What Is The Rarest Item You Own?

American Flyer standard gauge 4693 set with the mechanical swinging bell once owned by Ward Kimble.

Just remembered that I have the MTH Premier Tony Lash CWI 50 foot high cubes, 2 bay centerflow hoppers, and 60 foot flats with trash containers all in both road numbers. Those are pretty rare from what I understand. I certainly would like to learn more about these special run cars if anyone has any info they would like to share.    Paul

6464-300  Solid Shield Rutland Box car .  My next rarest item would be another 6464-300 Solid Shield Rutland this time the Glossy variation!!

Paul Edgar

An all original 1916 DWM Atrillery Luger with matching serial numbers.   Oh, you mean model trains?  That would be my command Wienermobile, one of a kind.

Shortly after I closed enterTRAINment, I was down at my warehouse space on a Sunday morning, when the phone rang. The lady on the other end of the line asked me if I wanted some trains. She said her son didn't want them anymore, and she wanted them gone from her attic. She said I could just come over and get them, she'd leave them on the porch. I got there, she was nowhere in sight, but the trains were, and put them in the trunk then took a quick peek in the box. I was pretty excited by the ballast tamper with its box, but the rest looked very ordinary.

When I got home, I spread everything out on the table. Among other things, there was a 6414 but no cars, or so I thought. There were some really cheap plastic cars in the box, 2 red and 2 yellow. Those couldn't go with the auto loader, Lionel wouldn't do that, would they? I got out my Greenberg  guide and discovered, much to my dismay, they did! Not a crack or broken strut on them.

You can just make out the roof of the ballast tamper, below the Marine Corps helicopter car.

I don't think I've got anything truly rare. I do have a scarce prewar 154 highway flasher with the orange  base. It took me quite a while to find one in the shape I wanted for the price I was willing to pay:

Earlier someone mentioned an MTH coil car. I finally bought an EJ and E one after a few years of looking, so those seem to be pretty scarce too.

I also collect Plasticville, and a few Yorks ago stumbled across a grey roofed colonial mansion. Neither the seller nor I knew this item was one of the more valuable items in the Plasticville hobby. 

Don't know which of these items is the rarest. The signal is the only one of them currently on the layout, so it's probably my favorite of them.

J White

some nice items

Bob C.

Since I run on the floor of the basement, and flooding is a possibility, I try to stay away from anything rare.

Wild guess would be K-Line IC extruded cylindrical hoppers.

Most sarcastic would be working K-Line remote dump cars.

In O gauge, I have a Lionel #240 scout locomotive. This came in an scarce un-cataloged Sears military set from 1965. I also have a rare Marklin HO locomotive, a #3045 Danish 2-10-0, It was cataloged in 1966-68 but didn't sell well. Hence, they are extremely hard to find now and are often faked.

I have a 1950 Unique Arts 0 gauge Unique Lines electric trains set.  The set has the even more rare litho cattle car.  Includes the transformer, rheostat, and tracks.  It runs great and it is complete and original.  Not all that valuable but it is rare and truly unique.

Bum.

Probably my original set......from 1958, the New Haven F3 freight set depicted here:

Peter

I forgot about another item that is on the rare side (only 3680 made in 1966), Set #19583 Uncatalogued with the 251-25 loco.  The set is abt. 99%, but missing the set box.  I had a cousin who got my Lionel stuff when I hit my teenage years, and about a year ago, he asked it I wanted it all back.  The previous post with the Hoge Streamliner was part of the package.   Got my original trains, and stuff that my uncle had bought both my cousins.  Little did I know at the time, that he had a majority of the 29583 set, with a few missing items.  I have since found, and replaced what was missing, but regrettably no Set Box.  I also had the uncatalogued 235 loco set, which I sold, that was another rare item.  Nothing really exotic or outrageous price wise for rarity, but fairly rare non the less.

I have one pair each of the MTH CWI flatcar-with trash containers and CWI "Leachate" hoppers.

But the examples below may be a wee bit rare-r:

A K-Line clear-shell MP-15. Supposedly an engineering sample, perhaps a half-dozen exist (what I heard, don't know for a fact)

This pair of Williams chrome tankers. Pre-dating the acquisition by Bachmann, these were supposedly samples that never went into production. I bought them at Williams' booth at York many years ago. No idea how many exist, but couldn't have been a whole lot.

those tankers are gorgeous

Bob C.

I'd say my Senco Sound Tender and records.

I'd say my Senco Sound Tender and records.

What do the records look like?
There was also a wiring box to hook your sound source to the track.

That monorail is way cool!

