I've got MTH and Lionel catalogues back to 2000 and the same for Williams and K-Line. I have held on to them thus far for nostalgia but didn't know how valuable they might become in the future; esp. for the latter 2 companies which no longer exist in their previous form; and Lionel, which used to be made in America. As well, I'm trying to clean my house and some of the catalogues are pretty thick.

I suppose one could judge their worth from looking back 50 years at those catalogues and seeing what they're worth now.

I bet this topic has been thoroughly discussed so I typed "catalogue" in the search engine. Too many hits resulted so I went back as far as the beginning of this year.

Thanks

Dave V

yes, save them!

I just found a Lionel 1990 and 91 catalog down my basement......fun to look back and good reference.......

Mike

Yes, if you have enough room. Mine finally outgrew their space and were tossed as I never referred to them. I did keep the Corporation collection though!

I have Lionel back to 1954 all the main Catalogs. I have almost all MTH and Atlas O since they started. Weaver too. They are great reference to what was produced when etc.

Keep em"

SAM

If you have space for your old catalogs, by all means keep them. They can be a good reference source. If your only interest is future cash value, then you are probably going to be disappointed.

keep them-i collect mth and k-line and always have
to go thru them for reference means.since you live in a area where winters are hard it would be nice to go thru them on a cold day and enjoy the good ole days.

I have a stack on my computer desk that has every Lionel catalog back to 1994, as well as most of the K-line catalogs from about 2000 up through the end.

I can't begin to tell you how many times even in the past few months that I've pulled one to look something up. Whether it's for my own curiosity about when I certain item was made and how much the MSRP it was, or to help answer a question on the forum, my stack of catalogs has proven to be invaluable.

Plus, I keep them for the sentimental value. The 1995 catalog, in particular, was the one that, in my very early days of Lionel, spent many hours pouring over. I have three copies of the 1995 catalog-one of them has had the cover taped back on it several times, but I wouldn't part with it for anything.

Yes.

If you do not like them, put them in plastic covers and sell them.


Andrew

Some might become classics. My favorite is the last K-Line. Flip through it and you can see what a threat that roster might have posed to certain competition.

I found some space for them in a back room, protected by plastic container. They are pretty colorful. Kinda fun to see what I couldn't afford. NOT. And to see an occasional wheel off the rail. Lionel had some of the classiest covers.

Interesting that Lionel, K-Line and MTH all chose the same sized format for the catalogues. Williams seemed to go against the grain. I don't know if I have any Atlas or Weaver catalogues. I think I'll have to look. I don't know if 3rd Rail or any others even had catalogues.

Back to 1954; amazing.

I would recommend keeping them if you have sufficient space to store them. They are good reference works that provide information you may need in the future and can't easily find elsewhere (even on the Internet).

I once sold a first-issue MTH catalog--really more of a brochure--for $400. That illustrates how valuable they can become over time (and that wasn't a very long time by any stretch of the imagination). Still, I don't hold onto these things for their investment potential; I keep them because it's nice to have a primary reference source readily available.

Keep them and you can store them in all of those train boxes your not sure if you are going to keep or throw out