New to hobby!

Model railroading has many different aspects. One may collect locomotives, another freight cars, some like books on railroad history and others like to re-create the railroad world in miniature.  As for "collectable" models, it depends on a few things like the age or "vintage", brand, scale and a few other factors that I'm sure I will think of as I write this.  Collectable's, are only valuable if there is a demand for that item and supply is limited.  Pre-war lionel trains of the 20's and 30's are quite valuable!  However, most HO scale "train sets" of the 70's have little or no collector value.  That's not to say that the occasional item doesn't pop up because it does from time to time.  I like "collecting" rolling stock and locomotives with the intent to "display" them on a working layout!  "model railroading" is about making your trains look, act, behave like the real thing or as you will hear or read as being "prototypical" in operation.  Model railroading can also involve building structures from kits or scratch building.  So as you can see, it much more than just collecting trains.  As for collectable models, there are plenty of resources at your fingertips!