Lionel Milwaukee Unpainted S-3 Northern

I love it. I dont mind them doing 50 of them.Creates a little excitement.I just wish i was one of the 50 that had one.With 2 girls in college and a son starting this year i will have to pass.Maybe they will buy old dad one someday.

All in all its a great looking engine and loaded with some super features. I would really like to see one of these run before I bought one though. The bare metal doesnt do much for me. It says lionel polished and sealed it but the side of the tender looks like it was scrubbed with 120 grit sandpaper. I would love to have it myself but I would paint it also even if it did kill the value I think I would end up with a better looking engine when finished. I wonder if the reserve set will make us faint feeling?

Thomas

I just looked at the tender.The pic does not help the sale.You are right about the sandpaper.

 

Don, it's no secret how I feel about "instant collectables".  In short, I don't believe in them, because NONE of this stuff is an instant collectable as long as the company continues making products these days.  It would be different if all of a sudden, new production ceased in our little corner of the world.  But as long as these companies commission some factory to keep churning out product with incrementally new features, I think history should make any of us think twice about "instant collectables" -- especially from an investment perspective.

 

A relevant example is the Lionel 100th Anniversary Gold Hudson back around 2000.  I think street price for it originally was around $1400.  Here we are nearly 12 years later, and I've seen it at a well-known LHS at the $950-$1,000 price point.  And I don't see it flying off the shelf at that price either -- although I did see someone here jumped at one today over in the OGR classifieds listing.  Admittedly, the gold Hudson wasn't limited to just a small number of 50 produced.  But I think you get my point.

  

Proceed with caution if you're thinking "collectable" as an investment vs. just plain ole wanting to enjoy having it.

 

My 2 cents...

 

Best regards,

David

Buy it because you want it, value in the future should not come into play.

 

Dave

Personally, I like the thing - but not well enough to spend actual money on it. I considered buying the MTH engineering edition of one of their Eurosteamers - but I had higher priorities for the money.

 

The "instant collectible" promotion is making a virtue of necessity. I doubt there's a market for more than 50 of them anyway - so gin up an artificial scarcity and you can pump demand. Marketing 202 - took it my junior year and some things never change.

Has Lionel stated somewhere that there were only 50 made?  I checked on line and could not find the engine at all on the Lionel site.  Since both Lionel and MTH are private companies very few people know actual numbers of production runs. Maybe that's 50 that were not painted. 

Love the bare metal. My MTH Chapelon 2-3-1 Engineering version looks great.

I also like the bare metal very much. 

Not my cup of tea but I am surprised they didn't do this for the VL Hudson.

IMO, a collectors dog simply because what really matters, Lionels reputation for contributing to and maintaining collectable value with their higher end pieces is so far in the dumper, this piece will never amount to more then another expensive slug of metal.

But it does make for a interesting shelf piece.

Joe

Look at the bright side Joe.  You won't be complaining that Lionel painted it the wrong color.

I see nothing wrong at aiming at a collector market.  Franklin Mint has been doing that forever.  In a free market, buyers get to make the final decision.

 

I do not think purchasers of instant collectibles at an inflated price are making wise decisions, but there is no law or moral precept that prohibits such purchases.

 

Opinion.

No one is saying it's against the law. I just wondered what folks thought of companies doing this and if they would buy these engines. They look cool but I would rather have one  that looked real and I would run. By the way, Franklin Mint has been ripping off people for years. Nothing they made had gone up in price. Don

What was the retail price on this?  If it's the same as the regular version then I have no problem with it.  If they are selling it at a higher price simply because it is "collectible" that is pretty lame. Don you are right, the Franklin Mint has been ripping off Americans for years.  If you like the looks of this engine and you can afford it then buy it.  As an investment...? Not so much.

 

I do actually think it's pretty cool looking.

 

Ben

$995.

Collectible is whatever you want to collect, period.  Most collectibles don't appreciate in value and are not good "investments." If you like it and think you'd rather have it than the money, buy it!

 

I'd think this would be an okay acquisition IF you collect and display bare-metal O-scale locos.  That's not what I do but it would be a good addition if you collected them. 

 

It would look pretty good with the MTH French 241.A in bare metal (its almost exactly the same size - the S3 was a slightly larger loco in real life but the MTH is 1/45 scale rather than 1/48 which just about exactly counters that).  The 241.A is the loco D500 was referring to above and worth discussing with regard to this S3.     Bare metal tends to make all the added details and parts stand out more, and the S3 only has a medium amount of them.  The MTH 241 has a lot - it looks like the jewel it is in bare metal or paint.  So the S3 will will look a bit bare sitting on a sehfl next to the MTH 241 or some other premium unpainted brass or similar locos.  Still, its an impressive model in bare metal.  More than respectable.

 

By the way, some people including MTH refer to the MTH 241.A as a "Chapelon loco" but the model is of the loco after 35% at most of Chapelon's modifications were completed (among other things, when it was complete, it had a two-axle rear truck, making it, in French nomenclature, a 242.A). 

"Collectible is whatever you want to collect, period.  Most collectibles don't appreciate in value and are not good "investments." 

I'd think it's the sort of thing you buy because you like it; not for an investment.

Personally the sanding marks are a turnoff, but probably not for someone who wants to add an "engineering model" to their collection.

I've the clearbody MTH Santa Fe DAP ABA set and enjoy looking at all the "stuff" inside, but it's a shelf queen.

People collect anything that is different.  I also have the DAP Santa Fe clear shells.  I picked them up on this forum about 5 years ago for $200.00 new in the box.

Marty, your right. I have the original MTH clear bodied GP-9 that was given to me by Lee's Trains in Oakland when they closed. I would sell it for anything. Don