Please help: How much could this train collection be worth?


C

Clueless

New Member
Pictures:
http://www.mediafire.com/view/?ci489lud7i637#3mbpzaad5sc6erp


Explanation:
Alright, my grandfather died 4 months ago. He was among other things a train enthusiast. He had a setup in his house (Which can be seen above), and many many model trains on shelves and drawers. Now i have been tasked by my mom with trying to find out the estimated value of what he had so that it can be sold to a collector as a whole. The obvious problem is none of us know how much this can be possibly be worth. We are not aiming to screw anyone, in fact, we pretty much figure we'll sell the whole thing for a very friendly price, under what it's worth. We want to be rid of it, but we also don't want it to go to waste, i feel among other things it would be disrespectful to my grandad and a shame when it this could be had by someone who can enjoy it and value it. My uncle was willing to just throw the whole thing away. My mom, thankfully, strongly objected.

Where i am a bit annoyed, is i'm tasked with doing this but i do not live near my grandfather's house so i cant properly inventory everything he had, which i would personally do if i could. Instead i was sent a bunch of pictures which only shows the setup and not all the trains in drawers and shelves. How many does he have precisely? What are the trains, which train to they represent? (i know that, as can be seen, there a lot of CP trains) who made them? I do no know.... I realise this makes any guesstimate very difficult and yes i do resent my mom a little for having me do this with very little precise info :p. I myself collect toy cars and gamebooks and know for a fact you can't put a proper value on any of those things if you don't know what they precisely are.

I have been to the house and would say there's maybe at a guess 50 or so model trains (lots of wagons, some locomotives, i say train but i mean....single wagons or locomotives) that are not seen on the pictures. Lots of tracks too, obviously.

What could be a good overall price for this? Is it completely impossible to put a value on this without all the details? We don't want to screw anyone, but we also dont want to be completely screwed either. As a collector if you were the buy the whole of this kinda blind, with only the above pics for reference and the mention there are about 50 other similar trains what average price would you offer? Am i being completely ridiculous by assuming anyone CAN make an even half decent guesstimate on this without all the details? (probably i am.....damn you mom)

Keep in mind the person who buys it WILL have to pick it up themselves so that should probably factor in the price too (meaning it has to be good enough they'd want to bother to go pick it up..obviously we'll have to find a collector in the region. Which btw is about three hours north of montreal canada....should anyone here be interested...i AM however in Montreal and could likely bring the collection here to accomodate anyone nearer)
 
I'm no expert on what something like that is worth but what I see appears to have very little resale value. You will probably have trouble finding a buyer.

Here's a different option. Donate it to boy scouts or a boy's club or even a school or something like that and take a tax write off that could be a much higher amount than you would ever get from selling it.
 
When I look at a layout, I only look at what can be salvaged from the layout and used today. While I have no doubt what he built was really good in his day, there is very little that can be salvaged that meets today's standards.

What would probably be the best thing you could do for your mom is to go down there with a bunch of boxes and gather up everything that isn't nailed down, take them home, and sell them on eBay. Sell each of the engines separately, and sell the rolling stock or "wagons" in groups or 5 or so, based on who they are made by and similar design. Sell the snow plow by itself. And sell the buildings in lots as well. You may be able to get a couple hundred dollars if you sell it this way. Start the bidding at a penny on each, but make sure you cover your shipping.

Selling it as a collection, will probably get a few visitors with an lowball offer for an engine or two.

Doing it this way may take a day out of your life, but it will get you the most money and relieve you of the stress that it would otherwise bring.
 
Find a local Montreal hobby shop or model railroad club to help with the evaluation of these items. And don't forget about the items in shelves and drawers. Most of the items on the layout appear to be on the low end value side but the high end ones could be on the high end value wise just because they are there. Also the track on the layout appear to be brass which doesn't have much value these days. So maybe a donation of the layout itself would be better alternative.
 
This is exactly why I keep a detailed list of my stuff. Should I go to an untimely grave, those that remain will at least know exactly what I paid.

Unfortunately I have to agree with the others. From what I can see in the photos this equipment is decades old. I don't see anything that would be considered something a "collector" would be looking for or at least not be willing to pay much for.

Now it is possible that your grandfather was keeping the collector grade stuff off the layout in storage or display shelves. Without seeing a list or photos of those items it is impossible to guess. Could be anything from valueless toy train grade Tyco stuff to very expensive PFM Brass.
 
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A lot of good advice has already been given. However, don't overlook what might be of value in any tools, paper (other than newer magazines), photos that he might have taken, etc.

You do need help from a local club, NMRA division, etc. Get several opinions from different groups.
 
One other thing you might do is save this forum thread to show your family just in case there are disagreements over the layout.
 
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