Am I The Only One Who's Crazy?

@Dwayne B posted:

I am curious if anyone else is as crazy as me? Does anyone else purchase trains and then keep them in the box? By that I mean don't even open them up to inspect or examine. I have several Lionel Legacy engines still fresh in the box from years ago that I have not opened. The strange thing is the longer they stay in the box the harder it is for me to open. My thinking is I want to keep it perfect in the box and by opening the box it's no longer brand new and unopened. I hate myself for doing this and of course my wife know's I'm nuts. How does this make since? What's the point of keeping it in the box? I am a perfectionist and I'm sure that does not help. I need to man up and start opening and enjoying my trains!

Beats gambling.

John

Rather sad to think about a man dying with a house full of unopened trains. It happens all the time. Enjoy them now, while they have a warranty. Enjoy them now! No one is promised another day or even another minute of life.

Scott Smith

My friend Arnold died saying he would try to go to York "next year". He also died with boxes of unopened trains. Rather sad.

Scott Smith

Whole scenario is rather sad.....

I doubt you're the only one.  Values don't go up much (if at all).  So enjoy them or get rid of them.

I don’t know - maybe some get enjoyment know they have “mint-in-the-box” stuff 😊👍🏼

I have some engines on display shelves which have never been run and are too large for my layouts. But I removed them from the boxes the day I bought them and admire them on the shelves every day. So, I have gotten my money's worth from them. But, leaving them in the box and not enjoying them - no. Is their value really greater if they're in a box that has never been opened - so that someday someone else might pay a little more because the box has been unopened? Not in my opinion.

MELGAR

I for one am thrilled that I still have a considerable amount of truly mint postwar Lionel - I’m keeping what I want and can sell an unwanted item to buy “new stuff”

Mel. It was nice that I got to see your layout and outstanding display.

I attended a TCA national convention and photographed this during a layout tour.  I was told that all of the boxes contained trains.  This was only part of the boxed train collection.  The owner did have many other trains out of boxes on display and an operating layout full of trains and accessories.  

I have a train collector friend that probably has 500 plus modern engines that have never been run.  He keeps them on display shelves.  

Personally, I unbox and run my trains.  I throw most of my boxes away because I don't have the space to store them.  I only keep boxes for engines and scale passenger cars.  I think that the point of having trains is to run them.  NH Joe

People buy trains for different purposes.

The only reason I can think off where I newer would open the box, would be as a collector, hoping to make a profit some day.

But I am not a collector. I only buy trains for my own enjoyment, using them on my layout.

No, you're not the only one.  Yes, it's sad.  No, I don't suffer from it.

Trains are meant to be enjoyed, to run, to bring joy to the faces of children (of all ages).

My advice is to run them.  You can't take them with you.

The late owner of a train store in PA (I'm not mentioning the name) was reported to have purchased a rare train set (girl's set) unopened in its shipment carton (all cars also mint in their original boxes) for $30,000.     He had it x-rayed to make sure everything was in there.  A few years ago he passed away.  Last I heard, the family was looking to sell the set for what he paid for it.  I don't know how it all turned out.

But the point is:  What did he get out it?

Life is short.  Play with your trains.

George

First thought looking at the photo?....'Yeah.  So?'

Actually I'm in admiration of the arrangement in this photo.  The shelves are neatly stacked, look to be somewhat organized, and....

They're on casters!  Ready-to-roll...........onto the auctioneer's semi  truck some day!

Otherwise, if this prompts questions about your sanity, be comforted to know that WE are legion.

Yepper, Chock Full O' Nutz!

...And lovin' every day of it!

Every thing I own gets run. Scott Smith speaks very wisely. Run them and enjoy ‘em.

I wish I would have left my Acela in the box; it would have saved me hours of frustrations.

Scott Smith

I don't think "crazy" is the right word. It sounds like you have your own view of collecting.  I know of at least one person (long since gone) who took your view to the extremes.

