How many would do this instead: Travel on every U.S. tourist train in the most expensive/luxurious cabins/cars available?
In other words, see as much of the U.S. as one still can on rail....in the nicest accommodations available.
Common sense
Purchase Lionel and move the manufacturing back to the USA. Then Lots o charity work.
Watch one of us actually win this lol.
Never mind all that old junk.... Buy a couple hundred acres and build your own 7 1/2" scale railroad . Mostly live steam but the odd first generation diesel.
I would first pay off my student loans and help my folks out with some things. Then find a old RR station or build one and make it into a house and finally build a layout. The rest of the money would be put away.
I'd purchase the entire state of Rhode Island, move everyone out, and use the property to build a 12 inch to the foot train layout complete with a scratch built 12 inch to the foot NYC Hudson, Niagara, and Pennsy Q2 and T1...oh yeah, and an Erie 0-8-8-0 for switching operations in one of the yards. 
after helping our local church, and family, I'd take a drive over to Altoona and buy the place and get some things straightened out.
ES44AC posted:Watch one of us actually win this lol.
You may have a few new best friends if you did. yep! me.
Swafford posted:On a serious note.......................3rd but should be number 1 really............................set up a trust with $100,000,000.00 for all the homeless veterans in the USA and provide housing or apartments for the homeless veterans.
God Bless America,
Swafford
Same here. After family and friends were taken care of $100 Mil would go to care for our homeless vets.
I get my head examined for getting in to this hobby.
My wife and I would quit our jobs, get new cars, probably get a nicer house, set up college money for the nieces and nephew and put the rest into relatively safe investments. The idea of buying something crazy wouldn't cross her mind and frankly, there's no way she'd allow it to cross mine, either. Boring? Yes, but I never have to worry about her spending our mortgage money on shoes.
Now, that said, I'd love to re-lay 3 foot track from Elizabethton, TN as far to Cranberry, NC as I could to try to re-create the original ET&WNC railroad, have the Chinese make 2-3 Baldwin ten-wheelers to the ET&WNC style...
I wouldn't, however, bother to build a NYC Hudson or other previously extinct mainline locomotive that would just sit around wasting away it's 15-year tube life for lack of any Class I railroad who won't let it run anywhere. If it couldn't run a small shortline, you're just wasting your money.
PAUL ROMANO posted:I get my head examined for getting in to this hobby.
Head examined....or wallet examined? 
-Establish a giveaway Trust [two sons,lawyers and financial types].
-Take care of family first including extended family.
-Gift charities, educational institutions, Spencer, Tennessee, Roanoke and Ft. Wayne Shops .
-Trains: buy, then donate, and rebuild the mechanical and steam elements of 2-8-0 Atlantic & Yadkin #542[already cosmetically restored as a goat-powered movie star and stationed at Spencer Shops].
-Build replica E T & WNC Railway Depots at Roan Mountain Tennessee and Elk Park, N.C. for Lee's restored RR [ post above].
-Have a custom builder build a Southern Railway o-gauge model of the road's Ms-4 Heavy Mikado, the lines's 30 year mainline freight locomotive.
-Replace the tires on my '03 SUV.
-Alert my undertaker who for years would ask, " how ya doing?" and I would reply "none of your dam business". [84 next month, both physically and mentally lame
]
Is Rhode Island big enough? I'd rather have a 3rd Rail gift certaificate (they seem to get more stuff right....maybe a cash infusion for them would allow them to get more into the main stream).
Are the Chinese still building steam engines? I heard they quit....maybe not?
It's up to $1.5B now, so you can restore at least two.
After taking care of Family, a number of good charities, and building a business or two, I'd pursue the dream of building a modern steam locomotive. The idea would be to take the best steam technology as it ended and using the latest advancements available in technology and science, build a nice big articulate like the Big Boy, Allegany, Yellowstone, etc. It would begin with a diverse group of engineers who operate or operated real steam engines, add some materials scientists, engineers, etc. and focused on building a locomotive that would operate on modern Class 1 rails and be fully functional, reliable and able to pull as much as it's "ancestors". This would not be a "steampunk" art effort but a true operating steam locomotive where the function would be the beauty. Then take it on a multi year "road trip" :-) across the country doing special runs with all proceeds going to charities.
I really don't NEED anything. There is always going to be a more expensive this or that… not going to get caught up in that rat race. However, there are many less fortunate than our family. I would use it as a tool to help those folks through educational grants and scholarships, and other training. I would also lobby very hard for our Vets. These men and women deserve to have free healthcare for life.
1. Commission a writer to create the ultimate self-help book: "Common Sense for Dummies".
2. Get in touch with Bill Gates about worthwhile charities.
3. I've always felt that the ex-NdeM 4-8-4 sitting in New Hope, PA, as an oil burner designed for light trackwork, would be perfect for the Adirondack Scenic Ry. But that would require more than money - somebody with a whole bunch of political knowhow!
