Yard and Garage Sales?

Conrail:  You were certainly fortunate in your great find.  I have picked up a few  pieces at garage sales but lately most people are told of train prices from 8 to 10 years ago and they still think that their trains are worth "gold".

I guess that I don't even look at them much any more.  I did pick up a really nice Craftsman belt/disc sander for about $35 bucks, however.  I still find it to be one of the handiest tools in my shop.

Paul Fischer

About 30 years ago, I started asking for trains at garage sales. You would have thought I was asking for the crown jewels. People all thought that trains were worth more than gold. I stopped asking.

My 1rst ZW came from a garage sale. Had been looking for one for about 10 yrs, but didnt want to pay $250+ for a used ZW.  Had to work during a town wide rummage

sale in My folks village and didnt get to look around till about 4pm.

Walked up the road from My dads house and this guy had a ZW sitting

on the table for $25. I paid him and he said that I could probable sell it for

$100. I said "no I cant, It's going right on my train board".

I asked him about the trains that went with the ZW. he said some guy

bought them earlier in the day. I couldnt believe he didnt buy the ZW.

Since then I have picked up 4 others @ $50, $60, $60 and FREE!!!

Running at train shows has its advantages. Dealers give me deals

as I help them test trains on my board and fix trains for them at shows.

The FREE ZW, really wasnt FREE as I fixed a bunch of trains for a dealer

and he gave me the ZW for my efforts.

Garage sale finds are still out there. dont be afraid to keep looking.

Remember, It all ends up in a rummage sale sooner or later. The old guys die

off and relatives that dont want the trains sell them off.

As Lou Palumbo of "The UnderGround Railroad" and "Classic Toy Trains" so eloquently

puts it,  "Keep Searchin"!

Garage/yard sales, for the most part, have become regular events for many people...same junk going out time after time. An ad saying "No early birds" is a tip-off of this.

I once had a HUGE sale to get rid of antique and collectable stuff we were no longer interested in. Things were priced to sell. Newspaper ad said "dealers welcome". My first customer showed up at 4:30 am, and most of the stuff was gone by 8 am (everything was laid out in the back yard the night before).

I'm going to an "antique" toy auction at the local Salvation Army in about an hour.   stopped this moring, but most stuff was still boxed.  They keep all donated toy items for a year or so than hold an auction.   I did see a box of Tyco this morning, but I don't really expect much  that will be of interest to me.  There were 3 boxed Tyco HO slot car tracks, don't know if they had cars.

I did see somebody had brought in about 15 trays of 35mm slides and a Bell & Howell slide projector.  I opened one box of slides and it was somebody's Hawaian vacation.   I might have to bid on the slides if they are $5 or so.   I'd hate to see somebodys years of work tossed out!!

The only thing I ever got from a yard sale was an Aurora HO Batmobile slot car my babysitter picked up for me 20 years ago.  That was before they were reproduced and were a hot tiem.

Yes, they are still out there. I have made a few good yard sale/auction buys

In 1980 I bought my first lionel trains at a yard sale,they were a 2338 , 621 and several fright cars, it was a great find for 5 dollars . I still have them all today.

I would say that if you enjoy going to yard sales, flea markets, etc., and would do so to look for other items, then you will eventually find a bargain. However, if you are going strictly to find trains, you will wind up investing a lot more time and effort than your find will be worth. 

Far too many people have seen the "Ca$h for your old trains" ads, and believe that all old trains are worth hundreds. Just this past weekend I saw someone asking $365.00 for an old Lionel 2037 in average condition. They didn't know if it ran or not.

I went to a yard sale, bought 9 feet!

Jerry

My wife went to a yard sale and bought one.  Now I need to buy a mower. 

Mostly I end up finding things at yard sales in really beat up and often rusted. Now that I've learned a bit about bashing and painting I will buy if cheap and use for practice and goofy projects. No matter what shape it's in you can find something to do with it. 

No, I never had any luck at all at yard sales, except some HO now and then to resell.

Well, I have shopped in two HUGE "yard" sales: when the Covered Bridge Festival is

held in Rockville, Indiana in the fall, the route there from Indianapolis and side

roads for miles around are a traffic jam of yards sales....I have never found a thing

to buy (the festival is interesting and there are/were 38 covered bridges in Parke

County with marked routes to drive)  Another and famous yard sale goes on for over a hundred miles, from somewhere in Ohio down U.S. 127 through Kentucky to ??.  I forget when it is (but antique papers would show it), but  drove some of it in Kentucky once.   I did see some actual antiques, but no trains I wanted and I quit when I got to Frankfort, Ky. (Lotta junk spread out in people's front yards for miles)  In these and the local ones, I just don't see them worth my time and gas.  Find much more on the

Bay.

I have been a avid yard sale person for over 40 years. I start early about 7am and go until 10am. I only hit big one time, and what a hit it was! I made a couple grand on that one.

I see cheap plastic Lionel, cheap plastic G scale sets, lots of plastic H.O.

I used to ask if they had any trains, most responses are a smile followed by no we are keeping what we have. I stopped asking.