Ever got a box of o gauge trains from a little old lady?

seaboardm2 posted:

I had heard stories of people finding o gauge trains at yard sales.Or even in the trash and some time in a attic of an old house.Any body ever get trains from a little old lady?

Oh and let me guess... It has "low miles" as it was only used on Sundays to and from church!

Yup, just like you described it too. I had just closed down enterTRAINment at the Mall of America in 1993. I rented a storage space for all the materials I had salvaged, and even had a land line in the space. One Sunday morning I had gone there to grab some tools, and the phone rang. I told her that the business was closed. She said she had some trains she wanted to get rid of. I said wasn't in the market to buy anything. She said no, I could just have them. She was cleaning the attic, and would leave them on the porch. I took her address, and went over on my way home. As she said, there was a box on the porch. She just wanted it to have a good home.

Never even saw her. Took the box out to the car, and put it in the trunk. Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth in front of the house, as I put it in the trunk, I snuck a peek. A Santa Fe Alco, some common freight cars including a 6414 auto loader, no cars. There was a ballast tamper and it had its box. That was worth it right there. Got home and put everything on the table. There were these strange cars, cheap plastic, two yellow and two red. They were in good shape, not a single crack or broken strut. Could they go with the auto loader? Consult Greenberg! I had never heard of that variation of the common auto loader, but it was the most rare and valuable one. Over $1000 at the time.

I have kept my promise to that mystery woman for the last 25 years, and given those trains a good home. I don't do post war anymore, and I only have a tiny amount of display shelving, but those two pieces are on it, where everyone can see them.

In the forty-five years we've been in our house, and all the renovations I did to the original section, I have never even found so much as a penny.....LOL   Found an old shoe though !   

Met an older lady at a yard sale - not hers, she was just visiting her friend. I asked if there were any trains, the yard sale lady said no, but the other older lady said she had her husband's trains that had been in storage for the last 40 years! During our conversation I learned that her (deceased) husband was born in 1947, and that he got the trains from his dad, who got them from his dad. We exchanged names & phone #'s - I visited the next day and came home with a Blue Comet set from the late 30's with boxes, a KW xfmr, a nearly new 350 transfer table, some signals and a 316 trestle - and got a good deal!

That's been the only old lady story for me so far!

George

A guy l worked with mentioned he had a neighbor who had a Marx set she wanted to part with.  He gave me a phone number, l called, and went out to a trailer park where the little old lady had a large Marx six inch mixed train set.  She said her uncle had died and left the set to her.  It was in very good shape so l made a fair offer. She refused and said she just wanted it to have a good home. I don't collect six inch (just tilt fork coupler Marx) but this and an Army train l got out of a farm magazine ad remain my six inch examples.

I got these from an elderly old lady my wife knows and is in an assisted living home.  She knew I liked trains and none of the younger ones in her family wanted them.  I got them in 2012.

Lionel Scout 1110 train set, engine messed up, AF 300 AC 2-4-2 loco parts missing little wheels; Lionel 2023 AA Union Pacific, got to run in forward, real smooth runner, missing front elec coupler;  Milk car and platform, 6 cans, Lionel search light car with magnetic switch works, non rotate, made lens, one nice 027 boxcar boxcar, red.

The Lionel 2023 AA Union Pacific is only thing of value and it mostly works.  I have not tried to fix the e-unit to get neutral and reverse.  I mostly run it in forward any how. 

Charlie

A couple of years ago, while an HO scale devotee, I posted a message on some freebie boards asking for all used trains and parts in any scale and condition so I could teach myself restoration.  An older couple responded that they had a milk crate full of old stuff that their son didn't want.  I drove out to their house and was handed a box with a Lionel 2046 with tender, a Marx 666 with tender, a 1033 transformer and a few other postwar cars and track.  A little lubing and everything runs flawlessly.  The only downside is that I am now entirely dedicated to O gauge (much more $$$).

Another posting landed me a complete 1990's Delaware & Hudson set in OB.

I must have been a very good boy!

The Sugar Creek MRRC gets approached several times a year by individuals wishing to rehome various equipment.   A fair percentage of my fleet is composed of such waifs...   

