A "little old man" about my age gave me his childhood Marx trains, his 80 year old mom wanted out of her house.
A well off family gave me their MTH trains because the "kids" stopped playing with them, and they wanted the storage space back in their large suburban house. 
Just tell people you like and collect trains and things come your way, sometimes.
back in the 1970's a good Family friend moved to AZ. and they left some items at my parents home to store.one of the boxes had Lionel trains in it needless to say I kept an eye on it. After a year they said whatever we left there do with it how you please..so the trains came under my ownership. I saw the guy 10 years ago and told him the trains are in my care 
mike g. posted:What a great couple they were! I just wish he would have told me he was into trains while he was alive!
I don't want to steer this thread off into a different direction but I have found this to be true with a lot of people. People I've known, friends of my parents, NEVER talked about the fact that they had trains. It was only after they were gone was it revealed that they had them! It was like they were ashamed or something...they never mentioned it.
Now, back to the thread. I got this for free, not from a little old lady, but a little old man. He had lots and lots of other stuff, most of it in near garbage condition because it was in a damp basement but this one was pristine. I'm not sure if this is the rare 6464-100 or just one of the run-of-the-mill standard ones. He also had a GG-1 Congressional Set, also in almost perfect condition. I only had to put new carbon brushes in the motor and normal oil/lube and it's on my layout now.
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?
Yes, about 20 years ago we had a party at the house around Christmas time. A woman from our church noticed the trains under our tree, and I gave her the tour of the collection which were on shelves in my home office. The following week I came home to find a box by the front door. Full of trains! They were American Flyer S, so I sold them all off to finance additions to the collection, but there were some pretty nice ones, so it was well worth my time and much appreciated. Now, she always gets and invite!
Had a town wide rummage sale in my Dads community years ago. I couldn't do any walking around as I had to work all day. Got back about 4pm. Told the folks I saw one sale still open up the street. I walked up and as I got closer, I could make out a post war ZW. I thought, he's gonna want $150 for it. I looked at price tag. $25.00!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT!!!! I asked him if he still had the trains. He said some guy bought all the train that morning but he didn't want the transformer. I paid him the $25.00, he said I could resell it online for $100. I told him No way, it's going right on my train board. I had been looking for a ZW for about 5 years before that but didn't want to pay the going rate at that time of $300.00.
I have been given trains by two friends who were business associates of mine. The first was a Lionel 1956 Milwaukee Road Geep set, and a number of accessories, that were left me when my friend passed of pancreatic cancer back in 2004. He knew I was a Lionel guy, as I had him over to see the layout once.
Another friend/business associate gave me two nice boxed Marx sets back in the 1990's, one a #333 steam loco and NYC passenger cars, and the other a freight set led by a #999 steamer.
I still have these items, and treasure them all.
Ottawa_Marc posted:yes...recently...kind of..... but they all ended up being 2 rail Rivarossi.
Not much use to me but I was/am still thankful and appreciative.
There are folks who can use them. Did you sell them off?
Back when I was working, one of the guys in my group gave me a couple of boxes of Lionel trains he and his brother had. The brother had passed away, no one wanted the trains. There was a box of Super O track, a KW transformer, lights etc. The other box had the 3 car Budd set, a Seaboard switcher, a gang car and the remains of a GP engine (No Body). He said the freight cars could not be found. Wish I had kept the Budd cars - They were nice and had the boxes.
Steamer posted: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!
Alright, I don't have many individual images, but I do have two gifs.
The 257 runs, and the motor for the 252 runs, but it needs new wheels and gears (The wheels are being machined by a furry friend of mine) I've gotten nearly all the replacement parts for the 257, with the exception of the window trim and the cowcatcher. I also got these japanese figurines with it (Standard gauge?)
Hope you guys find this interesting
Berkshire posted:Steamer posted: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!
Alright, I don't have many individual images, but I do have two gifs.
Great gif. I see you have the extremely rare giant ice cream maker shaped layout building. 😎
Ottawa_Marc posted:palallin posted:There are folks who can use them. Did you sell them off?
Still have them, posted them on a local "used for sale" website last night.
Find most people don't want to deal with cross border shipping hassles etc etc.
Do you have any photos? If so, please send them.
If they peak my interest, and the price is reasonable, I would happily take them off of your hands for you!
Berkshire posted:Ottawa_Marc posted:palallin posted:There are folks who can use them. Did you sell them off?
Still have them, posted them on a local "used for sale" website last night.
Find most people don't want to deal with cross border shipping hassles etc etc.
Do you have any photos? If so, please send them.
If they peak my interest, and the price is reasonable, I would happily take them off of your hands for you!
Ditto.
Thanks for this thread. When I read the title, I instantly thought of my young friend Mason, who was given this 1931 Lionel 384 and passenger train last year by a lady in his historical society. She said the train was her father's and she wanted it to go to someone who would enjoy it, and not trash it. I took a photo of him with the train this past Fall.
While reading through the other comments, I remembered a couple of "little old ladies" gave me items over the years. A former supervisor at work, not much older than me, would often go to antique stores, bazaars, yard sales and the like on her days off, and bring things for us based on where our interests lay. More often than not, it would be a post card of a train or something like that when she had a gift for me, but these two pieces floored me when she said she had something for me.
She presented me with the crossing guard shanty and the blinking cross buck sign. The shanty is Lionel, but the cross buck is Marx.
This crossing guard shanty is plastic on a tinplate base. Originally there was a hole in the base for a light to sine on the guard's lantern when he stepped out of the shack. The guard is holding the old style lantern, but there is no hole for the light to shine up. No light in the base, either, but there is one in the building.
The other lady to give me her trains is my last living aunt, Joannie. When we were at a family funeral this past March, she told me that she wanted to give me her daughter's trains. She had 6 children, and shortly after marrying my uncle Artie in 1948, she had two daughters, one born in March 1949 and the other in December 1949. We call this phenomenon "Irish Twins." The trains were well played with by her children, including two boys, and the grand children. All that remains of these two starter sets is the locomotives. No tenders that she could find. I picked them up in April. 
1655 was once a 2-4-2, but the front wheels broke off over the years. This was Patricia's train, the first born daughter.
1656 is an 0-4-0 with a ringing bell, they tell me. This was Sharon's train. I don't know about the other children getting trains. The family might have thought that two was enough.
That is my story. Thank you for the topic.
Dan Padova posted: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.
Sounds familiar to me! My father in law told me I’ll never get his train. He’s been dead for seven years and I still don’t have it, nor do I want it. The trains are still in his house now owned by my brother in law. The attic they’re in has been over run by squirrels. If there’s a hopper or gondola, I bet their filled with acorns!
I can just see the title now..
"RARE LIONEL LOT, MINT CONDITION, MUST SEE!!!!"
In reality, I only really own one "rare" train, a Bing clockwork locomotive with a Great Western paint scheme, which I have yet to find a single picture of online. That sounds pretty rare, no matter how you put it. And if not rare, than it's extremely obscure.
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