Bachmann G Scale Train Set

[rick26155]

I have come upon a Bachmann G Scale Train set through all of my buying and selling and I dont know anything about it and was wondering if someone could give me some information on it.  It is a Christmas set with a large engine with smoke stack on the front, has a box car for reindeer transport, a caboose, a coal car, and a transport car with packages in it.  It has several sections of track and has the control box and power supply. All of the cars in the train have christmas lights on the side of them that light up when it is running. It has plastic track connectors that hold the track peices together. The cars are very well made and really heavy. I would say that it was an expensive set once upon a time. It appears to be complete, but I havent ran it yet till I check to see if there is anything in particular I should look for before I put power to it.  On the side of the cars it says North Pole Southern and the coal car seems to have some sort of spotlight on the top of it as well as a place to insert a 9 volt battery.  I hope this is enough information for someone to give me an approximate age as well as what to expect as far as a resell price for it.  I can post pictures later if so needed.  Also I have checked eBay and Yahoo and have been unable to find a set with this many track pieces and cars.  Thanks in advance for your time and expertise.

[Doneldon]

rick-

I'm guessing from your post that you have this entire set in a box. If that is so, you can search for Bachmann and the
catalog number from the box to find out a bit more about it. Don't expect it to be worth much, a question which always
seems to reside somewhere nearby when people inquire about some unknown train set. Older Bachmann large scale sets
were sold for much, much less than catalog value even when new. I purchased several for under $100 when they
cataloged for three times that. Bachmann's large scale trains, or at least the older ones, were clearly built as toys. As a
consequence, they weren't particularly well detailed. Neither were they made especially well. You need one of those to
make a train which will hold its value; both is better.

Your train probably isn't worth much as a set; however, you might be able to sell it in parts on ebay. The straight track
(forget the curves -- everybody has a box of them already), power pack, rolling stock and the loco with its tender (what
you are calling a coal car) can probably be sold fairly easily. If you can guarantee that the loco works you might get $50-60
for it. One problem, of course, is that Christmas comes but once a year and you have a Christmas train. Word to the
wise: Sell it now if you plan to sell it. It won't find very many buyers after the holidays.

                                                                                                                                       -- D

[Joe Satnik]

Dear Rick,

G scale items are usually discussed within the "Large Scale" sub-forum. 

I'm pretty sure this is the "Northern Lights" Set # 90061, NP&S livery,  from Sam's Club, Christmas of 2007.

It was the last of the Sam's Club offerings.  (2004? to 2007)

The LED s along the sides of the cars made it unpopular with bashers and re-painters.

(Remove all the LED s, then fill in all the holes before re-painting...)

I can't remember if the loco also had LED s running along its side (which would make it less valuable to bashers and painters).

You may get more money for parting out the cars. (Trucks, wheels, and couplers sold separately, e.g.)

Hope this helps. 

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik