"A kit would cost me far more than a RTR, mostly for someone to fix my attempt to build the kit (if I could find someone)…"
I can relate to your comment, Ron.
Draw your own conclusions here, but the early kit-built HO models offered by Varney, Mantua, Roundhouse, and others seem to have little or no collector value today when compared to RTR models offered by Lionel and Marklin during the same period. Not only that (speaking as a collector of both), countless re-issues of these Lionel and Marklin models from that era continue to be offered (and I continue to buy them). On the other hand, who would buy a re-issue of a Varney "Old Lady" from that era?