Mitch 

Very cool guys keep them coming.

Yep.  Old lady at church asked me to look at her 1955 Lionel set.  Typically all thrown in one box... broken handrails, chipped paint, broken parts.  I restored the whole thing for her and brought it back a few weeks later.  She said: "you obviously love these more than I do, so please keep them".

It now lives at work for under the company Christmas tree.

Jon

I purchased some trains sight unseen from a friend's coworker.  All I had were the numbers on the cars.  It was a cheap postwar set.  So I made him a low but honest offer on the info I had.  Turned out when he got them as a kid, the transformer failed the first time he set them up, so the rest were almost new in box.  Added in were a marx set and a Japanese battery powered set.  Ended up making a really good profit.  I consulted my friend about my profit and he told me not to worry about it as his coworker was going to just get rid of them.

As for a freebie, I had HO trains since I was 3.  When I was about 7 or 8, a distant cousin of my dad's showed up with a laundry hamper full of an early postwar (think I dated it '48) 2026 freight set with extra operating cars and some accessories all in the individual boxes (minus some flaps).  I still have all those as they got me started in O gauge.

Just last month I was at a holiday party for a fraternal group I'm in.  At dinner the conversation turned to old stuff and I mentioned I collected Lionel trains.  Immediately one guy says "I still have the ones I had as a kid from the early 60s" and his elderly parents who are next to him say they have his grandfather's set from like 1919 in their attic.  They have been cleaning out and getting rid of stuff.  I offered to see what they had and make them an offer.  They said they just want them out of their attic.  The guy says he'll bring them to an event we'll both be at next weekend.  I'll make him an offer anyway.

Dan Padova posted:

In the forty-five years we've been in our house, and all the renovations I did to the original section, I have never even found so much as a penny.....LOL   Found an old shoe though !   

Our house was built in 1889. We found out (from a person who once lived there) that a "servant" stairwell existed between our 2nd floor linen closet and a solid wall in the kitchen. Lifted the closet door, and there it was, empty. However, while raising our 4 kids, I found it very handy for hiding Christmas presents for Santa to give them.

Have you been following THIS THREAD?

I had a neighbor across the street from me who showed me her long-gone husband's childhood Lionel. I don't remember what set it was but I recall it being in very good condition with all of the boxes, including the set box. I want to say it was a 736 or similar variation. Never was able to acquire it, despite trying for many years. She moved and that was that. Hopefully it went to a good home.

A cousin emailed me about a year ago with several 1990s Lionel sets he bought at a Yard Sale. Said I wanted them as I had been looking for a few specific sets he found. He turned around and sold them to someone else local instead.....

SJC posted:

Have you been following THIS THREAD?

I had a neighbor across the street from me who showed me her long-gone husband's childhood Lionel. I don't remember what set it was but I recall it being in very good condition with all of the boxes, including the set box. I want to say it was a 736 or similar variation. Never was able to acquire it, despite trying for many years. She moved and that was that. Hopefully it went to a good home.

A cousin emailed me about a year ago with several 1990s Lionel sets he bought at a Yard Sale. Said I wanted them as I had been looking for a few specific sets he found. He turned around and sold them to someone else local instead.....

No more Christmas cards to that cousin.....LOL

The title of this thread threw me off a bit.  While she wasn't a little old lady at the time, just little, a jewelry store proprietor in Peddlers Village, at Lahaska, Pa. and I got to talking while my wife was browsing the store.  We got onto the subject of antiques and collectibles.  I mentioned that I was into Lionel trains.  This was in 1981.  She said that her and her husband were retiring to Texas and the trains that her husband hadn't set up his post-war trains in years and might be interested in selling them.  Long story short, I paid $250.00 for a 4' x 12' platform with "O" gauge track and switches.  Numerous freight cars, a 671 Turbine, 675 steamer, 2332 GG1, and a Santa Fe 2343 F3 set.   

