Rare modern Lionel and mth cars

Thanks for the kind words Paul.

I probably should edit that photo posting to perhaps note some of those items.

The Chessie boxcar is part of a series of cars that the Virginia Train Collectors group has done for the past couple of decades.  MTH has done some of their cars, but not all.  Most of the early MTH cars were regular production run cars that had a commemorative VTC sticker added to them, which wasn't anything more than a modified car, however the past few years that MTH was doing them, they became custom run cars, with unique features to similar production cars or entirely new and unique offerings.

The Chessie boxcar is similar to the production run car of the same year, however the VTC car carries a different car number and a silver roof, versus a solid blue roof.  The VTC car had less than 100 produced. 

The VTC also had a different version of the Old Virginia Beer 40' steel reefer, from its normal production version.  Other cars made included an ACL hopper, SAL flatcar and SRR gondola produced as unique items by MTH.

Thanks for that detail Steve. BTW - I believe it was Stu (Rankin) that introduced us at York.

All the best,

Paul

A few of my MTH Katrina boxcars, don't see em to often

Sorry but when a dealer goes in and buys up all the parks inventory, they lost me as a customer for life. 

quote:

Sorry but when a dealer goes in and buys up all the parks inventory, they lost me as a customer for life. 

Which car / park was that?
I won't ask who the dealer was, since that would probably get the thread deleted.

To the OP, if you are buying these because you want something rare to own or run then you are getting a lot of suggestions but if you looking for rare items because you hope they will increase in value then you likely missed the boat. Best time to buy for appreciation is when they are new and could be had a discount plus your crystal ball is working. Most items more than two years old have likely peaked in value. Some exceptions might be something like Station Sounds Diners. Since they are not being reissued but sets without them as well as engines that go with them are being made these cars are appreciating. But there was no way of knowing that when they were first offered. Speculators may be making a few bucks now but only due to luck, not foresight.

Pete

Steve,

Having very much enjoyed your excellent MTH Reference Guides and our discussions at York, let me just say that if you do write an "MTH Collectors Guide", please sign me up for the first copy.  I know it would be informative and a home run for many people.

Happy 2015!

Best wishes,

Bryan

That is a nice set. 

A little "oops" that MTH put KNY (for Kennywood) on the Isaly's car, but I have to believe they are all like that until I see one that has an Isaly's mark.

ISY, or maybe even spelled out like DEERE is on that car, I guess would have been consistent with the rest of the set here.

-Dave

Though 100 of each of these cars were made, the Kennywood "Arrow" is perhaps the most pursued, while the John Deere is probably the hardest to find.

These cars were offered directly from MTH only and I suspect that John Deere collectors, many outside of our hobby, saw this car and bought many of them.

The pitfalls of collecting; it's only worth what someone is willing to pay, and the market is very volatile, don't kid yourself

Rich

Here’s a photo of my MTH Kennywood Arrow Katrina Fundraiser box car that Steve mentioned (still in the box).

The Other Bill T 

No one has mentioned these guys yet, very seldom see the Ambassador cars offered.

In the md 90s Lionel made three 2-10-0 Steamers in German and French Livery,I have seen them.I would say that these are impossible to find.

18031 2-10-0 Bundesbahn BR 50  2 Rail

18035 2-10-0 Reichsbahn  BR 50  2 Rail

18036 2-10-0 French        BR 50  2 Rail

Any idea for past resale value for the MTH Banana Turkish Taffy cars? I'm sure they haven't really come up for sale since only 15 were produced.

And let's not forget the 29204 Century Club boxcar that was given as a gift to Century Club members who signed up early.

Though, I do remember the Conrail woodside caboose Lionel made in 1987 in the Conrail SD40 Limited Standard O set. It's still one of the more rare and desirable cars of its era, and one of my favorite pieces, though its value has gone down significantly.

Seen them for sale 2 or 3 times. There was one for sale on the OGR Forum a few months ago.

    Bill T

quote:

And let's not forget the 29204 Century Club boxcar that was given as a gift to Century Club members who signed up early.

Those cars were HOT when they were first released. I knew folks who actually got in excess of five hundred dollars each for those cars.

I've had an unboxed one, in excellent or better condition (perhaps unrun) on my table at the last couple of train shows. Absolutely no interest. I think I had $25 or $30 on it.

By the way, originally Lionel planned to raffle off a locomotive among the people who signed up for the program early. When they realized there were legal problems with their plan, they switched to the boxcar.

I have a Lionel RGS Custom UPS TOFC TTUX.

