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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.

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. 

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.

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

D T & I Morning Sun Books Print Digital

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..............

Cheers from Train Room Gary Pan 2 View 

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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.

There are a few excellent books which are actually worth a higher price, at least to some of us. A friend on the Forum (Bob/CNJ 3676) recommended Pemperton and Hightstown: A Chronicle of Railroading through the Farm Belt of New Jersey by John Brinkmann. I never even heard of it until he recommended it. I paid $150 for an autographed edition. I wouldn't trade it for $2000. It is now my favorite railroad book (out of many that I have) which led me to write an article for the PRRT&HS. Also, all of the PRR related Triumph series books are pretty pricey. I told myself I would never get any of them. Instead, getting one led me to get the next in the series until I got them all.  Show me another book/series that matches them in research and detail...just like some pay high prices for their locomotives, some of us like a good book every now and then. 

Tom 

South Buffalo Book is great ! I purchased it the year it came out for my Father in Law who worked on the SB since 1956.

He loved it ! Sad news is he is getting Alzheimer's. But he reminisces of his days work on the Erie too where he started at 17 as a fireman.  HAppy Fathers to all you Dads out there.

Prices for items online are often determined automatically by computer algorithms, and sometimes they become outrageous.  A couple of weeks ago, I was looking at a book which normally sells for +/- $20.  Next day, I went back and the price had jumped to almost $2000.  Next day, it was back to $20.  I also had an item on Amazon go up $1.50 while it was in my cart.  

Don't put too much stock in these fluctuations, and don't overpay.

All hail our computer overlords! 

I got one other story. As I mentioned before my LHS takes in estate sales and consignments so I never know what they are going to have. One time I went there and had a book by David Doyle called Lionel Train Sets 1945-1969. I was interested in this because I have what I believe are two or three sets from this era. The book was in very good condition and the price was $29.95. So I took it up to the register and the owner said that the book was a consignment sale. She said she had to look up the price and get back to me next time I stop by. She put the book aside for me. When I got there the following week she said the book was $100. This was not her price but the price of the person who was selling it. I told her that that was more than I was willing to spend. As soon as I got home I researched the book on the Internet and I found that Amazon had in price ranges from $27 (fair condition) $38 (very good condition) $60 (like new condition) and $80 (brand new condition). I sent her an email explaining what I found out and I told her I would offer to pay $40 for the book. She said she would relay my offer to the seller. I thought to myself that no way is the guy going to come down $60 but the guy did and I got it for $40. 

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mark s posted:

seems I paid $125 for "Waycars of the CB&Q"  and  like $135 for "Steam Locomotives of the Great Northern Ry".    Worth every penny in both cases. Beat going to the gambling boat and blowing it !!

Wow.  I paid the princely sum of $9.95 for "Waycars" when it first came out.   Got my "Steam Locomotives of the Burlington Route" as a Christmas present from my parents a loooooooooong time ago.  I remember paying $50.00 for the reprint of "Iron Horses of the Santa Fe Trail" when it came out.  Coulda bought an AHM HO Big Boy instead...  Glad I didn't.

It seems we've entered the age where many poo-poo books because of their cost and the hallowed internet.  Well, The books I own have enhanced the model railroading hobby for me and the internet doesn't know everything.

Rusty

Book prices are all over the place. I purchase what I want, and typically at "fair enuf" prices. Some of my books have supposedly increased in value, some have supposedly decreased. I don't really care. I didn't purchase them for an "investment".

I get a LOT of mileage from a good book. Decades worth. Neat thing about books, is they can be read/enjoyed, then go to the shelf for ?? years, only to be retrieved at a much later date and enjoyed all over again.  Plus, they are fantastic for "throne time reading".    Also they are invaluable for research/etc. I have books covering all different types of regions, era's, railroads, etc. Love 'em!

Bottom line: It's up to each individual to decide whether a particular desired book is worth what one gives.

Andre

Last book I bought was the recent one on Vinegar and Pickles in the Midwest -- tons of good information regarding that industry and how that related to the specialized RR cars that were used. 

Pricing - had not noticed increases actually - small runs and limited audiences tends to put these books at a bit of a premium.  These are information resources generally -- then again, look at what a large hardback fiction book retails at.....  

Might want to peruse Ron's for RR books - usually has a pretty large inventory and does a lot of shows and meets.

http://www.ronsbooks.com/

 Everything can't cost a 5 cents, Lucy.....

Last edited by mwb

When our house burned I lost most of my books which broke my heart. Not many RR books but  were military history oriented. Over the years I have built up a large collection of RR books including  ones on the PRR, B&LE, EBT, the Colorado narrow gauges,  the logging and mining trains plus others. I look at train shows and antique shops mostly. Can't afford most new ones. I have bought a bunch of books put out by Wayne Cole that cover a lot of the old small local RRs of western Pa. and eastern Ohio. Plus he has covered the old street car lines of the area. We had two interurbans go through Butler Co. and I have read about them and tried to follow what is left of their ROWS. To me, books are priceless especially since I don't watch TV  very much, if at all. I don't dwell on the price, they are to be enjoyed.

