When I was growing up, there were two types of male kids: model car kids and model train kids. I was the former because I was a car nut at a young age. And they were cheaper and took up less real estate. Then there were the model train kids whose stuff may have eventually filled up a basement. This collection is from Lionel Train’s O-Gauge Series (more on that in a minute), looks quite extensive, and may date back to the 1950s. It takes up a whole room in Vero Beach, Florida, and is offered here as a package deal here on eBay for $9,500 OBO. What a tip from Howard A!
Lionel Corporation (aka Lionel Trains) began in 1900 and over time focused on the manufacturing and retail of toys, specifically model trains. The peak of the model train era may have been in the 1950s, when they sold millions of dollars in trains during the early Baby Boomer years. Tastes were changing a couple of decades later, and Lionel sold its roster to General Mills by 1970 and remained as a holding company until 1993. You can still buy these products new today.
In the railroad world (real and toy), Gauge is the name of the game. That word refers to the distance between the rails of the tracks from outside to outside. At Lionel, several Gauge sets were offered, including the O-Gauge, like the seller’s. O-Gauge track systems measure 1 ¼ inches between outer rails. We understand that any O-Gauge car or power unit can use the tracks. These are electric-powered, and everything in and around them is 1:48 in scale. Controls are provided to manage lights, sounds, and even smoke! Take them out of their boxes, and you could be ready to go in minutes.
We have a feeling this extensive set was Grandpa’s, and the family is ready to free up the space it occupies. Little knowledge about the set is imparted except that the pieces date to the 1950s and are as recent as 2020. We assume this set includes duplicates, and if anything possible is missing, only a true Lionel train guru could tell us (Howard?). The seller rates the grade of this collection as C-7, which is supposed to be “excellent”. And everything (we think) was built right here in the good ole USA. Who’s ready to take command of this railroad?!
Good eye, Howard and another feature doing a tangent from much of the norm in good taste Russ!
Very impressive train set here with a great deal of patience and work done over many, many years..
Let’s hope it goes as a whole set and not broken up into bits or pieces.
GLWTS
Some people go nuts over their train sets while some people go nuts over someone else’s train sets. I love train sets but keep mine limited to our Christmas village. However, there are some out west who have grown either into a complete 30×32 garage, or the back yard. Whatever, I love visiting them and taking pictures. I might add that they give me some ideas on what to do with mine.
Train sets are like car or airplane models, they allow people to use their imaginations. And some of them turn out pretty good. The downside, of course, is what to do with everything when the owner passes on.
But, life goes on. Collections last longer than most people (Of course, I can think of some individuals who will last forever because God doesn’t want them and neither does the devil). I see collections show up at the annual swap meet each year and it’s sad to see one’s passion suddenly end up boxed up and displayed with a For Sale sign…
Speaking about going nuts, I remember watching an old FBI episode about a guy who was planting bombs on real trains..why? When he was a kid his daddy was so obsessed with his train sets that he used to beat Sonny if he messed with them.
This is great Russ!! And also a huge thank you to Howard for finding this as well. Russ, in our house, we had ( well, my older brother) had both. But, at different times. This is quite a collection, and Geomechs made a good point, what happens to the collection when the owner, passes on? And its very sad to see someones whole life being sold off. Thank you again Russ for writing this up. I had remembered, my Grandpa had a Lionel Standard gauge set back in the 1920’s, unfortunately it disappeared over time, that would have been neat to have.
A friend of mine who is now dead had a 1913 Morgan V twin with a Motosocoche engine that when he died went to his eldest son, who didn’t want it so passed it on to his brother. When I met my friend in 1976 it was worth a lot of money and a lot of people wanted to buy it. I technically did own it for one weekend by swapping my Triumph TR 3a and a 1951 Ariel Square four for it but having not completed the deal over the weekend on the Monday morning his wife came to my office and pleaded with me not to finalise the deal as it was the only thing of any real value that her husband would leave to her should he die so I pulled out of the deal. He has been dead now for about 30 years and his son, who now owns the Morgan can’t give it away, not that he ever will dispose of it as it is family heritage, but that which was valuable to us old farts at great value
is of no interest to the youngsters of today !
