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Just registered here, but I have been lurking for quite some time.

I have enjoyed reading this thread thus far and the opinions offered by the sage folks among you are consistent with my own expectations - and limited experience.

I have an Aster Henschel HF110c model; (in other words I own a Frank S,) an Aster Schools and most recently I just finished building a BR(WR) Castle.

If I were to sell the Frank S or the Schools I am fairly certain I'd get what I paid for them. Which means, as has already been discussed, I'd lose money, but not too much.

The significant intangible is the pleasure we experience during the period of ownership. One may look at the difference between time-adjusted cost at time of purchase and the realized selling price adjusted for time, down the road, as the cost of renting the loco during the period of ownership and in that case, the monthly or annual rental premium may be said to be quite low.

I look at Ebay daily; (I've seen Applegeekz list items there,) and from what I can determine, any Aster purchased recently will have to be sold at a loss - perhaps a small loss - if one were to sell it shortly after acquiring it.

There was a fellow in Canada who listed several Asters all at once and he was looking to get his purchase price back. I believe he listed for three or more weeks and none of his listings resulted in a sale. Recently, someone offered a factory-built Castle for the price of a kit-built Castle and he or she did not sell it. The Castle listing was flawed and this probably did not help.

On the other hand, a dealer in the Philadelphia area listed a K4 for about $5,500.00 obo and I believe he sold it for over $5K. He had to re-list it three times to sell it. I was, at one time, the high bidder, but I had not met the reserve. Was $5+K a good price for a K-4? Was it a real money-maker?

So far, the only folks who have insisted to me that Asters are good investments are the folks who were trying to sell me one.

Cheers,

Joe

 

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Although I was sent a link to the HA site and I set up and account, I forgot about the auction until it was all over, lol.

Here are some prices I noted:

AD60 Garrett $5,468.75
Aster Mike $3,000.00
King George V $3,750.00
A3 Flying Scotsman $4,375.00
U1 $6,875.00
WM Shay $2,500.00

I'd say here were some very attractive purchase prices.

Others not mentioned sold as expected, I.E. K4 for $4,375.00

Cheers,

Joe

 

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Just bought another Aster - Can't help myself ;-)

In another thread I think I said that I enjoyed building an Aster Castle recently so much so . . . that I would probably not buy any RTR Asters anytime soon, because I enjoyed the building process "that much."

It seems my nose grew just a little bit longer today as I bought a K4. I should have it mid next week.

Not wishing to stray too far off-topic, so why did I buy a K4?

Well . . .

I have always liked the look of the K4 and Pennsylvania is practically next door to New York and the LIRR used leased K4s before the end of the age of steam and I do live on Long Island and could re-livery the PRR to LIRR and besides, I do like ham and eggs for breakfast. All good reasons for purchasing a K4.

I mentioned earlier on that I *almost* bought one through Ebay from a dealer in Philadelphia months ago. At $3,800, I was the high bidder but did not meet his reserve. The guy later re-listed it and sold it for around $5,000.00.

So is an Aster K4 worth $5,000.00? I guess it was a few months ago.

In the Glenn Reid auction, the one they had went for $4,375.00. I reckon that establishes the recent price at $4,375.00, right?

In the past week or so I have been watching one on Ebay that has been listed as "new" and never fired, factory built with original wooden case and with a "buy it now" price of $5,000.00, obo.

I offered $3,500.00 and we agreed on $3,650.00, so I guess the "new" price du jour for an unfired K4 is $3,650.00.

I prefer meths fired models to butane, but I figure I can't go wrong at this price - unless we see one tomorrow for $2,500.00.

Cheers,

Joe

Edit: Additionally, Hans @ Aster USA has a K4 for sale that he built some time ago and with 50 hours on. His price is $4,400.00.

"All of the above" has allowed me to rationalize what is ,in essence, an irrational decision to purchase.

 

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Joe, the K4 is a strange bird..I've seen ranges from 2.5K to about 6K for one in new, complete condition. I've seen an alcohol conversion and it ran well. I'm sure Charles will do a great job if you go that route.

Sam, thanks for your comments. I have already sent a PM to Charles.

I am guessing that the reason for the wide excursion in price range for the K4 may be:

If one looks at it as a butane fired loco manufactured some years ago perhaps the value would be on the lower side of the range.

If one looks at it as a model of an iconic North American loco with a broad appeal to folks in the northeast especially, the pool of possible buyers increases and the value may go up as a result?

No point in over-thinking the thing though, right?


This thread is (loosely) about the value of Aster engines as "investments" and I am enjoying it and expect it to continue to "grow legs."

If I do nothing with the K4, I can probably get my money back almost immediately.

If I were to convert the K4 (or have Charles convert it, most likely,) to alcohol firing what is implied? Cost goes up; resale value goes down?

If I turn it into a rare LIRR liveried K4, I assume the resale value will immediately plummet.

Cheers,

Joe

 

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So what is an unsteamed Chapelon Nord 231 worth?

I almost added the word "objectively" to the above sentence, but then I laughed at myself.

I see that the one that was part of the Glenn Reid collection went for $5,468.75. The asking price for the one I found is around $5,700.00.

* * * * *

Aster Schools., FYI . . .

One just sold this week on Ebay for $1,748.26. Sold by a Henri Chabot in Tokyo.

The one I purchased back in February cost $1,525.00 from the very same Henri Chabot, also shipped from Tokyo. Mine was received in near-mint condition and had only one scratch in the black paint on the tender front where contact with the drawbar had slightly damaged the paint., otherwise perfect paint - and it runs well.

There is one for sale now on Ebay for a bit over $2,200.00, including an original oil painting of a Schools. No bids as yet and it is getting near the end.

