vintage trains

[gizman08]

Hi I have acquired some vintage Lionel ho, Cox and bachmann ho trains. I would like to identify the year they were manufactured in to better place a value on the items. If you can help please let me know

[rtraincollector]

You would do a lot better over at modelrailroader side of this company forums as they deal in HO we here mainly are O and S guage just a little info for you HO means 1/2 of O Gauge try this link http://mrr.trains.com/ it will help you better to my knowelage thou Lionel HO started back in the mid/late 50's and where actually made by a company called ( spelling is all wrong here ) Rivarossi or something like that. 

[stebbycentral]

gizman08

Hi I have acquired some vintage Lionel ho, Cox and bachmann ho trains. I would like to identify the year they were manufactured in to better place a value on the items. If you can help please let me know

 

Let me give you one hint; the word "vintage" will not help up the sale price.  I assume that you are using it here only as a descriptive term to indicate the age of the trains.  But the fact is that old HO trains are not collector's items as much as some would like to think.  You have to remember that these items were mass-produced in the hundreds-of-thousands in the 50's and 60's.  There may well be tens-of-thousands stored away today in attics and basements, so there is no scarcity of these items.  Some are still running on personal layouts today, specifically because they don't have all that modern electronic crap in them, they last forever.  You may find the following Lionel site helpful.

 

http://www.lionelho.com/

 

[jwse30]

I can't say much about the other two brands you had mentioned , but with Lionel (H0) the catalog number is usually the road number. For example, I have a small switcher that is numbered 056. The catalog number is also 056. My limited dealing with Lionel H0 is that you can't hardly give away an item unless it is its original box. With the box, the price is pretty good.

 

Using those numbers, you may be able to search ebay or elsewhere on the web and find the info you are looking for. I would agree with the post above that H0 doesn't have as great a following as O and S gauges, so the prices are often less.

 

Now to hijack the thread a little bit. Are the prices on that lionelho.com site pretty realistic? Not looking to buy, but I need a value for that little AEC switcher I have. I bought a collection from a widow at work a few years ago, and didn't give her anything for that item as I had no idea what it was worth. I still owe her some money for it.  Thanks,

 

J White