Great find Howard, my kids are going to have to do the same thing with my model car collection.
I buy and sell.model trains at shows. While thus looks like a decent collection the reality is that there were a LOT of Luonel trains made over the years. Just because it might be old doesn’t, mean it is rare or has value. Pretty much it is worth play toy value if newer thsn the early 60’s. There are collector sets abd special models, but the bulk is just toys. And that’s great because it keeps the prices moserate and available.
The layout is an albatross. Strip it of models, track, controllers, recycle the rest.
Whole thing based on photos would be around $3k. Not a popular opinion, but a realistic one based on market conditions
more so than model cars, I firmly believe a flying model airplane pilot and a model railroader both have something in common. They aren’t just making it fly or making it roll forward. When operating their model I believe they’re actually in the pilots seat or aboard the rolling train. It’s where their fantasy is real until the plane is back on the ground or the engineer is told to shut that darn thing down and come to dinner! $ can never replace the value of time, love and joy put into this type of modeling.
This site,,,,a special thanks to the site for picking this up, I did this for Geomechs, who tirelessly gives us so much info, and to just about anyone that was a “kid” growing up. Model trains were the standard issue toy. While not intentionally made for Christmas, it didn’t take long for stores to display the “train around the tree”, and the rest is history.
I’m far from a guru on model trains, but I can all but assure you, this setup wasn’t gathered in a weekend. This is the life work of someone dedicated to the hobby, and like the classic cars we see for sale, another unfortunate indicator of the owner passing on. Model trains were universal, boys or girls, although trains were marketed as a boys hobby. I saw on Pawn Stars, someone brought in a pink train, aimed specifically at girls, and was a marketing flop. Buying this will bypass a lot of work. I love all the little things, like who has a train track running through their backyard?
I rip on the old man a lot, but he built a train setup for me and my brother, that was the talk of the neighborhood. It had lots of “rolling stock”. switches, and a city with street lights, it was “Plasticville,USA” for sure. It gave us hours of entertainment, and taught us a thing or 2 about electricity, YEEEEOOWW!! Our “smoking” locomotive was the coolest one. I wonder what that “smoke” was as it hung in the basement air. Like most, my mom gave away our set, I did however buy my kids a train set, I hope they still have, but never had the zing. We went to the train shows where layouts like this are featured, it really is a wonderful hobby.
Thanks again for featuring this.
Fun facts- Rod Stewart has one of the largest train layouts/collections in the world.Supposedly he built it himself and has spent 30million dollars on it over the years. Fellow rocker Neal Young is also an avid model railroader, and was an owner of Lionel train Corp. in the 90’s He holds several patents for his designs.
Lovely collection. My model railroading days ran to HO then N gauge. Think of the rolling stock as an actor on a stage (the scenery through which it passes). The larger the scale, the more the focus is upon the “actor”, and the smaller the scale the focus is more on the “stage”. These can be properly valued as there are many collectors of Lionel. A good place to start would be Charles Ro Supply Co.in Malden, Ma, the largest seller of Lionel in the country. Model railroaders are interesting in that they often model the synecdoche of their formative years (the 40’s, 50’s, etc) and in doing so can provide some historical insight to subsequent generations. RPI in Troy, NY has an amazing recreation of the Vermont Railway in HO scale-well worth a visit. There are model railroading clubs in many places dedicated to the same idea. It’s a great way to learn a few things about history, economics, and technology (not to mention railroad ops).
Started on trains at the age of 6. It was easy to do as the
American Flier factory was a 20 minute drive from our house. My layout was only 4 x 8 but I had the whole attic to myself. Built the buildings out of cereal boxes.
I have several friends with train setups. Most are very nice, like this or larger. They are being given so many pieces now from estates that that are at a loss as to what to do with their loved ones hobby that they boxes are just piled up.
