Published: Sunday, September 24, 2006
Trained in his hobby, fan makes it a business
A rare 1930s-era train will be auctioned at the event.
By LAURE CIOFFI
WEST MIDDLESEX, Pa. — Gary Zippie got his first train set as a young boy, but it wasn't until he graduated from college that he realized trains were his passion.
"A friend took me to a train show and from then on, I've never looked back," Zippie said.
A banker by trade, Zippie, 51, left banking in 2003 to make train collecting and selling his full-time career.
He has since teamed up with Indiana-state based auctioneer Greg Stout.
Stout, who already had an auction house in Williamsport, Ind., was looking to move his business east, but needed a local partner to help make it happen, Zippie said.
Zippie, who had been buying and selling trains under Zip's Trains for years, became the natural choice.
The two tested the waters in 2004 with an auction at the National Guard Armory in Hermitage, Pa., which went so well that they decided to construct their own building not far from I-80. The 7,200-square-foot steel building is used solely for the storage and auction of trains by Zippie and Stout.
The two men, with their wives Katy Zippie and Cheri Stout, formed Stout & Zippie, which does business as Stout Auctions.
Looking ahead
This week's auction will be their fifth since beginning in 2004. Zippie said he eventually hopes to have six auctions a year at his West Middlesex building.
With more than 1,000 trains, Friday and Saturday will be by far the largest auction Zippie and Stout have had to date in their Pennsylvania facility.
Zippie said the trains range in all shapes, sizes, conditions and prices.
Friday's auction will include more modern-era trains, which Zippie explained are those made after 1970. Tables filled with the modern-era trains stretch the length of the public part of the building for several rows. They include manufacturers such as Lionel, American Flier, Ives, Marx and others.
"There's something for everyone here," Zippie said. "There are trains that sell for as little as $50."
Older or more rare trains will go up for auction on the second day. Those trains are behind glass in cases that line the walls of the auction house. Again they come from all manufacturers, but include many pre-war era — manufactured before 1946 — and post-war trains built in from 1947-69.
Among those to be sold at auction is a rare 1930s-era Lionel Standard 20th Century Limited State set. The set has all of its original boxes, which in train collecting is a valuable entity.
"We don't know of another set [of this train] with the boxes," Zippie said. The current owner bought it in 1988 from a Syracuse, N.Y., collector, Zippie said.
Zippie, who makes 15-percent commission from each sale, said most of his trains come from collectors or estates.
"The collector may die, and the wife and children don't know what to do with it," Zippie said.
Helping out
That's where Zippie is most helpful, taking the train collections, cleaning them, photographing and then selling them at auction.
Zippie likes to point out to sellers that their trains have only one stop when they reach his facility where they are stored, all preparation is done and then sold. Everything is insured from the time it reaches the building, he added.
Zippie said he's also able to attract a large number of collectors at auction. While the building may attract 50 to 70 people on auction day, Stout Auctions is part of eBay Live Auctions that potentially could have thousands of bidders. They also accept absentee bids sent before the auction, he said.
Zippie said many of the collectors he sees are from the baby boomer generation when train sets hit their peak production.
"With collectibles, people seem to relate to what they grew up with," he said.
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