Great stories @Fatman and @Ryan Selvius. Ryan, you were very generous to offer more for that piece. You won't see that at a train show very often.
I have my father's and some of my grandfather's old trains and accessories. I have returned the Lionels of my Dad to working condition, replaced any missing parts and am slowly and selectively touching up paint. It gives me and my family great joy to run these and I am looking forward to introducing my young granddaughter to them. There are old Barclay figures and Tinkertoy cars for her to play with and if they are old and the Tinkertoy Graham is worth $75, so what? She will be able to run the trains from a restored, safely working prewar Z transformer. The sentimental value of these common items greatly out weighs their monetary worth.
I also have my grandfather's 115 year old Bing station, platform and semaphore ( alas no trains). Those will remain in the slightly tattered condition I found them. I do consider myself the temporary caretaker of all these items, and I hope my children will be the next caretakers.
