I'm not about to leave the hobby, but I'm trying to think ahead and design a strategy for downsizing and selling off or "contributing" my model railroad "stuff".
Being in the hobby means acquiring a lot of stuff. Engines, rolling stock, structures, track, electronics. It also may mean major modifications to your home in terms of removing a large layout, lumber, etc. etc. Also, the older we get, the more difficult it will become to dismantle and move things.
Some obvious ideas that come to mind:
Option1:
You can leave it all as a legacy to your children/grandchildren etc. Relatively Easy. Not much work required.
Option 2:
Dismantle everything and sell everything off. What are the options here? eBay is an obvious place to sell of components. Are there other vendors or services out there that buy up MR estates that are good?
Not meant to be a downer topic, but I think one has to have a realistic plan for this.
Thanks!
It is, by nature, a downer topic. And I don't have an exit strategy because I have too many other things on my plate right now, such as taking care of a 90 year old mother, so I guess I'm working on her exit strategy and trying to prevent my siblings from draining her remaining funds now that she needs more care.
That said, my ongoing strategy is to continually look at my collection and sell off models that I don't think I'll use and to prevent the collection from getting even bigger.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
I'm still young, (compared to others on this forum) so I don't have one yet. My exit will be at least 40 years from now, so it's going to be a future me problem!
JJF
Prototypically modeling the Great Northern in Minnesota with just a hint of freelancing.
Yesterday is History.
Tomorrow is a Mystery.
But today is a Gift, that is why it is called the Present.
3) Something similar to what my antique dealer aunt and uncle did when they wished to retire. Each of my cousins got to pick one piece of furniture by order of birth, the rest was sold as a lot at auction (and my cousins eventually inherited a lot of the proceeds). I think I would vary it by having my friends cut cards or something similar to determine the order they got to pick, then have maybe two rounds, with the balance being donated to the club I belong to.
I have no exit strategy.
I'm only 36.
Ricky W.
HO scale Proto-freelancer.
My Railroad rules:
1: It's my railroad, my rules.
2: It's for having fun and enjoyment.
3: Any objections, consult above rules.
ricktrains4824 I have no exit strategy. I'm only 36.
Actually it is a very good idea to have a will, even if you are 36. One never knows when one's number will come up and it is best to have a will, just in case, especially if you are married or have children. I know people who have passed without a will and their families really struggled with gaining access to stuff and legal knots. A will cuts through a lot of that.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
Well, I have a photography hobby to compare.
Analog, chemical, mechanical photography is nearly dead. My equipment has very little value except for a few cameras and lenses.
The valuable stuff is being sold off on ebay. The rest may go to Goodwill vs trash can.
For the railroad, I may start listing the DCC converted locos on ebay (I only have on factory quipped DCC loco).
I need to set something up. A lot of the historical documents (maps, rule books, timetables, etc.) should probably be donated to historical societies. I would probably want to arrange with some friends to catalog, pack rolling stock, then dissasemble the layout. Possibly having a sale of some of the stuff. The reaminder will have to be auctioned off or sold to a dealer who can piece it out.
I am going to post this in two posts.
First: You might not need an exit strategy.
For years, in this area, I was known as a layout-removal-guy. If your husband built a massive layout in your house, I would remove it for free, just leave everything on the layout as I remove it. No cherry-picking before I get there.
In Punta-Gorda Isles, Burnt Store Marina, and Quail West there were actually models of retirement homes that featured 20 by 30 "studios" that became many train rooms. I removed probably 20-30 layouts over the years working with my friend Randy. It usually cost us between $500.00 and 1,000.00 for equipment rental and landfill fees.
I have a few salvaged buildings from these layouts that will be on the next SGRR layout. I amassed a huge collection of spare parts, details, tools, etc. from these removals.
For three days work from two guys, it worked out pretty reasonable. I have no idea what a contractor would charge to remove a layout, but it might be steep.
Again, NO CHERRY-PICKING! We are only getting paid what we can salvage for our own collections, so if the widow gives away the good stuff to friends, we cannot do it. Our time has value.
If you can find a couple of people in your area that do this, let your family know, and then you do not need an exit strategy.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
My suggestion is to do some shopping around for dealers that handle model railroad estate sales. Pick one that's likely to stay in business for a few years, and leave instructions/suggestions as an attachment to your will to suggest your heirs use that dealer.
If anyone in the family tree wants anything, they can put dibs on it now and you write that into the instructions. I know some people who are very good with structures find out that their heirs are happy to have a mantle piece remembering their craftsmanship, but when it comes to rolling stock most likely no one wants anything and you've set up an easy way for them to deal with it all in a batch.
This method doesn't get top dollar, but it doesn't require you to go through the mental anguish of selling your stuff off, and it doesn't require a lot of time to try to put accurate values on everything and ebay stuff off one piece at a time (that's what they dealer is getting paid to do for you, he realizes the benefit of that time investment).
And you can choose the dealer using some measure of judgement, unlike if you just left the problem to heirs and they had to pick one essentially at random.
Second Post: My situation...
For the first fifteen years I lived in my house, this was a desireable area to live in, and my house was in the right spot. The new houses they were building around here were 2-1/2 times the size of my house with swimming pools and three car garages.
My exit plan was to just tell the girls to bulldoze the house, layout and all, and sell the land for property value. For many years, the house actually diminished the value of the property.
It is not that way now. Land here is still less than half what it was before the recession, and housing construction has skyrocketed. New houses in this neighborhood are typical 1,400 sf 3/2 plans.
Now my house makes up 80% of the total value. No plan for the bulldozer solution in this situation.
I have remodeled this house into MY dream house. I have probably destroyed its resale value, and very few buyers would be interested parties.
The layout will diminish the value more.
I think I will need an exit strategy.
After watching our parents age, and mine pass away, I want to move into a Ranch house that also happens to have outside sliding door access to the basement so that when I am old if steps are an issue I can walk outside around the house to get to the basement.
With a son having 3 years of high school left, I'm ready to move now if/when the right house presents itself, but we can move anywhere we want in the greater Harrisburg, PA area in 3 years.
I have offered to tear down my along the wall shelf layout in the basement to facilitate moving when the time comes but my wife (who doesn't like trains or rather would be happy if I didn't horsetrade them but would simply keep what I have) has said why? Just keep using it and enjoying it.
I don't want to be a burden to her after I'm gone. However, we have a contractor for a neighbor who could easily dismantle said layout if/when the time comes.
My exit strategy is to build a 5 x 9 or 6 x 10 layout for the next house, not attached to any walls, that can be more easily moved.
I have one son who says he still likes trains but rarely uses the ones he has. When I'm dead and gone, he can certainly keep whatever he wants to keep. I've tried to show him how to carefully place them back in the factory clamshell packaging. He knows what they all cost at least generally speaking. He has an Athearn Genesis 2.0 DDA40X and an MTH 2-8-8-4 among his locos, so the trains he has to keep for himself are way cool trains.
We also have a family friend who owns a train store, so he would buy or sell anything my son won't want to keep.
Despite all that, and because I have college expenses, music lesson and baseball lesson expenses for the boys, I believe in keeping a rather small roster. Between the two of us, my son and I have about 75 freight cars and 15 locos. I don't really need a lot more of anything. If it was something I really wanted, I pretty much already have it, whether loco or rolling stock. There's nothing else that I need to have, and I have plenty of credit at my local store to pay for stuff that is on pre-order (they are selling anything I don't need on consignment).
I no longer focus on one railroad, because Santa Fe didn't have many Alcos and that's a problem for me. I just buy whatever Alco I like, mostly Century series diesels in plastic. Most other diesels are already out for sale on consignment.
A brand new Bowser RS-3 L&N unit just arrived at my house today. Had to try one of the new Bowsers. If I see a new Tangent, Arrowhead, ExactRail, or Genesis freight car I like, I buy one or two. Other stuff has been liquidated to make room for them. I won't need more than 100 total cars on hand, and have the hobby tote boxes and traveling bag in which to store anything there isn't room for on the layout or on the shelves above the layout.
John
I don't know if there's an exit plan for anything existing
Said this before, but the hobby is challenged by this tendency of permanence. People build these extravagant layouts that are impossible to dismantle and salvage.
I tell anyone starting out with the intent to build a large layout to avoid permanent monuments. That is massive built-in benchwork with scenery or track that's continuous and permanently glued. If people need to move or put stuff in storage temporarily, anything that is permanent will likely end up demolished and discarded. I'm building my layout with bolted down panels with Pin or magnetic electrical connections. Each module skid can fit in 3 different crate sizes on a 6' long shelf if it ever needs to be in a storage unit.
If I ever need to sell it, someone can easily pick up the modules and connect them back together in their own home.
The problem is modular layouts with removable components that appear permanent with minimal joints requires some ingenuity and expense. It requires intensive fabrication and precision and higher durability materials.
I'm 67 and have both an exit strategy as well as the will.
My nephew will inherit all of my trains, and according to my sister-in-law, I've corrupted the kid since he was 6. Now he's 21 and still into both model trains as well as the real ones.
Hopefully others here have at least the will in place. Even if you're in your 30's, you should have one and update it regularly.
And now, I'm going to my train room to relieve the stress reading this thread...
Neal
Completely agree with above post.
My relatively modest layout has an 81' long mainline, single track, folded dogbone, and two sidings because I prefer to just railfan my own trains. Even then I think it sometimes is a bit much (cats have been hard on scenery details and trees). So being a minimalist layout, it doesn't take up much of the basement, and is easy to operate.
I don't believe in monumental layouts. As a model train sales person in the past, I've seen big layouts that were too big for the owner to ever get finished before he died. Too many accumulate but never finish their layouts...not even getting anywhere close to finishing.
I ask why? Just build something one can operate and enjoy without perhaps needing a small army to operate and maintain. But that's me--and I mean no disrespect to those whose fine 3000 sf layouts I have recently visited like Keystone Farms and Howard Zane, to name 2. Their layouts are outstanding beyond words.
Just that unfortunately some of us will never get there or couldn't handle perhaps all that would be required to own and maintain.
dehusman I need to set something up. A lot of the historical documents (maps, rule books, timetables, etc.) should probably be donated to historical societies. I would probably want to arrange with some friends to catalog, pack rolling stock, then dissasemble the layout. Possibly having a sale of some of the stuff. The reaminder will have to be auctioned off or sold to a dealer who can piece it out.
I had actually thought about starting a thread on that topic relating to private collections of historical railroad documents [as opposed to model railroad stuff] and planning for passing those on to future generations. Many times heirs won't understand the historical value of items and may end up sending to the landfill. I see that some railroad historians have donated their photo archives to historical societies and libraries which is wonderful.
I have no exit strategy. That's for the executor of my estate to worry about. The rolling stock, electronics, and some of the structures can be resold for whatever they will bring but the rest of the layout is doomed to end up in the dumpster. I'm not the least bit concerned about that.
I'm all about whatever is easiest for my children and/or wife. With only 3 brass locos (and 2 of them were low end), and a bunch of unbuilt kits (locos, cars, structures), it's not like they would be throwing away a fortune hauling it to the dumpster. Hauling the books will actually be more work because of the weight.
They all saw how much work I did selling my dad's HO train collection on ebay, which netted my dad a little over $1200 ten years ago. That was after the local club cherry-picked in return for hauling his layout out of the basement. If any of them wants to do the same, they are entitled to whatever money they can make (probably in the same ballpark).
We have already moved into the last home we will own/maintain. I will never build a large built-in layout. At best, there will be modules, shelves, and maybe a 4x6 or 4x8. So again, keeping, selling, giving, or dumpster is entirely practical - and their choice.
Fred W
....modeling foggy coastal Oregon in HO and HOn3, where it's always 1900....
