Lionel set 2297 WS, C8-9, $5,500.

Lionel standard gauge 9E Stephen Girrard set, C5-6, $5,000.

FAIRFIELD, CONN. – On January 26, The New England Toy Train Exchange held their winter auction to a packed house featuring 395 lots. The $165,000 sale offered a wide range of collectible toy trains from 1912 through the 1980s. With 150 chairs full, there was standing room only as auctioneer Mark Tobias kept the action up at 85 lots an hour.

Lionel Trains were plentiful and sought after as a Like New 1957 set 2297WS, containing a 746 Norfolk and Western Locomotive and a large selection of accessories, realized $5,500. Other rdf_Descriptions included a 2242 New Haven F3 diesel, $2,225, and an unboxed 2360 Congressional set brought $3,300.

A Superchief set with touched-up 2383s sold for $1,750; an unusual unboxed 6427 Virginian Caboose, $360, a 1956 736 Berkshire with its orig-inal boxes and master carton, $550; a 2855 Tank Car, $300, and a boxed Pumping 38 Water Tower sold for $475.

The tinplate collectors where in force as a Lionel 9E Stephen Girrard set in Standard gauge sold for $5,000; a set of unusual cream window state, $4,400; a 380 Passenger set with the desirable green 418, 419, 490 cars, $1,800; and a Lionel 402 loco surprised the crowd when it sold for $950. Prewar Lionel “O” gauge was also well sought after, as a 1932 260E Work Train realized $1,700 and a 265E Silver Streak Streamliner with a replaced cab brought $1,325.

Some unusual pieces were shown in Plexiglas display cases and for good reason – a 1938 Lionel 225E in gunmetal gray with its desirable die-cast tender hammered down for $1,650; a boxed Lionel 808 Car assortment missing a car, $825, and a 1061 Lionel Junior freight car assortment sold in pristine condition realized $660.

Early toy trains once made by Ives in Bridgeport, Conn., were not plentiful and brought out the die-hard collectors, as a 3242R Wide Gauge set in red surpassed estimates when it soared to $1,750. A 3235 Loco hit $525 followed by a series of common freight cars that sold between $360 and $380 each. And the earliest rdf_Descriptions in this auction were a Lionel 1912 locomotive selling for $3,000 in C4-5 condition and its cousin, a 1910 loco with two gondolas, in C4 condition, hammered at $2,700.

A rare American Flyer “S” gauge 594 Animated Track Gang was won by a mail bidder at $2,500. A boxed 1953 Set 5322-T hammered to a Pennsylvania collector for $800; 21158 and 56 Docksiders sold consecutively for $190 and $240; an unboxed 24077 Pig Palace stock car, $230 and an excellent condition T.N.T. Exploding box car sold for $220.

The entire sale was available on the NETTE website for viewing and absentee bidding at newenglandtoytrainexchange.com.

Prices reflect buyer’s premium.