A nickel for your thoughts on my K-Line steamers

[BDT in Minnesota]

I am sitting on five sets of K-Line trains..two of the sets are the Santa-Fe Steam Chief  passenger sets...They are K-Line #1116 and are still sealed in their shrink warp, along with one of the freight sets...The thing that I wondered when the K-Line firm locked up,,, was the future value of these sets...The Steam Chief has three streamlined passenger cars, so I look at that as unusual, the semi scale pacific is not streamlined...The  loco is also equipped with Lionel Railsounds....Sort of unique in a way.....I bought the first ones with the intention of running them,,,,but sometimes the goofiest of items become highly sought after a few years...(If only I had bought a case of 6816-100 Allis Dozer Cars)   know what I mean...Even the cheapies can be a good investment,,,but these were made in China...Not that I need these five on a layout, I have over 90 three rail steamers,,,but the one pacific that I took out and test ran performed soooo nicely with that worm drive......  The reason for so many locos is that I want to build a roundhouse scene on a new layout...I would like to park the K-Line Pacifics  alongside their grandparents, my 4 MarX 333's....I'm interested in some opinions,,should I play with my toys, or leave them in the shrink wrap????

[alexweiihman]

I d play with them! the k-line stuff is so great that running them are a pleasure, to me nothing beats runing a k-line steamer.

[steinmike]

I'd have to agree with Alex.  I also have a K-Line Santa Fe steamer (that I repainted for the New Haven) and have been greatly impressed with how smoothly and quietly it runs and how much output you get from the smoke unit.

You never know what's going to be collectable in the future - you can always keep one in the shrink wrap as an investment.      

[brianel027]

Run the stuff. The postwar days are gone forever. Lionel in the 1950's was 3rd in catalog printing behind Sears and JP Penny. Trains were big and most kids wanted and had trains. The buying-collector frenzy of the 1980's-early 1990's were these baby-boomers buying back (and many times over-paying) for their childhood memories. Things are different today.

K-Line MDK was never interested in making collectibles and when a price guide was proposed by another company, MDK refused to cooperate and threatened legal action to stop publication. I've been a K-Line buyer since the early years. The current most collectible K-Line times are the Yuengling Brewery cars and locos, the Ringling Bros. items, and the Kodak MP-15 3-pack (which Kodak forced K-Line to stop making), followed by the nicer Coca-Cola items.

I think the other items that will be collectible are the uncataloged employee-only Conrail Safety Award premiums - provided Lionel doesn't remake them (which I wish they would without the safety slogans!!). Even if Lionel did issue these items, the original K-Line Safety Award Conrail sets and items still stand a good chance of being them most collectible and sought after of all K-Line items.

There are some other fluke items, but most folks are unware of what is and isn't common among K-Line products. Like the very common blue body/orange door #5120 B&O box car - but there is a very uncommon yellow body version of the same car... the door color I forget. I had one and sold it for a very very good price. Uncataloged items here and there. There's the 027 black 2-bay hoppers from the uncataloged Boscov's Reading Coal Hauler Set. Some of those hoppers made it into regular K-Line train sets, but what makes these hoppers unique is that they do not have a normal 5000-series K-Line product number on them... they have prototypical RDG 41414 and 41459 numbers on them. Some of the other uncataloged Boscov-made Reading items could stand to be collectible, since the Reading has many fans. And I could go on...

There's two versions of the Baker's Chocolate tank cars, and there are some other odds and ends here and there, some of which could stand to be worth some money for those in the know. The NETCA produced K-Line New Haven box cars also come to mind. But even that's dependant on someone WANTING those items, regardless of how uncommon they are. There's the cataloged (with a six-digit number) and uncataloged (with a 4-digit number) versions of the same black body/orange door New Haven box car. Sometimes K-Line took something uncataloged or limited production and made it again with the very same exact number, which kind of defeats the original potential collectibility of the car... there's a good list of those items. The P&LE box car from the NYC Hudson Valley set comes to mind... that one was made exactly the same again as a Train-19 release.

