Can someone tell me what they think these diesel engines are worth

[phillyreading]

Brandon,

The Lionel 8376 or 18205 or the MTH EMD SD-9 may be a choice for going up the 4% grade you want to do, also you may want to put two powered locomotives together to go up the grade depending on what frieght cars or passenger cars you are using behind the locomotive.

The numbers are just production numbers if you are talking about the numbers found on the locomotives or cars as they have very little to do other than catalog information or item description. Some people say that the numbers represent 027 or O gauge locomotive or cars, however I have found that this does not hold true with Lionel in post war stuff, examples are the 224 and 235, one is an O gauge(224) loco and the other is a 027 (235)loco.  Also the 224 is a post war number that was used for two differant locomotives, one a diesel and the other a steam locomotive depends on the year of production, see page 69 in Greenberg's Pocket Price Guide for Lionel Trains 1901 to 2006.   Pre war numbers on Lionel may be differant!

Lee F.

[lionelsoni]

The last two are some of the better postwar locomotives.  They both have magnetraction, but only one motor; so they are probably not the best bets for your grade.

The 2243 was made around 1955.  It is a very smooth-running locomotive and a good scale model of the EMD F3. 

The yellow 2023 made in 1950 is also known as the "Anniversary Alco"  It is undersized compared to the prototype, which was roughly the same size as the 2243's prototype.

[Reading T-1]

You can compare prices of these engines to ones on ebay. As far as grades go if your going up on a straight incline I would keep it to know more then a 2.5% incline.

[Anonymous]

On a scaale of one to ten the first 4 are a 8 due to lightly being ran the last set a 7 due to alittle wear...I am new to O scale and do not want to pay tomuch for my first diesel engine...also can someone tell me what the numbers mean when you have the numbers listed for each train...the last question which one of these engines will beable to pull 8 cars up a 4 percent grade over 12 feet? thankyou again   Brandon

 

Lionel 8376 Union Pacific SD-40 diesel

Lionel 18205 UP Dash-8 40C diesel

MTH MT-2110LP NAP 341 EMD SD-9 diesel

Lionel 2032 Erie Alco diesel A-A units

Lionel 2243P and 2243C S.F. F3 diesel A-B