To Sell or Not to Sell????

[zeames1]

Thanks for all the responses. I probably feel that hanging on to my stuff is the best option. All of it has been played with and probably worth 50 cents on the dollar at best. As mentioned in one of the posts, the detail in recent offerings is awesome. I'll just be a little more patient and wait for that next purchase, (Lionel NYC GP-30). Anybody got any ideas regarding inexpensive display shelves? Thanks again.

JZ

PS: graz-great looking layout. I love the detail!!!!

[pbjwilson]

Very interesting responses. I guess I'm the other type of collector. I only have a few train items that I am really attached to and will not sell. The majority of my collection I would sell at the right price. I'm always looking to add and improve my collection and sometimes the way to do it is to sell some items that arent that special to me at the time. I'm also very limited on space so to grow my collection I need to weed out some items to make room for new. And from year to year I discover new areas to collect in. Last year I was into pre-war tinplate and sold off some newer MTH and Lionel trains. This year I built a layout and run newer engines with sound and selling some of the pre-war stuff. With e-bay just a few keystrokes away you can buy and sell in every area of toy trains. It's what makes the hobby interesting, everyone goes about it in a different way.

[traindaddy1]

Hi! Remember that useless wedding gift? You know, the one that you only display when your aunt comes over to visit. Well, I have received a few items from very well-intentioned relatives that, although are nice, just don't fit in. My two cents: Bite the bullet, don't sell, just pack them up and put them in the back of that hall closet (if you can find the room). Some day, someone, and it may be you, will discover a treasure. Thanks for reading.

[Odd-d]

Sell 'em if you want to, but just remember this: when they're gone they're GONE, brother. When I was a kid about fifty years ago I sold off a bunch of pre and postwar trains and accessories to go into HO. What a diaster! HO is too hard for a twelve year old kid to work with. I made a hash of my kits, I got an engine kit (Varney Casey Jones ten wheeler) that never ran smoothly. My dad was too busy watching TV to help and I was too unsophisticated to figure out that that cause of my troubles was the main driver with an off center gear on the axle. Why not just put your trains away for a while and work on some others. You may just be glad you have your old friends waiting patiently in their boxes for another chance to please you. My Lionels waited in their box fifteen years in my parents' attic for me to get over my HO fooolishness and come back to them. Odd-d

[mickey4479]

graz: That is a great layout. I am really impressed with the scenery. You have a good eye for it. From what I can see you model PRR. That's what I chose to model. I like steam era especially. I run a K4s, M1a Mountain, consolidation and a B6s, all Lionel except for the B6s which is a K-Line. The name on your dairy building Brook Hill is the same as my subdivision here although it is spelled Brookhill. Again, thanks for sharing. Inspiring. [tup][tup]

[Anonymous]

Graz, nice scenery! You got IT!

[More to restore]

Well JZ, this is a very personal matter. Everybody will answer this question differently. Personally, I like to hold on to as much as possible.
I once sold a 1351 train set in 1987, because I felt the engine had to poor running quality and the passenger cars were too plastic. Today, I regret that sale. So, I figured out that I do not want to be in such a situation again. It is better to fill some shelves and boxes than to miss an item.

[jimhaleyscomet]

I spend alot less than most on this hobby and I keep more than some but much less than others. When we first went DCS/TMCC I got excited and sold a bunch of entry level loco's, 027 track, and 027 cars. I have since purchased all the 027 track back for my portable layout plus some 027 engines and cars. I miss the 027 engines I sold because I have enjoyed running conventional on the portable layout with blocks. Fortunately I kept the starter set I got as a kid.

Just my 2cents worth but now I think very long and very hard before selling trains. It seems I will always miss them later. If I ran out of room for storage and out of money then I might consider selling a few I was not using. However, the used stuff I run is all cheap and does not bring in enough ca***o buy new stuff.

Jim H

[darianj]

I too agree that it's a good idea to hold on to anything that was a gift. I personally find it hard to sell anything I have that is part of my collection.