What made Lionel trains of the past so collectible later is that people PLAYED with those trains years ago. NO ONE has fun looking at a train car or loco sitting in a box on a shelf. Had everyone horded away the trains of yesterday and never played with them, they'd probably be as collectible today as yesterday's headlines blowing with the wind.

So I say run your K-Line trains. That's what they were made for. Take care of them. Keep 'em clean, and maybe years from now you might still get some money for them, even after playing with them... NOW how GOOD is that?!! Double bang for you buck!! Even if you sell them and just get back the price you paid for them, after running them for years - how can you beat that value? Unless you can actually put a dollar amount on "happiness."

[Jumijo]

I'd run them without hesitation.

I only have one K-Line steamer. It's a semi-scale Pacific with a worm driven motor. It runs smooth as silk, but it's a little loud. Not a very good smoker either. Still, I love the looks of it and the way it runs.

Jim 

[BDT in Minnesota]

Thanks for the replies....I find it encouraging to hear the thoughts and reasonings of other railfans..especially when they parallel my original intentions..These trains were designed to be played with and enjoyed....The railroads in my area I wish to model are the Northern Pacific, Great Northern, Soo Line and Canadian Pacific...So I am glad to hear I won't be the only one involved in giving the equipment a "facelift" to suit my desires..   My two grandsons; aged two and four, would be in total agreement that the trains are intended to be a "hands on" toy.. a few locomotives will be labeled for a shortline named after the boys...

[cnw1995]

I have that Santa Fe steam passenger set with the streamlined cars and the railsounds tender. Run it - they are totally fun and my favorite train. You may need a button to sound the whistle and the horn as the 50 watt transformer in my set mysteriously didn't have one.

[laz 57]

Most of my K-line stuff runs great however, my B&A Bershire that I got was a lemon.  First the motor died, no K-line to send it to get fixed.  Sent it to Davis Trains and they got another motor and fixed it up for me.  It ran fine for about a month now the Chuff went out.  I still have the whistle and bell and the noise the boiler makes but no chuff.  Along with No lights.  Sent it to a Lionel authorized dealer and he can't fix.  Don't want to send out to Davis Trains again, so now just running it without lights and no chuff.  I little disappointed with the steamer.

laz57

[Buckeye Riveter]

Most of my K-line stuff runs great however, my B&A Berkshire that I got was a lemon.  First the motor died, no K-line to send it to get fixed.  Sent it to Davis Trains and they got another motor and fixed it up for me.  It ran fine for about a month now the Chuff went out.  I still have the whistle and bell and the noise the boiler makes but no chuff.  Along with No lights.  Sent it to a Lionel authorized dealer and he can't fix.  Don't want to send out to Davis Trains again, so now just running it without lights and no chuff.  I little disappointed with the steamer.

laz57

Laz, is the spring that pushes the plunger down stuck?  That is what happens on my K-Line Mikado when it doesn't chuff.  There is a tiny switch that triggers the chuff.

[laz 57]

BUCKEYE,

   That switch is called a cherry switch and it is ok,working.  Can't figure it out I checked that switch made sure board was in tight and still nothing.  I do get one chuff when starting but thats it.  Wonder if it had to do something with the lights , bothfront and tender lights are out?

laz57

[Buckeye Riveter]

BUCKEYE,

   That switch is called a cherry switch and it is ok,working.  Can't figure it out I checked that switch made sure board was in tight and still nothing.  I do get one chuff when starting but thats it.  Wonder if it had to do something with the lights , bothfront and tender lights are out?

laz57

Does it still smoke?

[laz 57]

Yep real good.  Everything works save the chuff and lites.

laz57

[BDT in Minnesota]

Doug,,  I just opened one set to see which transformer was included....Luckily, the proper Power Chief 120watt transformer was enclosed...And Yes, those passenger cars are nice...

[BDT in Minnesota]

The warranty is anouther thing I pondered when buying trains on eBay...I know that MTH will not honor a warranty on their product unless it purchased from an authorized dealer....In other words, hobbystore closeout items sold by a liquidator don't have warranty...Does this hold true with most brands??//I was thinking yes///but I could possibly wrong...Laz 57,,,Was Lionel willing  to take any further action  on your berkshire's problems???