I purchased the 70 foot two tone green Erie Heavyweight set just before K Line got gobbled up by the Big Orange and Blue Monster. K Line made some beautiful trains. That set is especially nice, even if it is "eastern", but I'm prejudiced. The only problem is that its kind of short to look good behind my Erie ABA E's! Does anyone have any the Erie cars from this set that they want to part with? Please shoot me an email.
Some of the hardest to find are the Amtrak Surfliners....I was lucky enough about 8 years ago to find both production runs, one made in the bright finish and the other painted silver..
Alan, you are dead right on finding the Surfliner set. Notice my ad in the "Wanted" section. I did not know they made two different finishes--I saw the painted set in San Diego on Wednesday. Could you post a picture of the bright finish or better yet a picture of both side by side? Thanks, Don
Don....I think I have a picture of both. I'll take a look and if I can't find it, I'll take one this weekend and post it here. Keep watching!
Alan
Is there a published list or book on K-Line passenger cars as were made, just the aluminum ones, or including the heavyweights would be okay?
Doubt it, but if anybody attempts it, I could provide a few photos of 2-railed versions.
Go to www.legacykline.com; good resource.
Anybody else following the 4 pack of C&NW on the bay (item 321968043563). They are at $1200 now.
Would love a set to put behind my newly aquired k-line e-8's but that is in a galaxy far far away.
set is K-Line K-4620G C&NW 21"
I checked out that K-Line list, thanks, but it does not give enough details about sets, such as length of some cars in sets, and cars that make of the components of the sets.
My only toe in this water came in the form of the KCC Golden State set. I managed to get all of the cars except for the second dome car, the K4632-29841C "Golden Outlook" that appeared and vanished before I found out about its release:
I saw it come up once on Ebay, maybe in 2006, and bailed out as the bid price escalated past $120 (this was before the overall run-up in prices for K-Line streamliners in general). Still looking for one--it'd prompt me to put aside the three MTH Golden Rocket cars I bought as add-ons...
The other example is four of the Amtrak Superliners in Phase IV striping, unboxed from Eastern Depot (due to a flood, the boxes were trashed, but the cars were safe in their plastic bags)
---PCJ
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It was asked in a post above if anyone saw at that time the price the C&NW 21" cars were at on ebay. I just checked and one bidder got the entire set of cars and locomotives. The total winning bid was almost $3,100.00...! The 4-car set alone went for $1,425.00 which is just over $325.00 per car! WOW...!!
Alan
Don had asked for a picture of the bright finished Surfliner car. I just found it in my files so here you go Don...
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Alan, that is one nice looking car!!!!
colorado hirailer posted:I checked out that K-Line list, thanks, but it does not give enough details about sets, such as length of some cars in sets, and cars that make of the components of the sets.
Yep, some big gaps in the information...Which is why I caution others about that site.
I submitted some improvements to the set lists, though I haven't checked to see if they were implemented.
is just over $325.00 per car! WOW...!!
Don't forget - GGD aluminum cars sell for just about that. You can get some 21" K-Line cars for half that on eBay. Current offerings are generally in Amtrak colors.
K- Line's demise was not fun, but they really did saturate the market. In the end you could buy just about anything in 21" for $75/car, far below their intrinsic value. That is why I have so darn many of these beauties.
There may still be room for some of these - GGD is well positioned to offer some bare bones extruded cars. If they did, you could easily find a good painter to do your favorite railroad. I may some day convert some of mine to Golden State. The $75 PRR set is too brown for my tastes, and I have way too many UP cars.
Two of my favorite K-Line cars!
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Does anyone know who now owns the tooling for the K-Line passenger cars 15-18 inches?
Yeah CRAZY loves COMPANY when it comes to paying the high prices on these cars.... My advice is sit back and be patient....
I fell into a set of Northern Pacific 2 tone green cars - the complete 21 inch 6 car set with the express box car for 400.00. I could not give him my money fast enough. 