 

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Sam,

Thanks.

My main reason for posting info on the Schools was to simply update the thread. As I see prices established here and there, I will continue to post and I am hoping others will continue to contribute to this thread, started by Nate.

I am not too concerned about the few little scratches on the Schools tender front, drawbar area.

What I did with my Frank S, once I found matching black paint (high-temp gas grill paint, btw,) is to strip it to brass, clean it with solvent, paint it with an etching primer; give it a finish coat and pop it in the oven for about half an hour at 200 degrees F. Seems to be fine. I did this with the cow-catcher on the K4 after repairing it as well.

On the Nord . . .

There is no way to rationalize why we do the things we do. I find with women, we lust after them, we fall in love and then it wears off. We come to our senses. Eventually we decide to hang on to one or two.

I have admired the lines of the Chapelon locos (231, 232 U1 and 241P) for a while now and I know if I don't buy any of them, I will stop lusting after them anyway. If I do buy one, I will enjoy it for a time.

But here is reason enough to want to possess a Nord:

Of course it would be nice to own a rake of beautiful J & M coaches as well, no?

Cheers,

Joe

 

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This is another one of those threads to update from time to time, or so I think.

I am of two minds on the subject of this thread, but if I were asked to choose between being able to buy at a low price versus being able to sell at a high price, I'd rather see that the things that we buy hold on to their value over time.

Of course, we all want to be able to buy low and sell high, but that's a little silly, isn't it?

* * *

At the moment, an Aster GWR King George V that looks to be in pristine condition has come on to Ebay from a guy in Connecticut. "Buy it Now" price is $4,750.00 - which seems like a good price. I bet he sells it for his asking price without having to wait too long.

Same fellow as above just listed a pristine BR-38 K.P.E.V. P8 for $4,495.00 "Buy it Now."

Currently, there are two BR 9F for sale, 92214 in black and "Evening Star," 92220 to local buyers on the Ebay.co.uk site. "Buy it Now" price on these is GBP 4,500 each ($6.828.00.) The BR 9F is a truly splendid well-mannered model. I finished up building mine a month or three ago and have not yet got 'round to putting up a build thread, but there is much to recommend it. The two have been up for a week or so and have not sold yet, but I am rooting for the seller on this listing.

Currently running for either the fourth of fifth attempt to sell, also on the Ebay UK site is a Gresley A3 "Flying Scotsman" in malachite green, factory assembled and un-steamed for GBP 5,250 ($8,004.00.) To me, this seems a tad optimistic on the part of the seller. He hasn't dropped his price over the course of nearly two months of trying to sell it.

Recently an Aster LNWR Precedent Class 2-4-0 Jumbo "Hardwick" was unable to be sold for GBP 2,150 ($3,262.00) - which surprised me somewhat as it was also pristine and un-steamed and a "pretty" loco.

However; an Aster LMS Jumbo 2-4-0 "Snowdon" sold for $2,740.00 back in early December.

Apparently, Stirling Singles are desired by some, more than are Jumbos as a factory built Stirling Single advertised to have been steamed only once by David Stick was sold for $6,223.37 - also in early December.

A Schools with some minor blemishes went for $1,365.00 in mid-December.

Three Aster Hudsons found their way on and off Ebay recently, two of which disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

One J1c 5265 had been re-liveried TH&BR and sold for $2,587.34 as a well-used example in running condition, but with minor blemishes.

The second one was listed for an opening bid of $4,995.00, but disappeared from view without any bids due to "The listing was ended by the seller because there was an error in listing."

The most recent of the three had an opening bid price of $4,850.00. On its second listing (first re-listing,) it received one bid at the opening bid price and then suddenly, before the bid period ended: "The listing was ended by the seller because the item was no longer available."

I have a suspicious mind, so when I see an early end due to an "error in listing" or "no longer available," I assume a private deal was made outside of Ebay's purview.

Anything else? A PLM sold in Switzerland by Zuba-tech for about $2,200.00 and an S 2/6 failed to sell for an opening bid of $2,700 (Buy for $3,900.00) back in November.

I may have missed a few.

One more: An Aster USRA light Mikado w/o axle pump option, new, un-steamed sold in Mid December for $3,200.00.

Consider this post to be a public service announcement.

Cheers,

Joe

 

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Sam,

The guy mentioned that the King and the P8 came from a "museum" in Michigan, so I thought perhaps they were from the Reid collection, but I did not say so as I did not know so.

Someone just put up a little Baldwin B-1 for $605.00 and there is a used JNR D-51 up as well starting at $2,800.00.

Were you able to sell your P8?

I note that Nate has or had his Castle up for sale as well.

I can't be tempted by any of the above, but if a 232-U1 or a 231E Nord showed up, that may be a different story.

Cheers,

Joe

 

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Dougie,

I concur with your sentiment.

I have been poking around the Net hunting live steam locos and other items - not only Aster either - over a period of some months. I spend no more than 5 minutes a day at this activity, placing items on a watch list for which I may have only a passing interest.

Shortly after I made the most recent post above, I had a bit of regret for not having let the thread die out. I won't update it again.

I think the issue of valuation and/or investment value was well covered earlier on and nothing new of much worth (pun intended,) has been added by simply rattling off a list of recent sale and non-sale info.

My aim was to share some of the information I was gathering, but when taken as a whole, it may look as though there was some method to my madness whereas, the condition of my mind may have been best described as an empty vessel.

Yes, let's enjoy our steamers without focusing too much attention on their extrinsic value.

This post is meant to be something of an apology for bringing up the subject unnecessarily.

Cheers,

Joe