Plasticville Guide

[Algonquin]

I met with a couple today to appraise some inherited trains they had. I was able to provide market values for all the Lionel trains, track and accessories they had.

However, the couple had 27 Plasticville, 3 Skyline and 2 Marx building kits from the fifties. All these building kits had there original boxes and had never been gluded. I am tring to locate a guide that gives the history and value of these pieces. I believe I had seen one in the past, but I could not locate one here on the Kalmbach website. Does anyone know if one exists.

Additionally, the couple had a couple of unique items. First they had two cans of "Colber" coal. I have seen some Colber accesories in the past and I believe there were some past articles on Colber in CTT. Does anyone have any idea as to the value of these cans of coal?

The second is that the couple has two control boxes by "Dunks". They are labled, #100 Train Controller. The controller has a switch and two red lights on top and a red and a green button. Does anyone know what these items are and how they attached to control trains?

Tim P.

[Algonquin]

I have been doing a little research and have identified that Kalmbach/Greenberg produced a Plasticville Illistrated Price Guide. Per my local Lionel hobby shop, this book has been out of print for several years. He also indicated that Kalmbach was preparing to issue an updated version later this year, since the original version is now so out of date.

Can anyone at Kalmbach confirm this? And if so, when would it be released.

Tim P.

[Anonymous]

Tim,

I've spoken with a couple of editors here at Kalmbach and they say that we did distribute a guide from another publisher (Iron Horse
Productions) entitled, PLASTICVILLE: AN ILLUSTRATED PRICE GUIDE (out-of-print and out-of-stock), but we have never produced a
Greenberg/Kalmbach reference on the subject of Plasticville. There are no plans to produce a book on this subject in the immediate future.

There is a new (quarterly?) publication from another publisher that addresses Plastiville products. It's called THE PLASTICVILLE GAZETTE.

Regards,

Jim Schulz
Associate Editor

[Algonquin]

Jim,

Thanks for the information.

Tim P.

[Lionelking313]

I have been collecting Vintage Plasticville for over 20 years now. Here is the most current guide by the Plasticville Mayor, Bill Nole! I highly recommend it! Prices are a little high, but its meant to be used as a GUIDE.

Here is the Link:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/230936831894?lpid=82&chn=ps

[cwburfle]

I have a few Dunk's train controls stashed away somewhere, and had one apart.
The Dunk's train controls I have are designed to let the operator stop their train through the control, and not have the e-unit trip. There is a switch lever on top to set it for a single motored or dual motored Locomotive.
This switch controls whether there is one automotive lamp or two automotive lamps in the control circuit.
When you press the stop button on the control, it puts the light bulb(s) in series (maybe series-parallel) with the train, lowering the power so the motors won't run, but the e-unit stays engaged.

The TCA quarterly had a mention of this control a while back, with a supposition about its circuitry. I don't think it was accurate. I never did dig one out to check.

They are not common in my area. I have only seen one in the wild.
I picked up a few of them when someone found a few unopened cases of them, and sold them off.

Uncommon and valuable don't always track together.

[phillyreading]

There is a Plasticville group on facebook.com and they may be able to give you more accurate figuires for the Plasticville buildings then anywhere else.

[jwse30]

You guys realize the original poster asked about this in 2001...

 

The Plasticville group I am on on Facebook is the Plasticville Collectors Association. Dues are $15 a year, and for that you get 4 newsletters a year and access to their website which has pictures of most of the kits, usually with ine picture of the kit disassembled (which makes it easier to determine if a kit is complete when you're looking at one for sale online)

 

Here's a link to the website (some areas require a password to access):

 

http://www.plasticvilleusa.org/

 

J White