I'm only 18, so I should have another 70-80 years left. (people in my family live a long time, people who were smokers and in bad shape get up to 94) I'm probably too young to think about this stuff, but I'm well accuianted with it all.
As for me, The kids get first dibs, unless I get a wife/girlfrined who enjoys the hobby. I might donate it to a local MR club.
Vincent
Wants: 1. high-quality, sound equipped, SD40-2s, C636s, C30-7s, and F-units in BN. As for ones that don't cost an arm and a leg, that's out of the question....
2. An end to the limited-production and other crap that makes models harder to get and more expensive.
Alex
A close MRR friend and I have an agreement that should the other pass, that we will come to the other's house to help the bereaved sort stuff out and the family gets first dibs to keep what they want. We roughly know what each other has and what they would be worth and helping out this way will relieve some burden from the family. The spouses know to call them when they are ready to deal with it. Remember, this could happen suddenly. It has happened to a few people we know and this is why we agreed to do this.
Also, since I also have started custom painting, I keep a list of what is in shop (Including extras that they have paid for such as detail parts/decals) and who it belongs to and a mailing address and contact info. Anything loose is in a Ziploc bag with their name on it.
Packer wrote: I'm only 18, so I should have another 70-80 years left.
I'm only 18, so I should have another 70-80 years left.
I guess I could state in a will that they go to a local club.
Sorry to be morbid, but that may be what you think. I've seen it happen all to often. Freak accident, undiagnosed brain aneurysm, you name it.
shayfan84325 wrote: Since I turned 50 last summer, my wife has been asking weird questions. Here's an example:"When you die, what do you want me to do with your trains and all that?"I don't think of myself as having one foot in the grave, but it's on her mind. Anyway, how would you answer the question for yourself? It might be more interesting if we don't include "give it to my kids/grand kids" as potential responses - seems too easy.
Since I turned 50 last summer, my wife has been asking weird questions. Here's an example:
"When you die, what do you want me to do with your trains and all that?"
I don't think of myself as having one foot in the grave, but it's on her mind. Anyway, how would you answer the question for yourself? It might be more interesting if we don't include "give it to my kids/grand kids" as potential responses - seems too easy.
From the far, far reaches of the wild, wild west I am: rtpoteet
Well, I'm only 68, so I figure I've got about 30 or so more years to collect those other 15 Yellowstones I want. After that, my son can figure it out.
Tom
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
I asked a priest at a model train show if "there will be model trains in Heaven"? His reply, "Would it be Heaven without them"? I may just come back after them. After the Tribulation that is.
Dick
Texas Chief
grayfox1119 wrote:The answer is simple, you won't be there, so tell her " do whatever you wish with them", use them yourself honey, give them to charity, give them to a boy's club, give them to a deserving child in the neighborhood who loves trains, auction them and go on a trip....come on, tell her to use some creativity.
In many ways, you make a good point. Even so, we want to treat each other's stuff with the respect it deserves as something the departed person valued.
In answer to my own OP, I'll tell you where we're at:
Many universities have a branch of their development (fund raising) departments that deals with donations of property. Generally, they sell it and thus build the income of the school. You might have gathered that I'm sort of a dedicated alumnus of the University of Wyoming (That's our bucking horse to the left). So, her plan is to donate all the stuff that she doesn't understand (shop equipment, streetrod, trains, etc.) to UW, and while they're not looking she'll scatter the ashes of my carcass on Prexey's Pasture (big lawn in the middle of campus). Once we have both died, our estate will be divided between her college and mine.
I have wondered what happens to some of the masterful work that out-lives its creator. Suppose there had not been a fire in John Allen's house after he died; would the G&D still be around? I just wonder.
Phil, I'm not a rocket scientist; they are my students.
While the replacement cost (and insured value) of my collection is $$$(HUSH, Bigmouth!!!) its actual value at auction here in the United States isn't very much. I model in an odd (for here) scale, and most of my rolling stock is ancient as well as foreign. My collection of power supplies and my unused flex track would probably draw more interest and more $$$ on E-bay.
