Lionel Century Club 736 Berkshire

[Fred Bear]

Does this machine have 2.0 sounds? and what should it sell for NIB with the tender? Thanks much for any help, Jake

[Fred Bear]

Any help on this one? Jake

[csxt30]

I'm sure it has Railsounds, & I remember when it came out in the 90s. You had to pay 500 dollars just to be able to purchase one, then they were at least a thousand when you got it. The only other thing is, it may have been a dealers only purchase, I really can't remember for sure. I have seen some go now for about 800 or so. I think they make a boxcar for it also. Hope that helps !

Thanks, John  

[Seayakbill]

They show up on E-Bay quite often. Top bids around $500 which is considerbly less than originally sold for by the Lionel Century Club.

[nblum]

It was a 726 Berkshire, in 1997.  You had to be a Century Club Member, which cost $100, or $500, the latter of which could be applied to the price of each locomotive $100 at a time.  It was all Lionel direct, not through dealers, which irked some dealers, to be sure. 

It had a version of Railsounds significantly upgraded from 2.0.  The original price in 1997 was $895.95, which everyone understood was quite a premium, but they sold a whole lot of them anyhow to us baby boomers who couldn't afford them as kids. Back in 1997, only Lionel had command control, only Lionel had decent sounds, and they charged a premium for those, and, of course, it was made by American labor in Detroit, not in Korea, which upped the costs significantly. 

And there was no competition to speak of, if you wanted accurate replicas of Lionel's iconic models, but with state of the art sound and command control.  The competition was still using non-command electronic E units (Williams) or outmoded, troublesome control and sound systems (MTH's PS1).  So Lionel got away with a premium price. 

But it's a beautiful reissue of a nice toy loco, with technology that is still state of the art soundwise and controlwise, except for speed control, which no one had at that time. But there are tons of them out of there, and the owners keep leaving the hobby, voluntarily or not, so I'd guess the current prices will go nowhere but down. 

But I'm not selling mine, for $900, much less $500.  Good luck with your decision.

[wrmcclellan]

Fred,

I really enjoy my CC Berk. Great sound and the whistle is one of the best Lionel ever did for this era of TMCC and RS. These guys go for $500 (typ used price) to $650 (Gryzboski's has them new at $795 with the display case). It has the classic worm drive AC Pul-mor motor like the original. One chuff per revolution (strong chuff sounds). This was one of the first dyna-chuff locos where in TMCC mode - the chuffing sounds are strong when increasing speed and then back off to softer chuffing sounds when speed is decreased. Good loco to pull Lionel PW and modern traditional size rolling stock.

 

[GregM]

There are several for sale right now on Ebay.  Prices range from $700 to $900 generally.  There was one with a starting bid price of $399.99 that I put a slightly higher bid on but was outbid with less than an hour to go.  When you can buy engines like the Lionel Mohawk for just over $900 I don't think too many folks are willing to pay that much for this Berkshire engine.  I realize it was made in the USA and that has appeal to me too but not enough to pay top dollar for one. 

[Fred Bear]

I see what you mean on the pricing. Nice engines though, and I do like the fact that they are American made. Still might go after one. I have a ton of old Lionel stuff to trade or sell to come up with the funds. Thanks again for posting to my reply, Jake