Large Scale Central

Where can I get GOOD pricing information?

General Discussion
#1

Hope this is the place to ask this…

I am not interested in selling what I have, just knowing what to pay. I do not know anyone who’s in the hobby in any scale. I buy most of my stuff online through mail-order and ebay. I think I’m doing ok but do not know for sure. I do not mind paying what it’s worth, just wondering if I’m being stupid. So am I paying too much?

Recent purchase:

LGB Morton hopper BNIB…$61.00 mail-order.
LGB 2076D BNIB, fancy valve gear…$149.00 BIN.
LGB 2080D, yellow box…$179.00 BIN.
LGB rhb Resturaunt Car with people…$145.00 BIN.
I’ve bought Lionel GP’s for $100-$150 (LHS has them for $400.00+!).

So serious question…how do I find out if I’m paying fair pricing? Most “guides” seem way off base. I run “advanced” searches on ebay for “sold” items only and I appear to be doing well but I have no other reference to go by. Is there a good guide with accurate pricing?

Problem is I mostly buy “fallen flags”, Lionel ‘Large Scale’ and LGB. No “modern” pricing to compare to.

Thanks in advance!

Mark

#2
Mark Verbrugge said:
Hope this is the place to ask this...

I am not interested in selling what I have, just knowing what to pay. I do not know anyone who’s in the hobby in any scale. I buy most of my stuff online through mail-order and ebay. I think I’m doing ok but do not know for sure. I do not mind paying what it’s worth, just wondering if I’m being stupid. So am I paying too much?

Recent purchase:

LGB Morton hopper BNIB…$61.00 mail-order.
LGB 2076D BNIB, fancy valve gear…$149.00 BIN.
LGB 2080D, yellow box…$179.00 BIN.
LGB rhb Resturaunt Car with people…$145.00 BIN.
I’ve bought Lionel GP’s for $100-$150 (LHS has them for $400.00+!).

So serious question…how do I find out if I’m paying fair pricing? Most “guides” seem way off base. I run “advanced” searches on ebay for “sold” items only and I appear to be doing well but I have no other reference to go by. Is there a good guide with accurate pricing?

Problem is I mostly buy “fallen flags”, Lionel ‘Large Scale’ and LGB. No “modern” pricing to compare to.

Thanks in advance!

Mark


I don’t see anything out of line with what you have paid.
The bottom line is whether you feel the purchase was a good value and whether you are buying for your pleasure or as an investment. Any dollar spent on pleasure is well spent.
Ralph

#3

All those prices seem reasonable except for maybe the Lionel GPs (the USA version is a much better detailed and running version). I have never heard or seen much good about them.

-Brian

#4

I “collect” Lionel Large Scale for the sake of collecting, clearly USA has much higher quality. I love my USA SD-40 and am keeping an eye out for a GP. The Lionel two motor GP’s run rather poorly but the four motor GP-20’s actually run pretty nice (along with the 4 motor Pennsy GP-9). The 4-4-2 Atlantics run really well once modified with pick-ups in the tender and metal wheels. The 0-6-0’s are hopeless.

I really like the ‘toy-like’ appeal of the Lionel rolling stock. The tanker and ore cars are actually very attractive. Lionel will never make a rivet counters heart beat fast, nor are they an operators dream but I like them for the bit of G-history they are. I run mine all the time.

Believe it or not there is a Pizza Joint in town running a Lionel Large Scale GN Atlantic daily since Christmas! It’s only pulling three cars but it’s still running!

#5

Mark,
do research. Daily for several hours per day, I scoured evilbay for over five years, so got a fairly good idea of what was reasonable. The price you pay is what you are comfortable with. I have lost the adrenalin surge rush to bid on online auction items now and prefer the ‘Buy it Now’ option as I can actually factor in how much something is going to cost me.

    The little 'fat boy'  LGB #2076D may have been slightly 'over priced'  but these little locomotives are currently becoming 'cult' items and so a slightly elevated price for a very good version is more than acceptable.   The twin-motor Lionel locomotives are quite reliable but are apparently 'gas guzzlers' with power consumption.  The main problem with Lionel locomotives (apart from brass wheelsets) is getting enough power pickups.  When this is overcome,  they run quite well.  I have found that stainless rail has a nice 'cleansing' effect on the brass wheel treads.