Ever hear yourself say: "Geez I've gotta get me one of those!" Then you realize afterwards, "wait now I have one of those!"
Yes I have so much in my basement ,I have forgotten what I have in stock! And yes I could open a Hobby Store!
I'll be a much happier person once I have the track laid, ballasted and base scenery completed! Some time this decade I hope!
I heard myself say just the other day "another three items off the list, just another thousand or so to go"! This doesn't include the house
http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=5959
If one could roll back the hands of time... They would be waiting for the next train into the future. A. H. Francey 1921-2007
I resorted to an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of my unbuilt kits and other projects, but maintaining the spreadsheet just added to my to-do list.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Fergmiester Ever hear yourself say: "Geez I've gotta get me one of those!" Then you realize afterwards, "wait now I have one of those!"
Rich
Alton Junction
The trick is being able to purchase the "must haves" while limiting the "nice to haves".
Jim
I've mentioned this in other threads but three times I has purchased a structure kit only to discover I already had one. Acutally, one of those times I didn't already have one but forgot I had one backordered through Trainworld so naturally after buying the kit at my LHS it became available to Trainworld too so a few days later I got a surprise from the UPS driver. The end result was the same. I had two of a kit I only needed one of.
Another measure of this syndrome is to find the oldest unbuilt kit in your inventory. I have a craftsman 300 ton coaling tower kit which I purchased for the layout in my old home which I moved out of in 2001. It had already been on the shelf for over 15 years before that so I'm quite sure it is at least 30 years old.
Just a few days ago, I discovered an E&B Valley kit for a Union Pacific observation car which I had completely forgot I had. I modeled the UP in my old home. I have no idea how old it is but the price tag on it is $9.00 if that is any indication.
Two things no modeler will ever say are, "My house has too much storage space" and "I made my staging yards too big".
When? When you have enough large tote boxes stacked in your large walk in closet there's just enough room left to walk in---side ways...
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
I try to keep my inventory list on Microsoft Word. It breaks down on particular categories of freight cars.
I would categorize diesel locomotives, but I know what I have off the bat.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
richhotrain Fergmiester Ever hear yourself say: "Geez I've gotta get me one of those!" Then you realize afterwards, "wait now I have one of those!" Hobbies can be like that. It is not restricted to model railroading. Rich
Hobbies can be like that. It is not restricted to model railroading.
Tell me about it! I have 10 Japanese Maples and more Rhodos.
angelob6660I try to keep my inventory list on Microsoft Word. It breaks down on particular categories of freight cars.
I keep my car inventory in Excel. That way, I can sort by car type, road, number or even color. I print a copy (5 pages now) and put it on my clipboard to take to train shows. That way, I know what I have. I put kits on the list, too, and label them "unbuilt" so I don't buy duplicates.
It doesn't stop me from buying more than I need, but at least I don't have duplicates of what I don't need.
You have way too much when:
You have to take the excess off the layout to run trains.
Your storage bill exceeds your mortgage.
You sleep on the floor because it's easier than clearing off the bed.
You sleep in the car because it's easier than clearing a spot on the floor.
You sleep on the porch because it's easier than clearing out the back seat.
Paul
You gather a lot of stuff when you are prepairing to build a model railroad, then you start using stuff and have to buy more because the original dosn't fit. Sometimes your ideas change, mine did from logging to freight hauling (just too many nice cars at dirt cheap levels). I have gone whole hog into the layout now and have sold off any kits for cars except for those there are no RTR of high quality (hopeing those show up by the time the layout is done). Got rid of a lot of craftsman buildings that were unneeded and most of my duplicate number cars (if I had enough not to renumber). Sure wish they would come out with a 36' RTR boxcar of high quality because I got a box of 50 unbuilt ones!
Just one? Piker! I kept thinking the Walthers Overhead crane would be perfect for my layout. I kept thinking and thinking that, and now I have ten. One of these days I guess I should build one.
