What does Product Sample mean?

That means it’s a production sample, it’s a locomotive pulled from the assembly line for testing. The engineers state side would use these samples for product development, quality testing, and to check that all their engineering efforts basically “paid off” A production sample is the same as regular production pieces. It gives the engineers an idea of what the rest of the run is going to look like, and how it’s going to operate,.....usually, a production sample is used to ensure the production run is going to be ok,.....I sincerely doubt any of these production samples are of any significant value at this point in the game,....maybe down the road if there’s a resurgence of toy train collecting, but as of right now, ....I’m not seeing it, ....so run it and enjoy it!..

Pat

I agree with Pat as far as value goes.  They may never be worth what you paid for them.  I am pretty sure that goes for most everything you buy.   However, speaking as a collector, engineering samples, prototypes or whatever they are called, in lies a certain coolness of having something that was part of the process of getting the model to market.  I have first castings of engines that were sent back for mold modification because there were no holes where there should be holes.  I have freight cars that were rejected for various reasons.   It is the chase.

It is just something else to collect that is a little unusual.  About three months ago I decided to take a look at K-Line.  Knew little about the company.  Had heard they went out of business because they sold the scale products below cost and of course losing a suit to Lionel.  Maybe if they had stayed in the market they owned they would have been ok.  It appears to me that they delivered a good deal of play value down at the bottom end of the market.

I'm really not concerned about value. I'm sure most of the true value is wishful thinking before any purchase. I am, however, concerned that there are no roller pickups on the engine. The ones on the tender aren't spaced far enough apart to get this engine/tender across my long switch tracks. The engine needs at least one roller. Can anyone help with what the part number might be? OR Ideas!

@junkman posted:

I'm really not concerned about value. I'm sure most of the true value is wishful thinking before any purchase. I am, however, concerned that there are no roller pickups on the engine. The ones on the tender aren't spaced far enough apart to get this engine/tender across my long switch tracks. The engine needs at least one roller. Can anyone help with what the part number might be? OR Ideas!

You need to post that request in the WTB, ....and the item # is a must!....can’t tell what you have with out it,....pics of what’s missing would also be helpful,......

Pat

It's not that something is missing. There never were any rollers under this engine. MTH item number 8504A. This was a product sample. Don't know if the production model had rollers on the engine.