Abandoned toy train layout - Friendly reminder to make sure your estate plan is intact and includes our favorite hobby

Hey, sad to watch, indeed.

But, I'm just glad the camera guy didn't open that refrigerator!!

OTOH, I was hoping he'd pick up a purple, yellow, and/or orange/blue box...or two...or three...and give us a quick label shot for reference.  We'd at least know that much more about his passion.

Disposition of our own railroad realm is all spelled out within a piece ream of paper made 'bona fide' by an $attorney$.

Besides, at that point, who cares what's left behind for arachnid enjoyment?

@ConrailFan posted:

I'm not so sure that thieves took the trains. If you notice there is not one train car in the house ,none on the floor,none on the shelves or anywhere, just boxes. No broken or dropped ones either. Surely there would have been at least one car left behind. The only possible two trains that I saw were Williams boxes in the upstairs closet. I think he might have taken all his stuff and left the boxes, or the family did and left the house.  Surely with thieves which were probably druggies, they would have dropped, broken or smashed them just for the heck of it. While we know their value, most people still look at them as toys. There would have been at least one or two cars left on the tracks in the basement. No thief is going to go to to all that work to get every train in the house, especially some druggie or kid. On another note it always amazes me how people like himself explore these houses at night mind you with no backup and they go everywhere in the house. You gotta figure , if you're in the house why would some one else be in there?

I totally agree with you, and probably will never know the answer here. Hopefully the owner was NOT alive when this happened, it would have killed him. RP

@DGJONES posted:

Why are we so certain that it was a sad ending?  I see a lot of work done by someone creating what to him must have been a great way to enjoy his hobby and watch many trains run.  Why must we assume that the house was run down while that person lived there?  Being that the latest dated magazine is from 18 years ago, is it not possible that the house was not run down when he left it?  So, our first impulse is to assume he was an old curmudgeon who did not take care of himself or his dwelling!  What gives us the right to be so judgmental?

Forty years ago when I was a much younger man, my mother in law asked me to clean out the small hobby area where my father in law had enjoyed some woodworking and his Ham radio.  He had a stroke about 6 months earlier and I never understood a word he said after that.  He would go to that area and sit for periods of time and she was concerned that he would hurt himself trying to use some of the equipment.  I honored her wishes and cleaned everything out, packed it into a pickup truck with a small trailer.  As I was getting ready to drive away after saying our goodbyes, he spoke the only intelligible words I ever heard him say after the stroke and his words still haunt me to this day - "there goes a lifetime".  At that moment, I realized that instead of being the good and kind person I thought I was being, I was taking away all those memorible items that obviously gave a failing man some peace.

So, when I look at this video, I see the remains of a layout that brought much joy to its builder right up to the end.

As I see it, a person's hobbies are meant to bring them comfort and relaxation, which is something that is really needed the closer to the end they come.

Personally, I plan to enjoy my layout and the hobbies as long a is feasible.  When my daughter is law suggested that my wife and I should start selling some of our belonging, I responded - "we are planning for living, dying will take care of itself!  And you do not want to deal with what is left behind, there are companies that will come in, pack everything up, take it away, sell it and send you a check.  And if you only get 10 cents on the dollar, by****, that is ten cents you did not have!"

Enjoy your trains!

Don

WOW. I totally agree with you, you took the words out of my mouth.  Thank. You. RP

@dkdkrd posted:

But, I'm just glad the camera guy didn't open that refrigerator!!

LOL!!!! I was thinking the same thing as I was watching this!!! PLEASE DON'T OPEN THE FRIDGE-PLEASE DON'T OPEN THE FRIDGE!!! I kept saying to myself!!!

An estate plan should include a Trust, wills are one thing, a well written Trust protects and keeps your wishes out of the newspapers. Probate is something no one should have to deal with.