A lot of 1980s thru early 1990s N scalers fell into that collectability rabbit hole. Once other manufacturers 'upped' the quality of their rolling stock... and actually offered prototypically correct models... some of wheels fell off the Micro-trains collectability train. Micro-trains has marginally improved some details... but are now far outpaced by other manufacturer/importers. The only thing that may keep Micro-trains as a collectable is that they are made in U.S.A. Sent from my SM-J737T using Tapatalk
Those two MKT hoppers are more than fair price. Even a couple of the other listings. I had one of them back in the day. I turned around and sold it for parts due to the damage that it received from an show that I was entertaining at. Someone else’s train derailed and I was caught up in a conversation with one of the visitors. The other operators were not paying attention to the trains and my train hit the derailed train. A few of my cars especially my prized MKT went into the abyss. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Whenever I was in the service. I was in the N trak club in Norfolk, Va. a couple of the members were in the craze and were dedicated to the Tex’ N’ Rails newsletter. It astonished me what they bought. Although the one MKT hopper that I’ve had mentioned from the previous post, I had ordered through them. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Ok here's one for all of you. Micro-Trains United States and Special Run USA / NSC / NSE 60+ Cars & Locos | eBay Have to love the $ not. There's 8 photos. Tom
I don't think that's not bad at all. It has all 50 states cars of which I think 2-3 are rare (e.g., Illinois) and command high prices. Then you get 12 N-Scale Enthusiast special run cars. Those are always pricey. And finally it looks like FTA and FTB locos plus caboose. This is a really nice set for $900. If I had the money I would buy it.
For you Atlas collectors... https://www.ebay.com/itm/Atlas-94-F...V2&brand=Atlas&_trksid=p2047675.c100047.m2108
Got a Wanda that was missing inner trucks, now has Micro-Trains. Pickup a Texaco car for $15 at swap. Never know what might find at a local swap.
Looking at Trainworx trucks and I’m not sure if I should laugh or shed a tear given their astronomical prices on the secondary market.
Condition is "Used" https://www.ebay.com/itm/Black-Rive...889795?hash=item2f55ad64c3:g:7LEAAOSwL3BgSE2x
Pretty sure he stole the last three pics from the Spookshow description. http://spookshow.net/loco/br442.html
Well worth the price. The shock value for the Illinois car itself will blow your mind. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
What the heck am I looking at? If this is some sort of "custom", ( I use that word here very loosely), job, it definitely looks hammer bashed together. Ick.
Allow me to sneak back in here on Page 400 (!) with respect to "the old days" of collectible Micro-Trains and Kadee cars. No, I don't agree that the increase of competitive quality is the issue here... It's our old friend, Supply and Demand. Paper-based auctions were not transparent. You had no idea when the car you wanted would be available again-- so you'd better bid high and bid RIGHT NOW or risk never, ever seeing it again. Certainly Wick Brandon (the original owner of TNR and founder of the NSC) wasn't going to tell you he had 37 more copies of that car waiting. No, it was totally in his self-interest and in the interest of those for whom he was selling (also not transparent) to make you think that this was the only copy of the car available to you, possibly for years, period. Then came eBay. Oopsie! If the AB&C Boxcar with wide rib door and yellow paint sold for $holy cow on eBay, then within days there would be others that would show up... and TNR, BLW and NSC and their suddenly outdated paper-based restricted-supply auctions couldn't do "woo woo woo" about it. No more control of the supply. And despite eBay having IMO a larger audience than all of the paper-based auctions combined, which you'd think would drive prices UP, the overall price point of items went DOWN. Now you knew that there would be another AB&C boxcar along soon enough. There are still some exceptions, of course. And, as has been noted, they're not all Micro-Trains and they're not all freight cars either. Now, let's get back to those High Speed Southern Pacific Diesels (ducking)...
The other thing that happened was the real estate crash of 2008. Low interest rates and high housing prices seem to make sure that everyone seemed to have more money back then, especially when it came to hobbies. Then the crash came and nobody wanted to spend any money...either because they didn't have any or because they were afraid to. It's taken years for people to be willing to spend their money again, and then came Covid. Auction prices will never return to what they once were (and good riddance if you ask me). I used to buy anything west coast and did quite well when I sold my GN circus boxcars for much more than I paid for them. I've now replaced almost all of them at a fraction of the auction prices. I still laugh at the online auction sites where the seller has used pre-2008 auction prices to set their asking price.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/N-Scale-Mi...493146?hash=item1d050879da:g:GwUAAOSwZpdgUO3f Not only is it ugly, it's clearly offensive to any Milwaukee Road fans.