What's The Best Deal You've Found At A Train Show?

Long time ago, at a train show on Long Island, I listened nonchalantly as a prospective buyer was trying to browbeat a seller over the Lionel Pennsy 0-6-0 Switcher, 6-18000. I actually don’t remember the final price upon which the almost buyer walked away and said, “I’ll have to think about.” The seller told him he wouldn’t hold it for him, and the guy walked away. I slid right up to the seller, quoted his lowest sale price back to him, and bought the engine, at, what I believe was then, a steal. I was actually a few tables away when I heard the almost buyer come back, and agree to the asking price. Needless to say, he walked away disgruntled.

A brass Overland SW1 in 2 rail at $200 last year at the Chicago O Scale show in March

Dick

At York several years ago I spotted a USA Trains Santa Fe Alco PA single A unit marked $125 on the floor under a dealer's table just behind TrainWorld's area in the Orange Hall. I asked the seller if it operated OK and he said try it out. It tested ok but was dusty and had no box. I joked about that and he said "give me $100 and its yours". Eventually I picked up a New AB so now I have the full ABA with different cab numbers - 51 & 52. Beautiful locomotives!

    Another "right place, right time" story. I was shopping at a table near another dealer in the Orange Hall when I heard a rather loud and nasty argument. The buyer had given the dealer (no names) an A-B-A set of twin-motored F3's for a repaint to the B&O 2383's. The buyer said "I ain't paying $250 for that repaint you did. You'll take $150 and like it. I'll be back later". He walked away, and I came over to look at the set. Flawless work, and it must have been a pristine piece to start with, probably Santa Fe with the original silver paint still on the trucks and frame. The dealer was watching the buyer walk away with a pretty P***ed-off expression, and I said "It looks like a $250 paint job to me", and he spun around, looked at me and back at the other guy walking away, and said "SOLD!"

    It looks very nice pulling my Williams 5 car B&O Capitol Express .

I've had a lot of great deals at shows, and while I can't remember all of them, here's a few of the o gauge deals I've gotten:

Lionel 1061 with tender in excellent condition: $5

Lionel 1663 in pretty good cosmetic condition (I need to change out the tender plugs) with original tender and runs great: $60

A two stall engine house (I need to get a roof): $5

A whole box of locomotives and cars: $15

Lionel MPC GP9 in almost new condition: $20

I have a whole list of auction and antique store deals too if anyone would be interested in the list.

I scored a Westinghouse air whistle off an LIRR MP-54 at a train show on Long Island back in the early 80's.  Sounds great hooked up to a compressor.  FWIW, the whistle used in the early MTH Pennsylvania P5A (2000 vol 2 - 20-5510-1)  soundset is a dead ringer.

I have purchased a Lionel 2046 baby Hudson for $30 plus $12 for needed missing side rods and a Lionel 2056 for $30, both without coal tenders as two my best deals.  A Lionel 1862 General 4-4-0 w/tender for $15 that has well done Handmade cab and cow catcher of Wood is another.

Great deals are few at train shows as you are buying from informed sellers in most cases.  Rare great deals often occur from "don't want to take it home"  sellers at closing time.

With trains, I have seldom found great deals at garage, thrift and estate sales either as the public has the notion that old trains are rare and expensive.  My great deals have come from vintage stereo receivers and and speakers, and old tools at garage sales, church sales and thrift stores.

Charlie

@artyoung posted:

    Another "right place, right time" story. I was shopping at a table near another dealer in the Orange Hall when I heard a rather loud and nasty argument. The buyer had given the dealer (no names) an A-B-A set of twin-motored F3's for a repaint to the B&O 2383's. The buyer said "I ain't paying $250 for that repaint you did. You'll take $150 and like it. I'll be back later". He walked away, and I came over to look at the set. Flawless work, and it must have been a pristine piece to start with, probably Santa Fe with the original silver paint still on the trucks and frame. The dealer was watching the buyer walk away with a pretty P***ed-off expression, and I said "It looks like a $250 paint job to me", and he spun around, looked at me and back at the other guy walking away, and said "SOLD!"