Dave Nelson
One of my guest operators has 14000 [thats right fourteen thousand] HO scale freight & passenger cars, and ~2000 locomotives, filling up his basement. He is planning to someday build a barn in his backyard to house a layout.
Seeing that, I can never possibly have "too much"!
-Ken in Maryland (B&O modeler, former CSX modeler)
CSX_road_slug One of my guest operators has 14000 [thats right fourteen thousand] freight & passenger cars, and ~2000 locomotives, filling up his basement. He is planning to someday build a barn in his backyard to house a layout. Seeing that, I can never possibly have "too much"!
One of my guest operators has 14000 [thats right fourteen thousand] freight & passenger cars, and ~2000 locomotives, filling up his basement. He is planning to someday build a barn in his backyard to house a layout.
Dave
I dunno Dave, I've only seen the stacked boxes, didn't have time to examine them too closely. If not, he'll hire somebody to renumber them. Money is definitely not a big concern for him!
"I don't need any more trains ,but what I want is more trains.
HOARDING: Thats the word, regardless of how you justify filling your basement with hundreds of kits, locos, cars, track, buildings etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. you are hoarding, there is no other word for it, you are hooked, enjoy.
I have a bit of a twist on the theme of this thread:
I would love to have more stuff but now that the Canadian dollar has fallen flat on its face I'm managing quite nicely to do without very much new stuff. When a BB freight car is going to cost me $30 to $40 Cdn. including shipping I don't have too much trouble passing on it.
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
i know what the theme is for this thread, but i still have to say it.....
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS TOO MANY TRAINS!
PM Railfan i know what the theme is for this thread, but i still have to say it..... THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS TOO MANY TRAINS!
That's what I use to believe, but now I have so much "stuff", I forgot half of what I own. Actually, during those days of buying anything I saw amounted to such random pieces, that later on realized I have no use for and sold of quite a bit.
Now after 25 years of collecting, i will only buy specific engines, rolling stock to fit my prototype. Example, as much as I shouldn't spend that much, Walther's announced the Capital Limited. This name train consist is as close as you would ever get. Serious B&O historians and entusiasts work w/ Walther's for such accuracy in the model. 5 cars to date, waiting for the E9 and E8B w/ sound next.
Modeling B&O- Chessie Bob K. www.ssmrc.org
I realized that when I moved last year. I filled the back of my 2004 Grand Caravan from the front seats to the tailgate and up to the roof AND the 4x7 open utility trailer I used to move all of my stuff out & it still wasn't all out.
Didn't stop me though, came across an Athearn Coke flat car w/ Coke trailer thinking that I didn't have it, ooops, I now have two!.
C'est la vie
Gord
Brought to you by the letters C.P.R. as well as D&H!
K1a - all the way
tatans HOARDING: Thats the word, regardless of how you justify filling your basement with hundreds of kits, locos, cars, track, buildings etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. you are hoarding, there is no other word for it, you are hooked, enjoy.
Just as long as we don't end up on that TV show "Horders".
BRAKIE Just as long as we don't end up on that TV show "Horders".
Brakie -
I saw part of that show one time in passing ( i dont watch commercialvision anymore, since the late 80's). Was disgusted by the show. The home that was the topic of the show looked like an inside-out landfill.
However, if i saw a home like that, wall to wall-floor to cieling covered in trains..... Id swear i was in the garden of eden!
Bob K - no offense meant in the least, but i just cant fathom what you said. I personally cannot grasp the simple thought that there could ever be.... " too many trains ". Even if this thread is for fun. (please dont mistake that for me not having humor, i do)
Even if i was train poor, living in a ditch somewhere Id still buy trains. I guess i have the disease a little more deeply than some.
I think it goes back to that XMas special.... the one where there is an island for toys that are broken, or unwanted. I could never ever see a train being on that island. (ofcourse there was one in the show. Shattered my heart!)
I am by no means rich or well to do by any standard. But dang if i wouldnt apply to be "savior of all trains", if there was a job for it.
