Just because it's rare doesn't mean it's valuable
Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2026 11:25 am
by up148
Listed on BT and way, way overpriced IMHO. I'm having a hard time believing anyone would have paid $33K for one back in 2004. Not trying to be snotty or negative, just expressing the reality of the value.
I'd be hard pressed to pay that for a Sofue BB, which is much more collectable and rare. But someone spent a lot of love and time making this loco.
https://brasstrains.com/Classic/Product ... Steam-RARE
Re: Just because it's rare doesn't mean it's valuable
Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2026 7:23 pm
by Pacific Limited
Oh good grief, that might be the one, or one of the four, whatever that we had for sale in the brass department at the original Caboose Hobbies, it was like 35k back in the late 00’s Yeah, thirty-five-thousand in Donald Trump Lotto. I don’t remember if it sold. It was nice, nice, compared to US Hobbies nice.
Good luck on the sale
Re: Just because it's rare doesn't mean it's valuable
Posted: Tue Mar 24, 2026 10:19 pm
by Chris Webster
I was very surprised to see "Endwell, NY" on the model's case. Endwell is a Binghamton suburb and the whole Binghamton area seemed to be a black hole for modeling back in the 90s. A long-term partner was from another Binghamton suburb and I don't remember there being any hobby shops or layouts for me to visit when we would go back to her hometown.
I did a little googling and found the builder's obituary:
Ellis M. Kliewer 1922 - 2017I also found this Trainorders thread from 2014, *eleven* years ago:
Is anyone insane enough to spend this much?That old Trainorders thread links to the very same listing on BrassTrains dot com that was active this week. I wonder why the listing reappeared - maybe the buyer (from 11 years ago) missed their monthly layaway payment?
Re: Just because it's rare doesn't mean it's valuable
Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2026 10:07 am
by up148
Good catch Chris on the additional information. I'm not disparaging the model or the builder, but the price is insane for this model and especially for a model that is so "incorrect". Why would someone build a model of this skill level and not even make the major spotting details correct?
The lids on the sand domes are wrong (wrong orientation), the lids on the turret hatches are wrong and/or missing and he added some odd circular bulges on the turret. This is almost "folk art" and some fool bought it. What a crazy world we live in.
Re: Just because it's rare doesn't mean it's valuable
Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2026 9:52 pm
by Pacific Limited
I thought this little click bait gem was fitting for this post
https://www.outdoorrevival.com/more/tim ... hbFCMMPdXg