These Model Trains Are Worthless

I've been looking to experiment with different types of videos on the channel, so here is one that is a bit different from my usual uploads - a short look into some model trains that I think are WORTHLESS!

This is coming from my perspective as the owner of a small model train store, so take everything I say here with a grain of salt. I hope you guys enjoy!

[cadencesrailyard]

Can I find 10 positive things about Life Like trains? Watch this video to find out.

[wayneccj]

If you are collecting to resale, then you must consider supply & demand to determine an items worth. However, if you are collecting to keep for yourself, then only get what you personally enjoy & don't worry about market value. It could be the most worthless piece in the world, but if it brings back happy memories to you, then it is priceless.

[tracynation]

Super. I still have plenty of the old school stuff on my railroad, including many names that you didn't mention, however, even if you threw all of the new expensive stuff of mine and the junk in one basket, it is still all sentimental value for me. I bought these trains to operate, inside or outside, not to resell. I don't save boxes, (I have traded some for RR stuff.) I occasionally have wrecks, or modify the equipment, which alters the original, and they see sun and snow and dirt, not to mention tons of operation and maintenance, which gives them a nice patina that operators love and collectors hate. In terms of junk, about 20% of my current fleet wouldn't even sell for fifty cents each, and no rivet counting modeler would even want them on their railroad, but many have been modified, by me or my friends, (Friends and I looking out the passenger car windows, realistic lighting, me in the cab, extra weight and details and lighting for my railroad, couplers, special paint, etc.) and are my personal favorites, and work well on my pike. I have one locomotive, a Tyco 4-6-2 heavy Pacific with a long haul tender that has run faithfully for almost fifty years, and I wouldn't sell it for any price. (Picture of me in the cab windows, extra weight and details, special paint, lighting, thin plastic cover over the exposed gears.) Nobody thinks that this is an exact scale replica of anything, although it is close to some steam locomotives. I bought it originally for $19.99 plus Uncle Sams share, which means that I've spent less than fifty cents a year for this locomotive, including maintenance, extra detail parts, and Kadee couplers. That means that while this locomotive would work well for a modeler, and someone might like or want it, it is not an unused, unopened, rivet counting, fully detailed, pristine scale model boxed collectible that will go up in price ever. It is instead the locomotive that in its matching paint hauls my 21 car Royal Blue passenger express train up the 3% grade as smooth as silk without fail, and I love it. Hello again from the Tracy Mountain Railway in Colorado. 💙 T.E.N.

[josephpadula]

I bought my toddler son a g scale Toy train locomotive he played with it for a year or two until he got older.
Then one day he was moving it by hand on the kitchen floor and the horn sounded, the lights came on and smoke came out!

I thought he found a switch so I opened it up to look for batteries, no batteries in the compartment.

It turns out he was now big enough to push down hard and fast enough to make the wheels spin and make the dc motor a generator and it was self powered.

Kids in college now and we still remember that Miracle Toy train!

[Shipwright]

One man's trash is another man's treasure. If nothing else, the cheapies are good for kitbashing and learning to do things like weathering on, though it's also possible to have a lot of fun for not a lot of money.

[pstrjack]

I think you miss the point of sentimental value, I still operate my TYCO that I received as a Christmas present in 1981. I remember being a part of a Model railroad club, whose members shared their insults of TOY grade trains. We operated a modular layout at the Shasta County Fair. When I arrived for my engineers shift I noticed my Tyco was pulling the train. The person then asked where I got such a great running locomotive and what kind it was. When I informed him he was running a Tyco for all of Northern California to see I thought he was going to pass out. Anything still operating after 60 years of service I could hardly deem WORTHLESS. Sometimes values go deeper than cash.

[AMX]

Ok, old guy here. In the time before dinosaurs, some of these were all that could be had. We had to modify, kitbash and alter to make something cool. It was also creative and a lot of fun.

[braysfinds]

I'm pretty sure like 90% of model railroaders had one of these as their first set. Heck my first one was the Santa Fe one with the F40PH. The fact these are so cheap makes them even more charming in my opinion. There's nothing more fun than running one of these at full speed along your layout. 😂

[donadams]

Why does everything have to have collectable value? Some products are sold for enjoyment value. When collectors get involved prices go up and a fun hobby can be ruined.

[fredtaylor]

My model trains(all I have is a couple engines and cars) are the only things I have from my very tumultuous childhood. My parents divorced when I was 6 and somehow I managed to drag my trains with me throughout my life. My dad built my train set for me. They are literally the only physical things connecting me to a very happy time of my life before everything fell apart. They are worth more to me than gold. They are memories. I plead with all of you.... share your love and passions with your kids. They will love and remember those memories more then you know.