    It looks very nice pulling my Williams 5 car B&O Capitol Express .

A little confusing here, see above. Was the finished repaint the PW No 2363 B&O or was the donor the No 2383 Santa Fe? (or Both?)

How about a photo?  The B&O is a very handsome scheme!

Found at Allentown! a Conrail GP-7 dummy unit for $3.00!

@k-liner posted:

Found at Allentown! a Conrail GP-7 dummy unit for $3.00!

K-liner, Wanna double your money on it? $6 plus shipping to LI?  LOL

I've had some great deals at the Allentown meet too. At the last one, before Covid, I bought a beautiful PostWar Lionel Denver & Rio Grand F3 A-B pair (#2379) for $275. Original nose decals in great shape too. I scoured York the prior month and could not find one even close to this for less than $750.

artyoung,

I would have loved to be the fly on the wall to hear the later discussion between this dealer and this customer when he came back. At least before the customer had an engine in a paint scheme that he didn't want - now he has nothing! On the other hand, the dealer deserved to be paid fairly for his work.

I wonder if there was a written agreed on price for the work beforehand?

My best deals were from one our forum sponsors that used to run auctions on their website:

• Set of 5 MTH 72' aluminum Santa fe passenger cars for $80 shipped
• 1993 or 1994 Lionel TCA f3 ABA - they were remotored with fly wheel equipped can motors by tominko and had ERR Cruise Control installed. I sold the orange shells for more than I paid for all three pieces. They were in the original box. I purchased new old stock Santa Fe A f3 shells from the same seller 2 for 60, I may have $35 in the whole ABA set.
• Lionel NYC Mohawk 6-18009 for $175 shipped.

I still have all of the above. 😎😎😎

Under the table of an HO dealer I found a box of mostly-disassembled, but mostly-separately-bagged, mostly-Plasticville O buildings. 10 bucks for the whole box.

Got home and sorted it out. IIRC, 3 were perfect, 6 had a minor flaw like a missing door or chimney or a small crack, few more had some warping and most had that yellowed hard glue in the joins.

With a little bit of work I ended up with 8-10 good buildings A few of which will need a bit of paint to be great and I've still got a couple more to build that will require more creative repair.

All but 3 of the buildings here came from that lot.

https://chicagovalleyrailroad....layout-tour.html?m=1

A layouts worth of structures for $10 and some elbow grease!

I've gotten alot of very good deals at shows, however my GOAT bargains have been at resale shops.

My best find?  A funnel cake outside blue/ silver hall.  I seem to have the knack to overpay for most of my finds!

A few years ago I purchased a Williams Santa Fe F-3 A-B-A twin motored engine set with 4 matching aluminum passenger cars for $250.

Too many to count. Really, as someone who has had tables at various train shows over the last 30 years to sell off odds and ends, I love the trading that happens at the end of the shows, when the crowd is thinning out. One of the dealers is interested in something you have, and he's got something that interests you--or someone just wants to lighten their load before they head home and is ready to deal.

A couple come to mind - one for myself and one for a dealer

Mine

   I was at York several years back and the halls had just opened (this was in the days before everyone setup before opening).  I was moving quickly down the rows in Blue Hall and spotted a long sought American Flyer wood lithographed PRR passenger car in almost new condition that the table owner had just placed on his table.  I picked up the car, noted a price which I thought was very reasonable, paid for the car and started to walk away.  I was about a table length away when the table owner called to me and said, "Hey, you forgot the rest of the set!" So I quickly returned for the rest of the train set - needless to say - that price for the entire set was extremely reasonable! 

The dealer

  I was at a regional meet near where I live and was cruising up and down the isles when I spotted a very nice looking American Flyer Potomac set on a dealers table.  Another collector was looking over the pieces so I just walked by.  As I did so I caught a piece of the negotiation conversation and sort of noted the rather aggressive tone of the buyer .  I finished my loop of the meet and started around again.  As I came around past the table with the Potomac set I noted the dealer and the buyer were still locked in a back and forth with respect to the price of the set.

