What Is The Rarest Item You Own?

Restart thread my rarest is my 5A Lionel test set, followed by my 5B lionel test set

GNK posted:

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

That is very interesting as my Williams T1 has a brass plate stating it is 1 of 750.  Different run years?  Very interesting indeed.

1965 Lionel 2347 C&O GP7 I think one of about 315 if I remember correctly for the uncatologed Sears set.

Hmm... Maybe my custom locomotives. I doubt anyone has the exact same pieces:

Custom Williams Single Motor F7a with FULL cab interor.

Custom K-line Mp15DC with correct railings, brass fuel tank, and 

full cab interior

Custom detailed Williams Brass sharks

Rescued Custom Lionel postwar NW2 with ERR electronics and detailed brass parts

and Great Mention to this scratchbuilt O scale bobber cabin car with 

full custom interior [including felt covers on the bed!] I never saw anything like it!

For production items, it would have to be the GGD El Capitan set in Amtrak scheme, which is only one of nine? Made ( first run there was 5, second run there was 4 or 3?)

My Tyco clock....(circa 1955)

I have the Lionel military train headed by a steam engine with slope back tender. the flatcars carry the Pyro military loads complete and unbroken.

Bob C.

I have two MTH PS3 2rail steam engines !!

only 2 or 3 made of each one ??

A Motor City 1:43 1956 Dodge Lancer HT. Only 500 were made. 

I can't find the photos, but I have an HO George Stock GG1 kit unbuilt in the box which is hand dated for 1946. 

George Stock was one of the earliest manufacturers of HO equipment in the US starting in 1930.  His locomotives are hard to find and even harder to identify.  This is one of 6 Stock GG1's I've seen since 1992 and I own three of them.  Crude by today's standards but scale length and heavy.  He also made PRR based steam locomotive kits.  I have never seen one online or in person.  His GG1 kits were offered from the mid 30's through the early 50's when he stopped production.  Near as I can tell, his GG1 was the oldest model made of a GG1. 

Ahem GG1 4877, didn't you get a GGD Amtrak El Capitan set?

All original WW1 Artillery Luger.

Oh, you mean model train stuff.

A series of European Wagon Lits cars were going to be made but in the end only ten of this Restaurant car were made; it is a brass 0 gauge model:

Regards

Fred

prrhorseshoecurve posted:

Ahem GG1 4877, didn't you get a GGD Amtrak El Capitan set?

Oh yeah!  I did get one of those.  a second run one at that. I still need to get a chance to run these soon.  The rarer find will be SDP40Fs to pull it.  :-)

Lionel 6807 "Flatcar with amphibious vehicle"- a USMC 'duck', way out of scale,  with original box.... It was given to me new as a Christmas present, by my late brother... Priceless to me...

The Chevrolet factory Lemans headlight covers for my former 1968 road race corvette.

Oh wait, you meant train stuff, all my custom detailed brass locos.

I guess I've never considered rarity per se something for which I'd go out of my way.  Closest I have to a "rare" item would be my #53 Rio Grande snowplow, with the correct (non-reversed) letter "a".  I didn't even find out that it was anything unusual till many years later.

It was the only thing I ever bought from Madison Hardware.

Dave45681 posted:

JC642 posted:

The rarest train related item I own came about by a mistake.  Probably the only six intact Lionel instant rub off lottery tickets in existence.  You'd have to be really stupid to do this intentionally.  I discovered them in a coat pocket two years after they expired.   Worthless today and since I'm really afraid to find out I may have missed out on the big one, they're hanging on a wall today as a conversation piece. 

joe

Well, color me stupid!   There are at least 2 unscratched sets that survived.

I have what I believe is a full set of these unused that were a gift as well (though I admit I would have to go look at them to figure out how many I have).  They are in perfect shape.

Somehow I doubt we are in the running for truly "rare" with these.  There are probably still a few die hard Lionel paper collectors that stashed away a set back then.

-Dave

I have a set, but, I scratched them off. I wasn't going to be stupid enough to pass up a chance at $30K as they'll never be worth that much unscratched in my lifetime!

What is rare in my house is $20 dollar bills. 

I have a letter from my ex-wife admitting she really did like the trains

Among others ... probably the Father/Son SF caboose.

Unlike Eliot, I don't have an ex-wife - so I find such a letter that he possesses as totally rare.

Really, I guess my answer is nothing rare, just some of what I have been fortunate to have aquired is hard to find....I praise the Lord for my friends in the hobby and that is worth it's weight in gold....Great Thread...

sncf231e posted:

A series of European Wagon Lits cars were going to be made but in the end only ten of this Restaurant car were made; it is a brass 0 gauge model:

Regards

Fred

The detail is amazing! I've never seen anything like it!

