Great thread Scott,
From my point of view (as someone who actively buys on eBay,the forum and auction houses - Stout,NETTE,etc.daily)it's very true prices are soft and trending downward. I've found terrific deals on non-Legacy,Protosound and earlier PS2 full scale steam engines. Some of the prices have been just unbeliveble lately. I'm buying duplicates of favorites and also locomotives I somehow overlooked before. I've been able to get all the variations of the MTH first generation UP Challengers at bargain prices- too good to pass up.I love Lionel Legacy and MTH DCS but I don't have to have command or the latest gadgets on every loco I own.The early MTH Premier steam locomotives are still great looking and excellent running in my book.
I too am somewhat alarmed with the prices on new items trending higher and higher.Example: I just paid 1700.00 for a new Vision Big Boy.I got about 15 minutes of Wow! out of it. The last Big Boy I bought (#9) was a used Legacy #4024 for $800.00.That 15 minutes of Wow! was not worth the extra $900 to me.Indeed,I still get kicks from running my MTH PS1 #4012 from 1996! There's a lot of great locomotives out there on the used market and my want list is still long.