I want to see 4 PRR K4's running the horseshoe curve pulling a huge coal load. 4 header! running through western PA. I would pay to start the fund for that. that would take some money! lol
GG1, K-4, and a ABBA Set of F7s and a half dozen passenger cars.
Chris D posted:I want to see 4 PRR K4's running the horseshoe curve pulling a huge coal load. 4 header! running through western PA. I would pay to start the fund for that. that would take some money! lol
But,,,,,,there are only two PRR K4s locomotives in existence. On the other hand, there are more than four C&O K-4 locomotives saved.
First I'd payoff debts and take care of my family's needs. I'd make a significant donation to the WM restoration of the 1309 https://www.movingfullsteamahead.com/content/co1309 Then I'd start an STEM education organization built around model trains. Very similar to First Lego League http://www.firstlegoleague.org/challenge which I coached my sons team when he was in middle school. I strongly believe that many of the skills and interest developed in model railroading can transfer into Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.
Chris D posted:I want to see 4 PRR K4's running the horseshoe curve pulling a huge coal load. 4 header! running through western PA. I would pay to start the fund for that. that would take some money! lol
how about 4483 in New York...get her going and take her up the Curve...
I would take care of family:
*I'd buy an island, fill the surrounding waters with sharks, and invite certain family members over for a swim.
*Give $100,000 to my daughter's fiancé to skip town
*Build a compound in a warm climate to house our families, one acre each for a home of their choice with a big swimming pool and central entertainment facility.
*Build a large warehouse size building on the compound to house the multi-gauge model train layout.
*Travel all the luxury rails and visit exotic warm beaches.
Traindiesel posted:I would take care of family:
*I'd buy an island, fill the surrounding waters with sharks, and invite certain family members over for a swim.
*Give $100,000 to my daughter's fiancé to skip town
*Build a compound in a warm climate to house our families, one acre each for a home of their choice with a big swimming pool and central entertainment facility.
*Build a large warehouse size building on the compound to house the multi-gauge model train layout.
*Travel all the luxury rails and visit exotic warm beaches.
You have no idea how much I like these ideas...
TrainDiesel's response may be my favorite thus far...on many levels.
But I'd go with 5 acre plots to family members. Need some distance!
Besides making sure myself and my family are taken care of, maybe a trust fund for my son so he can pursue his dream of being a musician without having to worry about food, shelter and medical care, and a comfortable nest egg for my wife and myself, in terms of railroad stuff besides donating to museums like the trolley museum in connecticut, I might do what we talked about on here once, and get a brand new NYC Hudson built, that would be fun. I would say fund hairstyle advice for a certain politician, but that might violate the rules of the forum *lol*.
Hot Water posted:Chris D posted:I want to see 4 PRR K4's running the horseshoe curve pulling a huge coal load. 4 header! running through western PA. I would pay to start the fund for that. that would take some money! lol
But,,,,,,there are only two PRR K4s locomotives in existence. On the other hand, there are more than four C&O K-4 locomotives saved.
With that much money, you could have a PRR K4s built from scratch!
Penn-Pacific posted:Hot Water posted:Chris D posted:I want to see 4 PRR K4's running the horseshoe curve pulling a huge coal load. 4 header! running through western PA. I would pay to start the fund for that. that would take some money! lol
But,,,,,,there are only two PRR K4s locomotives in existence. On the other hand, there are more than four C&O K-4 locomotives saved.
With that much money, you could have a PRR K4s built from scratch!
Why bother, when there are already two of them?
I would buy and store the East Broad Top RR then start a nice, big O gauge magazine that would cover all the pre and post war O and standard gauge models from all makes and countries !!
Based on the 1361s history, it would be cheaper, easier and quicker to build one from scratch. The way good money has been squandered on that beast is a crime.
If I won the lottery, this would be coming back to Greenville, PA for display, first priority. 
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First thought was my sanity, but I know that is a lost cause.
I can't even wrap my brain around that amount of money. I'd restore/supplement my brain capacity to figure it out. Suffice it to say there would be a few happy model railroad clubs, museums and trust fund managers, plus a few train stores.
I actually played this one as my kids live in Las Vegas and the game isn't there. Told them to not even think about lump sums of cash -- it's trust funds with a very nosy trustee. 
With the amount of money involved, you know some heavy hitters are going to try to "game the system" (pun intended). That said, I would think it would be best just to make close family members and a few select friends millionaires and tell them that's all they get.1 million dollars each for say up to 20 individuals, then invest the rest. Including a feasibility study on the cost to manufacture a new K4s vs. the cost to restore one....
I'm thinking a GG1 and C&O 614, after I get back from the International Space Station of course.
(Don't laugh, that is actually one of the things on my gotta do if i ever get the money list)
Jerry
How do I unsubscribe myself from this link?
Hmmm.... it took me a while....
K-Line! (with 2 rail stuff too)
Ooops. I did it again. This is posted in real trains so.......
an Allegheny. Whose rails could I run it on???... How much RR land could I buy with what's left???
Well - I didn't win