  As I mentioned on another thread awhile back - years ago I was invited to see a large collection of postwar Lionel.  All several people I knew would say was this particular collector's display was "unbelievable."  On the appointed evening I showed up, went down the basement, and found myself faced with row after row of storage shelves filled with sealed Lionel train boxes.  On top of each box was an envelope containing an X ray of the box contents...so I got to spend some time admiring x-ray images of the contents of sealed boxed... it was truly an unbelievable display.

Dwayne - I think you are not alone. It seems easy to find new, boxed items at shows and internet sites. I have a friend who collects model airplane kits but seldom if ever opens them - makes his wife crazy.

I agree with others who would suggest you open and enjoy your trains. Old Job said it best: "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither."

Yes, you are crazy!  😁

Now, go open them up, and run them, it will make you feel like a kid on Christmas morning!

She is right.  You are nuts.

I have a few mint-in-box items, but very few. Those that I do have tend to be duplicates of locomotives I use on my layouts and that I really like. Many or most will eventually see running time after their cab numbers are changed or they are otherwise modified a bit for one reason or another.

I do not see any of my trains as valuable collectibles that will appreciate a lot in value over time (although some certainly may). I just buy what I like and can enjoy, either as a running item or as something I just like to display.

Whatever floats your boat. I just hope you aren't thinking they will appreciate in value over time.

@scott.smith posted:

My friend Arnold died saying he would try to go to York "next year". He also died with boxes of unopened trains. Rather sad.

Scott Smith

Not this Arnold.

I run everything I have as much as possible.

        Forty years ago, Outdoor Life had an amusing article about a farmer/hunter who bought a nice brand new pickup truck every 8 years.  The first time he got one, he had constant anxiety about getting a scratch or ding in it, even though this was an inevitable result for using it on his farm and for bird hunting.   Each nick or ding made him feel sick, or mad, or upset, as he slowly watched the beautiful truck deteriorate over the first few years of use.

      So, he found a solution.   After that initial truck, whenever he bought another new truck, the first thing he did when he got it home was to throw a bunch of cinder blocks in the back, put three dogs in the front seat with him, and take a long off-road drive through his brushy fields and timber trails, and through low muddy areas, to get it properly scuffed up and worn in.  After he got it back home, he never worried again about getting a scratch or a ding on it.

     That is kinda how I deal with my new engines.   I get them out of the box, run them for a long time to test them out and find their flaws (and,. . .there are always flaws), and then proceed to paint, file, or alter them to make them run great and look "better".   After that, the engine s are truly "mine" and I never worry about them again.

     Personally, I would never buy a 20 or 30 year old locomotive NIB, for fear it wouldn't run right due to some sort of deterioration. 

      If you really like buying and preserving things new in box, then switch that collecting instinct to something cheaper, like Hotwheels.       Use the rest of the money to buy locomotives, and run them as soon as you get home!  :-)

      As of now, though, you have been paying big money for the privilege of storing and maintaining mint items in original boxes, for 20 or 30 years, which you will then get to sell for little or no profit.   In actuality, you are serving as a long term caretaker, . . . for free.   :-)

      As I understand it, you can't even take them out of the boxes to look at them.    I may be crazy, but I would find zero fun in that.  Only a constant anxiety that "something bad may happen to them."   

   But hey, . . some people like looking at X-Rays.  Though most of them are Radiologists.  :-)

Mannyrock

@Dwayne B posted:

I am curious if anyone else is as crazy as me? Does anyone else purchase trains and then keep them in the box? By that I mean don't even open them up to inspect or examine. I have several Lionel Legacy engines still fresh in the box from years ago that I have not opened. The strange thing is the longer they stay in the box the harder it is for me to open. My thinking is I want to keep it perfect in the box and by opening the box it's no longer brand new and unopened. I hate myself for doing this and of course my wife know's I'm nuts. How does this make since? What's the point of keeping it in the box? I am a perfectionist and I'm sure that does not help. I need to man up and start opening and enjoying my trains!

