What have you used to research and figure out the $$$ value of your train collection?

sir-i would use ebay-write everything you want insured and since ebay has 3-5 of everything for sale-you can gauge what your items are worth-another factor to consider is the cond.of your items-if your items have been used-have dents scratches,paint chips,etc.-this will lower the price of your items

Actually, Use the Completed listings on the bay to get actual values.

Some listings have been repeating for years due to ridiculous pricing. (I keep watching this one, But no way am I paying that much for a common PS1 engine)

I have to be thankful, I have the receipts for most of mine. Not that I'm worried about insurance yet. But now that I think about it, I do have several thousand dollars tied up down there.

I always make a record of what I paid for something. That is the true value to me. Then I use the latest guides to balance out any values that are too high or too low. Using E-Bay is the worse thing you can do. Its too volatile to be dependable. One week you can have a loco valued at $100 selling for $60 and the next week the same loco in same condition sells for $145. I've also seen some insane prices on e-bay as a lot of sellers have no idea what they have and what its worth. Avoid e-bay at all costs. You can also consider having an appraiser come in and value the trains for you. Their fee is a few bucks generally and you'll get a professional over all evaluation.

Gandy

I have never done research on all of the locos I own: I do not have my "train stuff" (I hestitate to call it a collection) insured even though I have certainly spent a gob of money on it, and I never intend to sell anything in my lifetime, so its market value is not important to me.  I have all the receipts somewhere so I know what I paid whenever I bought each loco, etc., but that does not correspond with market value now.

I have and do research the market price of classic or used loco and such I am thinking of buying.  I do so by looking at what things sell for on e-bay and other auction sites, and usually depend on finding at least three, preferably five sales within the last year or two to provide a reasonable average.

You could also research liveauctioneers.com.   Several large toy train auction houses use it to front end their auctions.  You can search for past auction items and selling prices.  Also, Ambrosebauer.com posts past auction prices for their auctions.

I used the Following tools when insuring items:

Completed listings on ebay

Auction sites

Greenburg's Price guides

LCCA Interchange Track

TCA National Headquarters News

Patrick,

Your home owners does not cover your replacement value on your collection. I asked Nationwide about it they would attach a special rider with the premiums running about 10% of the total collection value each year.

Scott Smith

If I value the joy and happiness that my trains bring to me, then they are surely priceless. 

Has anyone used MITrains.com database as a source of values?  Does anyone use their inventory program?

I just heard about them a few days ago from a friend.

Thanks!

Hi,  The NMRA has a train insurance program where you can set the value of your collection without a list of each item.  There may be other insurance programs through the TCA, etc.

Unless you are collector of rare early trains, it is very hard to value your collection.  I recently helped liquidate a collection of very fine modern trains on eBay and at train shows over a period of about 3 years.  The deceased owner paid $50K plus for the collection.  The total collection brought about $12K at sale.

Another factor that many of us overlook when valuing our train collection is the value of the track, switches, display cases, layout wiring, power supplies, lumber in the layout, figures and autos on the layout, etc.  We normally buy these items over many years.  The replacement cost of these items really adds up and could easily exceed $10K.  I know one person who probably has $100K in scenery on his layout.  Of course, the layout is large and contains many trees, etc.

Joe

TCA offers blanket coverage without a required inventory for a reasonable annual premium.

Im sorry for getting off track Kenn,

They replaced the cost of the new items wothout question with the new replacement  item recipt.

Anyway ,

My advice above was to do a google and take the highest sale price of the latest auctions.

Whatever insuarance options you use is your business,obviously make sure you get the most for your buck and Image document them along with your list.Each person is different in how they deal with their insuarance issues.

I would use Ebay as a good gauge of replacement value. 

I put the purchase price on an Excel spreadsheet.  Take the total, divide by about 4 and that's what it is worth since there are no Congressional sets or 1937 Hudsons therein.  Fun factor value?  Priceless.