I had this 3530 fall in my lap last year and i about went numb .

I feel like I've posted this before, but it has to be the MTH Steelers 2-8-0 starter set from 2005 with the locomotive and box autographed by Dan Rooney, the late owner of the Steelers and former US Ambassador to Ireland. It's hard to see in the photos, but the lettering says "Dan Rooney, H.O.F. 2000." I've yet to see another one of these starter sets that was autographed in the same manner. If anyone has more info, I really want to know how in the world Dan Rooney ended up signing one of these. 

The Montour SW9s are also pretty rare, but they aren't mine. I was borrowing them that weekend from the local train club. 

Joe Congemi posted:

The detail is amazing! I've never seen anything like it!

More pictures can be seen here: http://sncf231e.nl/about/some-...ciwl-restaurant-car/

Regards

Fred

A original Lionel 8 Std Ga Trolley

Well, I do mainly Legacy controlled items, so what I have is not all that rare.  One item that I have seen very little of is my conventional PE with whistle steam (6-18754).  I don't know why, but I love that little loco!  I run it at the children's museum every year during the Christmas Season.  The never seem to pop up for sale...

Not sure how rare it is in absolute terms, but certainly something you don't see every day: A mostly-intact Dorfan Std gauge set in the original box.

Just before we moved a neighbor down the street called me and heard about us moving and that I was interested in trains. He like most had never seen my layout. He told me he had some old trains from the thirties that were his as a kid. We were in the middle of packing and generally going crazy. I'm not into prewar so I told him I would check them out in a few days. Well I forgot about it but he called back. He told me he had them out on a table and I could have them free if I wanted them. I ran down the street thinking, great more junk to pack. Well he was wrong on all counts. He must have been mixed up about the time and all I could figure they were the trains he gave his son years ago and the son never played with them much. This is what he gave me. Oh, there was a plasticville "house under construction" in the Lionel box also. Don

My super-rare item is an automobile, one of two known to exist, second to that is a non-train toy, and then there are two O scale brass models: a Mack railbus, of which l think there are more, and a Sykes railbus, of which l have heard of no other. These may be Ken Kidder or some such. I have never found a McKeen car to go with them (was outbid on one). 

It seems to be only a "5" in rarity, but it would have to be my Lionel 6557 smoking caboose.  I don't have deep enough pockets to own any truly rare items.

There are a few rare items in our collection; here's one at the top of the list. 

John

How about REstarting this wonderful thread, but make it for those willing to post pix? Don't tell us about the treasures you have hidden away, SHOW US! Thx to those who care enough to show items we like seeing and hearing about...

I agree, like we say in diving when we see something unusual, if it's not on video or photos, you didn't see it. Don

My rarest item is the 1933 "Century of Progress" windup trainset made by Hafner.  This was a special set made for the 1933 World's Fair that took place in Chicago.  The Hafner factory was located near Chicago and the company only made windup O-gauge trains.  This set also has an operating battery powered headlight and taillight.

Had a "Rare Earth" magnet.  I don't know why they call it that.  Earth is not so rare.  It's all around us.  We spend many hours and many dollars sweeping, washing, scrubbing, getting rid of it. 

Now a "Rare Mars" magnet, that  would be something!  That would be red hot!! 

pittsburghrailfan posted:

I feel like I've posted this before, but it has to be the MTH Steelers 2-8-0 starter set from 2005 with the locomotive and box autographed by Dan Rooney, the late owner of the Steelers and former US Ambassador to Ireland. It's hard to see in the photos, but the lettering says "Dan Rooney, H.O.F. 2000." I've yet to see another one of these starter sets that was autographed in the same manner. If anyone has more info, I really want to know how in the world Dan Rooney ended up signing one of these. 

The Montour SW9s are also pretty rare, but they aren't mine. I was borrowing them that weekend from the local train club. 

Hi Dan:

I have that same set but my box is not autographed (I just checked to make sure!).  If yours is the only one with Dan’s autograph, with his recent passing, there will never be another one!  

I wonder who arranged for Dan to sign yours?  Where did you buy it?  I know that the late Frank Hare, the former owner of Iron Horse Hobby Shop, was very well-connected in the Pittsburgh business community. 

Attached is a photo of my rarest Steeler-themed car.  I’m sure there are others just like it.  I think “Doc” has one.

Go Pens!

Bill

How about REstarting this wonderful thread, but make it for those willing to post pix? Don't tell us about the treasures you have hidden away, SHOW US! Thx to those who care enough to show items we like seeing and hearing about...

How would you do that?
You can skip the ones without pictures.
Pictures are nice, reading descriptions without pictures is OK too.

How about Outfit 161 from 1916 in like new condition with the rare PRR Box car with maroon roof?