Dan Padova posted:

The title of this thread threw me off a bit.  While she wasn't a little old lady at the time, just little, a jewelry store proprietor in Peddlers Village, at Lahaska, Pa. and I got to talking while my wife was browsing the store.  We got onto the subject of antiques and collectibles.  I mentioned that I was into Lionel trains.  This was in 1981.  She said that her and her husband were retiring to Texas and the trains that her husband hadn't set up his post-war trains in years and might be interested in selling them.  Long story short, I paid $250.00 for a 4' x 12' platform with "O" gauge track and switches.  Numerous freight cars, a 671 Turbine, 675 steamer, 2332 GG1, and a Santa Fe 2343 F3 set.   

Wow!

had a female into trains that was a next door neighbor,selling trains. met the little old lady  while sleeping overnight on one of the amtraks...it was steam but i,m happy with what i have.could have .been a 765....

Nope, never. People always think they have gold in the box and want way too much money for junk. they will show you what they have and then ask for money.

I usually say thank you, but no thank you...

Had a friend call and said he had a lady that wanted to sell collection, I went and looked at it.

she had about $200 worth of stuff. I didn't make a offer but asked what she wanted for it.

she said one guy offered her $1000.00  .  I said she should have taken it. I left without making

an offer. she wanted way more than it was worth.

My parents sold our home in 1968. It was purchased by a nice lady with a daughter. My 4' X8' layout was in the basement and I guess she noticed it when she looked at the house.

About a week before the closing she called and said she had some of her ex husbands trains and he told her to keep them. Her daughter wasn't interested and she noticed that there was a train layout in our basement. She asked if we wanted the trains. My folks reluctantly agreed to let me have them and told the lady to bring them over.

There were three boxes. Lots of rusty O gauge track. Not much rolling stock. But then I realized I'd gotten extremely lucky. A 736, 2035, 224E, and a Scout steamer. 2353 Santa Fe's, 2350 NH rectifier, an Alco Santa Fe AA set and a ZW to run things. The 736 had a short that I eventually tracked down to the headlight wire having been pinched. It still runs fine today. The 2035 needs an E unit, but is otherwise a great runner. The 224E has no E unit and only runs forward. The 2353's were typically noisy and two years ago I finally figured out why they ran hot and poorly, finding a bent rod with a gear on it in one of the power trucks. The 2350 rectifier ran flawlessly and smoothly for many years. It has gotten new decals to replace the old dried out ones and the E unit gave out about 3 years ago.

The Santa Fe Alcos ran well but in a fit of teenage stupidity I painted the trucks and fuel tank silver. Some silver also got on the roof of the dummy unit (the train, not the painter...) I sold these and the Scout loco (which bounced over my Super O track) years later at a train show.

Every now and then, I'll pull my modern equipment off the rails and have a "postwar day". Lots of great memories, many of them thanks to the generosity of a nice lady.

Once my layout is completed I'll pick up the E units for the 2350 and 2035 and the rod and gear for the 2353's. 

This is a great thread! I had an older couple live across the street from me, we talked everyday but the gentleman never told me he was into trains. This was back when I was into HO. A few years later the husband passed on and the wife came over and knocked on the door, she said my wife had said I was into train and wanted to know if I would like some train stuff. I said sure let me come and look, The husband had a 12 x 12 layout in the basement of O scale after the kids and grand kids got done with it there wasn't much left. It was very cool though, she said if I wanted the layout I could have it for free. I told her that would be great, but I don't have any cars to run on it. She pulled out a box and it had one engine and one car and said now you do!

It took me awhile but I took it piece by piece over to my house and put it back together. She also gave me some engine kits like Davy jones and one other one, I think I still have it somewhere.

What a great couple they were! I just wish he would have told me he was into trains while he was alive!

Back in 1968 I was driving home to Queens Village, NY from work when I spotted bushel baskets of Lionel track at the curb for trash pickup. I stopped, got out of my car and started rummaging through those baskets of rusty old track. There were a few gate crossings and some other track accessories but no trains. I knocked on the home owners door and a lady came to the door. I asked her if she had any more train stuff. The lady told me her son was in World War 2 and when he came home from the war the doctors told him to get a hobby, he picked Lionel Trains. Her son passed away and the trains were in the basement for years. I asked if I could help her clean out the rest of the trains, she refused my offer but took my name and said she would call me when she was done. Well she did call a few weeks later and offered me what was left of the trains at no cost. I was thrilled and I am still running the Lionel trains she gave me, a Penn GGI, a 622 switcher an A&B 2023 Union Pacific and a 2025 Steamer. I got there just in time because the lady had already gotten rid of most of the rolling stock and accessories. I was very, very thankful for what I did receive.

