C&O Right of Way "Kanawha"

I have owned both the C&O and the Nickel Plate versions of the ROW 2-8-4 brass engine. They run and pull fine although they have no flywheel on the motor and thus have no coasting stops, just an abrupt halt. That's why the ROW transformer had no direction button. You had to turn the power off and then back on again  and in so doing avoided sudden stops resulting in derailments. Also, the sound system was early QSI and while the whistle was decent, the chuff was not. Also, the level of detail on both the engine and tender is not up to expected current MTH or Lionel pieces. My guess is that the engine could fetch $400-450.00 if everything works, as there are no parts available.

From looking at asking prices, Right- of-Way models seem to be typically offered at high end brass prices.  I have not seen them actually selling, but once you get in the multiple thousand dollar category it is time to look at Key.  Opinion.

ROW is not in the same class as Key or precision scale. They were an attempt to bring scale railroading to the "Lionel" crowd. Fabrication was fine by Ajin, but the level of detail was minimal. Pittman motors were used for the first time in three rail trains, but the lack of a flywheel made stops abrupt and non-prototypical. Sound was early QSI and only fair in quality. Smoke units were Seuthe. All in all the ROW products were nice for the time, but they were expensive.