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john in western pa posted:I purchased the 70 foot two tone green Erie Heavyweight set just before K Line got gobbled up by the Big Orange and Blue Monster. K Line made some beautiful trains. That set is especially nice, even if it is "eastern", but I'm prejudiced. The only problem is that its kind of short to look good behind my Erie ABA E's! Does anyone have any the Erie cars from this set that they want to part with? Please shoot me an email.
glacierrunner posted:Alan, that is one nice looking car!!!!
Ditto....super nice. 
Yes I agree K-Line sold some very nice trains and at affordable prices. If there is strong demand for these passenger cars, just leave it to the crafty Chinese to issue these again under the O-Line brand. Other beautiful high end scale passenger cars were put out years back by Right of Way Industries. I do not believe that anyone has picked up on these designs either. I say give it time and with demand everything eventually reappears. Meanwhile I refuse to pay the prices asked by the scalpers.
Greetings All,
As luck would have it, I stumbled upon a SEALED 6 car PRR Broadway Limited set in the 18" Aluminum flavor for $575.00 and change shipped to my door.
They are K-Line by Lionel in the yellow and black boxes. Got 'em last Friday and I'm still doing' my happy dance!
Chief Bob (Retired)
Amazing to think K-Line offered ALL this stuff in ALUMINUM a couple of decades ago... and now most importers are just having Chinese factories cranking out plastic ABS stuff these days. GGD appears to be the last of the importers still offering aluminum cars, but we're paying a hefty premium for them. Nicholas Smith Trains had all these K-Line cars at great prices back in the day, but 21" cars were way too big for a guy like me traveling the globe and living in a townhouse at the time. 
Even now though, I've kept my 21" passenger car purchases to an absolute minimum: stuff like GGD's ESE and El Capitan sets, and Atlas-O's CZ. 18-inchers are a better compromise for me, and even those have noticeable overhang on modest radii curves.
David
I really like these cars, and wish I had bought more when the prices were low.
I have the complete scale Golden State set, including the factory error dome (10 cars), plus a few extra cars I had to buy to get the separate sale Golden Outlook. The GS did not have any domes; wish I knew that before I bought the Golden Outlook (I'm not selling it). I pull these with my Lionel Rock Island E6 AA set (both powered). A great looking set.
I also have the complete second release of the 21" PRR Jeffersonian set, plus another sleeper from the first release. I don't run the baggage or RPO because the Pennsy did not have any in 1949; I use Weaver B60s. I also added a few GGD HW coaches and a sleeper to make a nice long train. The KL and GGD cars look good together, but up close the GGD cars do look a little better. I pull this with Lionel's PRR Legacy E7 ABA set (all three powered).
I also have seven cars from the two 18" aluminum Spirit of St. Louis sets (sold the baggage and RPO). I've added some K-L and Lionel HW cars plus a couple of Lionel cars from their Broadway Ltd (FOM) set to simulate a non-express train from the late 40s. I pull this with double headed Legacy K4s.
I really wish I had bought the NYC sets when I had the chance. These sets sat at my LHS for a couple of years at fire sale prices before sold. Now they cost 4/5 times as much.
I have owned the Empire State Express set, which I sold at quite a premium. I own all of the "City Of Los Angeles" Cars,all the 21 inch and the 18 inch and baggage, including the super rare Flat end Observation. I may be parting with this set at some point. I did all of my interiors and detailed the end of the flat end with scale coupler and linkage. Great cars. They just always track correctly. Never had a single issue with them.
I wish I was turned on to K-line passengers cars sooner. IMHO, dollar for dollar they were the best value for aluminum passenger cars, and their ABS Heavyweights are right up there too, than anything out there. Just my opinion.
Not too long ago I purchased the ESE 4 car set, the 8 Pennsy Era of Modernism cars, the 5 car New Haven smooth side satin finish cars, the 6 car California Zephyr, the 4 car NYC Heavyweights and the 5 car Pullman sets. All but the Pullman set are 15" cars (the Pullman set is 18") but even the prices of the 15" cars are rising. And, with Lionel getting out of the aluminum car business I expect them to continue to soar. Especially the 18" and 21" cars.