Wow, what a great story! 

Mark in Oregon

I have actually gotten a (few) boxes of Prewar Lionel Locos from an old lady friend. A 257, a 252, and a 1689E They all came with passenger cars, as well as an 800 series freight car set. There also came accessories like a bridge, illuminated switches, figurines, track, transformers, everything you could ever want. I've fully restored the 257, but sadly one of the fiber gears broke as i was adding on the final relacement parts, which ruined by entire week. I have a few pictures I can post of the locos and the layout, if anyone is interested.

gene maag posted:

Back in 1968 I was driving home to Queens Village, NY from work when I spotted bushel baskets of Lionel track at the curb for trash pickup. I stopped, got out of my car and started rummaging through those baskets of rusty old track. There were a few gate crossings and some other track accessories but no trains. I knocked on the home owners door and a lady came to the door. I asked her if she had any more train stuff. The lady told me her son was in World War 2 and when he came home from the war the doctors told him to get a hobby, he picked Lionel Trains. Her son passed away and the trains were in the basement for years. I asked if I could help her clean out the rest of the trains, she refused my offer but took my name and said she would call me when she was done. Well she did call a few weeks later and offered me what was left of the trains at no cost. I was thrilled and I am still running the Lionel trains she gave me, a Penn GGI, a 622 switcher an A&B 2023 Union Pacific and a 2025 Steamer. I got there just in time because the lady had already gotten rid of most of the rolling stock and accessories. I was very, very thankful for what I did receive.

 

Nice to see you're taking care of them and operating them, they had to be a tough reminder for the lady even if they brought back pleasant memories. Have close friends of all ages whose children have passed away and even if the kids are are 50 when they die it doesn't seem to be any easier on them. 

Yea, they usually came in a box with a bow. Thanks Grandma

I've found 2, a junky plastic Scout sticking out of garbage can caught my eye, and a buried Marx CV. (yep, a set literally buried in dirt)... a guy gave me his Dads 2046 Hudson and work train as thanks for some really good deals I had given him on fishing stuff. (I cant cast anymore and being near water, not so bright I just wanted it to go to a good home

They all still run  (though the Scout motor moves a smaller metal 9053 now)

oops... the Hudson is actually one of best pullers

Adriatic posted:

-and a buried Marx CV. (yep, a set literally buried in dirt)

Wow, that is amazing! Where did you find it, and does it still run? Are there any pictures you have of this little loco/set? I've never found a buried locomotive, the closest being a postwar lionel caboose and tank car from an old attic, the caboose having a chip in the plastic, and the tank car missing a bogie. Sadly I have no pictures, as my computer is acting up and my camera's lens is broken

(Also hey Adriatic!)

I once nearly two years now went to a huge community garage sale and my aunt saw when it was happening and found out that one of the homes advertised the selling of Lionel trains and other. On the day of we went over and found the house with the trains and I immediately saw them. I felt like a kind in a hobby shop. In the box were three sets. One was a pre-war 1936 set headed by a 1688E, which works like clock work, with a consist of three cars. Next was another three car consist headed by a latter version of the 2026 steamer with the four wheel trailing truck. Last was a Marx set with three cars and 999 steamer with a broken drive gear.

The lady wanted I think $200-$175 for all of it. She and her husband came over and saw us and she also saw that I was interested in the collection. I told her and with the help of my mother that I have a layout and that I have a great affection for Lionel trains. She told us the story about the trains and she said that they were her fathers and after he passed away they have tried to sell them but without success. Since they were her fathers she did not want the trains to go to a bad home and saw that in me and she gave me a great deal for them and made me promise that I would not sell them off, or split the collection up. And thats my story of getting trains from an elderly lady in a nut shel.

