If he's looking for a "nostalgic" style piece, I think a refurbished 1033, LW or RW would be good choices. He could step up to a KW, but that may be overkill for his layout. I think I saw one of our forum sponsors, Charles Ro, has a refurb KW for $175.00. There are many of the above models available on e-bay as well, but just make sure they have been gone through with new cord, etc. If there's a train show coming up in your area, they should also have some good buys as well.
OTOH, a modern CW-80 or Z-1000 should also work fine.