My grandkids (and, in a couple of years, my great-grandkids) will have first pick, and my estate can dispose of the rest in any way the family agrees to. If the layout survives my demise, my shade will be more amazed than pleased - my children were toddlers when I was forming my most vivid memories of the Upper Kiso Valley, so they don't have my deep emotional connection to my prototype.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
I guess my sisters son he loves my trains.
This is a timely question for me personally, having laid my own father to rest less than 48 hours ago.
The hard truth is that once you're deceased, you really have no say and don't care what happens to all of your stuff. Family & loved ones left behind will have to deal with the disposition of your belongings, and the value of various items won't really emerge until then. Sentimental value carries at least as much weight as monetary value. Our model railroad collections won't have the value to our heirs as we ourselves invested in them. As for me, the family would likely keep some token items as remembrances and the rest would go off the the auction house. That's not a bad thing, knowing the equipment would ultimately end up in the hands of somebody to whom it had value.
Jim
"I am lapidary but not eristic when I use big words." - William F. Buckley
I haven't been sleeping. I'm afraid I'll dream I'm in a coma and then wake up unconscious. -Stephen Wright
If a family member or close friend shares your enthusiasm for trains then the answer should be obvious. If you are a club member you can donate it to the club. If there is no such person then it doesn't matter. Your heirs will do with it what they please. Unless the recipient is an enthusiast they are just "toy trains".
To those youngsters who are still feeling immortal:
I am 61 and still going strong, but my dad died suddenly of a heart attack at 46. One of his closest friends ruptured an aortic aneurism at 45. Teenagers die on the highway at a rate higher than any other age group. It can happen to anyone. I have had a will since I was 25.
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
Hi!
I'll be 64 next month and have had this question on my mind for a few years. I have a collection of postwar Lionel and a large collection of HO - all "mid-level" stuff like Proto 2k, Stewart, Atlas, and the like.
My kids and grandkids have no interest in them other than to see what is going on with the layout and what new cars are on display. They have no modeling interests nor the inclination to build a layout. So, leaving the trains to them would surely be leaving them to a "we buy Lionel trains" guy and/or the attic.
So, my wife understands that Ebay is probably her best bet (we are both very active on Ebay), and that would keep her busy for some time. I would not be against donating them, but really have no one in mind.
What I think will happen is that sooner or later I will put up either the Lionel or the HO for auction on Ebay, and perhaps the other after that.
Then again, I come from a line of "long livers", and may just be playing with the throttle when I hit 90 or so.................
Mobilman44
ENJOY !
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
According to what I've seen on Ebay, I guess it'll all get sold by auction of estate and some dumb#%* will sell them on Ebay saying that it came from an estate and that they have now idea about trains!!!! LMAO!!!!
Seriously though I think I'll donate it to the local clubs or just tell my wife to put it in the paper or hell, even on Ebay and just sell the whole kit and kaboodle. Or, maybe I'll have grand sons by then and they'll want them.
vsmith wrote: The layout...not me, I hope!Trains go to friends, or ebay or...see above.
The layout...not me, I hope!
Trains go to friends, or ebay or...see above.
This photo depicts the final resting place of a great amount of "old toy trains" it is also more prevalent than anyone thinks, I can relate at least 3 cases of people with no knowledge of trains and layouts being left to dispose of, they have no idea of the value and just want to get rid of them, what better way than dumpster them. I'll bet a lot of MR's can relate at least one story about this method of disposal. how sad.
Give my trains to my grandson and my Corvette to my son. My wife and daughters get everything else.
I'm 56.
majortom
Well, here's a slightly different take on this, courtesy my beloved mother, who left this world a few years ago.
She had taped family members' names (usually with little pieces of masking tape) on the bottom of mementos she thought would be most meaningful to a particular member of the family. There was no arguing, and I know those items have not been tossed in the trash.
