jani419 said:
I had heard from a friend who collects on a much smaller scale, that the older cars might not be as valuable as I thought. Many vintage items appreciate in value but not when technology comes into the picture. I appreciate your reply and will start the process of taking inventory. Thank you.
Yeah, its too bad but true. You see alot of older train cars at train shows and they don't sell for much. Most of the older stuff is seen as "junque" to many modelers who are up on the hobby. I've sold off a great deal of my older models including Athearn, Model Die Casting (Roundhouse) and Details West etc freight cars as I have replaced them with more accurate, detailed and newer freight cars that match the real thing very closely.
There is a market for the older stuff though so it should sell, and for better than garage sale prices. I'd think you might get 2-4 dollars each for much of the older freight cars sold individually or more if there is a special interest in some. Sold in batches it might be one to two dollars per car etc. Its all about who you are marketing too and if you can find buyers who want what you have.
By general information, Tyco, Lifelike and Model Power are all cheapo train set quality stuff and isn't worth much at all. Athearn, Model Die Casting, Walthers, Details West, Bev Bell, Robins Rails and others like that were all good quality kits in their day and are worth more than the train set stuff. Loco's by Athearn which are "blue box" and had to have parts added sold for $15-25 each in the 70's and 80's and depending on condition, could still be worth $10-20 I'm guessing. More recent engines from the 90's like Proto 2000, Stewart, KATO and Atlas are better quality and if in very good conditions could fetch between $20- 50 each depending on brand and demand. Value I'm suggesting are only broad generalizations and you'd have to get some feed back from people who regularly traffic in train collections.
I have sold a fair amount of my older stuff on Ebay so I have some general idea. Most of what I've sold has been Athearn engines, and some older freight car kits etc. Prices of the newer stuff, mostly ready to run has risen dramatically over the last 10 years so that helps the older stuff hold a little value as many people want to collect trains, they don't always care about super detail or accuracy and can't always afford the high prices.
Yes, a good list of all the engines, freight cars, passenger cars, buildings etc with brand and description, road name (Santa Fe, New York Central etc) will be a good way to present basic information to any buyer. Some pictures too - digital if you can.