# Cox GI General



## Zeus (Jan 29, 2012)

First I would like to say hello and let everyone know that I always thought trains were and still are cool. I am not a train enthusiast like you guys are but I would like to obtain some information if possible.

In 1975 I got a Cox GI General for Christmas. I had a lot of fun with it for a couple of years, then it got put up. I have opened the box up and checked it out from time to time through the years. I was doing a job at a gentleman's house a couple of weeks ago and he showed me his train set up and it brought back memories. I pulled it out of storage and opened it up. I guess what I want to ask is does it have any value or could it in the future? I have every car in its own box. The big box has a lot of wear but you can read everything. It came with 12 sections of curved track, 1 section of straight track and 1 rerailer track(missing). I have the power pack and instructions. One of the flat cars had a tractor-trailer and the wheels on the trailer are missing. The locomotive's rear wheel assembly has come loose but I don't see why it couldn't be mounted back on. I haven't plugged it in to see if it still works but I will soon. Can anyone give me any information about this train that may be of help to me? I understand you guys are not here to see it but for this to be 36 years old, it seems to be in pretty good shape. Thanks for your time.


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## Xnats (Dec 5, 2010)

Zeus is your set like these? http://ho-scaletrains.net/coxtrainsresource/id4.html

Sorry I can't be of any help, I'm sure someone here as something useful to offer.


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## Zeus (Jan 29, 2012)

Xnats said:


> Zeus is your set like these? http://ho-scaletrains.net/coxtrainsresource/id4.html
> 
> Sorry I can't be of any help, I'm sure someone here as something useful to offer.


That is the same set except the box shown is for 1976-77. Mine is a '75 with a little different design.


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

Worth enough to get you and your beloved a night out at Applebee's or the Olive Garden, $35-50 with some varience for the modeler who absolutely must have it. I've seen the rail gun go for $15-20 alone, so breaking it up on eBay may be the better option. Most Cox are easily repaired as they were contracted out from Athearn.


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## NIMT (Jan 6, 2011)

Zeus,
Sorry to say that Shay is right on track for the $$ numbers. They don't go for that high of a value, way too may where produced and they are about par to below par in quality in their time period.


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## sstlaure (Oct 12, 2010)

I've got the same set, but with an extra engine. I plan on remotoring the engines and converting over to metal wheels/couplers.

It's not worth much, but it's the train set that started it all for me back in the 70's as well.


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## Zeus (Jan 29, 2012)

Thanks for the info. It has a lot of sentimental value to me and I will keep it. Just out of curiosity, if I decide to get back into model trains and have a train room, what do you guys recommend me getting?


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

Zeus said:


> Just out of curiosity, if I decide to get back into model trains and have a train room, what do you guys recommend me getting?


...not getting advice from an LSU fan:thumbsup:










If you're looking to dip your toes in it, start out with Athearn, Atlas, P2K...should you not care to go on, they retain their value well and you won't be out a lot of coin.


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## Zeus (Jan 29, 2012)

shaygetz said:


> ...*not getting advice from an LSU fan*:thumbsup:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That is pretty funny since I am a Bama fan. Thanks for the advice.:thumbsup:


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

You're welcome...

Yeah...we're still not quite over it here...


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## Zeus (Jan 29, 2012)

NIMT said:


> Zeus,
> Sorry to say that Shay is right on track for the $$ numbers. They don't go for that high of a value, way too may where produced and they are about par to below par in quality in their time period.


Did Cox mass produce all of their train sets or do they have a few that might be worth a little? After my mother told me they paid $4-5 for my GI Gen, the $35-50 don't seem too bad.


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## NIMT (Jan 6, 2011)

Sets were mass produced, some of the pieces are worth a little bit, and they had some fairly neat looking units too!


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## mapper65 (Feb 10, 2009)

Zeus said:


> Just out of curiosity, if I decide to get back into model trains and have a train room, what do you guys recommend me getting?


That's a tough call. You really need to decide what interests you. Back when I first started I knew that I had more of an interest in early steam than diesel so that gave me a foundation to start from.

Most people would say that the next decision would be scale. Train buffs are often times classified as a collector or a runner but there are also people like me that are both. If you are going to be more of a runner then scale is very important based on how much area you are able to dedicate to running and/or modeling. I'll use this as an example. If you are going to be a runner and you only have room for a 4x8 layout, you may not want to consider G scale. Yes, you could do a layout in that much space but you would be pretty limited due to 4' being the smallest circle of track available which would border the entire outside of your space with not much chance of anything in the middle except for structures. I think you get the idea. I was using that as an extreme example.

Once you decide on a scale, either limiting yourself to one scale or having many scales, then you have to decide what quality of trains your budget will allow. This may be one of the hardest decisions to make and something that I would carefully consider. 

If it's in your budget to buy a little better quality equipment or if you have to save for a little while to buy some of the higher end stuff, it would definitely benefit you to do so. If you start out buying lower end stuff, you will probably never recoup any of your money should you decide to sell something off and upgrade. Some of the higher quality companies make things in limited production runs never to be made again. If you hold out for some of the more higher end stuff, the value of your collection will go up and if you ever decide to get out of the train business or sell something off that maybe you don't use or you've found something that you would like better, you should have no problem getting your money back and in many cases turning a profit.

I think the most important thing is to just have fun. Many people get too serious about scale and brands and have blinders on when it comes to what the other guys are running. 

Myself, I've bought a lot of stuff that I like regardless of scale. I regularly run N, HO, On30 & G, not necessarily in that order or preference. I grew up in a family of O scale collectors and I can honesty say that I only own one piece of O scale equipment and that's a boxcar that I really liked so I bought it. I have nothing against O gauge, just haven't seen anything that I felt that I had to have for my collection. I'm sure that day will come.

Again, it's all about having fun!


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Zeus,

Excellent info from Mapper, above. On top of that, I'll simply point you towards the Nat'l Model RR Assoc (NMRA) website. It's packed with info, including a nice beginner's section that discusses scale, gauge, dc vs. dcc, layout concetps, etc. ...

http://www.nmra.org/

http://www.nmra.org/beginner/

TJ


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