If you don't know any young model railroaders then check with your local club about donating your stuff. Brass locos will have some salvage value but anything else would be considered junk. Not worth the shipping or your time to sell for a couple of dollars if lucky.
I would just recommend you forget about making any money off of it. Donate your structures, rolling stock, and motive power to a local model railroading group and let them take what they can use and then they can dispose of what's left.
There is a buyer for any and everything. You just have to find them! If you have any train shows or swap meets within an easy hour or two drive, they would be your best bet. MR usually has a listing for them in the classified section. Many of the NMRA divisions sponser an annual swap meet that offer sellers tables for under $20. Check the web sites of the divisions near you. Price the stuff to sell and be willing to negotiate. With a little planning and work, you leave the venue with empty boxes and some cash and you will have fun doing it. Before moving from Ohio to western Colorado I and a friend would get tables at about a dozen shows every year.
Some stuff I have that is really old I've realized is more sentimental than of any value. My trains and buildings from the 80's look so dang cheap compared to the quality today. My parents really pushed to get my childhood stuff out of their new house and sent it out here to Chicago. I took a long look and then threw everything in recycling considering even after repairs, it wouldn't look good on my current layout.
I'm surprised anything that still looks and runs good couldn't be picked up by a business for a holiday window display or something.
The host of this forum, Model Railroader, lists several parties interested in buying model train collections. These are in the Classifieds section, page 70 in the June issue.
Jim
ndbprr If you donate it to a school or youth organization you can take a full value deduction on your income tax which may be more valuable then selling the everything
If you donate it to a school or youth organization you can take a full value deduction on your income tax which may be more valuable then selling the everything
Oh, well. It was worth a shot. Thanks, gang.
I offered this set up for free on FB marketplace and there were no takers.
I offered all the buildings on this layout up for free and there were no takers, in fact, I offered the whole layout for free and there were no takers. I was helping an elderly neighbour dispose of it. I cut it up and put it in the garbage. The buildings I have in a box. I will save some parts and chuck the rest at some point as there is glue everywhere. I think his Grandchildren put them together.
You have to weigh what your time is worth and I am certainly not driving even to the end of the driveway to rid myself of it given the cost of moving that huge hunk of metal down the road.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
I started my first HO layout around 1960. I moved to Massachusetts in 1970, and boxed everything up and took it with me. It sat in cardboard boxes for about 35 years. I finally started a new layout early in this century. I was partial to Athearn back then.
The old engines were not worth restoring. It was cheaper to replace them with new locomotives than it would have been to replace the motors, wheels and gears, and the new ones look better, too. A few became either just dummies or maybe sound dummies.
I restored a few structures and they are now better, with replacement roofing, windows and lights. Even my collection of plastic cereal-box automobiles are on my layout, cut up with a razor saw and rusted out to populate the graveyards of the rusted automobiles.
Almost all of my freight cars and a few passenger cars are back in service, with new metal wheelsets and Kadees.
I have taken great pleasure in bringing my old friends back to life. If you have storage space, you might consider just boxing up the trains and keeping them.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
It depends on what you have. Unless you have brass items, most items from the 60's will not be worth a lot. Athearn and Atlas locomotives are probably worth selling on Ebay. Old buildings, Tyco, and Life-Like rolling stock are not worth the effort and can be donated to a local club. Sure, someone like doctor Wayne can turn junk into gold, but there is just so much available out there that the value of these items is very low. And Ebay shipping costs are a major barrier for $5 items.
Our club recently participated in a local show with two box fulls of Tyco and other toy quality items. Only a few items were sold. We made a big $10, once you substract the table rental costs.
Simon
They will sell on e-bay, Start the bid at $1 for the lot and see where it goes. I have seen lots like that go for next to nothing up to hundreds and hundreds of $ because two people saw something they wanted.
Any local model railroad clubs? If you go on a meeting night, there are usually more members in attendance. Someone there will probably help in valuation and maybe buy some items.
Pete.
Yup... My best assets are ten six car subway trains, but have been worked over so many times they would only be of value to another LION. Still there *are* LIONS in New York City, and it realaly does not matter what price we thet for them because the alternative is feeding them to the dumpster.
Now I have about 50 tortoise machines, at $10.00 each I might rake in a sum. Most of the stuff, my signal and control system, well the relays will alwqys have value, bujt the rest was my amusement in making them ,in the first place.
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
A friend found a Lionel train set, still in the box, in a relative's attic. It was HO. He thought he'd found a fortune. I got $20 for it at a show. At the same show, I literally gave away all my brass track from the 60s.
Old HO trains are not worth much. Even finding someplace to give them away is tough.
If sources such as eBay, FB Marketplace, OfferUp, HOSwap, etc... are not resulting in any sales, you could try as mentioned any nearby shows, clubs, or train stores, but if there was zero interest on eBay that means most likely one of two things:
1- No demand for those items.
Or -
2- Prices asked are too high. (I've seen many second hand trains sit on eBay for a long time due to a high asking price. Unless it is actually rare, or something like a Marx train that is a "collectors item" now, older trains are often not worth the prices many think they are.)
Most items are better sold individually, but the layout itself will have a lot of trouble being sold. Some layouts do get bought by those just starting out, but most layouts themselves do not sell at all. Many home layouts were designed to fit the needs/wants and space of the layout owner, not other people.
One other option you could try I haven't seen mentioned - Local antique & second hand stores. They may have some interest in a few of the items as well. Especially the older items, even more so if packaging is included.
Ricky W.
HO scale Proto-freelancer.
My Railroad rules:
1: It's my railroad, my rules.
2: It's for having fun and enjoyment.
3: Any objections, consult above rules.
You could try selling at a train show. I don't know what table rents are, but you could ask.
The Great Scale show at Timonium has a white elephant table where you can sell on consignment for the show. Other shows may do the same.
I don't what condition your stuff is in or whether or not you have original boxes, but it sounds like nothing is very valuable. Also, built kits usually have less value than unbuilt kits.
The easiest course would be to keep as much of your favorites as possible and donate the rest to your local thrift store.
Good luck
Paul
Your E-Bay experience should tell you that unfortunately older equipment from the 60's and 70's doesn't have much of a market value. If there is a hobby shop around that deals in used equipment or there is a train show close to you, you might be able to sell the whole lot. A 1960's engine, might fetch $10-$20 retail at a train show, which means a dealer will pay you less than that. Not trying to depress you, but that's kinda how the market is.
If you itemize your deductions you could donate it to GoodWill or a thrift store and claim a deduction on your taxes. Not the best, but better than the trash can.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
I've never dealt with them, but there is Hatton's who advertise in our hosts magazine. They have been mentioned here and I have not heard off any problems. If there is a qualified club in your area, you can donate to them and take a tax deduction. I have had a booth at a loal show and sold some of my excess due to downsizing.
Just a couple of ideas.
God luck,
Richard
Honestly, your best bet after your previous efforts is the closest hobby shop, ideally with trains. They'll at least know to whom you can donate these older items. Maybe a train museum...?
There's a thread below this one (at time of typing) about a club at school. If they offer to pay freight, maybe..................
I have a layout composed mostly of engines, rolling stocks, and structures from my wayward youth. We're planning on moving to a smaller place & I can't bear to throw everything out. A lot of the kit is from the 1960s and 1970s with some from just a few years ago (I was trying to rebuild). All of the locos and cars are horn & hook; no DCC. Any suggestions where one could fairly easily sell these units? I'ved e-bay for some things but had no nibbles.