10" LPs

interesting - the first rail sounds feature. How well did it work?

Bob C.

I was rereading some old O Gauge mags last night, and Fred Dole had found one of the tenders at a flea market and asked for some info in Walt Hulsweder's Old & Rare column. The tenders are die cast, made shortly after WWll in Pittsburgh. There was a mixer box you attached to your own record player, and it transmitted the recording to the speaker in the tender. It only lasted a few years, so it must not have been too successful. I had wanted one of these ever since Fred's story, and I finally got one a couple years ago, and the records shortly after that. Funny thing, before I got the complete set, my Uncle Jim gave me one of the records, without cover a few years ago, but he never had the tender. A few relatives had trains when Jim and Dad were growing up(they were from the Beaver Falls area) so one of them must have had the tender.

The mock-up of the River Leaf Models CNJ Switchman's Shanty, (thanks Andre), and my hair!

Don

For accessories, my 617 Diner made by Madison Hardware, for a train, my electric Marx Mickey Mouse Meteor set. Never seen another.......yet. We know Marx did do many small run items, so there are more somewhere.

Steve

I don't have much,  but I do have two " Natty Boh" cars. 

Dan, I don't know anything about collecting bank notes. Is there something we should be seeing on that 1$ bill that makes it rare?

65oo bonanza red plane,car,box with instructions,red 6262 wheel car,i have many variations,mostly in very good condition,just sold a red glossy 6456 hopper with white lettering,love finding variations!

stangerdude posted:

Just remembered that I have the MTH Premier Tony Lash CWI 50 foot high cubes, 2 bay centerflow hoppers, and 60 foot flats with trash containers all in both road numbers. Those are pretty rare from what I understand. I certainly would like to learn more about these special run cars if anyone has any info they would like to share.    Paul

RailRide posted:

I have one pair each of the MTH CWI flatcar-with trash containers and CWI "Leachate" hoppers.

There was an original boxcar (non-high cube, 20-93155) made in 2 numbers per standard Premier offerings, hence why the high cube set starts numbered at 3 instead of 1.

The garbage flats actually had 2 different model #'s (2 road numbers each), so for a full set of them, you would want 4 cars.  The graphics on the flats were different for the 2 sets, and the containers were also slightly different colored (dark navy blue vs. black, I think) and had somewhat different markings (aside from the numbers on the containers all being different).

That's the extent of what I know off the top of my head.  I seem to recall taking some pictures for a thread regarding these cars on this forum quite a while ago, but that may have been before one of the upgrades, so I do not know if that thread exists anymore.

(I just searched, these were brought up in an old similar thread and Bill T posted some pics coinciding with my recollection above)  Another thread that mentions these cars.  And another.  And this one has the catalog numbers!

I would not be surprised if there are other items Tony had made that were not offered to the general public like the above items were.  I know there were CWI garbage trucks on his old layout, but I have no idea if he just had some done for himself or if they were also at some point sold to the public, or maybe offered to his close friends.

Hope that helps.

-Dave

also my first set from 1963 ,617 space set,i received when I was 1 years old,engine ,caboose survived,other cars were in pieces,have since replaced all cars,now,to find set box,lol

Sandy River Rail Road Baggageman hat badge.  I have never seen one in any book.

I guess this might be considered somewhat rare.  I have a Williams brass T1 that has a small brass plate under the rear truck that says "PRR T1: 1 of 650". 

George

In my BEST Don Adams voice: "Would you believe..............

Simon

Probably this old junker 2347, which isn't saying much....At least it is a real one 

I was fortunate enough to purchase a #508/#509 prewar Lionel Dealer display when I was a teenager due to the kindness of an older dealer on the Jersey shore.  I tell the story of how I got it often -- too often -- so I'll just show the item itself here:

I had it framed in the late 1980s.  The framing store told me that the acid in the paper would destroy it within 30 years and that I needed to opt for an expensive treatment they were offering.  It's still just fine today so I'm glad I didn't listen to them.

Steven J. Serenska

Serenska posted:

I was fortunate enough to purchase a #508/#509 prewar Lionel Dealer display when I was a teenager due to the kindness of an older dealer on the Jersey shore.  I tell the story of how I got it often -- too often -- so I'll just show the item itself here:

I had it framed in the late 1980s.  The framing store told me that the acid in the paper would destroy it within 30 years and that I needed to opt for an expensive treatment they were offering.  It's still just fine today so I'm glad I didn't listen to them.

Steven J. Serenska

love to heat the story, e mail me if you'd like.

Free time.

