Ideas needed for start point on Loco collecting


oxfordlawn

oxfordlawn

Still learning
Hi everyone and thanks for checking this thread. I am an on/off model railroad fan and am back to collect some locos for display and collecting purposes. My finances do not allow the over thousand dollar brass locos, so thats out of the question. Whats a good company to start with, having prices in the 100-200 dollar range(or lower) that is worth getting a nice variety of locos and cars from. I understand there will be many opinions on this, and welcome all view points. My goal over the next few years is to get a nice display case full of different model locos and interesting cars. Also, when purchasing these engines, since I will not run them ever as I dont have a layout, should I be concerned with sound and dcc options or should I get the standard model as people will want to add their own sound preferences years down the road, or as technology changes. I do understand these lower cost cars will not appreciate in value like the brass may, but id rather not be holding onto ones that are worthless in 10 or 20 years either.

So i ask for ideas? where should I be looking to start? If you were to start collecting low to midprice locos and cars---what would you get.

I cant wait to see the varied opinions and answers this may stir up :D
 
I like steam era for sure but as of looking this time around, I also have my eye on the early diesels era, right after the steams were stopped. Those are the models that have my attention right now, but if you know of some other ones worth looking into I am all ears(well eyes in this case) as I really do like all things big, loud, and powerful
 
Since you don't plan on running these locomotives and rolling stock, you might look at straight DC or even unpowered ("dummy") units. HOWEVER... the question you need to answer is what might be the resale value should you ever decide to divest yourself of the collection. In that case, you may want to look at DCC and sound, which would probably go for a lot more than DC or dummy units.

Having said that, you probably want to decide what railroad you wish to model. That is NOT a must, but might be a consideration. There is certainly nothing wrong in picking whatever roads strike your fancy. Another thing to think about is whether you want trains that were typical of the late steam/early diesel (aka 1st and 2nd generation diesels) era, such as EMD E6's and E7's, Burlington #9900 Zephyrs (models of the latter are in the $450 range from ConCors), or some less common ones like the new Centipedes.
Likewise, in steam, it will depend on how common and how much you wish to spend, and how much detail is on the model without adding details yourself. There are a number of possibilities in late (or even early) steamers which, depending on the railroad lasted into the late 1950's, or are still operating today as excursion locomotives, e.g., Union Pacific #844, and Burlington O5 #5632 (which is not operational, being welded to the track at the Colorado Railroad Museum :( ).

As to rolling stock, you probably want to go with box cars that still have the roof walks that were outlawed in the 1980's by OSHA, as the steam/diesel transition era cars still had them. Same with cabooses/waycars, which are no longer used. (IMHO, a freight train without a waycar is agin the laws of nature! :D ) Passenger trains can be either the older heavyweight cars or streamlined cars. Since you intend these for display only, the ability of the full-length 85 ft. cars to negotiate tight model track curves won't matter, and you should go with those rather than "shorties" such as Athearn or the abbreviated ConCor 72' models. The neat thing about the streamliner cars is the variety of paint schemes that each railroad had in the 1930's - 1950's era. Some of the more colorful include the Milwaukee Road's Hiawatha, C&NW 400's, Great Northern Empire Builder, Northern Pacific's North Coast Limited, New York Central's 20th Century Limited, etc.

As to where to get these models, you can, of course go to your local hobby shop and buy new models, or find swap meets where older models may be lurking. You may find model locomotives that look great, but may not run so well, if at all!

One word of WARNING: You may think you will never have room for a layout. But you never know. Once bitten by the model railroading bug, you are in for a lifetime of chronic modelitis! You may get in and out of the hobby for even twenty years, but eventually you will go back to it in some form or another! :D

Hope this is of some help.

Happy Holidays and best of luck!
 
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Since you like the early diesel stuff. You might be interested in the Bachmann Union Pacific DD40AX. During the diesel power wars UP decided to try and put 2 diesel engines in one chassis. This sucker is huge! It has DCC onboard and runs $73.99 at Wholesale Trains. Here is a link. This model has space for a speaker or 2 in the fuel tank if you decide to add sounds.
I am a fan of the Union Pacific behemoths.
-Art
 
Artieiii said:
Since you like the early diesel stuff. You might be interested in the Bachmann Union Pacific DD40AX. During the diesel power wars UP decided to try and put 2 diesel engines in one chassis. This sucker is huge! It has DCC onboard and runs $73.99 at Wholesale Trains. Here is a link. This model has space for a speaker or 2 in the fuel tank if you decide to add sounds.
I am a fan of the Union Pacific behemoths.
-Art
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great..thank you. I like that train :) Now let me ask about Bachmann. Is Bachmann a quality brand name...Im not talking the BMW of model trains but is it one that will be able to be resold down the road someday or will it become worthless like some mass produced cheap china repro products we see in other areas of life.
Are there some brands to avoid as they will lose all value and never be worth anything?? Ive been seeing a lot of Bachmann and Athearn models which are right in my price comfortable range
 
wow, under $200 for big steam. Maybe try Rivarossi models off of ebay. I wouldn't consider them great runners, but at a glance, they can be conversation pieces.
 