  The set was in great shape and had its set box.  I stopped, checked the asking price, and noted it was reasonable.  It was obvious the collector had been giving the seller a hard time so I just reached over and picked up one of the cars.  The collector quickly turned to me and, in a none too pleasant voice said," Hey, put that down I'm buying this set!"  I said, "Well, ok, but I'm interested in this set and I'm willing to pay the tag price."  He responded, "Well, so am I." ...and then he turned away from me. 

  I just stood there holding the car and looked at him. He started to try to dicker some more and then became aware of the fact that I hadn't moved.  I repeated my offer to meet the price and made to reach for my wallet.  The collector quickly grabbed his wallet, counted out the tag price, packaged up the trains and departed in a huff.  As I started to walk away the dealer looked at me, pressed his hands together as in prayer, gave me a slight bow, and mouthed "Thank you."

...it was many years later before I managed to find a Potomac set as nice as that one for myself.

@PRR8976 posted:

Probably around 5-8 years ago, as a vendor at the White Plains (NY) Toy & Train Show, I wandered around ahead of the opening and stumbled upon a new vendor, one with railroad and subway signs.

Not sure if it was at that point or later...I found this beautiful porcelain Penn Station subway sign just sitting there. I picked it up then made the mistake of putting it down. Out of nowhere, some guy then picked it up. Lucky for me he then put it down. I was very glad to quickly snatch it up and for what I thought was a reasonable price...I think it was around $50-60. Looking back, if my brain was fully functioning, I should have been willing to pay around/at least $200, since it is not like these things cross my path every day.

Tom

I wonder if that was the same vendor that I purchased a Canvas section that had "Times Square" printed on it.

I am pretty sure it was a reel or roll from a subway car, and all the locations where cut to separate.

Also picked up some standard gauge cars that sat there all day and called out to me!  White plains 5 to 8 yrs ago.

~Bill

Bill,

  I've been doing the shows from 2004 until Winter/Spring 2020 and I think that vendor was there only once or maybe twice at the most, that I recall. As you walked in the front entrance he would have been basically on the extreme right maybe 40% in. I got the impression he was a son either standing in for his father or selling his father's collection.

If you're from the Hudson Valley area there was once a retired MTA cop who had lots and lots of subway memorabilia. He lived in Yonkers off the Saw Mill Parkway. I bought an FL9 Hancock air whistle (w/air deflector housing) off of him (not cheap though).

Tom

c.sam and Lionelski:

    It had portholes in the sides, but plastic horns, and there was still just a touch left of the original red and silver overspray inside crevices that had not been completely removed to let me know it had been a Santa Fe. Heaven knows there are plenty of them out there after a production run of about 20 years.

    As to what conversation followed, being an ex-sailor I can easily imagine it. As soon as I had the engines, I bought some repro boxes and ran out to my car to hide them away.

    I'm not set up to do photos either with a camera, phone, or whatnot - computer literacy is not my strong point. I have enough trouble reading the Forums and shopping on-line with my wife. Where are those computers I remember from Heinlein's SciFi stories and that one on Star Trek that would do whatever you told them to do? Probably with the flying cars we were promised .

This:

I think I paid the asking price of $15 bucks; it works great for any and all of my DC stuff, and will run my Flyer engines as well. When these turn up on eBay, they usually go for near $100 or so...so I got really lucky!

Mark in Oregon

Back before I was a table-holder at York, there was a guy in Red Hall that would have a modest selection (half of his table) of Atlas O for only $30 - $35 per car, and this included billboard reefers.  They were usually gone by the end of Thursday, so I would line up at Red Hall for the opening and head straight to his table to spend the lion's share of my budget every meet.  There have been many other deals over the years at various shows and meets, but this is what sticks in my mind.