A few months ago I went to an estate auction. The elderly man and his wife had decided to sell the family farm and all of its contents. I had seen in the add for the auction 2 train sets. There were other things my wife and I were interested in so we went.

the two train sets turned out to be 19 large boxes of very well packed prewar Lionel with many accessories. Everything was in its orginal box.

i was expecting a couple of train sets and had set my spending limit accordingly. 

The auctioneer was going to sell the trains by the box. I could not bear the thought of splitting up the sets so I spoke to him and the elderly man and they agreed it needed to stay together.

since this was a farm auction most of the items were farm related or housewares so I thought I had a chance.

i did not bid on anything else because I had set a budget, my wife and I talked about increasing it but I decided not to.

when the bidding started I just waited for all the low bids to go. It got down to me and another guy. I jumped the bid by a hundred dollars thinking it might back the other guy down. It did pause him so I did it again.  I had hit my limit of 600 and he bid 650, I went 675 and he went 700. I did one more at 850. I had to stop at that. He got it for 900.

having missed out on the trains I did but some tools and a stack of lumber.

the next day I went to get the lumber and the old owner asked if I was still interested in trains, I said yep. He have me two Marx sets, one a 666 and the other a 989. The guy that got the trains has parted them out. Most of them are still sitting a a local antique mall with crazy prices on them

Not a little old lady, but some of my friends in the neighborhood I grew up in knew I liked trains. One of them was nosing around another neighbors garbage and pulled out a set with the Texas Special 027 type double A units along with a few freight cars, and some track! This was probably around the 1967 - 68 time frame and I still have the stuff!

Years ago I was at a train store near my in-laws and an older couple came in with several boxes of Lionel trains with original boxes. The store shot them a ridiculously low-ball offer which they declined. When they were loading it back into their car I went out and offered them 3 times what the store had offered and they accepted. I told them it was worth twice again what I offered but it was all I could afford at the time and they said it was fine. The store ended up telling me never to come back but I am okay with that. The couple was happy and I was happy.

In the mid 70s when I first got back into Lionel trains, I put an add every month in a "Penny Saver" free paper. I had a number of people give to trains, not sell me but give me. One guy had dumped all the Lionel cars from his 736 Berkshire set. He was going to drill a hole through the engine and make a lamp out of it. He ended up giving me the 736. A lady called my add and said she had boxes of trains and just wanted them out of the garage. She gave me a nice "O" gauge Lionel set. The best set I ever got free was a AA Santa Fe and passenger cars. Also some freight cars. I asked the gentleman if there was a "B" unit that came with the F-3. He thought for a minute and then remember it was in a box upstairs. He came down and handed me a New Haven Electric thinking it went with the Santa Fe. Remember this was in a time when everyone was getting rid of their kids trains. They didn't mean much to them at that time. Don

Berkshire posted:

Adriatic posted:

-and a buried Marx CV. (yep, a set literally buried in dirt)

Wow, that is amazing! Where did you find it, and does it still run? Are there any pictures you have of this little loco/set? I've never found a buried locomotive, the closest being a postwar lionel caboose and tank car from an old attic, the caboose having a chip in the plastic, and the tank car missing a bogie. Sadly I have no pictures, as my computer is acting up and my camera's lens is broken

(Also hey Adriatic!)

(hey)   It actually belonged to the other Grandma. She said Great Gramps gave it to her new at 16yrs in 36. She married two years later. That Grandpa's Mom was killed in front of him by a Detroit trolley, so she left it behind. Later (40s-50s) Great Gramps put in in the carriage house. The set was buried in the dirt floor.  I was leveling the "floor" to put a motor in a buggy (dunebuggy, not horse buggy ) and my soil rake pierced something and stuck. I pulled, the lid came up and revealed a half rusty, half shiny, seized, mud filled, Commodere Vanderbilt; cars, etc. Some cars were literally small piles of rust dust, but the litho ink itself was intact, sitting on the rust dust like a discarded snakeskin. 