When I was a rabid buyer, I would receive items and not even open them, sometimes - for a while. Years, even. But - all but 2 locos have been opened and run at this point.

The 2 are a MTH PS1 C&O 4-8-4 and a brass Williams/Samhongsa Southern 2-8-2. Both as they came from the factory. Why? I don't know, because opening them is appealing, and yet...not. I "enjoy" their post-factory untouched, unseen nature.  ("Schroedinger's Locomotives"?) This is doubly weird as I am a Hi-Railer and slice/dice/paint/weather locos and cars as the mood hits me.

Basically I kind-of understand. Kind of. And if it does it for you, go for it. But I am not a perfectionist. I try to not let the Perfect interfere with the Good.

I'm sure many people do this. I'm sure because I have bought several train items over the last few years that are from the late 80's and 90's and were brand new sealed in their boxes.

I am a RC nut with thousands and thousands of dollars worth of cars, trucks, etc. I do not have items in boxes but I do have numerous ones on shelves that have never had batteries, gas or nitro fuel put in them. I hate myself for that and I know what you mean by the longer they sit the harder it is to run them. This is partly why I am determined to only have a few locomotives so this doesn't happen in the train hobby I've started recently. At least I enjoy them as shelf queens. Every time I want to buy a train now my wife says " Are you going to run it or is it going to sit" 😄.

Brad

@Dwayne B posted:

I am curious if anyone else is as crazy as me? Does anyone else purchase trains and then keep them in the box? By that I mean don't even open them up to inspect or examine. I have several Lionel Legacy engines still fresh in the box from years ago that I have not opened. The strange thing is the longer they stay in the box the harder it is for me to open. My thinking is I want to keep it perfect in the box and by opening the box it's no longer brand new and unopened. I hate myself for doing this and of course my wife know's I'm nuts. How does this make since? What's the point of keeping it in the box? I am a perfectionist and I'm sure that does not help. I need to man up and start opening and enjoying my trains!

I wonder how many of them locos actually will work if you were to run them. After the warranty runs out you are kinda out of luck. Lionel won't touch them, parts likely are not available, and try someone who can/wants to repair them. I would never buy a new loco nowadays without testing it. I have a friend that does that same exact thing. He has done it for years (literally 20 plus years). He has a very large collection of premier stuff and 3rd rail. All still sealed in shipping cartons. He has a Visionline big boy never opened that he wants rid of. We both stopped buying Lionel, but before he stopped buying he ended up with alot. He still buys premier stuff and never opens it. I joke with him that there may be rocks in the boxes instead of trains. Lionel loves guys like him..........buy that expensive loco and never require warranty work.           Whatever makes a person happy

By all means unpack those boxes and run your trains!!  Try unboxing just one and run it ... notice how doing so makes you feel ... I'll bet it will be a good feeling too!!     Don't be on your death bed thinking" dang I should have opened those boxes and ran those trains!" Like Scott Smith so  wisely said " we are not promised other day or even a minute".  

So unpack those boxes and put those locomotives on the track, turn up the transformer and bring em to life .... "Let the bells clang, the whistles and horns blow ... run em fast and run em slow ... and be gol dang sure to run em lots ... before you go"

I hope no one takes offense, and teach each own, but I think it's crazy for a hobbyist to buy a brand new train of any kind and never open the box.

Why? Because I believe for a hobbyist, the trains are meant to be run. It's like a horse that never comes out of its stall and is never even seen. It's meant to be run, go for a trot or a walk, not stay in its stall and never seen by anyone,  which is analogous to the train in the box that is never run or even taken out of the box and put on a shelf or otherwise seen.

I respectfully submit that for the hobbyist or owner of a horse, the train or horse is meant to be run, or at least seen.

Now, if you're not a hobbyist and only buy trains as an investment and believe they will go up in value, then you're not crazy. However, you probably have very bad judgment when it comes to investments.