I have a fairly large layout in my basement. It is a flat surface, 1/2 inch plywood on 2x4 framing which is held together with drywall screws.
Once cleared of track, structures (not glued down), locomotives and rolling stock, it could be dismantled in less than a day.
So, my only concern is the locos and rolling stock which I have been gradually selling off on eBay. I have all of the original boxes which helps a lot. The structures and track can be tossed, and the turnouts can be sold.
My parents died within six months of each other, leaving a house and furniture, an empty basement and six boxes of stuff in the crawl space plus a few file cabinets of paperwork. They made it easy on us to hold an estate sale, then sell the house.
My brother-in-law, an avid HO scale modeler with a large mountainous layout filled with trains and rolling stock, had no exit strategy despite the fact that he had a terminal illness. Fifteen years later, it still sits undisturbed in his basement.
Rich
Alton Junction
Ok. Ill bite. Im 54, a heart transplant recipient and getting better everyday. With that being said, I have no exit strategy either. In fact, Im in the process of removing my current 16x24 layout in order to start another one in its place. Ive always liked the Nutmeg Line plan so Im gonna give it a shot and build an updated version of it.
I have a 5 year old grandson and 3 year old granddaughter who love Gramps' trains so I suppose they will get it all when my exit comes from this life. If you have a family that has been along for the ride while you have enjoyed this hobby, Im of the belief that they would be willing to donate, sell or possibly even keep your collection in the event of your demise.
When the shock of the loss is gone, your family just might take a deep breath and keep on with the railroad. Make your wishes known in plain english so they dont have to guess or assume. Arrange a living will if you have a considerable size family.
One thing to consider, there are societies, historical and hobby based, they can help. Remember that you were a kid once and there arent very many childrens hospitals in this country that dont have a train layout around somewhere. Donate it to them. Theyll know how to keep your memory alive.
I'm 75, I have a bad heart plus diabetes and high blood pressure. One foot n the grave, as they say. I have a will, and actually discussed what to do about the trains with the lawyer about them. Basically, my daughter gets everything and isn't going to be interested in the trains. My girlfriend gets to live in the house as long as she wants and then my daughter gets that, too. My girlfriend doesn't want the trains. For my divorce a few years ago, I had to actually ome up with a dollar value. Since a lot of my railroad is actually from the fifties and early sixties, and all has been weathered and otherwise made worthless for collectors, and the new stuff has also been weathered, the whole pile isn't worth much. The layout was custom designed to fit its room. Basically, the lawyer said not to even try to put the railroad in the will. It's not worth enough.
So, I will give it away to local train clubs and individuals. My guess is, the benchwork and most of the track will go to the dump.
Actually, I have a few pieces of rolling stock that were acquired from eBay listings of estate sales. I think of those departed modelers with some respect as I run their old trains. I hope modelers will do the same for me.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Not cool to leave a big mess for the family! Most of us of a certain age on this list have been through the process of closing up an estate/emptying a house of a departed loved one or friend. It is lots of work in the best of circumstances.
Regarding trains: find a group of modelers (like Kevin) who are willing to help the family deal with your trains after you are gone. It is impossible for the family to know what is worth keeping and what is junk without being well versed in the hobby. This creates lots of anxiety as the family is concerned about throwing away treasures or it breeds the “just dump it all” approach when things get overwhelming.
I think the size of your collection/layout is important. Several of my departed friends were MMR quality builders with huge, extremely well-done layouts and tons of models and supporting materials (books, excess kits, photos, tools, etc.). Taking down these layouts and liquidating the collections took at least a year of work from several of us. Parts of the layouts and the models are spread throughout the modeling community in the US. In these cases, the modelers in question had a plan and documentation that made the process easier.
I think a smaller collection/layout would be easier to dismantle and wouldn’t be a big of a burden on the surviving family members if there is a local group that is already in place to help. Personally, I have spread sheets and a group of friends who can help my family with my stuff.
Too much from me,
Guy
see stuff at: the Willoughby Line Site
I have amassed a pretty decent brass collection which is worth more than $15,000.00 according to BrassTrains Dot Com.