None of them really use their trains anymore, they are just big dusty relics. When I visit we use them for a bit, but I honestly can’t recall why they used to fascinate me so much.
Once again I am reminded how lucky I was to grow up in an era of imagination and prosperity. I never imagined that my golden years would be over by the time I was 40.
I’m trying not to make this a downer post and not succeeding very well, so Ill just end it.
In the ‘50’s all the folks could afford was the .027 gauge. I still have that steam locomotive, and tender!
There was a guy here in the retirement community whose backyard was a train yard and in back of the garage was a doggie door where the train came in when not in use.Either the hot AZ sun ruined all the set up or the next owners got rid of it.
I remember my folks bought me a Lionel HO set. It included a giraffe car and several box cars along with the requisite caboose. The locomotive was modeled after a real F9. One thing I distinctly remember was having the sh%t shocked out of me when I plugged the transformer in. I somehow managed to bridge the prongs on the plug with my thumb and forefinger. Anyway after playing with that set for a time, it ended up in the closet eventually and then I suppose was thrown out. One thing about Lionel vs. American Flyer. The third rail on the Lionel is odd and if you ran the locomotive fast enough the tracks would separate , stopping the train. However the American Flyer had the realistic two-rail track. They were both about the same scale though as I recall.
The third rail was for electric pickup. I still have my 1957 Lionel train set. Although b the wife and I were going to build an H O scale until I lost the sight in my left eye.
WoW,Howard great find. This brings back soooo many memories of my childhood. I grew up in a 3 story house where the attic was finished off with two rooms. One had a bed in it and the other my Dad and Uncle built a U shaped table for my trains. This set reminds me of mine. Later years when I went into the service we sold it for $500.00. There was probably $ 2 grand rapped up in the whole lot. Now at 79 I. can only remonis about having. such a great childhood.
O guage was and is considered the higher quality sets. Interestingly: Neil Young purchased a set for his young son and was disappointed how cheaply it was made. I don’t know what year it was but AMF owned the company at that time. Mr. Young decided to purchase the company along with some investors he organized and rebuild the company with high quality the goal. Now their big steam locomotives sell for $2500.00 or more.
Remember…..
“YOU’RE NEVER TOO OLD TO HAVE A HAPPY CHILDHOOD”
But its also true that:
THE ONE WHO HAS THE MOST TOYS…..STILL DIES!
I received an American flyer set for Christmas 1957. However, I believe it was more for my Dad. And yes, it was chugging around the Christmas tree when I got up. Smoke and everything. We moved from the city tonthe suburbs where we had a full basement. The train set became an 8’x8′ set-up with cattle loaders, moving crossing arms, wistles and switches. (Dad worked part-time for the Illinois Central RR in the switch yards. ) It all came apart when we moved and boxed up, never to see the light of day again in my possession. It was replaced by slot cars. Again with Dad taking the lead and expenditures. My wife has an “N” (originally called “Micro”) gauge system that she has started building a small setup in a glass covered coffee table. We also have 2 of the Jim Beam Railroad decanter sets on large shelves in our living room and great room. With LED lighting. And just went to see the BIG BOY a few weeks ago. In the blood, but not infected like cars are.
PS,i forget.there is a model train club here that operates a indoor display and out door one.There are 60 clubs here,even stamps and coins.
Wish I had kept my old trains. If the price included breaking it all down and shipping…my marriage would be in jeapordy…
Or some other game show…
I inherited a Lionel train set my father and older brother started in the ’40’s and added to it over the years. When it came time to downsize, I was surprised to find out how little money I could get for some of the rolling stock and accessories, I thought I was sitting on a goldmine, but there is a lot of O gauge stuff for sale out there. I ended up just giving things away, some of it, ironically, to baby boomers interested in recapturing the fun they had as youths.
I still have my Lionel train set I got when I was 6 years old or so. More than 65 years ago.