Andy

Two yrs ago my son and I were at the Hamburg train meet.  Towards the end of the meet as dealers were starting to pack up we were making the last quick pass checking out the tables. I noticed this MTH GG1 proto 1 w/box setting on a table. The seller said he'd take $125. for it, I said let me think about it.  As we walked away I'm thinking I don't know much about MTH engines but for that price it a beautiful engine and would even be a nice shelf queen. We turned around to go back and check the GG1 out. I asked the seller if I could pick it up and look at it and asked if it ran. He said he didn't get a chance to check it out. I offered $100.  he said o.k.

Another great deal I came across at York at least 8 or 9 years ago a vendor who sold mostly die cast vehicles in a both directly across the aisle from Charles Ro who was selling die cast Sherman Tanks that were used on MTH flatcars. He said they were extra that MTH had after producing their flatcars with military vehicles on them. They were priced at $10 each and I was in the process of building my military train so I bought a half a dozen. Plus they were the Hobbyboss ones that were very nicely detailed.

JohnB

This wasn't at a show, but on Facebook Marketplace a couple of months ago..... I purchased a new in the box MTH Coors Lite Silver Bullet set with two additional cars (one of them being the unobtanium tail car) for $600. I happened to catch it right after the seller had made the post and I honestly thought that it was either a scam or a typo. Either way the seller was an absolute gentleman and real, so I immediately offered what he was asking and now I have have a set to go around the ceiling of my "man cave" ..... All that's missing is the house to have a "man cave" in!

My best deal ever is one I will probable never beat.  Looking through a junk box under a table I came across an MTH DCS Remote.  It was dirty, had corroded batteries an would not start up.  I paid 2 bucks for it.  Once I got it home I cleaned it up, removed the batteries and cleaned out the corrosion, added new batteries and it started right up.  I updated it to the latest software revision from the MTH website and use it to run trains at my local club.  What a great deal.

Rolland

Prr7688 This has been a great topic!  There have been a lot of great items and stories to go with them.  Thank you for posting the question to us.

@MattR posted:

No email in your profile Brian. The titletown train show contact doesn't work. Is the spring show on?

And I assume not. Thanks

I've been going to various train shows for about 20 years.  I always go looking for "the bargain that speaks to me."  Sometimes I find one... sometimes I don't.  But where else can you see so much under one roof?  My favorite, of course, is Allentown!

In 2005 I picked up my only MTH Premier locomotive, the Lehigh Valley FA-2 ABA set.  It wasn't a bargain, but certainly a fair price.  I have had it on the layout pulling the coal train ever since.

From my Back From the Grave thread - my $40 AMT NYC F unit - started out like this:

Ended up like this:

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...nit-flea-market-find

Mth premier Atsf 4-6-2 heavy pacific someone tried to upgrade to ps2 and got in over their head. Got the loco, tender, original box and complete ps2 boards for $90 shipped. I traded some computer work with my Mth repair friend and got it all squared away for no money out of pocket. It’s a joy to watch it run

One Sunday at the train show in Medina Ohio they had Nacho's for .99 cents. Nick

After more than 60 York meets, and a smattering of Long Island, Wayne NJ and Westchester shows, it's hard to remember all the great deals.  One from way back in 1988 stands out.  A complete set (I think 9 cars) of the Santa Fe passenger set made by AMT, including a perfect condition mail/baggage car with the mail sack hardware intact. It cost a fortune back then. I seem to recall $250 for the set.  After that, a Metroliner set by Elliot Welz, with a low serial number, for $135.00.  It was at a York meet, and I strolled by Mr. Welz's booth to show him. He took one look at the cars, noticed that two cars were missing a car name label, and asked me for my mailing address. A few weeks later, I received a complete set of car name signs in the mail. What a guy!

The funny part of the story is that when I first showed him the set, he got this puzzled look on his face, almost like a disappointed child. He said "Why would anyone sell one of my sets?"  I assured him that just because someone sold the set, it hadn't depreciated their value, since someone else (me) had bought them. That explanation seemed to please him.