D&J RailRoad said:
wow, under $200 for big steam. Maybe try Rivarossi models off of ebay. I wouldn't consider them great runners, but at a glance, they can be conversation pieces.
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whats an example of a starting point price performer that you would feel is a good steamer and yet potential collectability....I dont care if something loses maybe half value...im not using this as an investment but I would hate to spen money on something like this and the in 10 years find its worth $15. Thats the issue im trying to avoid.
 
I'm not quite sure of your question about quality. I had understood you to say this was meant for display, so the running qualities, if that is what you are mostly concerned with, are not going to be very relevant.

If you would like details to show, they cost more. The earlier and not often lamented HO offerings, say from the 60's and 70's, in plastic or diecast, or which you built from kits, were not very well detailed. They looked like locomotives, and in some cases ran well enough, but you had to add bits and pieces if you wanted them to look realistic. Nowadays, because of demand, most locomotives come well detailed, if not necessarily accurately for their type used on Railroad A, B, or C. There were variations.

If you would like affordable steam that is well detailed, try Spectrum locomotives made by Bachmann. Their standard "Bachmann" line are okay, not so well detailed, and their running reliablitiy in recent years has been hit and miss. Spectrum engines, on the other hand, have a better record, and their detailing makes them look great. If you shop around and find DC locomotives, and not the "DCC on board" or "DCC with Sound", you can get them at good prices. Also, if you really only want them for show, and not to run in the future, look to eBay. People flog their junk there all the time. If you just want looks for display, that's the place to go.
 
Selector said:
I'm not quite sure of your question about quality. I had understood you to say this was meant for display, so the running qualities, if that is what you are mostly concerned with, are not going to be very relevant.

If you would like details to show, they cost more. The earlier and not often lamented HO offerings, say from the 60's and 70's, in plastic or diecast, or which you built from kits, were not very well detailed. They looked like locomotives, and in some cases ran well enough, but you had to add bits and pieces if you wanted them to look realistic. Nowadays, because of demand, most locomotives come well detailed, if not necessarily accurately for their type used on Railroad A, B, or C. There were variations.

If you would like affordable steam that is well detailed, try Spectrum locomotives made by Bachmann. Their standard "Bachmann" line are okay, not so well detailed, and their running reliablitiy in recent years has been hit and miss. Spectrum engines, on the other hand, have a better record, and their detailing makes them look great. If you shop around and find DC locomotives, and not the "DCC on board" or "DCC with Sound", you can get them at good prices. Also, if you really only want them for show, and not to run in the future, look to eBay. People flog their junk there all the time. If you just want looks for display, that's the place to go.
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great info again..I will look at the spectrum series steamers tonight
This is the type knowledge I was seeking--thanks all:D
 
Bachmann is NOT quality, and thier DDA40X is junk. Athearn will be coming out with a excellent version of the DA40X soon, but it's going to be spendy. For early diesel era equipment for display look at Proto2000 and newer Athearn RTR models. You'll find the Proto2000 models to be plentiful, affordable, and well detailed for the money.
 
Maybe choose a theme?

My theme would be based on the Virgina Museum of Transportation collection. They've got J 611, A 1218 and a GG1 parked out the back.

http://vmt.org/collections/rail.html

Just avoid the Bachmann J classes. Bachmann does some nice models. I'm happy with the GE 45 tonner. But their J class models, even the lastest are lemons. I'd go MTH or brass for the J class, first run BLI or brass for the A class (both good chioces it if one wants a brass enigne or two) and maybe Trix for the GG1, thoubgh MTH is releasing a run now.

I'd have to have the NS A-B-B-A F unit set for their executive train. I'd got Intermountain undecorated and modify it for accuracy.

The NS hot metal train would be nice in the display case. Walthers makes old fashion treadwell hot metal cars. Athearn genesis and proto have the GP15's.

I've attached a few pics from railroad picture archives and other sources to give you some inpsiration:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/
 
WOW!!:eek::D now thats a bunch of great info. Im glad this thread will be here for me to reference back to over time so I can refer back to all these great suggestions. I love forums for just this reason, the wealth of knowledgeable people. THANK YOU!!!
 