My dad bought me a Lionel set when I was 4 or 5. Over the years I’d add some cars to it. Passenger cars. Milk car.There was a family of 5 boys down the street. They had an American Flyer layout on a plywood board. But they had boxes and boxes and boxes of Lionel equipment. We liked to put those together in their living room.
There was another boy down the street. His house had an elevator and he had a Lionel layout in his basement with one of everything in the catalog.
As a teen I got into HO scale. I had a brass SP Daylight loco.
In my20s I visited my mom’s cousin in NYC. There were some large RR books in a bookcase. I asked her if her late husband liked RRS? She asked if I would like her to ship those books to me? “That would be great.” Then she asked if I liked the toy trains? She took me into a bedroom and there were boxes and boxes and boxes of ho equipment. She asked if I would like her to ship those to me? I couldn’t believe that. I asked if I could take one with me? I took a brass NY Central loco. But she shipped everything to me.
My favorite was a brass articulated logging steam loco.
But I never really got into ho again. I have the articulated loco and the Daylight. Everything else I sold on Ebay.
I used to be active in a church and they would let me look at stuff for a rummage sale the day before the public could buy things. They had a Marklin set, in boxes, for $2. They told me their antique expert would look at it first.
I was first in line the next morning and got it for $6.
I wish somebody had donated a 356 Porsche
A few years ago we went on a 2 month trip from our home in Northern Nevada south to Tuscon ans east and south to Fort Myers FL. Up through Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, over to MO, OK, back through northern AZ and then back home. Stopping to see friends, realitives and points of interest along the way. But I took her to see the model railroad exhibit at the Chattanooga Choo Choo (hotel) It was huge. 3 separate rooms all connected to each other by model railroad track totalling approximately 3,500 square feet. (My estimate) It was massive and very well done. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find it again. Having lunch there in the hotel I mentioned to an employee there that I couldn’t find the layout. He then told us that he was the manager of the hotel and he had it removed because “it didn’t pay for it’s self”. I commented that the only reason I was eating there was because we came to see the railroad exhibit. And we wouldn’t be back. (I didn’t tell him that we lived 2,000 miles away.)
I forgot to mention, that my mother’s cousin, who gave me all the ho equipment, in the 50s, she and her husband had an XK140!
A Lionel factory was located in Irvingon, NJ until it burned down in 2004.
Lionel : 615 South 21st Street, Irvington NJ (1917-1933) was the first facility built expressly for Lionel. It was expanded in 1920 and again in 1923, at which point the factory’s footprint extended from 600 to 615 on both sides of 21st Street. Lionel’s chief rival during the 1930s was American Flyer, located (until 1938) on South Halsted Street in Chicago. Ironically, both Lionel’s Irvington plant and Flyer’s Chicago factory were later occupied by bedding manufacturers; and both were destroyed by fire – Halsted Street in November 1951; Irvington on the evening of April 5, 2004.
About 1953, My father gifted himself, my brother and I with a Lionel set. After the novelty wore off, he played with it more than we did, but that’s another story. In one of my real lives, I was a successful real estate broker. About 1987, I went to an appointment for a potential listing. The house was a 1200 sq ft ranch. The living area was disgusting! Every surface was covered with dirty dishes, dirty clothes, bugs and it STUNK!. The owner insisted I check the basement. It was well lit and orderly and the cement floor was lined with row after row of steel shelving, packed full of unopened boxes of new Lionel Engines, rolling stock, track, transformers, switches, accessories and scenery. He told me that none of the Lionel stock was for sale – only the house. I responded that the only way I could list his house for sale was after it was professionally cleaned and exterminated. I never heard from him again.
In 1984 we were looking for a house in Altadena or Pasadena. We toured a house with our agent. There were large dogs in the house, they’d gotten into the garbage bags and pooped everywhere. In a hallway, there was a door and my wife asked the realtor “Is that a closet?” She opened the door and there was a nude, drunk man sleeping on a bed.
My wife could not see the dogless, poopless, drunkless potential.
