Sell off all Lionel Trains

[Anonymous]

Got started in Lionel a few moths ago and thought maybe I would collect some and sell some but I have found that E-bay and dealers all just a big forest with no end to the trees, what a stinking game the sellers play-buying back and re-selling!! Found only a couple of dealers really helpful--Even re-tailers wants a fortune for everything they have, they must think the da--things are gold!.I would not pay $75 for a car if it had diamonds.
Well this is the caboose for me and Lionel can put it you know where!
Any-who does trains.com have a sell site? And all this is going on e-bay and anyone I can find that is interested . No more Lionel, MTH, Kline, or anything else except to see it at a shop. mall, nice-Yes, worth it-definetlely not!!
Un-fortunately these trains have gone the way of too many oyher Hobies and sports-where an average or low income person can't afford it- even going to a Nascar race, playing darts, golf or a majority of too many other hobies, they all turn in to a hi-tech episode and leaves the little man out!!
Will it ever change now---I doubt it---















[

[Frank53]

I am an interested buyer of post war Lionel - if you have any post war material, please feel free to email me at [e-mail].

[Anonymous]

Well GEE! You are going to sell off all your trains because no one will give you a special price break so you can get in cheaper just because you are "a little guy"? How sad that everybody is soo-oo greedy that they just won't sell things to you cheaply so you can be one of the guys. Well money is not the name of the game....trains are. Nobody here gets any special consideration; we all have to pay the same prices. What kind of hobby that involves acquiring things doesn't cost money? How about photography? Cameras are expensive. Golf? Wait til you see how much they charge just to let you trudge around a golfcourse for a day. How about racing cars...or boats....or horses? Ka-ching--ka-ching--ka-ching. There is only one thing to do if you can't afford a hobby....go without. I spent eight years as a caseworker in a welfare office....believe me nobody is sympathetic to your lack of discretionary income. Most hobbies are very expensive and are real luxuries, but only you can decide if you can afford them. BTW It may cost me, but I never buy from strangers because you never know who you dealing with. Good luck in whatever new hobby you choose to indulge in. BTW I hear that you can get some real good deals on Beany Babies right now, and baseball cards are a bargain too. Odd-d

[FJ and G]

expo,

know what you mean about high prices of model trains. I'm not buying new ones.

If you really are interested in model railroading, why not build a layout and use the trains you got.

The biggest misconception in this hobby IMO, is that you gottta buy more and more and more.

A few cars and a switcher or 2 should keep your interest and entertainment level high for a very long time

[Anonymous]

I have found that the fun part of the hobby is restoring old items and changing around the layout, e.g. adding scenery. You don't need a lot of cars to have fun. The experience from learning how to fix the old trains has carried over into other areas of my life, e.g., fixing Nintendo gamecubes, our lawnmower, etc.
If you want great deals, go to rummage sales.

[Anonymous]

While we’re on the subject, I can’t believe the price of getting into yacht racing! How do they expect us little guys to buy one and then man it and compete? Especially out here in the midwest with no oceans!

[Big_Boy_4005]

As far as modern trains go, collecting is dead. Today's trains are made for running and not much else. The prices have gone crazy in spite of reduced production costs in China. I really can't blame anyone who is fed up, I'm getting that way myself. Fortunately, I have a huge stockpile, so buying new stuff is not a priority.

[Jumijo]

If you expect to sell your trains for a profit after only a few months, it doesn't happen that way. This isn't the bubble gum cards hobby. And dealers won't pay market value for used trains because they have to sell them at market value. All hobbies operate that way. If you want market value, sell to another collector, not a dealer.

Jim

[Bob Keller]

This is a hobby that you can enjoy at any pricepoint. I mean you can get a pretty nice RailKing starter set with a 2-8-0 packing a sound system (LocoSound) and speed control for under $250. 10 years ago that would have been a dream.

As noted, just about any hobby can be expensive, but you don't have to start at the 4-Star Ultra level to have fun.

[Dave Farquhar]

It's an expensive hobby, yes, but it doesn't have to be terribly expensive. Recommended reading: http://www.thortrains.net/cheaptrn.htm

I very rarely buy new stuff. My last purchase was a box full of Marx rolling stock at a train show. I paid $25 for a box of 8 cars. I disassembled and cleaned them, dried them, put them all back together, and I'm happy. A couple of months before, I bought an even bigger bunch. I sold off the good stuff right away and kept the junkers, fixed them up, and the end result was a got a couple more nice cars for essentially nothing.

Remember, people managed to keep going in this hobby during the Depression when they couldn't afford to buy much, and they kept going in it during WWII when there wasn't much of anything to buy. The tricks that worked then work now just as well, if not more so.

