Questions On Lionel MPC Trains

[Chris F]

One thing that will make your "quest" a little complicated is that most of the sets you listed did not come in one set box. Rather, each component was sold separately. In addition, some of the sets include add-on cars that were issued in years after the original set was cataloged.

Here are the catalog numbers and years offered:

1. Blue Comet
(1978-80): 8801, 9536, 9537, 9538, 9539, 9540
(1987): 19000
2. Southern Crescent
(1977-78): 8702, 9530, 9531, 9532, 9533, 9534
(1987): 19001
3. Broadway Limited
(1974-76): Set 1487 included 8304, 9507, 9508, 9509
(1975): 9510, 9513, 9514, 9515
(1975-76): 9521
(1976): 9528
(1988): 19002
4. 1978 or 1979 General
(1977-79): 8701, 9551, 9552, 9553
5. B&O General
(1983-84): Set 1351 included 8315, 7215, 7216, 7217
6. Wabash 4-6-2 Passenger Set (Fallen Flags #1)
(1986-87): 8610, 7227, 7228, 7229, 7230, 7231, 7232
7. Southern 2-8-2 Freight Set (Famous American RR's #4)
(1983): 8309, 6454, 6104, 6306, 9887, 6431

Good luck, and be patient!

[3railguy]

If you are just getting into the hobby, MPC trains are good to start out with. They are plentiful and fairly inexpensive compared to postwar or many of the current day high tech trains. The higher end sets are good looking and run well. The lower end sets are known to be problematic if you are into operating. Couplers in particular. You need to buy a few pieces to see if MPC really appeals to you. Once you do, you just sort of fall into a collecting ring finding sources.

The sets you listed are not hard to find. Prices range widely amongst dealers so it's best to shop around. Train shows are probably the best place to shop for MPC trains. Collectors stock piled MPC trains during the 1980's and you often find stacks piled to the ceiling at train shows. Sometimes at incredible prices. If you plan to run your sets, used MPC in excellent, good running condition is the best deal because it's already been ran and devalued. Plus should you decide to sell it, you can often get what you paid. Don't let anyone convince you MPC is rare. It's not. ebay is a good place to browse for pictures and to get a good idea of what prices to expect. Because I'm not into collecting MPC, I can't think of any MPC dealers off hand who deal on the internet and if I could, they would ask for the highest prices.

If it were me, I would probably choose the Southern Crescent set or Fallen Flags Wabash set for starters. They are both good looking, good running sets and easy to find. The Fallen flags set in particular since it was aimed at collectors with better quality and graphics.

[Kooljock1]

Steel,

Some things you should know about collecting MPC:

1. Up until the Southern Crescent set of 1977 there were no operating couplers on the "Baby Madison" cars. They had plastic "dummy" couplers screwed in the car bodies. These cars would un--couple easily on uneven trackage, and the screw post the coupler attached to would snap right off the frame if therre was too much pressure (ie too many cars) put on it.

2. The Milwaukee Road Baby Madisons were VERY difficult when it came to replacing the light bulbs. You needed to cut plastic with a very sharp knife. This was changed to the tabbed windows method of holding the roof to the frame with the PRR cars of 1974.

3. The 4-4-2 engines used in the Milwaukee, Broadway, Capitol, and various freight sets used an odd throw back e-unit. This unit's design was a LIONEL design that pre-dated LIONEL's take-over of Ives, using a pendulem. It works well, but only has two positions.

Jon [8D]

[spankybird]

QUOTE: Originally posted by NYCRR1

spankybird,

Why would you send him to the Postwar site? I think that site is awesome but not relavent to his request.

NYCRR1

There are very few sites on line with prices. [V] These are two of the best that I have found [^]

If he is look at Collecting trains, it would be good to have both sites for a comparison of value in trains. [:D]

[csxt30]

NYCRR1 : Everyone we know who collects MPC, usually collects postwar also. The two just go hand in hand. Plus if you're just collecting MPC, that site is good to look at to see what was made before MPC. A lot of modern stuff was based from Postwar & MPC. I would recomend taht site for anyone getting into collecting, or buying trains so they know what they might run into. This is how I see it !!

[Warburton]

I agree with Big Boy as to collectibility. If you intend to run them and enjoy them, they are all nice trains to have. They don't have all the bells and whistles of newer items (no command control, etc.) but are sturdily build using (for the most part) postwar designs. The passenger cars of the sets you describe were, however, created from new molds by MPC in the early 1970s. A great place to look for them is thru the Lionel Collectors Club of America (LCCA). Check out their website at lionelcollectors.org. You would have to join the club, BUT then you get web access to all the trains LCCA members have up for sale, and there are typically a lot of MPC trains listed, and at very reasonable prices. Hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

spankybird,

Why would you send him to the Postwar site? I think that site is awesome but not relavent to his request.

NYCRR1

[spankybird]

here are a couple of sites to check

http://www.postwarlionel.com

http://www.traincity.com/price_guide/plli.html

[Big_Boy_4005]

If you are looking for an investment, I would say that in general MPC prices are soft, and are getting softer as newer versions are released. Now is a good time to buy, but not to make money, but to enjoy the trains.

[Anonymous]

Steel rails,
A good source for what the market is bring is ebay. Do some searching and you should come up with the set/ item #'s. I don't think the Blue Comet was put out as a set per say, you just bought the cars and engine/tender individually.
When searching ebay besure to use the completed search function also to view auctions recently ended.
Are you buying these to operate or to display?
Regards,
NYCRR1

[Anonymous]

Hey Ya'll

(Questions at Bottom)

I'd like to get into collecting some Lionel MPC trains. Are they good trains for collecting. I'd like to buy a....

1. Lionel 1978(?) Blue Comet Set
2. Lionel (Date Unkown) Southern Cresent Set
3. Lionel (Date Unkown) Broadway Limited Set (0-27 Set)
4. Lionel 1978 or 79 General Set
5. Lionel Baltimore and Ohio (Date Unkown) General 0-27 Set
6. Lionel Wabash (Date Unkown) 4-6-2 Passenger Set
7. Lionel Fallen Flags or Something Like that Southern 2-8-2 Freight Set

How Hard is it to find these sets?

Where is the best place to look for them? I know of this store in Las Vagas that has some MPC trains.

Are there any other stores that have those MPC trains?

If anyone has any pictures of these trains, or information I should know, I'd appriciate it.