  A soak in the sink, hair drier, oil, more oil, and then more oil and it ran. Now, 30 years later, it still runs. It also now sports a nice faux aged paintjob. Only the engine is repainted (cured in and out of the freezer for days to haze the gloss (Rust-Oleum). It takes about another month for the milkiness to fade 100%.) The tender is sweet, the tanker and gondola caboose look play worn, but it's really the natural weathering almost took them out too. I killed 99% of the rust with regular oilings and wiping over years; no hurry after about 75%   This was easily worse than the basket case Berk and the saved tin 259e.  Really, I'd bet only Dennis H. or Steamer would have even tried.

Oops, wrong device...different shot than planned, but if you look close, you can see the new engine paint looks a little older than the tender's. 

I gave Marx the cold shoulder till this came back to life. Now I have deep respect for them as an nigh-indestructible toy train.

I have one story of a lady that came in a train store in charlotte  n.c.The store was called trains unlimited.Any way a lady came in carrying a good sized beat up box.She said her dad had  brought the trains thinking his wife.Her mother was gonna have a boy.She came instead he had brought a lionel train set.The set had a 4-6-4 hudson steam locomotive with some freight cars.The locomotive was cast iron the boxcars where tin.The was not a speck of dust or rust on it.There was another train looked sort like the pioneer zephyr.Now this train was in bad shape it had rust spots and holes in it.The shop owner tolded her all she need was to have it lubed.He also told her she could get some money for it.She said she was keeping it.I think I was in a trace as she left the store.I had seen trains like that only in books.I never thought I would see one in person.

Yup. The train pictured below is over 100 years old, and has graced the floor around my Christmas tree for the last 4 years. Its a mixture of Bing and Ives, Circa 1915. A lady in church asked the pastor if he knew someone who would like some old trains that had been her grandfather's. She did not want them going to a land fill. I got them, took them home and after a little TLC, they run like the day they came from the factory. BTW, the power house behind the engine came with it, and still has the original transformer in it.

Chris

LVHR

In 1984 I was eating lunch with a coworker who had heard me talk about toy trains. He said his uncle had a Lionel set “still in the box”!!!!! He was sure it could be bought, since the roof was leaking in the room where the train was. Well, any train guy can imagine how I started squirming and sweating, trying to figure a way to relieve his uncle of this unnecessary burden....the next Saturday morning this guy calls me, already three sheets in the wind, says his uncle wants to sell the Lionel train in the Lionel box. My buddy and his son were living with this uncle in North Miami Beach Florida in an old wood house. By the time I could get there the kid was the only sober person in the house, but anyway I finally got them to bring the train outside so we take a good look at it.....here comes the first heartbreak. The uncle stumbles outside carrying a tattered, torn, water stained box, and it was clearly labeled American Flyer s gauge. Man, I was crushed.....from the amount of stains, surely the cars were rusted and stuck to the box. I set it gently on the tailgate of my truck. Miraculously the cars looked brand new. The only special item was the walking brakeman car, everything else was pretty common. I cannot find this set in any book, so I guess it’s uncataloged...From all the labels, I could figure out that the uncles mom had gotten this set for him with a coupon off a bag of flour. On the box, the shipping label showed it had been sent to this very house. I only own one S gauge set and this is it. If there is a Flyer guy who’s interested, I can send some pics, or maybe I’ll try to add them to this post in a day or so. So.....I got this from an old lady, just in a round about way. The cars are really in amazing shape. I’m glad I was able to salvage them, that old lady probably had to pinch pennies to get this for her son..........hope you enjoyed this. Grumps

A lot of good stories here.  But the one theme that keeps getting repeated is that some people think they have gold, while others have a good heart.  

My wife's relatives have old Lionel trains.  They've known that I have been into trains for a long, long time.  Those trains are rotting away in boxes, probably never to see the light of day again.  I even offered them money back when I had none.  They refused.  My wife is the black sheep of her family.  I got the good one.

Berkshire posted:

I have actually gotten a (few) boxes of Prewar Lionel Locos from an old lady friend. A 257, a 252, and a 1689E They all came with passenger cars, as well as an 800 series freight car set. There also came accessories like a bridge, illuminated switches, figurines, track, transformers, everything you could ever want. I've fully restored the 257, but sadly one of the fiber gears broke as i was adding on the final relacement parts, which ruined by entire week. I have a few pictures I can post of the locos and the layout, if anyone is interested.

please do!