The challenge is to look at what's available in your price range, figure out what you like best from that selection, and go with it. If you've already got a train or two, then who says you need to buy a lot more? Work on the layout. That can be enjoyable and can be done on a shoestring, especially if you scratchbuild.

As far as Ebay, yes, there are people who buy junkers, fix them up a little, and then re-sell them. That's free enterprise. That's one way some people fund their hobby. I prefer to keep my junkers that I've fixed--it's more satisfying to me to run something I fixed than to run something I just bought--but to each his own.

[FJ and G]

Houdy,

Howdy, Houdy, funny reply![:D]

I'm in a bind myself, having selected Polo as my sport of choice. I even purchased a bunch of polo shirts, but now I gotta get the dang horse and get other potential polo fanciers interested, not to mention a nice ranch for the horses and stableboys and maids.

Life ain't fair for us average Joes!

Perhaps I'll take up bobsled racing instead. Trouble in Virginia is, I'll have to make artificial snow, buy a mountain and erect a course.

Life sucks sometimes!

[Anonymous]

Just wait a while. All these new, electronic $600 engines will be real cheap in a few years when you can not get the parts, the batteries run down and no one remembers how to reprogram them including MTH. All you have to do is figure out how to modify them from a variable voltage transformer.

Charlid

[Kooljock1]

Starter course in the train hobby:

Buy some trains to play with.
Buy some more trains to play with.
Buy even more trains to play with.

Play with trains.

Play with them some more.

Sell some trains to make room for more trains. This usually happens at a loss, but who cares? You had fun playing with them right?

Buy some trains to play with.
Buy some more trains to play with.

Play with trains.

This could go on all day. I'm guessing from your post that you forgot to play with your trains.

Jon [8D]

[FJ and G]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by FJ and G

Now THAT is a lonely toy.

I once fell into the trap of having many trains.

Many trains does not a hobby make. Pick yer favorites and take care of them.

Good Luck!

[lionelsoni]

Charlie, already been there, done that.

[highrailjon]

I remember one day growing up as a kid, dad hitched the buckboard up to our mule and piled us kids in it to go to town. While we were all playing barefoot in the city street while dad was in the pawn shop, a toy store owner feeling sorry for us gave each of us 13 kids a real 3rd rail brass engine!! When we got home we realized that we did'nt even have any train tracks. But we had a fishin' pond. So we glued little sticks and sails onto the engines and pitched them all into the pond. Not one of them floated. The moral of the story is:, well I don't really know. But I do know this: don't ever let your dad catch you feeding his corn squeezins' to his favorite coon dog.[;)]

[FJ and G]

Jon,

As we say in Bull Run, Va., don't feed Jiff to a Rabbit Hound





Also, don't try hooking catfish with a brass engine

[tgovebaker]

The hobby can be expensive, but it doesn't have to be, and I've even gradually come to like the idea of rotating my collection. I currently have a BNSF SD60 dummy up for sale on eBay, even though I bought it only a year ago. It is a great MTH Premier product, but since it is non-powered and because I've beomce addicted to TMCC lash-ups, it doesn't really fit my needs anymore. (That and the fact that my wife hates it because "It doesn't do anything"). Similarly, I've sold a fair amount of rolling stock, much of it purchased off eBay originally, as I've gradually narrowed my focus to modern-era Western roads.

I don't think the fact that I am reselling rolling stock online makes me a bad person. Rather, the money that comes in from those sales will help to cover the costs of the Atlas SD60M I have reserved at Norm's.

Look: its a hobby. It's supposed to be fun. If it isn't fun, then its not the hobby for you. But that doesn't make the rest of us who enjoy it into bad people. Even the guys from the East.

[ben10ben]

According to your original post, am I a horrible person for buying something off of Ebay, putting my time, effort, and money into it, and then expecting to get back more than I paid for it? I think not.

Just for the heck of it, I calculated how much profit I made off of various such items compared to the amount of time I spent on them. In most instances, the amount that I maid per hour of work was somewhere in the neighborhood of $2-3 per hour. Sorry, but most employers would consider that to be a bargain in any field.

I don't fix up trains to become rich, I do it for the fun of doing. Any money that I make goes to help me purchase other train related items. And my doing that shouldn't keep you from enjoying the hobby.

[Anonymous]

Gosh! A feller just can't win! Here I was going to buy and sell some trains on ebay and make some money by profiting off other modellers when those crass greedy bums made a profit off of me instead! Well I'll show them. I'm just going to sell all my trains at a profit and take up some other hobby.....like building a NASCAR car and racing it. I just know all those guys will just fall all over themselves to get me a car--CHEAP--and then drive slower so I can win all that money. I just know that they will have pity on me 'cause I'm a little guy.

