Help!

[newbee]

I found a train in my wife's mothers house when we moved her a few years ago.  It says Bachmann Big Haulers  Golden Classics Series    South Pacific Coast Sunset Route  Limited Edition on the outside of the box.  Someone wrote 1930 on the box, but I'm not sure if it is that old or not.  Does someone know what I have and what it is worth?

[jettrainfan]

few common questions, What is included? What engine? diesel, Electric, steamer? Does it have freight cars and passenger cars, etc?  thanks for the available info at this time though!

[Jim Banner]

1930 was half a century before Bachmann started producing Big Haulers.  But this train may well be a model representing trains of the 1930s.

The Big Haulers are large trains designed to run under the Christmas Tree or outdoor in the garden.  Very few people have enough room to build a complete model railroad with them inside their house.  They were introduced as a low cost way to start a garden layout at a time when the only alternative was to buy very expensive German imports.  All the Big Hauler locomotives were and continue to be 4-6-0 steamers made mostly out of plastic.  There are a great many of us who were introduced to garden railroading by these affordable trains.  The original Big Haulers introduced in about 1980 were radio controlled.  About ten years later, the radio controlled locomotives were replaced with track powered ones.  Compared to what is available today, the original Big Hauler locomotives suffered from inadequate radios and undersized motors.  Various improvements were made through the years and the 25th Anniversary Edition locomotive is a very respectable piece of equipment.  The Big Hauler sets include a 4-6-0 steam locomotive, a tender (usually with a built in "chuff" sound) and either freight cars or passenger cars.  Most passenger sets have two passenger cars with others being optionally available.  Most freight sets have two freight cars plus a caboose.  Again extra freight cars and cabooses are available.  I don't believe any of the sets contained mixed trains i.e. both passenger cars and freight cars.

Through the years, various limited editions were produced.  Often, Limited Edition just means the sets were produced and lettered for a specific company.  "South Pacific Coast Sunset Route" suggests this train set may have been produced for a travel agent who chose a name to sound similar to Southern Pacific, an actual railroad.  I don't think there is anybody collecting special edition sets.  Usually, special edition cars or sets sell cheap because the only people who want them are looking for parts or cars to modify or repaint.

Track powered sets with a train lettered for a real railroad might sell for $50 to $100 or more on eBay depending on age and condition, with the highest prices being paid for the newest sets and unused sets.  Radio controlled sets lettered for advertising purposes might not bring in a single bid unless brand new in the box.  None of these trains are collectibles in the usual sense.  People buy them to run them and the old Radio control ones were just not that reliable.  The highest prices for old radio controlled sets come in the month or two before Christmas when people are looking for something to run under the tree.  And that also seems to be the one time of the year when passenger sets fetch as much or even more than freight sets.  I suppose it is the old association between the holiday season and taking the train home for Christmas.

Bottom line, if you are selling this set and want to maximize the price , sell it between the beginning of November and the middle of December if it is a radio control passenger set and sell it in very late winter or early spring (when outdoor model railroaders are already thinking about summer) if it is track powered and/or has freight cars.

Jim

[CNE Runner]

I concur with Jim regarding Bachmann's Big Hauler. We occasionally sell some of these items in our booth at trains shows. Generally they only appeal to a very limited audience and thus suffer pricewise. Our own G-scale outdoor layout had a couple of these trains...they were poor runners when compared with Astro-Craft and LGB. Their saving grace was their low price - enabling folks to get into G-scale railroading less expensively. Because of poor sales and the large amount of display space required; we do not sell, nor accept on consignment, any G-scale trains.

Ray

[newbee]

Thanks so much for the info!

[Joe Satnik]

http://www.railswest.com/histspc.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pacific_Coast_Railroad

[Joe Satnik]

http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/index.php/topic,5835.0.html