Railroad Books are Going Up in Value. What’s up with this?

Asking that price and getting it are two different things.  One thing IS for sure though is that railroad books tend to be very niche market items, and just like limited interest magazine, they are priced accordingly.  I can get about four years of Hot Rod which has a big circulation for what a year of Trains costs me.  After these books go out of print and if they are especially good, the prices go upward.  Look to see what an old copy Of Sulzer's Ghost Railroads of Indiana goes for.  Copies of Parker & Simon's Railroads of Indiana often sell on ebay for more than I paid for my copy from a bookstore when it first came out a good twenty years ago.  The market for people that would pay $175.00 for a DT&I book (and doesn't already have it) probably could be counted on one hand.

I would never pay that kind of money for a railroad book. Not even a Nickel Plate book! 

My experience is that you can't give even excellent railroad books away.  The guys like me who really enjoy books already have large libraries.  Many of us older folks are trying to sell off our collections.  The younger folks prefer to get all of their railroad information from the internet.

I have tried to sell excellent books that cost $50 to $80 new for $10 at train shows without takers.

NH Joe

Well, I have never seen $50-$60 Morning Sun Books for $10. Believe me I would have bought a bunch of them. The best I ever did was get two of them (NYC) for $20 each on eBay plus shipping which wasn't a whole lot.

I also paid almost double ($70) for "Rails up the Raritan" (the story of the Raritan River RR) but I had to. It's the only book on that railroad and it was long out of print. I kept hearing rumors of a 2nd printing but after a few years I gave up waiting. Unfortunately, the 2nd printing did eventually come out and it was an expanded edition with extra pictures and could be had brand new for $39.95. 

Recently, I got "CNJ steam in color" from my LHS for $32. A good book with a lot of good color shots. I felt it was a fair deal as it is in like new condition and brand new retails over $50. I believe it was some sort of consignment sale. At a local train show I got a hard cover book on C&O coal operations for $8. I don't know what it cost new but for $8 I didn't think I could go wrong. 

When someone sells those books real cheap on this forum they seem to sell fast. At least when I notice the post anything I am interested in is gone. OTOH, someone trying to get close to retail the books will stay there a long time it seems. 

Your mileage may vary. This has been my experience. 

Not just prototypes. Check the current prices for John Allen Gorre&Daphetid, or Lionel Display Layouts books.  

This is the same as what you see on places like Ebay. Do a search for a certain train car and you will find a whole range of prices.

Doing a search for a certain book, you can come up a number of book sellers all with a range of prices from very reasonable to stratospheric. Use different sources such as Amazon, Abebooks or Alibris and you can more often than not find what you are looking for at a price you can afford. Book condition will be a factor in price as will how rare the book might be and how much the seller thinks they can skin you for.

One reason that I don't like buying "sight unseen" is that the book (or any item for that matter) might not come up to your expectations. I have bought many a book like that and thankfully have been able to resell them without a loss. Be careful, some of those books, many by well known authors, that you think you need are nothing more than fluff jobs!!!

Some railroad books become very popular and the prices soar, others you can't give away. Here are a few of the more expensive books.

The Shay Locomotive: Titan of the Timber: This book is typically for sale any where from $250. to $800.

The Trail of the Blue Comet: This one usually runs between $100. and $200.

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Railroad Lighting: There were two volumes of this book, one on lanterns and one on lamps.The typically run over $100. a piece.

Gary, maybe the just saw you coming..   On the serious side. I think it depends on where your looking.

I have the Trail of the Blue Comet. The book is worth every penny.

The books cost as much as some engines. I'll stick with the engines.

I have some rr books that I too can't give away. yeah good luck with the $175.00 value on those!

I buy books in which I have interest, when announced. RR books are short print runs (5-10,000?) and once they are gone, they might be hard to obtain in the future. The $174 for a DT&I book is Amazon hype. Amazon's first price is reasonable, the next quotes are from LaLa Land.

whoever prices a morning sun book at$174 is in la-la-land.....i have about 40 and never paid more than $30 for most of them. just got one of the new conrail  and N.S. heritage units books on ebay for $25 each/free shipping... also the ac&y book when it came out...$51 shipped

Try your local library using I.L.L. or MelCAT (for participating MI libraries).

Here's a link showing that 4 libraries in MI have this title:

http://search.mel.org/iii/enco...suite=gold#locations

It's not just railroad books. Almost any out of print book on Amazon gets a crazy price tag.

The Michael Koch Shay book was in the 250+ range several decades back as I recall.

Can I say "Bubble"?

http://morningsunbooks.com/collections/the-midwest

I am not going to pay the big bucks, I did go to my Public Library, the Branch Manager is also a model railroader, HO Scale.  He did find a digital copy but not a hard copy, searching all Michigan's Public Libraries.  He is going to search all the Univeristy Libraries and get back to me. 

Questions

1.  -  Where could I take this Digital /ebook to get printed?

2.  -  Has anyone done this and what company did you use? 

Thanks for everyones input..............

I just bought six books.

Four Morning Sun (Steel Railroads) at $60 each plus freight and Aust dollar exchange won't tell you the final cost you would be horrified.

Also bought South Buffalo Railroad (great story some good photos) really interesting, liked that book, and The Railroad Switching Terminal at Maybrook New York that wasn't what I thought it was but interesting for me learn a bit more about American railroads. I won't buy Digital books I hate them rather have the book in my hands so I can refer to it all the time straight off the bookshelf and I do that a lot being an Australian make that West Australian, I'd rather pay the extra I figure it's money well spent for me anyway for research, I read the print off the pages. If your modelling Railroads you are better off referring to the real thing not other person's modelling that way you might get it right yes look at ways other modellers do things by all means but you can't beat the prototype.

Like bushwalking (hiking) the golden rule, never follow another person's footprints they might be lost, use your map and compass and time and distance.

I get something out of every book I read.

Roo.