My wife knows that as these get repainted for the STRATTON AND GILLETTE, their value will plummet, and they will have essentially no value at all.
It is important to let your family know about situations like this, and not let anyone believe your "expensive toys" have greater value than they do. Don't let your widow/heirs have unexpected shocks when they find out what Hattens or Trainz will give them for the "collection" when you are gone.
NO exit strategy here except to enjoy the present. Hence why it's a gift.
I'm taking everything with me. The only thing I'm going to leave behind is the electric bill and the cable bill.
Pete.
My exit strategy is this:
When my heart stops, I've exited. I won't care what happens at all at that point. Those still here can dispose of everything however they see fit.
Mark P.
Website: http://www.thecbandqinwyoming.comVideos: https://www.youtube.com/user/mabrunton
I guess the most enjoyment comes with creating and the anticipation of completion or even changing a layout. So I guess to some of your points it doesn't really matter where it ends up. One of my friends hates building scenery and would rather buy stuff off other people so there's always a market
A quick think says I have about $20,000.00 to $25,000.00 retail worth of stuff. Peanuts compared to many of you, that being said whatever it is worth when I croak it is not worth my kid's time trying to sell. Donate it to a club to use or sell is what I have told them.
The most important thing you can do is have your legal affairs in order with a good Will in place. Nothing will cause your loved ones more trouble than you not having a Will.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
John-NYBW I have no exit strategy. That's for the executor of my estate to worry about. The rolling stock, electronics, and some of the structures can be resold for whatever they will bring but the rest of the layout is doomed to end up in the dumpster. I'm not the least bit concerned about that.
I'm with you John. This topic seems to come on here every 6 months or so.
Others are welcome to stop their lives and sit around waiting to die. Not me.
I do have a will, my trains go to my son if he wants them. But, I may change that if my one grandson continues to show interest.
But I am surely not taking down the layout, I'm 65 and just starting another layout - a big layout.
So to the OP, it is a downer topic. Do what you want, and my wife or kids can do what they want with my stuff when I'm gone. Individually none of my trains are all that valueable.
And they were not bought with money my wife or I am likely to ever need.
Especially considering the work involved and the generally low return selling used HO model trains.
My goal, get the layout as complete as possible, have as much fun as possible with it for the REST OF MY LIFE, and die right here in this house, with my trains (and train magazines), vinyl records, HiFi equipment, guns, books, tools and the red garden tractor (which comes with a parts inventory that should keep it running for the grandson most of his life).
I have cleaned out other peoples things after they left this world, somebody can clean out mine.......
Sheldon
richhotrain I have a fairly large layout in my basement. It is a flat surface, 1/2 inch plywood on 2x4 framing which is held together with drywall screws. Once cleared of track, structures (not glued down), locomotives and rolling stock, it could be dismantled in less than a day. So, my only concern is the locos and rolling stock which I have been gradually selling off on eBay. I have all of the original boxes which helps a lot. The structures and track can be tossed, and the turnouts can be sold. My parents died within six months of each other, leaving a house and furniture, an empty basement and six boxes of stuff in the crawl space plus a few file cabinets of paperwork. They made it easy on us to hold an estate sale, then sell the house. My brother-in-law, an avid HO scale modeler with a large mountainous layout filled with trains and rolling stock, had no exit strategy despite the fact that he had a terminal illness. Fifteen years later, it still sits undisturbed in his basement. Rich
A very good friend and fellow modeler of mine passed away about 7 years ago. He had a very nice basement filling layout full of craftsman kit and scratch build structures. His layout had been featured during the NMRA Convention some yearsa go when it was in Philly, and for many years ona regional open house tour.
His wife and him added an inlaw suite to their home, sold their home to their daughter and son in law, and moved into the inlaw suite. A few years later he passed. The layout is still maintained and operated by several family members and other fellow modelers.
The layout features the contyrol system I developed using Aristo Radio throttles.
Sometimes they do live on......