Kelly Anderson posted:

Abebooks.com shows a pretty good spread for "One Man's Locomotives".

I would just like to recommend this book to any Forumite who has any interest in the inside stories of railroad locomotive ownership, design, or construction.  Vernon Smith worked for an Iron Range railroad as a Fireman, and later was a Sales Engineer for Fanklin (poppet valve gear for steam locomotives), worked in the Santa Fe Mechanical Department (including riding on the first trip of an Alco PA-1 passenger diesel), and was the head of the Mechanical Department of the Belt Railway of Chicago.

This book is a good read.

Last edited by Number 90

One of my favorite books regarding railroads is: Set Up Running: The Life of a Pennsylvania Railroad Engineman, 1904-1949. It is written by John Orr who was the son of a PRR engineman Oscar Orr and chronicles his father's journeys across the PRR system operating various locomotives and detailing movements. It gives a really insightful look at how much work had to be put in to become successful as Oscar was as an employee of the PRR. In fact he mentions a fantastic story how his father had to start a 16 car passenger train with a lone D16sb that was out of sand! The D16sb was used since the original locomotive, a K4, went down with a mechanical problem.

To me it is incumbent upon the individual to search out best possible prices through several sources. I haven't paid full retail price for any books I have purchased in several years. Check the various online auction sites. Check several retailer sites and also go to a local train show, usually there is someone there selling books at very reasonable prices. Unless a book is very old and especially desirable, take your time and do some research.

Happy searching.!

 

You cannot use Amazon or Ebay as your basis for values of books. In either case, you'll have some sellers 'fishing' with a crazy value to see if someone who didn't do their homework bites. And it pays off enough to keep that going.

I am seeing values dropping sharply in RR books. There's a Milwaukee Road book that until a couple of years ago would sell for way over $100, but I've been routinely seeing them for a fraction of that price in the past year or so. I got mine for $30 not long ago.

Having sales tables at model RR shows in the last few years, I've watched railroad book values drop off sharply in the secondary market, even for newer ones. I got a few good Morning Son published books for about $20 each at a recent show and they retail for around 60. And even in that case, the seller had dozens of them at that price and nobody was stampeding to buy the others.

645 posted:
mark s posted:

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.

Very few railroad books get a second (or more) printing nowadays. The days of multiple printing runs are long gone as was done with Staufer's 'Pennsy Power' and other popular railroad titles years ago.

The typical Morning Sun title has a press run of 3,000 books. For a very popular railroad like the PRR it may be 3,300 to 3,500 copies. This is information from a friend who personally knows Bob Yanosey who is the publisher/owner of Morning Sun Books.

Morning Sun only does one press run of each title and once sold out eventually a digital reprint is made available. The only exception to this is 'Penn Central Power' which Morning Sun did a second printing of 25 years after the first print run.

I've found deals on railroad books on Amazon and eBay - just need to be patient and know what the prices are so one can snap up a deal if it gets listed.

PENN CENTRAL POWER?   Guess people like worms!

p51 posted:

You cannot use Amazon or Ebay as your basis for values of books. In either case, you'll have some sellers 'fishing' with a crazy value to see if someone who didn't do their homework bites. And it pays off enough to keep that going.

I am seeing values dropping sharply in RR books. There's a Milwaukee Road book that until a couple of years ago would sell for way over $100, but I've been routinely seeing them for a fraction of that price in the past year or so. I got mine for $30 not long ago.

Ditto that.

One local  measure...Evening of the Diesel, a tome on final GTW steam power...has been declining steadily for a couple/few years now.  And, most recently an estate horde of this book in brand new condition (final stock purchase from long ago, apparently) has been released to the market, driving the book value even lower.

As mentioned above, books on Colorado railroads, once in short supply and steep secondary market prices, have been steadily in price decline.

The DT&I example??   What you seek and what you reap are often two different numbers on book prices.  It certainly is worthwhile to keep your eyes peeled for the out-of-print items you seek, but patience in the book market pays dividends.  So, how desperate with your own mortality and bucket list of books are you?......really?

Just MHO, of course.....

KD

A note to the original poster:

If you want the DT&I book, try The Model Railroad Shop in Piscataway, NJ at 732-968-5696. The store is one of Morning Sun's principal dealers and often still has titles which have sold at the publisher. I have met with success on a number of occasions in this manner. Even if Morning Sun has sold out, The Model Railroad still doesn't attempt to charge a premium like some others might. They mail order regularly so shipping the book to you won't be a problem for them.

Good luck,

Bob

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