PS: Does anyone know if Elliot Welz is still with us?

This is not meant to be corny, but the best deal I ever got was a few decades ago.  It did not cost anything.  I found and became a good friend with another train guy.   Yep... Best deal ever!   Dennis.

The American Freedom Train has been on my bucket list for a while, but the cost and the daunting job of hunting down all the cars has kept me from starting to collect them  . . .  until the Great Scale Model Train Show in Timonium 1 year ago today.  I walked up to a table and spotted 12 K-Line AFT boxes.   A few had a post-it note with a "20" hand written.   Must be the lot number.   So I asked "What do you want for the AFT cars?"  "$20 each" was the reply.  I blurted out "Sold!" before even looking through the boxes to see which cars were included, duplicates, condition, anything.  So, I looked through my wallet and said, "Can you hold these while I hit the ATM machine?"  

I headed over to the ATM machine with the excitement of a child on Christmas morning.   Then I was dying inside while 3 people ahead of me were struggling with the ATM, having to swipe their cards repeatedly to get it to work.   As time was passing, I was convinced that the seller was going to come to his senses.   Finally I returned, paid him the $240 and he says, "You know this is a good deal."  "Uh-huh" I replied.  With my buddy's help, I took them out to the car and finally got to look at them.  Turns out this was a complete set of all 10 display cars and the 2 showcase cars all in mint condition.

Over the last year, I was able to purchase the Lionel Stationsounds passenger car and the #100 entrance car.  I have the other 4 Lionel passenger cars on order. So I am well on my way in this collection.

Bob

I used to spend a fair amount of time "exploring" Polk's Model Hobbies on 5th Avenue in NYC.  Around the time that Lionel was going under in the 1960s, Polk's had the "bare" piggyback operating platform for $5.00.  What a deal!! I still have it.

When I was growing up, my dad had a 1962 Lionel set with a #233 steam engine (smoke/Magnetraction), whistling tender, red LV hopper, green Cities Service tank car, blue NYC gondola with canisters, and a brown LL caboose.  We always put it up under the Christmas tree, and he took immaculate care of it.  It was soon joined by my 1964 set, along with more track, switches and a few accessories.  However, around 1970, we (like many other people then) got the HO bug, and sold all our Lionel trains - a decision my dad and I both regretted many years later.   

Fast forward to about 12 or 15 years ago, I was at a Greenberg train show in Monroeville, PA.  Near the end of the show, I came across a booth that had a set just like my dad's for sale, in great condition for $75.  By that time, I had spent most of what I had on other trains and the seller didn't take credit cards, so I called my dad (who didn't live that far away, and was still very much into trains) and told him to get to the show with $75 if he wanted a Lionel set just like the one he had.  He did just that, and we proudly took it to his house.  But as we were getting it out of the original box, I noticed buried in the box was an old Marx 90 degree crossover - just like the one we had!  There was also a Christmas ornament hook up inside the caboose, and some other papers inside the box we recognized.  We then realized this wasn't just like my dad's old set - it WAS his actual old set!!!

My dad put the train in his basement and around his Christmas tree until his health started to fail, and sadly he passed away in May 2020.  Most of his train stuff sold at auction when he moved into a retirement center in 2019, but I made a display shelf for him to showcase his old Lionel set in his apartment.  When he passed, the set became mine, and now it graces the upper level of my new layout, still whistling and smoking like it did in the 1960s!  Every time I see that engine come chugging around the bend, I think of my dad and how he got me into a wonderful lifelong hobby of model railroading, and how blessed we were to be able to get his wonderful Lionel train set back.

Dale Krysinski

Dale, I think yours was the best deal yet!  To find your dad's old set was priceless!!!

Do you still live in the area and go to the shows in Monroeville?

I got a Lionel 3000 NYC scale size like new with the long tender 4-8-2 for $300. This was on eBay not a show. This was a $1,000 loco. in the early 90's when it was new. This was a lucky deal.