TRAIN CITY BUYS TRAIN COLLECTIONS

'I'm always buying Lionel, American Flyer, Marx and other collectable mfgs train Collections. I want to spend $5 million this year.........'

That is an excerpt from an ad that I have been running in 'Classic Toy Trains' and "O Gauge Railroading" for years. As a matter of fact, I have been advertising to buy trains longer than anyone else around. My name is Charles Siegel, myself and my son John make our living buying and selling electric trains. If you think about it, I wouldn't be able to advertise the way I do year after year unless what I say in my ad wasn't true.

My son John started working at our business in 2005 and has been learning the business ever since. I have taught him my values in business.

I've purchased millions of dollars worth of electric trains over the years, and honesty and integrity are the absolute most important aspects of my business. I've been advertising that fact for years, and I mean it! When I say I will do something, you can bet it will be done. When I state something, you can bet it is the truth to the best of my knowledge. I feel strongly that there is no better asset for a business than it's reputation. And if you check around, you will find that Train City, Inc. has the highest reputation in the train business.

OK, so if you are selling your collection, how should you start? Well first, look around this section of my web pages. There is a lot of information about me, my references, Train City, how we do business, and testimonials that should be of interest to you if you are planning on selling your trains.

Then, if you feel comfortable, give me a call, or email me. Tell me what you have for sale, and if possible give me your asking price. (Not essential). At some point I will ask you to send a listing of exactly what you have for sale. I will travel to you if merited. (I prefer to do this on collections that value $15,000.00 (wholesale price), or more, but that is subjective.) However you always have the option of shipping your trains to us for evaluation, whether it be a handful of pieces or a large collection. We receive trains through the mail very frequently.

Please keep in mind, this is my only business. I can not stay in business unless I have trains to sell, so I am always buying, and paying very competitive prices, if not the highest around. So please give us a shot. We would sincerely appreciate your consideration when it comes time to sell your collection.

And to be honest most of the last couple of paragraphs were actually written some time ago. That is before my son John started working for us at Train City. Now John has been working for some 10 years and is my equal partner in the business. John has learned much and does quite a bit of the quoting and buying also.

If you have trains for sale, please consider doing business with us. Here are some of the advantages:

1. Our reputation. We have been in good standing financially for all of our 35 years. No one in the train business has a better reputation for honesty!

2. We make full payment after inspection. That way you don't have to gamble that someday you will be payed. Some of my competition only will buy on consignment. There are many negatives in consignment that you should consider. The biggest being if or when you will get paid. I guess my competition gives a quote when doing consignment, but there is absolutely no way of knowing if you will ever get paid that amount because they take possession of your trains initially. Even if they are on the up and up, what happens if your collection gets lost, or is in a fire, or the truck falls off a cliff? We state exactly what we will pay and make full payment in liquid funds. We buy trains the old fashioned way!

3. Our experience. We have been buying trains for 35 years and I don't think you will find anyone unhappy after they have sold to us.

4. We will make the transaction as easy as possible for you.

5. We are very friendly to deal with. We have many friends across the country that we purchased trains from!

6. I could go on and on, but why don't you check out the following links and see for yourself. Also you can visit our auction site choochooauctions.com or our web site traincity.com.

Start to Finish Sell Process

How we arrive at our offer for your collection

Advice on Selling Your Collection

Our Helpful Inventory Form Download

Please bookmark this page if you are thinking of selling in the future.