Can somebody tell me who can do an historic appraisal for a 1920's vintage tank car? We have to get one done in order to put a historical dollar value on a car we are trying to acquire with a charitable tax receipt. We know the scrap value, but I'm sure the historical value will be more.

Be careful, IRS rules prevent the receiving institution from having an object appraised, or from paying for the appraisal.

It is the responsibility of the donor to arrange for and pay for the appraisal. This is to prevent museums from "bidding" for objects with deductible appraisals of donated objects.

It is probably OK to provide a list of multiple railroad equipment appraisers.

Rob, when we acquired Canada Starch #22 it was a simple scrap value calculation- the tough part was getting scrap dealers to honestly give the price per ton.

Revenue Canada is very watchful for inflated valuations, so be careful.

Your best bet would be similar cars that have been sold in either Canada or the US (if you can find any). If you could find three similar cars and quote their sale price, the average should satisfy them.

Has anybody sold/ bought old tank cars recently?

Steve Hunter
Cardinal, Ontario
RMEO

Depending on what the car hauled, it is possible that the owner may even need to pay for disposal. Decontamination of the tank car interior ("purging") can run into thousands of dollars.

We had a 40s vintage tank car purged of oily residue and the bill was just under $2,000.

--Richard

Correct about the IRS issues.

It's all about locating documented comparable sales and market value. That's really the only firm ground to stand on. If you're lucky, the item has some intrinsic market value beyond railroad utility (think cabooses, boxcars for storage, flatcars for bridges) or as a last resort, scrap value. But it is what it is. For many smaller items private collectors establish an open market value useful for donations, but that typically doesn't exist for freight equipment. As tempting as it is to try to put an historical premium on things you know are rare, you still have to find some legitimate valuation basis that will stand scrutiny.

We pay particular attention to auctions and get the results whenever we can, that's a pretty good indicator. There have been enough auction liquidations in the last year that's a useful basis and some actual competitive bidding.

But with that, I'll also tell you that the 'last thing to go' is usually tank cars because of the legacy of you don't know what's (been) in there. Before environmental issues they may have been popular for storage tanks, but unless the seller is willing to certify cleanliness, not so much any more. It also used to be that 'railroad tank cars' didn't need containment around them for above-ground oil storage, but that loophole has been effectively closed in many states, pretty much reducing the odd resale market for those.

We're in Canada. We don't have to answer to the IRS. Only it's equivalent, the Canada Revenue Agency. I'm sure many of the rules are different, but we will definitely make sure we follow the law.

We've been told by someone with plenty of experience in historical artifacts (not necessarily railway) you can give a tax receipt for historical value and not necessarily scrap value. Under $20,000 you have to get one appraisal from a qualified person or company. Over $20,000 you have to get it appraised by two.