As for me, I don't know what approach I'll take. I may not take an approach. When I've gone on to my reward, it won't matter to me--I'll be busy with new experiences. What I do hope to leave behind to my family is a favorable legacy, a good role model (more important than my railroad model).
Of course, right now, I enjoy spending time with them, and am not particularly dwelling on the great beyond.
I was a side line observer of 3 dispositions, and involved in a 4th. In the first 3, no one in the family had the interest / ability / space to take over the lay out (if one existed) or the equipment. Fortunatly for 2 a group had been involved with the layout, or he with a group. The group was able to inventory and sell the equipment, and each member bought a few items for him self as momentos. The layout itself was trashed. The 3rd had no layout, but a large collection of equipment. Not really a member of the group, but locally known and respected. Eventually the widow made a deal with the LHS. Lots of decent pre built kits that some of the locals bought in bulk to stock up their layouts, and many old kits that no one had seen in a long time. The 4th was my late father. Thankfully, I was in a position where I could take over his partially begun retirement layout, and had fond memorys of much of the equipment from when I was a child. What will happen in 20 or 30 years? My teenage nephew (and his father) is also very much into model railroading, and aware of the (hi)story behind much of the equipment. If they can not take it over, it will be up to them to dispose of it.
Timber Head Eastern Railroad "THE Railroad Through the Sierras"
My plan (and my wife is well aware of it) is to donate everything to a nearby railroad museum (my papers and research go to the local historical archive.) They probably won't be able to use or keep much (they already have a lot of that sort of thing) but they can sell it on eBay (or whatever passes for eBay when I'm gone) to raise funds.
I'm not too worried about the disposition of my layout. Having picked up a lot of model railroad stuff at estate sales, I like to think I am carrying along the memory and enjoyment of model railroaders I never met.
loathar wrote: Packer wrote: I'm only 18, so I should have another 70-80 years left. You have until Dec. 21, 2012. (according to the Inca calender...)I guess I could state in a will that they go to a local club.
I'm FAR, FAR away from the grave, but here goes.
I'd say "Stick as many of locomotives in the coffin as you can, hten cars, then buildings. Shoot, bury me with as much stuff as you can fit in. Then either A) sell the rest on ebay, B) keep it in memory of me, or C) give it to a user on here.
Sawyer Berry
Clemson University c/o 2018
Building a protolanced industrial park layout
Dave Vollmer wrote: I'm not allowed to die without prior authorization, and unless I see a RIP (report on individual personnel, not the other kind) or orders to that effect, I'll be staying alive.
I'm not allowed to die without prior authorization, and unless I see a RIP (report on individual personnel, not the other kind) or orders to that effect, I'll be staying alive.
loathar wrote: Packer wrote: I'm only 18, so I should have another 70-80 years left. You have until Dec. 21, 2012. (according to the Inca calender...)
Wouldn't that be for everybody if that was true?
RicHamilton wrote: Packer wrote: I'm only 18, so I should have another 70-80 years left. Sorry to be morbid, but that may be what you think. I've seen it happen all to often. Freak accident, undiagnosed brain aneurysm, you name it.
That figure is based on how long people in my family tend to live. We tend to live a long time, and tend to be very though and reliable. (like ALCOs, lol). BTW, I've had over 18 NDEs already, I've gotten out of all of them without a scratch.
However I do agree with you. Like I've said, I've been accuanted with those kinds of things before.
Texas Chief wrote: I asked a priest at a model train show if "there will be model trains in Heaven"? His reply, "Would it be Heaven without them"? I may just come back after them. After the Tribulation that is.DickTexas Chief
This reminds me of something I heard Billy Graham tell Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show. At the time, Billy Graham was an avid golfer and fretted about whether there would be golf in heaven. His wife reassured him by telling him if he needed golf to be happy, there would be golf in heaven.