The good news, at least for me, is that it seems to me that people are gravitating towards the 21" cars and to a lesser degree the 18" cars so maybe the price of 15" cars will stabilize. At least until I'm finished buying them.
Just my two cents.
Mike
Yes, these cars aren't cheap, but that is because the supply is lower than the demand, if they weren't so great there wouldn't be the high demand and thus the prices would be lower. Those commenting on price gouging are just wrong, it is a market force in action.
I have 11 trains (110+/- cars) in the 21" size, remaining having sold 3 other trains that either didn't fit my railroad (Southern Pacific & Denver Rio Grande) or that I replaced with GGD cars (B&O). These are the best of the best in my view, the GGD have more perfectly prototypical details but don't run as well, and thus far no one has worked out the stainless steal finish to the level that K-line did.
I would compare the current prices for the new ABS cars and there performance to their cost, then take a second look at these K-line cars and you might just find them far more reasonable than you thought.
Jim, that story is probably not so. No dealer in the dealer hall is going to risk getting tossed out for an early sale. I will keep quiet if you saw this happen. I just walk about like everyone else and usually pick up between 10-50 cars each show. Sometime less and sometime more. There is plenty for everyone. I have been collecting 18 and 21 inch K Line cars for a long time. Everyone has the same chance at York. Very easy to do.
BTW, I rate the recent 18 inch Lionel aluminum cars on an even field as the K-Line cars. I recently purchased the SP set. WOW, they are beautiful.
A very nice looking CSX set of 21" K-Lines sold here for fifty bucks a car.
I agree - it is a market- based system, and one can ask whatever price one wants, without fault. We do not have to buy them - it is not like food or shelter.
I never got a complete set, choosing to buy them per car. Got most for $75 each. I have Empire Builder, B&O, lots of UP, and a Calif Zephyr coach, along with two CNW bi-levels and a pair of PRR. Quite happy, if overwhelmed.
john in western pa posted:I purchased the 70 foot two tone green Erie Heavyweight set just before K Line got gobbled up by the Big Orange and Blue Monster. K Line made some beautiful trains. That set is especially nice, even if it is "eastern", but I'm prejudiced. The only problem is that its kind of short to look good behind my Erie ABA E's! Does anyone have any the Erie cars from this set that they want to part with? Please shoot me an email.
More like fed itself to orange and blue...
Marty Fitzhenry posted:BTW, I rate the recent 18 inch Lionel aluminum cars on an even field as the K-Line cars. I recently purchased the SP set. WOW, they are beautiful.
Marty,
A store near me has the new Lionel SP cars on display, the Pennsy set too, simply magnificent to look at. Makes the painted California Zephyr cars look dull.
Still one of my favorites from K-Line...the Hi-level 21" Santa Fe cars!! Here are a few pictures I took a couple of years ago on my layout of them...
Alan
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Alan,
They need some nice new Signals on that Layout.
Anyway's it is a beautiful Layout.
Integrated Signals Systems.com
Good luck, John
Thanks John....we will talk about that after this next York..
Alan
Rare Union Pacific 21" cars on DASH:
FLAT END observation (Extremely hard to find)
RPO/Lounge 2 pack (Hard to find)
3 Pack (Dome diner/coach, sleeper)
First UP 21" sets available for sale in a year!
I got this same on ebay a month ago it was a buy it now and i jumped all over it. Noe i need to sell the 18" Up cars I have
I have 3 18" K-line aluminum cars.....all were picked up for less than $40 each at small shows......I just liked them...didn't know they were collectible.
rboatertoo posted:I got this same on ebay a month ago it was a buy it now and i jumped all over it. Noe i need to sell the 18" Up cars I have
Jim,
Tried contacting you about auction on other site.
Glad you finally found a set.
Let me know what you got on the 18" cars-I want a few of those still.
Thanks