Postwar-issue 6414 Evans Auto Loader and four original Kelly green cars with gray bumpers multiple sources indicate is a scarce variation, but Lionel may have taken an edge off the value by reissuing a Modern Era version in 2006.    

Dan Padova posted:

i'll see your $1 and raise you $100...

cheers...gary

I was fortunate to acquire a one of a kind Atlas Nickel Plated Alp44 Shell Jim Weaver had made for a display. Still has Jims note and signature on the box.

Serenska posted:

I was fortunate enough to purchase a #508/#509 prewar Lionel Dealer display when I was a teenager due to the kindness of an older dealer on the Jersey shore.  I tell the story of how I got it often -- too often -- so I'll just show the item itself here:

I had it framed in the late 1980s.  The framing store told me that the acid in the paper would destroy it within 30 years and that I needed to opt for an expensive treatment they were offering.  It's still just fine today so I'm glad I didn't listen to them.

Steven J. Serenska

Heck, please post the story!

Steamer posted:

Serenska posted:

I was fortunate enough to purchase a #508/#509 prewar Lionel Dealer display when I was a teenager due to the kindness of an older dealer on the Jersey shore.  I tell the story of how I got it often -- too often -- so I'll just show the item itself here:

I had it framed in the late 1980s.  The framing store told me that the acid in the paper would destroy it within 30 years and that I needed to opt for an expensive treatment they were offering.  It's still just fine today so I'm glad I didn't listen to them.

Steven J. Serenska

love to heat the story, e mail me if you'd like.

Dave: 

I just looked and the story was last posted 11 years ago on another forum so maybe it won't hurt to post it here.  

I bought much of the good stuff in my collection when I was a teenager from a dealer named Oscar F. Helbig who lived in Belmar, NJ.  I got a 2353 Santa Fe ABA set, a 52 Fire Car, 175 rocket launcher, 352 Icing Station, 264 Forklift, 282 Crane, Culvert Loader, and many, many others all between, say, 1974 and 1979.  Every time my lawn-cutting or summer job money got up to a point, my father and I would make the trip down from Middletown, NJ where we lived to Belmar.

The last time I saw him was after he had had a stroke.  He was quite incapacitated and my father and I went for a visit -- no trains -- just as friends.  I think my father (who didn't collect trains at all) was as fond of him as I was.  Once, at a train show in Northern, NJ, Mr. Helbig told me that I should go to some meet or other and, when I told him I wasn't a TCA member, he found and signed an application on the spot and then brought it over to another TCA member to fulfill the two signatures rule.  This was probably just a few months after my 18th birthday.

One day, we went down to Belmar intending to buy some piece or other of postwar Lionel.  We always called first to make sure he would be around and, when we did, Mr. Helbig said, "When you get here, I'll have something outside that you've never seen before and I would like you to buy one."  When we arrived, I saw three complete sets of these dealer display panels sitting next to each other, leaning against the backs of 3 folding chairs he had set outside his garage.

If you can't tell from the photo above, the display consists of a large rectangular panel sitting behind the mountain that is a sky background with a mountain scene in front of it.  The only marking on the rear panel other than the sky is a yellow, 3" x 7" Lionel Electric Toy Trains herald in the lower right corner.  The panel isn't sky-blue (in the paint-color sense), but it gives the impression that you are looking at the upper reaches of the sky on one of those days when there is a thin layer of high, white clouds.

A second cardboard piece sits in front of the sky background.  The cardboard background is cut out in the shape of a mountain.  The one shown above is green and gives the appearance of being snow-capped (or granite-capped, like in NH or Vermont).  There is a picture of a prewar-style electric loco running through a twisty curve on its way to a village.

Mr. Helbig told me that he had a friend who was interested in one of the three, that he was going to keep one for himself, and that I should take the other.  I wasn't much interested in Prewar items, but I could tell by the way he was speaking to me -- and from my father's reaction -- that this was something I should purchase.  I recall Mr. Helbig saying "You'll never see three of them together again."  I honestly don't even remember what he charged me, but it would have had to fit in the budget of a lawn-cutting teenager.  Probably something like $20-50.

The posters hung on the wall behind my train layout in my parent's basement for many years until I became a little more aware of just what I had on my hands.  I have always assumed this was a dealer display comprised of the #508 sky background and #509 mountain.  I do remember that when I saw the three of them together that not all the images were the same.  I have since come across a picture of another one, and it's shown here:

As noted above, I had mine framed to preserve it a bit better and to make it easier for me to display.  It has hung in my office for many years and invariably draws a number of positive comments.

Thanks for asking.

Steven J. Serenska
TCA : 78-13181