The moral of this story is to never play another man's game. Odd-d

[Anonymous]

Odd-d,
Just don't built your NASCAR in your basement, it might be hard to get it out when its done!
I just can't believe those evil companies trying to make a profit on toy trains!

[espeefoamer]

I just decided to get into NASCAR,so I rebuilt my car into a racecar in my driveway.Now I have to figure out what to do with the leftover parts[:0][:(].

[csxt30]

Patience may be a key here, instead of quitting. Sometimes we may,( myself included) get in a hurry to get all kinds of stuff. I have to look for ways sometimes to slow myself down, & that's when I usually get a new section of the layout started, Or I'll finish a started project. Try to do other things so as not get caught up in all the stuff we want to get down the road. I just hate trying to sell stuff, but I enjoy saving up for something at the hobby shop or an upcoming train show. I just try to keep from getting the HEEBEE- GEEBEEES!! As for E-bay, I have been extremely fortunate on all my items I have gotten. I don't get into selling and maybe that's why I don't see any bad stuff going on there. Where I have lost though, is when I change hobbies or start over in one. Maybe if you get away from that ebay & enjoy the stuff you already have & give serious thought to future items you really need & of course save for them, then maybe you could enjoy the trains!!! Thanks, John

[Anonymous]

Whenever I read a certain forum, it makes me want to sell all of my trains and get out of the hobby. [banghead]

If you're on a tight budget, take a look at Williams. They don't have all of the electronics like MTH and Lionel but they're reasonably priced.

[philo426]

Yoy do not have to be rich to enjoy O gauge trains,you just have to be a smarter shopper!Look for used equipment,re-furbish,repaint etc until you have something that pleases you.Go to train shows were one may find bargains and check flea-markets and garage sales.I found a mint Lionel #132 station for $3 at a garage sale!As for locomotives you may not be able to afford the latest top-of-the-line offering from Lionel,Mth or 3Rd rail,but if you save up and search for blow-out sales you can often pick up some nice equipment for reasonable prices.The point is that if you want to do it bad enough you will find a way!Do not expect retailers or E-tailers to cut you any slack just because you are a little guy!Often the service that you get from certain mail-order house is just as valuable as low prices,because they will stand behind their product and will go the extra mile to help you!Just trains is a great place to shop as is Jim's trains just to give you an example.Do not become frustrated and embittered because you cannot afford the best just do the best you can and enjoy the trains!

[CSXJOE]

As has been said before, " If you have to ask, you can't afford it".

[Anonymous]

If money was the determining criterion for enjoyment of this hobby, I would have been out of it a good many years ago. There is something for just about every budget in O gauge and all the other scales and gauges, as well. And while $1,500 locomotives may be beyond the reach of many (I could afford them, but refuse to pay that kind of money for a toy locomotive), even one or two of those is within reach for someone who is frugal enough to stash away a bit of money here and there over time--especially if you have an understanding dealer who will put the item on layaway for you. And in the meantime there are plenty of very nice, easily affordable locomotives to place on your roster to keep your interest level--and anticipation--high.

Yes, it can be an expensive hobby--any hobby can be expensive--but it doesn't necessarily have to be.

[Anonymous]

This type of attitude really burns my butt! Last week a woman called my 14 year old daughter for a baby sitting job and when my daughter told her the pay rate the woman replied “I can only pay $5.00 an hour because I don’t work” I told my daughter not to reduce her price but she did and took the job. When she came home I found out that the reason she was baby sitting was so miss “I don’t work” could go get her nails done! Since when is anyone entitled to anything they want just because they want it? I want a bigger house, a better car and bunch more trains, but I realize that I need to find the means to get what I want and not whine about it or walk around with my hand out.

[Anonymous]

Ebay is a loser for most buyers and many sellers but a winner for ebay who wins in both ends of the auction. Prudent buying is always best with one buyer and no competition. Ebay ensures lots of buyers so there are never Deals. I have stopped wasting time even looking at ebay trains.

A hobby has to be more than just spending money and time spending money. I do not even like so called collecting hobbies like stamps, beanie babies, trains as just possesing is not fullfilling in the long run. Never have understood paying for a collection then paying some pro to build a layout to run a few trains to impress others either.

This hobby is about building a layout yourself, using and learning new skills at making things with you hands and planning your layout and sticking to it to finish it or at least have it done to operate and have FUN.

A few cheap engines (2 to 4 will do and allow multiple train operation and create a need for a turntable and round house!) and 10 to 15 cars is all you need. Cars still are available at $10 and I still see a few good used engines for $40.

Charlie