Your train catalog collection

I donated/threw all of those out years ago. Most are all available on line. I have a few on the shelf I just haven't gotten around to throwing out (really just haven't looked at them). 

I've got dozens of hard-cover books, DVDs, VHS tapes, etc I'm debating on what to do with. I'd like to keep the DVDs and maybe convert some VHS tapes. 

I do not subscribe to any train magazines nor buy any except in very, very rare occasions. 

I don't even get paper catalogs anymore, just look at it on line. 

I have catalogs my Dad and my Uncle gave me when I was a kid that go back to 1933.

American Flyer 1953- 1960, Weaver 1990- 1994 and all of the MTH catalogs. Everything except the AF catalogs will be going to re-cycling with tons of magazines, etc. before the snow flies....... 

I had all (perhaps most)of Lionel , K-line, and MTH catalogs from about 1999 through 2014.  Got rid of almost all when we moved.  

Note enough space for "more stuff".

I should also note - the original Postwar catalogs and paperwork are, most certainly, NOT going anywhere. They are preserved with the appropriate sets in the original set boxes. I avoid looking at them or touch them due to how fragile they are now. 

i have complete set  of catalogs for atlas o, k-line, mth, and row,lionel 1980-current....i sold a complete set of postwar lionel catalogs in the 1980's right before the train market took a big dive....

I have an original 1950 Lionel catalog, the year my first and only train was in. I also have a repro 1952 catalog. Both hard copies. I also have pdfs of about a dozen pre war catalogs that were made available a few years ago on one of Yahoo forums for download. Other catalogs I value are from the brass importers in the 1960s and '70s like Pacific Fast Mail, Balboa, Max Gray, Westside.

Pete

Realized late in life (too  late) I enjoyed the catalogs as much (possibly more) than the stuff that was in them. One of our forum colleagues was giving away more than 100 lbs. of catalogs from multiple manufacturers - Lionel, MTH, K-Line, Atlas, Weaver, Williams - on the For Sale forum.  Sure was tempting, but the postage cost was prohibitive to further indulge my desire to thumb through old catalogs.  The catalogs and I were two thousand miles apart, sending Dwight Yoakum running through my mind times two.

Someone once gave me catalogs dating back to the late 80s. Someone threw them away sadly  

I have most every Lionel catalog since 1947 ( and a re-pro 1937) + most Atlas"O" catalogs since inception and a smattering of MTH as well. Forgot to throw in my 1953 & 1955 Gilbert American Flyer catalogs and the late S-Helper Service "S" catalogs to boot.

Love to look at the genuine paper every once in a while or for researching questions posed here by Forum members.

I have all Lionel Catalog from 1967 to current. I store them in clear sleeves and 4" binders. I have mostly all weaver, a bunch of Williams and wbb, many 3rd rail flyers, some rowi, some K-Line, and all my MTH including some Early sales fliers when there was a store. Along with the mags of O.G.R., C.T.T, O.S.T, and the former 48/ft, you can call me a paper pack rat.

Folks can say what they want, ""it's the catalog",  like the one just introduced on the computer, 2017 Lionel Signature Edition #2, that gets us train enthusiast excited and happy simply to see what's coming our way....I am a pack rat, my collection goes from 1947 thru today. I have most all Manufacturers of O Guage, Lionel, MTH, K-Line, Peco's River, Atlas O, Weaver, Trains Magazine, CTT, OGR, Railroad Model Craftsman, O Guage Railroading, (no AC Gilbert), old Department 56 catalogs, and more....I have a file cabinet full of the catalogs for quick referencing when buying pre-owned trains here in the forum... I did bundle a lot of them up, by year....Good Question, happy collecting.

Lionel 46-67.....Then most of the MPC ones. I have a Right of Way catalog from the early 90s. MTH and Lionel from the modern era up to about 2004....then I just gave the new ones out to kids at shows.

Peter

All mine where donated to visitors at the San Diego 3-Railers and All Gauge Toy Train Association for the Kids. 

I have Lionel catalogs from '46, '47, '49, '50, '51, '54, and '56. Also, a '51 Flyer catalog. Years ago I tried to find the Greenberg book showing the postwar Lionel catalogs, but IF you can find one, it will cost some big bucks. I was able to buy the Lionel ones, above, at a local TCA show, from one seller, at reasonable prices...far less than the Greenberg book of repros. The AF one I got on eBay for $10.

