looking for infomation

[Anonymous]

my gf was nice enough to be out garage sale(ing) today and came across what looks like to be quite a find....it is a hafner train 1010 locomotive intact and winds up nicely. tracks are a little rusty with age, there are three other cars with it, they all have hafner steamliner railways logo on them, and printed in to the metal underneith it is hafner chicago usa.......not in complete condition, tracks are missing, but the cars are in pretty fair shape. they are a greenish metal does anyone have a guesstimate on the age/perhaps a value of what they may be worth???? thanks!!

[Roger Bielen]

Hank in there Dave and welcome to the forum. Sooner or later someone will come up with an answer.
A likely canadate may be Sask_Tinplater, a young man that is into the older trains. I believe he's been getting ready to move to University digs and probably hasn't noticed your post. It's not a bad idea to move your post to the top of the list at least once a week until you get an answer.

Again welcome aboard.

[Anonymous]

I finished most of my moving on Thursday and Friday and am home now.

Anyway, about your train. First of all, you are very lucky! I wish I found Hafner trains at garage sales! Do you mind my asking what she paid for it? In general, Hafner trains are all quite collectable and even the more common ones are fairly valuable. Hafner made the 1010 in dozens of different colours. You mention a "greenish metal". Is the engine an aqua green colour with copper coloured pieces on the sides and top? This is one of the more desireable 1010 engines. If it's a different colour, let me know. It would have originally had a matching tender (car that carries fuel for the engine) with it. It would be a rather plain looking car that is copper with green ends. The only lettering is the word "HAFNER" embossed in the side. The engine and tender go together, so the tender is an important car to have. I'm guessing that you don't have it, as you say that all the cars have Hafner Streamliner Railways logos on them. As far as other cars go, Hafner made a big variety and some are much harder to find than others. The most common Hafner Streamliner cars are gondola (open) cars. More desirable are hopper cars (also open, but different than gondolas), tank cars and cabooses. The most desireable Hafner Streamliner cars are boxcars, automobile boxcars, cattle cars and passenger cars. There are all sorts of little things that make certain cars better than others, though.

Your set would date from the late 1930's or 40's. One thing to look for on all Hafner trains from this era is recycled tin. During WWII, metal was at a premium and so Hafner sometimes reused other metal to make their trains. Look underneath and inside them to see if you can spot any lettering or logos from paint cans, food cans or beer or pop bottle caps. This enhances the value and desirability of them.

Don't worry about the track being rusty or not all there. It isn't too important or worth much. Any rust on the train itself, however, is very bad.

As far as value goes, going by the rather vague description, your train would most likely be worth around $150-$200.