COLLECTOR'S CLUBS - Are they worth it?

Don’t know if Lionel is worth it, but if you want the car that MTH is offering, it is definitely worth it since the car costs $10 less when you join.  I usually join the club if I want the car they are offering. I joined both Railking and Premier this year.  I usually don’t go for specials like the 40 anniversary Railking car, but since this is the end, I went for it.

For the $50 Railking membership, you get the yearly MTH car "free", plus all the catalogs that are shipped.  Well worth it, but not sure if it will be offered again.

 The Lionel memberships, now LCCA, is also well worth the $39 annual dues.  You don't get a free car, but all of the Lionel catalogs as well as the magazines that the LCCA offers.  Plus, the conventions, attended by Lionel and free giveaways, are always a blast!

Am a member of both and YES! I am a premier member of MTH but I also buy the Railking car as an extra and get a discount. Also if you buy anything direct from MTH mention your club number and get discount. I have purchased a few things and they have offered MEMBERS ONLY some things which I also purchased. Going to HURT not having them around if the actually do not continue! Both will mail you catalogs.

The contacts alone that you make in clubs can be more than "worth it".

You get even more out of them when you contribute more into them.

I belong to the LCCA Club and there's no doubt of the on-going value ... publications, cars, locs, conventions.  All excellent.  As an on-going enterprise, you certainly do not want to neglect the LCCA.

As for the MTH Club (I'm member #8 out of however many people belong[ed] ), the last dance is probably near.  I joined way back when and kept my membership just to keep abreast of the hobby & receive catalogs.

@rthomps posted:

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As for the MTH Club (I'm member #8 out of however many people belong[ed] ), the last dance is probably near.  I joined way back when and kept my membership just to keep abreast of the hobby & receive catalogs.

I thought I was an early joiner at 147, but you obviously beat me by quite a bit!  (Don't think you could join online back then, or at least if you could I didn't do it that way).  I remember mailing (or maybe it was calling, but probably was via mail) shortly after I first saw the announcement in one of the mags.

I've gone for the Premier and RK cars each year (from when they started offering both).  One year I even bought some HO offerings (was into HO as a kid before getting into O, and these were aquarium cars in HO).  Bought more than one of the engines offered, but I don't have all of them (got the small steamer from probably about 10 years ago (forget the type, but it was the "Rugged Rails" offering, maybe an 0-6-0?) with several paint defects and couldn't justify keeping it).   I might have skipped one of the other offerings after that (don't recal without looking over the list) since I no longer had a "full set".  Other than that one engine that I had to return,  I've enjoyed the club items for the most part. 

Not that I would likely ever try to sell my collection, but I wonder if people will now start to value these a little more.  Depends on the audience.  Many people into true scale offerings hated a lot of them because of the club markings being visible, especially earlier offerings.  Now that it's (presumably, with the MTH closure announcement) a finite set, I wonder if that will change at all.  Not that I'm suggesting the scale crowd opinion will change, since the items remain the same, but I'm wondering if the announcement brings in new interest from some who had no interest before.  Many of these items were in the blowout level pricing after the fact at train meets.  Off topic, but this stream of thought made me think of it, the MTH years (those of O Gauge production at least, not counting the early years as a dealer or when Mike worked for Williams or Lionel) is pretty close to the number of years of PW Lionel production up until 1969 before the MPC era started.  Fascinating.....

-Dave

Absolutely- really helps to "keep yourself in the loop" from a variety of different sources whether it's information, events, exclusives, etc... I'm an MTH premier member, that was my first, joined the TCA back in April or May and found a passenger car set in their Exchange that another member within an hours drive sold me. Just joined the LCCA last night.

The LCCA has an outstanding group of elected and appointed officers.  The 2021 Annual Convention will be in Scranton.  Four times each year you will receive The Interchange Track which is a magazine with items members have For Sale or Want To Buy. Six times each year you will receive The Lion Roars with articles by members which I have always found interesting and usually helpful. The electronic files contain past Lionel catalogs and Club magazines.   John in Lansing, ILL 

I highly recommend both the LCCA and LOTS. 

LOTS has done as great job with specialty cars (a nice Santa Fe series) as does the LCCA (just ordered a nice UP Engine).

Both offer other benefits  - the best being connecting with other members. 

Paul

From Dave45681 ...

"I thought I was an early joiner at 147, but you obviously beat me by quite a bit!  (Don't think you could join online back then, or at least if you could I didn't do it that way).  I remember mailing (or maybe it was calling, but probably was via mail) shortly after I first saw the announcement in one of the mags."

See my e-mail.  Take care.

Yes joining one of the clubs is fun and worth it. I’m a Premier member of MTH and a Atlas Golden Spike member. The info is good and the discounts are well worth it. 

I greatly enjoy membership in the LCCA, mostly for the publications, but occasionally for the Lionel products made available.  They have been the official Lionel club for a few years.  I was a member of the MTH Club for a while, but eventually decided my interest was limited.   I enjoy the TCA, LOTS and TTOS, which also have publications, special run products and annual conventions, as does LCCA.  Have been to at least one convention of each, and they are a lot of fun.  My favorites would probably be LCCA and TCA for publications and products.  

I belong to several model railroad clubs, some local and some national.  I primarily joined to support the clubs and their mission promoting the hobby, not so much to participate in them.  These organizations help keep our hobby alive, and their publications are good and the few events I've attended were fun.  I do go to York.

I used to belong to "collector" clubs (MTH, Lionel, K-Line, Atlas) primarily for the club cars and discounts.  However, it soon became apparent the club cars were of no interest to me (except K-Line's) and I could usually find a retailer who offered discounted prices that were just as good or better than the club.  So I dropped them.