SCL Spirit of 76

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dcwolf

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Dec 24, 2006
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Holiday greetings from a humble newbie! I've stumbled across these boards, have tried to use the board search function (and google) in search of an answer to my questions, but still need to throw this out to the group.

I've got a bunch of HO-scale engines and railcars from the mid and early 70's. Many of these are Athearn brand, still in the original boxes with packaging. One of these is a Seaboard Coastline (SCL) engine that was designed for the 1976 Bicentennial called the "Spirit of 76" FWIW, I know this engine actually existed in full-scale real life. :)

Does anyone know where I can have these Athearn products appraised? Or have any links? Mind you, I don't wish to sell. My father worked for SCL and all these models are like gold to me. I'm going to rebuild a model railroad with the pieces I have, but thought I would try to get a sense of what I've got value-wise.

Any links to "getting started" or "HO for dummies" would also be appreciated.

Best wishes and Happy Holidays,
dcwolf
 
Welcome to The Gauge:wave:

While Athearn has good resale value, very little of it is "collectible". You 1776 unit had its peak in 2001 on the 25th anniversary but even then that only added $10 or so dollars to its value. Don't be discouraged, like I said, it has a good resale value, usually $20-40, the old GP30, the Auto-Train U-Boat and a couple other hard to find pieces from the 50s and 60s garnering more. Here's a website for more help>>> http://hoseeker.net/swapgallery/maingallerypage?page=1
 
Generally speaking, Athearn locomotives and rolling stock are excellent operationally, but inexpensive until you get to the modern Genesis Line. Some of the older discontinued or special edition models Like your SCL bicentenial model might have a little extra value, but generally they don't have collector value. They have been the "backbone" of model railroading for many years however because they work, are easily repaired, and pull strongly.
 
Welcome dcwolf! Glad you're going to hang onto that eqipment and get back into model railroading! As for getting started it seems a lot of new members are in the same boat so check on the "new posts" anmd I think you'll see a lot of threads asking about how-to's.

Feel free to post your own specific questions as well or try our "search" feature up above.

Glad you could join us!
Ralph
 
One of the big pluses to using Athearn in addition to the quality of the locomotives is that you can allow kids to operate them without worrying that something might break. The only Athearn part that I know of that is not available is the shell for the old GP30. A year or so after Athearn put that model into production, the mold was dropped and broke. When it was repaired, it lost the roof extension and became a GP35 instead.
 
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