@trumpettrain posted:

By all means unpack those boxes and run your trains!!  Try unboxing just one and run it ... notice how doing so makes you feel ... I'll bet it will be a good feeling too!!     Don't be on your death bed thinking" dang I should have opened those boxes and ran those trains!" Like Scott Smith so  wisely said " we are not promised other day or even a minute".  

So unpack those boxes and put those locomotives on the track, turn up the transformer and bring em to life .... "Let the bells clang, the whistles and horns blow ... run em fast and run em slow ... and be gol dang sure to run em lots ... before you go"

Well stated, Patrick, better than I just did.

Dwayne B                                                  This is my advice for you. There are some Lionel items that are highly sought-after and bring a higher price then what they sold for initially. Go through your collection and if you happen to have highly sought-after locomotive either hang on to it in the hopes that it keep going up in value or List It for sale and see if anybody is interested. If not open it up and enjoy it. As for the rest of your unopened collection, list them for sale at what you paid for them or just under if it's something that doesn't interest you and see if there are any takers. Use those funds to buy new trains or improve your layout if you have one. Otherwise use that money for something that will bring you Joy. As for what's left over open them up and enjoy them!

IMHO crazy, no, a little unconventional, yes. However, it is a very low risk behavior but definitely not crazy, you never ever have to worry about  quality control, repairs or purchasing after market parts. It's not totally far fetched due to the fact some purchase model trains that don't even have a layout and have no plans to run them in the future.

I'm not always operating my trains, they tend to stay in boxes or a cabinet when not running them. However, when I purchase something I always open up what I bought otherwise my curiosity would be getting the best of me.

@Craftech posted:

Beats gambling.

John

I agree, but with unopened trains, a person is guaranteed to lose - they lose the enjoyment, and very few modern trains will gain value.

I'm guilty of the same thing, but it's mostly due to laziness.

@JDFonz posted:

Yes, you are crazy!  😁

Now, go open them up, and run them, it will make you feel like a kid on Christmas morning!

And don't forget that you can also feel like it's your birthday anytime you want.

Thanks everyone.........I totally agree with everything said. It has never been my reason to not open the trains because I thought they would go up in value. I really think it's the perfectionist in me. It's also not just trains but cars and other things as well. I am going to make a change and start opening and enjoying. As I've gotten older I realize nesting the trains away is only saving them for the next guy.

@Dwayne B posted:

I am curious if anyone else is as crazy as me?

I think we're all a little crazy ... in our own ways.

I'm the opposite ... I'm constantly selling what I have, to buy other stuff. I'm kinda scatterbrained. And when I get these new ideas in my head, I tend to sell low and buy high. lol. So ... who's crazy?

I often buy lots and "bargain" trains that I will "get to" someday.

Now I am moving my "collection" and trying to find the right box for each displayed train item.

I "never" throw anything train related away, but sometimes it is hard to see the "forest" thru the "trees".

I have more track than I will ever use, but I will buy more when it is really cheap.

I also have Engines I have never powered up, but most were used or tested at the train shop before purchase.

I also buy cheap trains with known problems, that I think I can fix easily.

These tend to sit in boxes for a while waiting for parts, aging like fine wine. (ha)

So, Yes - we are all crazy in our own way.

@scott.smith posted:

Rather sad to think about a man dying with a house full of unopened trains. It happens all the time. Enjoy them now, while they have a warranty. Enjoy them now! No one is promised another day or even another minute of life.

Scott Smith

Yeah, Scott.  This is part of what is nudging me off my caboose to get with enjoying what I have accumulated.  (Though I am a rank amateur when it comes to collection size.  I think I'm still under an even dozen engines in O-Gauge and probably under 40 all together.

@Dwayne B posted:

I am curious if anyone else is as crazy as me? Does anyone else purchase trains and then keep them in the box? By that I mean don't even open them up to inspect or examine.

Yep, you're nuts!

I use the box for storage but never opening the box? Unless for investment purposes, why would not inspect the product?