[rossbryan]

SEVERAL YEARS AGO I WAS AT AN AUCTION WHERE I BOUGH A BUNCH OF SMALL ITEMS IN A BATCH OF ODDS AND ENDS.
IN THIS BATCH WAS A VERY CHEAP TRAIN SET WITH ONLY A CIRCULAR TRACK, AND A LOCOMOTIVE POWERED WITH ONLY A SINGLE BATTERY!
I NEARLY THREW IT AWAY, AND SET IT ASIDE!
A FEW MONTHS AGO I GAVE THIS ANOTHER LOOK AND DECIDED TO GIVE IT TO MY NEWEST GREAT GRANDDAUGHTER, AND SHE LOVES IT AND OFTEN PLAYS WITH IT!
BY MIRACLE, IT IS STILL RUNNING!
BEAUTY IS IN THE EYES OF THE BEHOLDER!!

[JRNipper]

Being in model trains since 1963, I have found the Life-Like HO set I had in 1971 to be very decent. In fact, I still have a L-L set from 1971 still factory sealed (Cannonball with the F7 A&B locos). And like Athearn, L-L freight cars had underframe mounted couplers, but, of course, L-L cannot compare with Athearn of the same era, but neither can TYCO, although the TYCO locos had better traction tires than L-L. Never had any Bachmann HO in the early 70's, no stores in my area back then carried them. Had some AHM and Rivarossi locos and those were decent, especially the Rivarossi's, those had good quality and very sensitive motors. Had a neat Atlas N set in 1968 and really loved it until my little brother pulled all the trucks off the freight cars and ate the plastic bolster pins :-(

[jayo]

That Life-Like figure 8 set in the beginning of your video was, I feel, one of the better sets. I rather liked the crossing it came with, and the other stuff was really nice as well! Especially considering most of the starter sets, particularly Bachmann's, have been very "bare bones", just the train, track and transformer...

[ohgary]

When I was your age I barely had any facial hair at all. Now as an old man the stuff grows wild. You look good on tv and I applaud your ability to speak coherently. Lots of tubers can’t.

[garysprandel]

Ok this video solved a mystery for me. Dad was an easy guy to gift with anything rail, aircraft or automotive related. When we were cleaning out his place after he passed I reclaimed a lot of items I'd gifted him over the years but came across that N scale SP locomotive and thought maybe it was some sort of Hallmark ornament or something and now I know.

[stevenbrown]

I started with some Tyco trains as a kid and its a miracle I stayed in the hobby. They never ran right, broke down all the time and looked horrible. It all changed when I joined a club and got to see what real model train where, and who much better they operated...

[PlowBenderStudios]

This showed up in my recommended and I decided to take a watch, which I'm glad I did. I wanted to throw in my two cents on Life-Like Trains, as I've had quite the experience with them. Probably close to 15 years ago now, my parents bought me a 4'x12' HO scale train layout someone had started building and lost interest in, and since I really didn't have many trains, I was allowed to go to the local store and buy some. They were all Life-Like, which was good for the time since I was just getting into the hobby. I paid I believe about $3-$5 for the rolling stock, and locomotives were around $20. You basically got what you paid for with those trains, and they did last for a while, but after a couple years I had to upgrade to something better. One thing I always saw as odd is my local hobby shop would sell Life-Like models for far more than what they were honestly worth. You'd pay almost $14 in some cases for a hopper car, and almost $50 for a small steam locomotive. Granted a lot of the prices there were a little unreasonable, but the Life-Like models they had were a prime example. Even the prices in the bargain bin which had mostly older Life-Like, Bachmann, and Tyco models weren't much of a bargain. Anyways, like I said, I too feel that Life-Like models just are not worth what a lot of people think they are, and they're main purpose is to be an introduction to the hobby, and not something which serious modelers are going to want to pay premium prices for.

[ZakWolf]

Those Life-Like sets were great for starting out with, introducing children to the world of model trains. I started out with a Life-Like HO-scale train set. Now I'm older and I use more upscale HO-scale equipment, but I still have a lot of older Life-Like rolling stock upgraded with knuckle couplers and metal wheels on my layout, along with the Life-Like buildings and accessories. Those small blue power packs they came with, I have at least a couple also set up for powering lights and similar operating accessories underneath the layout (as I use DCC to run the trains).

[danielgibson]

early bachmann, life like, and tyco is not really toy grade it's just made cheaply so people can get into the hobby at a young age

[CassidysWorkshop]

Wow, I sure wish you'd make a video going more in-depth on comparable values. Our club is a 501c3 and we're constantly receiving consignments or donations to sell, and sometimes letting the model railroad widow know that her husband's Tyco collection has more sentimental than actual value is hard. Good analysis here.