Bob,
Thanks for starting this up again. I also have noticed quite a few reasonably priced vintage 227-series locomotives on eBay, some in the ballpark of $500, which I've not seen before. Overall, I think it is a buyers market with so many of the modern offerings being produced in the last few years and the glut of original prewar locomotives being available as the original owners or their families try to thin out.
I picked up this prewar gal which I will be posting pictures on soon. I posted this on the Switcher Saturday topic...that I guess I will give a home to any homeless prewar switcher, like the equivalent of Father Flanagan at Boys Town.
Tom