I haven't gotten around to taking pictures of and making a "For Sale" thread yet, but for nice looking older display pieces, I am looking to off-load 2 brass pieces.

A Sperry Rail Car, a track inspection car modeled from a car built in 1948.

And I haven't EXACTLY decided yet, if a brass SD45 painted in the first BN experimental paint scheme, is going to go. I might be influenced to release it.

PICT0004.jpg

PICT0003.jpg


These slides havent faired well, but this is the exact engine its painted for. And the slides would stay with the model.
 
D&J RailRoad said:
wow, under $200 for big steam. Maybe try Rivarossi models off of ebay. I wouldn't consider them great runners, but at a glance, they can be conversation pieces.
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that all depends a little massage & they are nice runners i bought my BIG BOYS & CHALLENGERS first in the mid 90's i cant complain then the latest big boy with sound runs great ;) irociinblue89 said the new bachman 2-8-8-4 is a nice runner but he plans to replace the motor anyways lol :p & that can be had for 213 bucks
 
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now that im spending more time looking around, reading this forums great pages and listening to suggestions, I realize I would need to get a basic theme going or else theres just so many trains its crazy,...Im thinking it would be fun to collect a particular railroad that has been around since steamers days til now. Is there any train company out there that hasnt merged, been bought up by someone else that has been around since steam days still operating under the same name today?? I could picture a collection of all the locos being displayed from start til present and I could have fun researching and collecting as the years gone by.
My local railline is CSX but from what I have read they are a new name company formed by mergers.
 
The only class 1 left would be UP, as they were the ones doing all the acquiring of others... As CSX, NS, BNSF, all being made of mergers over the years. OH, almost forgot CN and CP both had steam.

A very quick look leads to KCS being around in steam days, but they are only recently considered a Class1 railroad, and thats just by tonnage they haul.

Other Regional and short line roads may still be around since steam, but that will just take some digging.
 
Now, I guess I could put out there, that you do not HAVE to pick a railroad that is still there. As this hobby is all about you having FUN! If there is a railroad that is no longer around, but you liked what they were, where they were, colors that they used... any number of reasons, you can "freelance" it, and in your little train world carry on like nothing ever happened- never merged- never went bankrupt- continued on prosperously. And that means any time they were not around, you can pick and choose any engines that you want, and paint them in their colors and pick numbers for.

Now, the BN didn't come around till 1970, but all of the railroads that made them up, all DID have steam. Great Northern, Northern Pacific, Chicago Burlington and Quincy, Spokane Portland and Seattle, Colorado and Southern.

This also includes many others that were merged and eaten up by many others- Western Pacific, Southern Pacific, Pennsylvania, Norfolk Western, Illinois Central, just to name a few. (I have a SOO Line Dash9-44CW in the candy apple red scheme)

It is your world, you make the rules! Do what ever you want to, just make sure you are having fun! This is a hobby....not work.:D
 
Riverrat said:
Now, I guess I could put out there, that you do not HAVE to pick a railroad that is still there. As this hobby is all about you having FUN! If there is a railroad that is no longer around, but you liked what they were, where they were, colors that they used... any number of reasons, you can "freelance" it, and in your little train world carry on like nothing ever happened- never merged- never went bankrupt- continued on prosperously. And that means any time they were not around, you can pick and choose any engines that you want, and paint them in their colors and pick numbers for.

Now, the BN didn't come around till 1970, but all of the railroads that made them up, all DID have steam. Great Northern, Northern Pacific, Chicago Burlington and Quincy, Spokane Portland and Seattle, Colorado and Southern.
This also includes many others that were merged and eaten up by many others- Western Pacific, Southern Pacific, Pennsylvania, Norfolk Western, Illinois Central, just to name a few. (I have a SOO Line Dash9-44CW in the candy apple red scheme)

It is your world, you make the rules! Do what ever you want to, just make sure you are having fun! This is a hobby....not work.:D
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the only thing i can add to this great advice isss if you pick 1 railroad to model then you wont go bankrupt , cause if you start collecting all the roads well............. better sign up for food stamps now :eek:
 
I have been doing some more looking and thinking and with all everyone has said, I feel I would have the most informative and fun time going with UP. Since this is mainly for collecting and displaying, not running on a layout and the railroad history part does interest me....I feel I will learn so much doing the research of "which came next" kind of stuff plus all the experimental engines which im sure happened, such as the monster pictured below which was reccomended in an earlier post in this thread.
 
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