Here's a link to the show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8QB9Qx07jk
Are model trains really worth $800?
Some are, you bet. I'm suspicious of the one on the show though. You don't usually find them in that kind of condition, so I think it could be a modern reproduction, or a restoration. And you can't make a blanket statement like, "Lionel trains are worth $800-$3,000." That's like saying old Apple computers are worth $1,000. A Mac IIsi sure isn't, though a Lisa is always worth something. As for what they found, it's a fairly common, entry-level Lionel Standard Gauge train from the mid/late 1920s, or a restoration or reproduction thereof. Realistically, it's worth $250-$400. If there were some cars in that box that go with it, that would push the value up.
The Lionel train my dad grew up playing with, realistically, is worth about $100. But you'd never know that from these shows. I'll find an old Marx train (my preferred brand) from the 1940s or early 1950s, worth maybe $50, but since people have seen these shows, they think they're worth $800. And the market on trains is cooling off fast as the baby boomers age. When I go to a train show, I'm often the youngest guy there. There aren't a lot of GenXers into it.
Also, overvaluing early Macs is a common mistake by these kinds of people. They don't know the difference between a 128K Mac and any of the other one-piecers, and sometimes they even confuse Macs with Lisas. I had a picker brag to me once about the 512K Mac he found, which he said was worth at least a couple hundred. I didn't feel like arguing with him that it was worth more like 50 bucks. Shows like this will do the same thing, eventually, to vintage computers that they did to trains. If you start seeing Apple IIgs computers marked $200 at garage sales, this will be why.