Thanks for a great find Howard. My grandfather had a beautiful setup in his basement with paper mache hills, trees a tunnel and a town and he’d let me go down and operate it when we visited on Thanksgiving. After he passed my dad gave it to the Plainview Historical Society, which at the time I wasn’t happy about because I wanted it, but in retrospect it’s much better off there than it would’ve been with me and my wandering ways. Now visitors there can see it, the even cooler thing is it’s in a restored historical train depot. https://mindtrip.ai/attraction/plainview-nebraska/plainview-historical-society/at-US1iXILE
If this layout is controlled by Lionel ZF transformers , then 9
$9,000 might not be so bad. ZF transformers sell for $1500 to $2500 if you can fund them !!!
Wow, that’s a whole lot of train stuff. I was never really into trains. My grandfather was and I still have a many of the controllers that I see in picture and several of the trains as well and other things not to mention transformers.
Really great layout. But just as an FYI if anyone is interested. I did the following search on Google
“Who donated the ‘O’ Scale train layout to the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City”
The massive 3,000-square-foot model railroad at the Liberty Science Center, known as “The Great Train Set,” was donated by entrepreneur John H. Scully and his wife, Regina K. Scully.
NJ.com
+4
The exhibit is a highly detailed replica of the 1950s Lackawanna Railroad, featuring John Scully’s childhood memories of the New Jersey line and Cranberry Lake. The incredibly elaborate display, which originally took a specialized team 15 years to build in the Scullys’ home, now has a permanent home at the science center.
NJ.com
+2
You can plan your visit and learn more about the exhibit on the Liberty Science Center website.
3 sites
The Great Train Set on display at Liberty Science Center
Aug 2, 2022 — Regina K. Scully, left, and her husband John H. Scully stand near the entrance to The Great Train Set on display at Liberty Science…
NJ.com
Large exhibit features model trains and miniatures in Jersey City
Jul 28, 2022 — The exhibit features 425 feet of railroad track, 132 model buildings and 5,000 trees. The set was originally created and construct…
PIX11
The 1950s Lackawanna Railroad Pulls Into Its New Station at Liberty …
Aug 1, 2022 — Like many children in the 1950s, John Scully was fascinated by trains, in his case the Lackawanna Railroad that ran the length of …
Jersey City Times
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All I can tell you is, if you have a love of Model Railroading like I do, and you are not too far away, I cannot recommend strongly enough, that you take the time and make the effort to see this train layout at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, New Jersey just off of exit 14B of the New Jersey Turnpike. The attention to detail and the sheer size of this layout is mind boggling. Thrust me when I say, if you take the time and make the effort to see this ‘O’ Scale layout in person, you will not be disappointed.
My uncle had a large model train layout in his basement. One year we had Thanksgiving dinner there and then went downstairs to see the trains in action. My grandfather was standing next to me, turned and said “apparently this is something he wanted as a kid and never got to have.”
To Curvette:. If you feel so inclined, send me an email and describe your model car collection. I’m 77 and I’m on my third (and what will no doubt ne my ‘LAST’ model car collection) which was started in 1975 and now numbers more than 9000 model cars..I’m also one of the two original founding members of the Tri State Scale Model Car Club which came into existence after an initial meeting was held in my backyard in Bayonne, New Jersey on September 21st, 1985. Ten guys plus my club co-founder John Slivoski attended that meeting, and we all agreed to form a model car club in the greater New York City Area. Then some 18 months later, in March of 1987, the TSSMCC hosted the first annual NNL EAST Model Show which over the next three decades has gone on to become the LARGEST and I like to believe, one of the most PRESTIGIOUS events in the hobby. If you contact at [email protected] I can send you some photos from various NNL EAST Model Car shows. I literally have thousands and thousands of photos. I’d also like to tell you the somewhat amusing story of how I lost my first model car collection (that I started way back in 1961) along with my 1952 vintage Lionel Train set if you’re at all interested.