is say yay or nay.

[mpzpw3]

It seems to me, that postwar Lionel is alive and well and doing fine. The prices on it at least seems to state that someone is still interested in it! I'm only 34, and grew up in the mpc-era, and postwar Lionel was the stuff to have back then. When I finally got a job that would support some train purchases, postwar is what I started with.
In the last couple of years I have moved away from postwar. The reason is pretty simple. Price. MTH proto-1 engines are cheap, and often time better detailed than the postwar versions, if a version was even made. Williams also makes a comparable product to postwar Lionel, mostly at a better price. A couple more reasons why I moved away from postwar: Sound. Not sound systems in an engine, but can motors are much quieter than postwar engines (exceptions do apply, as I have a 675 engine that just purrs.) Another example would be the icing station. I have a modern-era one because the can motor is smooth and silent. Lastly, graphics. You can get an Industrail Rail Santa Fe super shock control boxcar for a better price than a 6464 Lionel version, which definetly can't be had for $20.00!
I'm not putting Postwar Lionel down. I have a lot of the stuff, including the switch tower, operating freight station, station platforms, operating horse car ( which works great.), Santa Fe F-3's, etc. etc.. I'm just pretty much happy with anyone who produces semi-scale products at an affordable price, in the roadname I'm interested in. Postwar Lionel would limit what I could do with my layout.
One last note. I do look for postwar items in need of help. I have paid too much for junk a couple of times, but I do enjoy fixing them up, and consider this part of my hobby , also ( unless it is a cattle car, anything but a @#%$$#^ cattle car!), so I could be part of the problem for high priced postwar Lionel "operator quality" stuff.

[Anonymous]

From what I saw at York, many dealers have not gotten the message that interest in postwar is NOT what it was up to the 1980's. I've recently gotten postwar steam at small shows that are in better condition with much lower prices. For deisels and rolling stock, I buy recent or new. Joe

[SPFan]

This year was my first time at York and I couldn't believe the high asking prices. I'm not sure if its due to the prevalence of the high income east coast buyers or just the collectors mentality but its not a reflection of prices nationally. Typical prices at the local shows are probably half of what I was seeing at York.

Pete

[phillyreading]

Mike,
Have you considered going places besides York for buying post-war stuff?
I was at Hamburg PA for the Penn Dutch spring meet about two years ago and there was a lot of older stuff there. For more places look at the events calendar in CTT.
Lee F.