[Anonymous]

After 6 years of being back in the hobby, I now have 8 TMCC locos and 2 conventional along with roughly 50 pieces of rolling stock. Pretty puny compared to most here.
However, I am really considering a sell-off of almost all of it. Most were purchased in haste and don't have the detail that the newer pieces have. I would rather have a few high quality pieces than a wall full of entry level locos. Just my opinion though.
Mike

My layout
http://home.comcast.net/~graz6/wsb/html/view.cgi-home.html-.html

[tgovebaker]

Your wife's rule seems like a reasonable one. Beyond that, I have generally sought to maintain only a small volume of stuff. Some things I've picked up don't get used, so rather than storing them under the layout, I've sold them. I have saved some old stuff that has sentimental value, but other stuff moves. It limits the clutter, and frees up cash for new stuff.

[tschmidt]

Your wife's idea is a good one...and the right one. If they bought it as a gift for you, then it doesn't go. That's what the shelves are for.

TomS

[corton]

I don't know your age or what your long-term prospects will be with the hobby.

I deeply regret actions I took in 1978 to dispose of my trains. I had some very, very, nice pieces - original 2333 ABA, original FM Virginian, 2020 turbine, 2046 Hudson, 2368 B&O AB, 2360 GG1, the complete 456 coal ramp set, 397 coal loader, log loaders, barrel loader, horse car, milk car, Erie Alco AAs, the 1960 General Set, plus just about all of the 70's era Service Station Specials, and a ton of other stuff.

That was 1978. In 1986 I kind of got back into trains when my son was 3. We had a pretty rinky-dink layout on rollers under a double bed. In 1992, a larger house allowed a 5x8. That one hung around until about 1995, then it got torn down.

A few months ago, my younger son dug out one or two of the pieces I'd picked up in the 90's, and fell in love with them. So we re-set up the 5x8, this time with Atlas track, because the Lionel had rusted.

I really really really wish I had those old pieces back.

[Frank53]

I think you should sell your post war material . . .



to me.

[cnw1995]

Hi JZ, welcome to the forum! I'm looking forward to your contributing to the Sunday photo thread and other ones. Boy, this has been an issue with me - especially considering my season of life and related expenses. And I understand our responses will be pretty relative to all sorts of lifestyle and income variables. I don't have a particularly large hobby budget - it's sort of zero-sum: in general, something has to go out before something new comes in. I also have a general anathema to storing lots of items. In general, if I'm not using it, I get find a new home for it - even knowing that someday in the far future, I may want it again. That allows me to personally hold onto my treasures a bit lightly in an open-palm kind of way. I kind of stick to my 027 curves also because it helps keep me from being too acquisitive. And try to only acquire what I can park on the layout itself. All these operate as 'self-checks.'

But I love new stuff - and also enjoy the challenge of redoing a layout from one theme to another (it was somewhat easier in smaller scales). And even though I consider myself an operator, I accumulate or collect more things than I can run. Right now, I'm still unloading items to concentrate on an electric traction layout theme. A friend of mine is doing what you are considering; he loves TMCC so much, he's gradually converting most of his collection - getting rid of older engines to allow the purchase of newer TMCC ones. I'm of the opinion that the older engines are more 'stable' insofar as the newer electronics are concerned, so prefer to concentrate on them instead.

[zeames1]

Hello,

A few weeks ago there was a post regarding what may determine a small, medium, or large collection and most posts were quite entertaining. This got me thinking so I tallied up my collection of 30+ engines, 200+ pieces of rolling stock and many accessories which is heavily weighted with Lionel equipment and the NYC roadname. With all the new stuff that keeps coming out with upgraded sounds and control I'm thinking of purging some older, (Post War to early Modern, non-NYC), stuff that seems to sit in boxes under may layout. I'd love to display the stuff as a collection in my basement, but for the most part I'm an operator with a desire for having TMCC engines running and quick staging for rolling stock to move on and off the layout. In addition, the increase in food,utility and gas bills are certainly putting a strain on the train budget. What's your opinions regarding this? Does anybody feel that maybe they have too much? Do any of you buy and sell equipment to upgrade? My wife has a Golden Rule that I can't sell anything gifted to me by her or my kids. This is my first post, but I've been an observer for the past six months and I certainly enjoy it.

JZ

P.S. - I love the Sunday photo thing and am looking forward to contributing in the near future.