After a longer than planned hiatus, Big Jack’s Trains is back in action! We are slowly repopulating our ebay storefront with restorations and parts. However due to the drastic increase in costs for reproduction parts, a large shortage of e-units, and a general increase in operating costs, Big Jack’s Trains is no longer taking commission restoration, refurbishment, and repair work.
As an example, the total cost for just the basic parts to refurbish a Lionel postwar motor is well over $45. You can buy a motor that runs off eBay for about the same price. By the time you throw in labor, shipping in both directions and the packing materials, you are looking at a cost around $150 just for the motor! Double that for a complete locomotive! Inflation and parts shortages, or not, a restoration is almost always going to far exceed the value of a decent running unit from eBay or HiBid.
Same goes for prewar restorations. With inflation as it is, it just is not cost effective to take on commissions. You don’t wanna know what a pre-war O or Standard gauge would cost. Hint: the wheels alone are worth more than the entire unit!
Big Jack's Trains 