I got my first train set, a Lionel, for Christmas 1947...hence the interest. I know I looked with awe at some of the later ones when I was a bit older (8 years old in 1950).

 I've got a Lionel catalog from 1925 missing the cover. Got most of the ones from the 30's, a few from the 40's and 50's. and most of the rest to the present day.

I gave all my catalogs away on Halloween along with candy. 

I have Lionel 1954 (that has my original train set in it) and a few other PW catalogs (56, 57, 59). I love the PW artwork! I have many catalogs from Lionel, K-Line, MTH, Atlas, Williams, and Weaver, especially from when I got back in the hobby...1990 or so. I used to pick them up at Trainfest, which is a great place to get catalogs.

I inherited a complete set of Lionel catalogs from my Dad, along with his trains; the catalog collection starts around 1920 and ends in 2001, the year he died. I had intended to continue the catalog collection, but the new ones just don't appeal to me. 

I have every regular issue Lionel catalog from '31 on. A few accessory catalogs, dealer advance, etc., but mostly I just go after the "drool book" editions.  From '46 on are about 97% mint.  Pre-'31 I have a few scattered repros. Unfortunately, they're all sleeved and stored away, so I can't just pull-up a given year to review something.  Yeah, yeah, I know there are collections on CDs; just haven't wanted one badly enough.

Really hard to find pre-'31 in any 1/2 way decent shape.  Money talks....

I only hold onto catalogs for 4-5 years and toss them I mainly hold them until the trains I ordered in that catalog arrive. 

I have most, if not all, of the Gilbert American Flyer consumer catalogs and a few of the dealer and advance catalogs from 1939 through the demise of the ACG company in 1966.  To me the most valuable of my catalogs are those that my Dad picked up or received in the mail from 1947 to 1956 along with the 1959 and 1960 that I picked up as a kid new at my local hobby shop.  

These now well worn catalogs laid the foundation for my continuing love of trains.  The rest of the catalogs, along with a smattering of pre-war Flyer and iconic Lionel in my collection, I aquired since I started attending train shows and meets in the '80s. My catalogs are likely to be the last vestige of this hobby that accompanies me to the retirement home.

Cheers!

Alan

I'm something of a post war nut so I have all of Lionel's catalogs from 1947 to 1959 inclusive.  I also have the American Flyer catalogs from 1948 to 1959 inclusive.  They are all original and except for one or two are in superb condition.  Years ago I purchased Greenberg's Lionel Catalogues Volume I and II.   I still love paging through the old catalogs .  I have a bunch of MPC  and Lionel catalogs from about 1971 to 2001 along with MTH, Weaver and Williams from about 1980 to 2001.  When MTH came out with their Tinplate traditions catalogs and then the Lionel Corporation catalogs I picked up a few to keep  but then decided I had more than enough paper to browse through for the remainder of my life.

I have an ad in the "For Sale" section for all my catalogs (Atlas O, Flyer, K-Line, Lionel, MTH, & Williams) which i'm giving away for free (you pay shipping). I'll be updating the listing later today or tomorrow. Hope this doesn't violate Forum policy; if it does please delete.

I used to have Lionel, MTH and K-Line from the mid 80s through today. Then we started talking about buying a new house so I started boxing up all of the catalogs. Before I knew it there seemed to be 100 pounds of paper in stacks of boxes that I hadn't looked at in years. I decided then to offer them for free and there were no takers so now they have been recycled. I felt sorry for the recycling truck driver who had to lift all those boxes!!

i have held on to some catalogs that are personally meaningful or of some industry historical importance that fit in one bankers box. 

They still are a lot of fun to get and read so I imagine I'll have to perform another purge in five years. 

Putnam Division posted:

Lionel 46-67.....Then most of the MPC ones. I have a Right of Way catalog from the early 90s. MTH and Lionel from the modern era up to about 2004....then I just gave the new ones out to kids at shows.

Peter

Hello Peter,

Know that the photos in the Right of Way catalog were taken by the late Fred Dole.  I watched him take most of them.  He was very talented.

The Erie Lackawanna Alco A-B-A was really just an A-B.  He shot the A-B and without moving the B unit, moved the A unit to the other end of the B unit and took another shot.  Thus appeared an A-B-A in the catalog; all without Photoshop!

I am fortunate to have that EL A-B.

Lou N