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York Train Collector's Association Train Meet
Last October, Esther and I were traveling through Pennsylvania, so we decided to spend a few days at the York TCA (Train Collector's Association) Train Meet. This is one of the largest (if not the biggest) events for toy train collectors in the Eastern United States. It was held at the York Fairgrounds, and although I am not good at estimating crowds, I would guess that there were at least 10,000 people there, possibly more.
There were two huge buildings filled with tables for members who had trains and accessories to sell or trade, and a third building that was filled with dealers and manufacturers. Most of the attendees stayed in nearby hotels and motels. In fact some of these facilities had mini-train meets prior to the TCA event. So there was enough going on in this Pennsylvania town to keep genuine toy train enthusiasts occupied for most of a week.
It is worth noting that as a "Train Meet" vs. "Train Show" the York Meet was not open to the public. The purpose of the meet is to give TCA members an opportunity to buy, sell and trade between themselves, and as in this case, an opportunity to buy new products as well. A train show, in contrast, would always be open to the public, and major objectives are to get new people interested in the hobby and of course to give dealers an opportunity to sell their products. And while train meets often do not have operating layouts, MTH came to York with a truly impressive one. In my opinion, it is worth joining TCA just to be able to go to the York Train Meet once in a while. If you would like to learn more about TCA, check out their web site at http://www.traincollectors.org.
This was a remarkable event. It seems possible at these meets to find almost anything that is related to toy and model trains. I was looking for a tender for an early-postwar Lionel 1656 steam switch engine. Since this particular metal slope-back version was only manufactured for two or three years, several friends had told me that I would never find one without the engine. Surprise, after a day of looking, I found that tender with a broken engine, at a price I liked. I guess many others found what they were looking for also, because I saw lots of other people walking out of the buildings with bags and boxes large and small. And finally, for those hobbyists who want to incorporate hi-tech into their layouts, dealers had much to offer.
New Greenberg Pocket Price Guides
Up-to-date 2004 Greenberg Pocket Price Guides are now available from Kalmbach Publishing. They can be found at many train shops and some bookstores, or they can be ordered by calling Kalmbach at 800-533-6644, or at http://www.kalmbachbooks.com. Pocket price guides are available for American Flyer, Lionel, MTH, and Marx. If you buy or order one of these books from any place other than Kalmbach, make sure that you are getting the 2004 edition. It is important to remember that these are guides only and that actual buying and selling prices can vary widely, even when the condition of the trains being bought or sold is the same. It has also been my observation that selling prices on eBay tend to run lower than those in the price guides.
I spent two or three hours comparing the new Lionel price guide with the 2003 edition. What I found was that the prices on most items were unchanged. A few items have increased in value. For example, a prewar Lionel 1835E standard gauge steam locomotive in excellent condition was listed in the 2003 edition at $790, vs. $900 in the 2004 edition. A few items were marked down. Such was the case with a relatively rare variation of the postwar Lionel 6464-300 boxcar "with a solid shield," and in excellent condition. That was listed at $2,600 in the 2003 edition, vs. $2,250 in the 2004 edition. The fact that most prices have not changed does not surprise me, because it is consistent with my own observation at auctions and train meets. So, if you already have the 2003 price guide and it isn't worn out, you might want to just hold on to it for another year. If you have a 2002 or earlier price guide, it is probably a good time to get a new one, because there were much more significant changes between 2002 and 2003.
A Funny Thought: Toy Trains by the Pound?
I recently spoke with a dealer who said he buys toy trains by the pound. My first reaction was, "This guy must be nuts." But after thinking about it for a while it actually makes some sense. Now, I don't think this dealer goes around with a scale; and I know he takes into consideration the condition of trains that he is buying, or at least offering to buy. So here is the logic. Pre-World War II trains tend to be heaviest; and they tend to be the most valuable. Plastic trains from the 1970s are the lightest; and they tend to be the least valuable. Locomotives tend to be much heavier than cars; and of course they are more valuable than the individual cars. Large locomotives are heavier than small locomotives; and the large locomotives are generally more valuable, and so on. It sort of makes sense. In a way, he was saying that it is not worth his time to be concerned about occasional unique variations or special items that might make a toy train collection much more valuable. Sometimes he could miss an opportunity to buy a collection because the owner decides not to sell at his price, but at least he has not spent a lot of time pricing the collection. I wouldn't recommend doing this, but it is something to think about.
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