Value of K-Line Sante Fe High-Levels Now That GGD is in the Market?

The announcement probably "stunned" many bidders out of the race, but give it some time and I'm sure they'll be back to being hot items. In my experiences it seems there will always be a segment that prefers K-Line over GGD. This mainly has to do with the fact that GGD trains tend to require adjustments out of the box and are massively heavy compared to K-Line's offerings.

Think about it this way too - GGD has released both the 1938 and 1948 editions of the 20th Century Limited, but K-Line's versions of those trains still command a hefty premium. I cannot find the 2-pack add-on for the 1948 train anywhere under $300 and the single add-on car for the 1938 train set me back a whopping $210 

Nick:

I totally agree with you that K-Line passenger cars have a very loyal following of O-Gauge fans and their Hi-Levels will bring a price at market higher than other manufacturer models of passenger cars.

It was just plain and simple to experience how shocking it was to see the immediate impact of the GGD announcement was to this auction. I personally have not experienced this before. I note that these cars have been re-listed by the seller, so we will see what happens to this auction.

Are the GGD Cars available in 3-rail?  I was under the impression that they were 2 rail.

- Mike

Yes, of course everything that Sunset/3rd Rail/Golden Gate Deport produces is available in BOTH 3-Rail SCALE and 2-Rail SCALE.

Geez, I don't know what I was looking at when I was on their site.  It's right there in front of me!  Thanks HW!!  

OK...I'll put my two cents worth into this discussion.  First I am with both Art and Jason above.  I have followed the prices of K-Line cars on Ebay for a long time and each introduction of GGD cars have not greatly affected the prices of the K-line counterparts.  Art's example of the CZ cars is a good one and Jason's point that K-Line cars are great cars...even with a few faults ( perhaps a lot of faults in the purist sense ) they have maintained their value.  I feel that the GGD announcement may have a short term affect but those folks that wanted the ultimate Hi-Level car were not in the market for K-Line cars since the K-Lines are not completely scale in every sense of the word.  Even if the K-Line cars were much less in price, the "scale" market probably would not consider them as evidenced from many posts in the past from those folks.  I think that the K-Line Hi-Level cars will continue to be in demand and even though there may be a slight dip in price, they will continue to command a high price that is close if not equal to the average over the past 4 or 5 years.  After all, they are beautiful with a finish that reflects light much like the prototype did in full sun.  If one would paint the ends to get rid of the chrome finish, that would be an improvement.  As most of you know, the worst problem with them that would be difficult to correct is that they are essentially an Amtrak Superliner body....but I still love the looks and the glint as they go around the layout!!  It is hard to duplicate the proper finish of the stainless cars with most looking like they have been painted...which they have.  The ribs catching the light is what is candy to my eye...

Alan

The one thing you will get with the GGD set is the full window lounge car.  And you have to buy a set of cars to get it.  K Line never made the lounge, which in my opinion is one of the defining cars of the Superliner series.  I even asked Mr. Kline at York years ago when he planed to bring out the lounge for his series.  He just looked at me as if I had just eaten his mother!

Did you hear that giant THUD? 

That was the bottom dropping out of the K-Line El Captian secondary market. 

Its nice to see there will be a ceiling on the insane prices on these cars. I am not a collector. I am an operator, so when things like this get out of control. I stay away.

Right now the CZ cars from Atlas are a good buy with great detail, and with the observation car coming out soon, I will focus on completing this set first and let the dust settle on the Santa Fe K line cars. Besides with the lights down, a scale set of A-B-B-A F7's and the cars lit up, any silver car will do for now for visitors.

Somebody offered to sell me the whole set of K-line cars last year but I just couldn't come up with all the money so I had to pass. I did not realize the complete K-Line set was 21 cars and his price was more than fair, about $120 a car. After some scrambling I was a little less than a thousand short so I had to pass. And where in the **** am I going to tun a 21 car train, that train would be about 44 feet long Now even though I wanted them quite badly I would not be willing to pay much more than that for them. But somehow I am convinced that spending twice that for the GGD cars is worth doing

On the giant price drop being reported, why?

Unless a seller is hot to get rid of them, why slash prices and dump the cars for less than both original (10 year old) MSRP, and well below recent sale prices? Did they need gas money to get home from the show, rent due, kidney transplant, tattoo payment coming due and repo on those hurts like heck?

Yes, there maybe and should be some adjustment, but unlike the CZ where the average K-line price was well above the Atlas price thus allowing for the Atlas cars to significantly disrupt the market, the K-lines and GGD are close in price, new buyers have a choice now to buy one or the other, but if the GGD are like previous issues those will sell out and then good luck finding either one.

Point being, think about it, why would the market for a quality product suddenly fall of the cliff? We did not see this in the B&O, nor the PRR Congressional, nor as Nick points out the 20th Century NYC sets, nor the PRR Tuscan car, all those are selling in the $150.00 a car range, with a few cars going over $200.00 each, and each as a counterpart GDD set available. Why would those road name be different than Santa Fe, why would they retain value while the Santa Fe cars suddenly fall?

I hope Bob2 bought a truck load of those $75.00 cars he's reporting were on offer, last night the average sale price on eBay / DASH for K-Line 21" cars was over $130.00, so even with the fees at $75.00 he could make a 50% profit on each and every car regardless of road name.   

On an auction with a reserve, I've heard many say they watch the bidding and give up if the reserve amount seems to be at what they perceive as "retail price" for an item.
As ebay has transitioned from auction site to stores sellng at "buy it now", it has lost even more value as a pricing reference. One bad auction or two folks bidding way over what something is worth skew the dollar amounts since the sales volume has dropped.

Thats why it was so much money. I was sure there were only 12 cars so I only had about $1500 set aside and when he hit me with 21 cars, I just did not see that coming. Now since my the project my family has been working to build for 15 years finally got the contract signed in Oct all available money went there and I just couldn't make it happen. It was a super fair deal for $120 a car. Sorry I had to pass

I think that Alan has it correct. The K-Lines and the GGD cars have very visual differences, but both are excellent representations. I fully understand the appeal of both and why many who own the K-Lines will also order the GGD offerings. All of this is really good for our hobby and I applaud Scott Mann for taking the initiative in giving those who before had a real hankering for these beautiful Hi-Levels and could not find a set.

I also agree that the value of the K-Lines will not drop significantly, may briefly moderate, but will continue to be highly sort after.

Thanks to all for your input. If you asked me a week ago if we would be having this discussion, I would have said you're crazy. This may prove to be the most significant introduction in 2014. Time will tell.

I love the fact that the quality of the K-Line passenger cars is driving Atlas and GGD to produce ever better quality offerings.  That is very good for our hobby.  It is especially good if you appreciate detail and adherence to scale as I do.  Mr. Klein impacted our hobby while he was actively producing and selling and he is still influencing it with the lasting quality of his passenger cars. 

Art

Very well said, Art.