Does anyone here have any idea what the complete MTH Katrina fundraiser train would be worth. I bought the entire train at the time and have had it stored in its original shipping boxes. Just curious

I would start by viewing the Ebay "end listings" for the various cars in the set. This will give you a start on what the cars are currently selling for - remember ebay is funny in that one day you can get a bargain and the next day .......

Paul

I would love to have a Chick-Fil-A car, but they are really hard to find.

This string looks like the closest match for my questions.  I bought a Lionel BR-50, 6-18031 Deutsche Bundesbahn 2-10-0 several years back.  I am the 2nd owner.  The engine had and has never been run.  It is 2-Rail O (I operate 3 Rail O); Part of the package when these were offered under a joint venture between the Smithsonian, Lionel and Fine-Arts was a 'run in place' display case.  I have yet to find a firm answer as to what transformer came with this run of Smithsonian Series packages, if one did at all. In doing research, I met and know the fellow who worked on the designs for these engines while he worked at Fine-Arts.  I learned a great deal about these engines from him but he does not recall a transformer with the package -- but he was not on the finished product end.  Does anyone else have a BR-50 German or French with the run in place roller display, or know if a transformer came with the packages?  If so, which transformer was it?  The motor is DC only.  I have a DC trans that we can put a plug on to connect to the display.  I do not plan to run it, but would like the package complete.  This is the only train I own that I do not operate.  Note: While I do not know about the transformer, I know a great deal about the history of these engines if anyone has questions; I also have extras of the large posters that shipped with the BR-50 German and the Hudson (Some of the posters are signed by Richard K.)

-John

I think one of the first custom runs MTH did was for Nabisco for their 100Th anniversary. A Rail king J in Nabisco colors. I think 400 were made and a rail king Oreo Box about 1000 made I think. I have both. I bought them for myself because I worked for Nabisco. If I can find them I'll post pics of them..........Paul

Not sure how truly rare it is, but the Lionel Polar Express Toyfair 2005 boxcar is always tough to find at a reasonable price.  Pricing seems to have settled around $150-$200, but it's not uncommon to see the usual shenanigans being played by some sellers.  

In a way, it reminds me of the Lionel 5712 woodside reefer from the MPC era.  It was always billed as rare, but Madison Hardware had a boatload of them for $100/each, which was a lot back in the day.

David

quote:

 It was always billed as rare, but Madison Hardware had a boatload of them for $100/each, which was a lot back in the day.

Maybe that's why they were rare.

Didn't Lionel start playing the "limited edition" game around 1973? I think the first two items were the Coke set and the 50th Anniversary Geep.

If Lionel made a short run of the 5712 reefers, then they ware "rare" compared to other cars that had a full run, regardless of how many Madison Hardware or the other big guys purchased.
I never cared to get involved in collecting items that were made "desirable" through such market manipulations.
The only production numbers I've ever seen for Lionel, during any era, are the numbers published in the Project Roar book on uncataloged sets.

I bought the PE toy fair car at April York for 25 in the orange hall. Dealer got annoyed when I had to ask twice...How Much?

rat

Don't see many of these Lionel 6-26143 Airco tank cars. It's a separate issue, not the tanker inside the 6-9733 1979 LCCA boxcar. Included in 2004 6-31707 C&O Diesel Freight set, components of which were individually boxed, but is not listed separately in any of the price guides and is only occasionally offered for separate sale.

I got mine for $75.  At $25, I would have bought another one!  

David

most of the items in my Westinghouse consist will bring good money at auction therefore it leads me to believe they will have more $$value at some point.

heres a vid I made of it.

Was the MTH Premier Grand Trunk Western Hi-Cube 50' Box car actually that rare? For two years everybody had some of them in stock. Then they all were sold quickly. The blue color was a bit off for this number series of GTW 50' plug-door box cars that were NSC 50' plug-door box cars, not high-cube box cars.

Andrew

paul 2,

     I have the same Nabisco MTH GS4 and Oreo boxcar. I also have a Kline Nabisco train set that had been sold the year before. I worked for Nabisco in East Hanover and Parsippany for the Foods Company. Hope you are enjoying retirement in Ohio.

    I picked up the GS4 when Nabisco closed the mail order company store and they were selling all the train related items at 50% off. I think I paid $150 for the engine and $10 for the boxcar. I also have the Frank's Roundhouse Boxcars, Oreo, Chips Ahoy, Teddy Grahams etc that came out annually for a while.

JohnB

One item I've never seen for resale is MTH's Amtrak rapid-discharge hopper six-packs (numbers 20-90208 and 20-90209).

Maybe they're not rare per se, but it appears nobody who bought them has been interested in selling, as I've made Google searches for the product numbers every so often for the past couple of years with no results beyond residual auction-house listings for long-concluded auctions. 

---PCJ