Even if i dont have a use for a model, to me, atleast it has a home. Sitting on a shelf or in a box. I just cant grasp there is ever such a thing as "too many trains".
Therefore, i opt myself as being addicted, a train junkie, over enthusiated, etc etc. Either way.... i understand the theme of this thread and will jest with my fellow railfans here, and place myself squarely in yalls sights for any joke or pun.
Just as long as everyone understands my mind could never be changed. Again, no offense what so ever is meant to you by my statements.
CP5415 - due to a recent family health crises, i am now forced to move to take care of an elderly, ailing parent. I just aquired a storage unit to make things easier for me.
I have a truck with a full size bed (6x8'). I filled it once already, and will again atleast one more time. Possibly twice. It saddens me that this is all i have after 40 years of collecting.
You notice trains were the priority of my move. Furniture, and all my other worldly belongings take a back seat. I am the shining irony to this thread. Not to be different, but im proud of it none the least.
In all fun..... fire away guys!
Douglas
Douglas, I knew I had a lot, the EX kept reminding me, it's just that it was spread out under the train table in different locations. Now that I've had to box it all up and it's all in one spot in my basement, I am in shock just how much stuff I have.
This Thread Has Made Me Feel A Lot Better.
Misery Loves Company
Bob
Don't Ever Give Up
BRAKIE tatans HOARDING: Thats the word, regardless of how you justify filling your basement with hundreds of kits, locos, cars, track, buildings etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. you are hoarding, there is no other word for it, you are hooked, enjoy. Just as long as we don't end up on that TV show "Horders".
My understanding of hording is it is a condition in which people have a complusion to acquire things even if though there is no chance they will ever use them. I saw one episode of the program in which a woman drove around the neigborhood on trash day picking up things other people were throwing out for no other reason than they were free. I don't think model railroaders fall into that camp. We do acquire things we at least expect to use someday, even if that someday never arrives. I would bet that most of us have a little packrat in us. While we don't go out of our way to acquire useless items, we are reluctant to throw anything away for fear we might one day find a use for them. For example, I have a couple large storage boxes of nothing but sprues of excess parts from plastic kits I have buiilt. Many kits come with excess parts because some kits share some but not all parts on a particular sprue. It's cheaper for the manufacturers just to create extra parts rather than tool seperate dyes for each kit. I do occasionally find a use for those extra parts in kitbashing projects. Only a small fraction of those parts will actually be used but I don't know which ones they are so I keep them all.
Fergmiester Ever hear yourself say: "Geez I've gotta get me one of those!" Then you realize afterwards, "wait now I have one of those!" Yes I have so much in my basement ,I have forgotten what I have in stock! And yes I could open a Hobby Store! I'll be a much happier person once I have the track laid, ballasted and base scenery completed! Some time this decade I hope!
I guess I don't have that much stuff yet, although I do have quite a bit. I've always been able to keep in my head what I have so if there is any problem I have, it sould be duplicating road numbers.
That said, part of the reason my collection hasn't grown bigger is that I regularly cull my collection to sell of models I don't need to buy stuff that fits better. My budget has been tight much of the time, so selling off models I don't need has helped me raise cash. I suppose if funds are not an issue for some, the collection could
I'm sure many could open a hobby store and even I have more than many hobby stores have on their shelves, but thats not saying much these days as many don't have much.
I've basically got my benchwork and sub-roadbed in now so track laying can re-sume. I say resume because I had to layout my staging yard fully before I could go over the top and put in the 2nd level where a regular yard is. I'm hoping to have enough track down this spring so I can run trains around the circuit.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
My financial state (genteel poverty) and my rigid adherence to a very specific theme has saved me from, "Too much." In fact, after years of selective purchases, kitbashing and passing over everything that wouldn't be appropriate in the Central Japan Alps I have just about enough.
Enough for what? A layout that fills a double garage plus a bunch of cassettes on shelves and some US prototype stuff in a small display cabinet. With a few spares left over...
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
On the good side, buying the same thing over and over helps to keep manufacturers in business.