Classic Rivarossi 2-8-8-2

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

In Ebay, you can do a search within the AHM Rivarossi catgory for "2-8-8-2". Then click "Completed Listings" in the left column of the screen. I did that. I see these engines sold recently for about $100.00 each. You should look at each listing to see if it matches the age and condition of your locomotive.

[J. Daddy]

I have 3 of them, had them since I was 14. I bought them used at a train show for about 35 bucks in the box... and they are worth about the same now.... but when I think about all the fun I had with them, they were worth their weight in gold....

[twhite]

I bought mine around 1965 or so, I think it cost me about $45.00.  It was advertised as a USRA Mallet, but was actually a N&W Y-6b.  It was a good loco for its time, despite the pizza-cutter flanges, however I was surprised a little at the double articulation.  Of course, that was to enable a fairly large HO locomotive to negotiate 18" radii.  For its time it was a pretty smooth runner, and with the traction tires it could pull anything you wanted to put behind it.  I sort of 'doctored' mine into a Rio Grande 3500 series over the years.  I remember the first ones had pickup like brass locos--both loco and tender picked up current.  After a while, Rivarossi only made them with the loco picking up current, and IMO they never ran as smooth as the originals.  Had mine operating for about 20 years or so, until the motor gave out and I consigned it to the junk heap--but by that time I had started collecting much better running brass articulateds.  But for its time it was considered to be a good 'big' loco for a reasonable price.  It certainly seemed popular when it came out.  Had a FEARSOME top speed, though, and watching those undersized drivers churning away at a speed that would have probably knocked the prototype apart was kind of fun.

I liked it back then. 

Tom

[dknelson]

In its time that Rivarossi/AHM Y-6b 2-8-8-2 was considered a very nice model with good detail, a quiet drive, and good hauling capabilities thanks to rubber traction tires.   Even then it was criticized, mostly for a rather cheap motor and the absurdly oversized wheel flanges (and the resulting severely undersized wheel diameters) that the European manufacturers insisted on shoving down our throats for years.  

Even when they improved the wheel flanges in many cases they left the undersized wheel diameters alone -- this was true of most of the Rivarossi/AHM steam.  That is why a side shot of the old AHM Big Boy or NYC Hudson somehow just does not look "right."

At no time in the 1960s was it considered an expensive engine -- I think it was $35 list price, which even then was cheap, often discounted to $30 and if memory serves was sold at a special sale for $20.  And AHM would sell three slightly damages engines for full list price [known as their Funeral Sale] and you would have had to have been something of a klutz not to get at least two of them working just fine.  One problem is that as they age the rubber traction tire deteriorates and has to be replaced.

Because they were something of a novelty and almost dirt cheap, there were tons of them purchased back then and I have seen literally entire boxes full offered for sale at swap meets, some for as little as $25.   I have also seen them selling for $100 but I often wonder if they are either selling an improved model or are trying to pass off one of the early runs as improved.  I do not see purchasers flocking to buy them even at the lower price.

Dave Nelson

[fredswain]

I've seen non running N scale Rivarossi 2-8-8-2s (I have one) selling for upwards of $150 so I'm pretty sure the $20-$50 estimate for an HO version to be low.

[arcliff3467]

I have a Rivarossi engine in HO Scale, 2-8-8-2 steam and in good condition, can anyone tell me how much this engine is worth today. I bought it new in the mid 1960's.