SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF.- Turner Auctions + Appraisals will be presenting The Armond Conti Collection of Model Trains, Part 2, on Sunday, January 29, 2023, at 10:30 am PST. Featuring 200 lots from the estate of a Northern Californian who collected trains for over 75 years, the sale presents a variety of fine, distinctive, and desirable pre-war and post-war train offerings – some new old stock, some unused, and many in their original boxes.

These include locomotives, tenders, and cabooses; numerous sets and groupings; and a wide selection of train cars, including flat, passenger and baggage (Madison, Baby Madison and Heavyweight among them), fire, milk, dump, refrigerator, box, freight, coach, vat, and missile and helicopter cars. There are also many accessories on offer: besides switches, transformers and Gargraves track, there are loaders for logs and oil drums, gatemen, platforms, a coal elevator, nuclear reactor, burro crane, automobiles, billboards and street lights, and more. Many lots are Lionel model trains; other manufacturers in the sale are MTH, 3rd Rail, K-Line, Atlas, Williams, KMT, Kusan, LGB, and REA/Polk. Most are O gauge.

Here are some highlights of the upcoming sale:

Lot 16: Lionel Postwar 2240 Wabash F-3A and F-3B 2240 Wabash F-3A: Horns, steps, trucks and couplers intact. Corrosion on horns. Paint has heavy wear spots in usual areas. Horn battery compartment is clean. Nose decal is yellowed. Horn sticker is partly missing. 2240 Wabash F-3B: Steps, trucks, and couplers intact. Rust spots on step mounts. Estimate: $200-$400.

Lot 70: Williams SP GS-4 4-8-4 Daylight No. 5600 O Gauge Loco & Tender. Williams Electric Trains Southern Pacific 4-8-4 GS-4 Daylight No 5600 O Gauge in original packaging with shipping carton. Estimate: $200-$400.

Lot 119: Lionel Southern Pacific Daylight F-3 A-B-A: 8260, 8261, 8262. In dusty original packaging. Estimate: $200-$400.

Lot 34: Lionel 2552 Canadian Pacific Vista Dome Aluminum Passenger Car. With wear from use. Estimate: $100-$200.

Lot 91: Lionel 6-14065 Accessory No 463 Nuclear Reactor Model. In original box. Estimate $150-$250.




Lot 196: LGB 4059 Flat with Autos, 4061 Gondola, 4066 Log Car, 4065 Caboose. LGB 4059 Flat Car with Automobile Load in original box with sleeve. New old stock. Sleeve is shelf worn. LGB 4061 Gondola in original box. New old stock. Box is shelf worn. LGB 4066 Log Car in original box with sleeve. New old stock. Sleeve is shelf worn. LGB 4065 Caboose in original box with sleeve. New old stock. Sleeve is shelf worn. Estimate $150-$250.

Lot 37: Lionel 2333 New York Central F-3 Dummy & 2333 Powered F-3. Lionel New York Central F-3 A-A Clean battery chamber. Screen tops. Need cleaning. Boxes stamped 2333P and 2334P and master box. Flaps are worn. Estimate: $100-$200.

Lot 54: Lionel Postwar 6464 Box Cars, 6361, 6436, X6454, 2452, 6042, 6456. Lionel Postwar Rolling Stock 6464-250 Western Pacific Box Car in original Lionel Toy Corporation window box. 6464-75 Rock Island Box Car, 6464-400 Baltimore and Ohio Box Car, and 6464-200 Pennsylvania Box Car, all in original Hagerstown boxes. 6361 Log Car with logs in original The Lionel Corporation box. 6436 Red Lehigh Valley Hopper - appears un-run. X6454 Pennsylvania Box Car - dusty 2452 Black Pennsylvania Gondola 6042 Blue Lionel gondola - dirty, rust on axles and wheels 6456 Black Lehigh Valley Gondola in original tattered box missing some flaps, rust spots on wheels. Estimate: $100-$200.

Lot 25: Lionel Sears General Set. 1882, 1882T, 1866, 1885, 1887. Lionel Sears General Set 1882 Western and Atlantic Locomotive / Black and Orange - missing whistle; 1882T Western and Atlantic Tender / Black and Orange; 1866 Western and Atlantic U.S. Mail Car / Brown and Yellow - roof scratches; 1885 Western and Atlantic Coach / Brown and Blue - roof scrapes at corners; 1887 Flat Car for Horses / Brown with yellow fences - 6 horses, 2 each Black, Brown, White. No boxes. Estimate: $200-$400.

Lot 58: Sunset Models 3rd Rail #4103 3-Rail "O" SP Cab Forward 4-8-8-4. Sunset Models 3rd Rail O Gauge 3-Rail Southern Pacific Cab Forward 4-8-8-4 AC-4 #4103 in original packaging with shipping carton. Estimate $800-$1,200.

Born and raised in San Francisco, Armond Conti attended St. Ignatius High School and graduated from San Jose State in Industrial Technology. He met his wife Chris in the late 1950s, when they were both audience members of the popular radio show of Don Sherwood, who billed himself as the “world’s greatest disc jockey.” In 1964 the Contis and their then-three children moved to Livermore, California, then San Jose, where Mr. Conti worked as a nuclear engineer at General Electric for over 35 years, until he retired.

Armond Conti collected model trains for over 75 years, introduced to a lifelong passion around age 4, with a Christmas present from his parents. He continued to build and enhance his collection through the years, adding top-quality model trains from train shows and online sources. Perhaps no surprise as an engineer with an interest and skills in mechanics and technology, he also began to repair model trains for others, working after his day job at Bill’s Train Station in San Jose for over 15 years. He also set up an 18’ x 18’ shop in his backyard to pursue this aspect of his train hobby. His train layouts burgeoned as well, increasing as his homes got bigger: first at the top of his San Jose garage, where the layout platform hung down two feet from the ceiling and Mr. Conti would stand on a ladder to work on it. Later, when Mr. Conti moved to a nearby town, his train layout expanded to one-third of the basement of the family’s large and spacious new home.

Through the years, Mr. Conti enjoyed ‘train chasing’ with fellow train buffs, and visiting the Tehachapi Loop near Los Angeles, an engineering feat completed in 1876, where he would go watch trains with his son Mike and others. As Mike said, his dad liked trains because they were “big, noisy, and kind of cool.” These traits were shared with Mr. Conti’s other lifelong hobbies – muscle cars and World War II airplanes.

Now, with Mr. Conti’s passing, the family has decided to part with the collection for several reasons: no one has the same love of trains that Mr. Conti did, the family has other interests, and the model train hobby takes up a lot of space. Fellow enthusiasts who share Mr. Conti’s passion for model trains are sure to benefit from and enjoy the astute rewards of collecting for over seven decades.

Turner Auctions + Appraisals begins its online auction on Sunday, January 29, 2023, at 10:30 am PST; sale items are available for preview and bidding now. The auction will be featured live on multiple platforms: LiveAuctioneers, Invaluable, Bidsquare, iCollector, and Turner Auctions + Appraisals’ free mobile app, which can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Apps ("Turner Auctions"). All are easily accessed through ‘Upcoming Auctions’ at the company’s website: www.turnerauctionsonline.com/upcoming-auctions/.