Weaver Crusader Train set find!

I'm not too familiar with how Weaver products hold their value but I will say you got yourself a very nice find!   I know the engine is brass and I saw the cars on sale at a train shop recently for $290 however they were used, not new.

There is a complete, new in the box, set on sale on ebay listed for $1595.00.   I have no idea if this is an accurate price but there are 20 people watching the auction.  Does your set come with sound?  Fyi - if the product number ends in LP the engine has sound, if it ends in just L there is no sound.

Enjoy your find.

-Greg

You stole it!  Many have paid that much just for the locomotive!  A great candidate for a command upgrade.

Thanks! Greg- the locomotive box states mine does not have anysound, its number is G1089-L. Gunrunner yes I would love to add command and sounds to this train! sadly my layout is too small to even run this train but Im in the process of joining a local O gauge model train club and I can run the train there!

I figured the set would be worth more than $375, but if thats the accurate price Im shocked! It looks like it wasnt run much if not run at all, Loco and tender were still in wrapping! same with the passenger cars. 

That's a very nice Weaver set, would make me envious if I didn't already have a set of Crusader cars and matching engine & tender. You paid a very low price is the way I see it for that set. The tender might have a horn, so check and see. Depending on when the Weaver set was made you may have to use an older transformer with, as I have a Weaver U-36B and it won't work properly with my MTH Z-1000 but likes the post war ZW I have and works great with it.

I have the K-Line set of passenger cars for the Reading Crusader and paid $325.00 for the 5 passenger cars, the cars have opening doors on them and are lighted. Bought the MTH engine cab # 117 with PS-1, not sure how much I paid(rough estimate would be around $175.00) for the engine as I traded off some Lionel Fastrack(enough Fastrack for a small 3 ft by 9 ft layout and some uncoupling tracks)for the MTH engine at a train show in southeast Florida a few years ago.

FYI; the Reading Crusader has an observation style passenger car(rounded ends) at each end of the train so the engine and tender only needed to be turned around to reverse the train, also the tender is rounded on the back on both sides.

Lee Fritz

The K-Line set is semi-scale, the Weaver is a scale sized set.

I'd buy it at that price!!! Being conventional I'd be ready to roll on my layout!!! I have the MTH RK set....nice but kinda going all scale now. Congrats!

Greg Houser posted:

<snip>

There is a complete, new in the box, set on sale on ebay listed for $1595.00.   I have no idea if this is an accurate price but there are 20 people watching the auction.  Does your set come with sound?  Fyi - if the product number ends in LP the engine has sound, if it ends in just L there is no sound.

Enjoy your find.

-Greg

 

 

I bought my Crusader set at Nicholas Smith for $1600 many years ago. List price.

Don't think my Loco has sound and certainly no TMCC. The $1600 price in today's market is dreamworld.

Nice set, what a score! Congrats!!

I'm jealous....and for how much!?

Many Weavers only like pure sine wave, and some need AC for the DC-- leg of the electronics. But every one I ever ran was smooth and steady.

   You hit a jackpot, lay new track!

(What's the min diameter curve?)

Well, its not the $410 million lottery,  but I think you've got a winner. I have the set and have upgraded the entire set. The engine is pre-command and if you are really into this you can upgrade it to command. The cars are beautiful cars. I had Alex put seats in them which I got from Weaver (which you can't do anymore), passengers and LED lighting in them. Beautiful set with theupgrading and I enjoy it.

Gerry

Yeah - you stole that set. Weaver brass is always a nice find, especially the Samhonsa-built pieces. I do not know who did the Crusader and its equipment.

I'm jealous. I have the MTH RK die-cast Crusader loco - a nice enough piece, good-sized, and I got it because I like streamlined steam - but nothing like as nice as your new loco.

I would like to upgrade the set with sounds and command control, all my curves are 0-48 and got no room to expand sadly. however i really love this set! now Im surprised the shop had it priced so low, maybe they confused it for the MTH Railking set? 

Congratulations! I'm kinda jealous of you right now. lol 

Nice find!

The Weaver Crusader is on my list of sets I would like to have. The “Crusader” which was place in service in December 1937 and ran until early 1950.  The Crusader is the iconic Reading passenger set.  The engine is a Pacific G1-sa.  On a side note, Weaver also did an excellent scale brass version of the unshrouded G1-sa.

A good price for the set is around $750.  Pluses are that it is the ONLY scale size Crusader set made.  I love the car set with the observation cars on both end.  Cons is that as an older set it is conventional and there is no detailed interior on the cars (although the green tinted windows with the silhouette is a nice touch).  The pros definitely outweigh the cons!

Another great scale Reading passenger set is the SGL set (Pacific G3 with brass passenger cars).  The G3’s were constructed to pull semi-streamlined passenger cars, nicknamed “Turtleback blimps” that were re-built by the Reading from PRM coaches.  SGL Lines was a company that was formed by an enthusiast of the Reading who only imported a brass G3 and matching brass passenger cars.

Interestingly, there was a short period of time in 1950, after the original engines were scrapped, that the the Crusader cars were pulled by the G3 Pacifics.

Enjoy your new set!

Jim

For those interested in upgrading the Crusader to command control, which of the available sound sets are close to the Reading whistle?

What do I use to upgrade it to command control?

Id think that depends on which system you have,  or intend to have. But take a look at the offerings by the Electronic Railroad Company. Tmcc boards and owned by Lionel.

Electric Railroad Cruise goes in extremely easy for Weaver engines. Most of the time, you don't have to do anything to the engine, unless you want to upgrade the smoke unit to chuff and puff.

Just remove the old electronics in the tender, keep the old harness, and wire that to the ERR board.

What's weird is I don't know what the real Crusader would sound like, so I guess it's anyone's guess...

If you want command and sounds and such. I would highly recommend going the way of ERR. I bought the LV John Wilkes and got it converted. (Shoutout to Mikado 4501). It runs great and the sounds are a huge improvement over the original sound systems.