Look at this is way, someone else will have them one day . You paid for them so why not you be the first to open them up and enjoy.

Some people build their layout others pay someone, both hopefully get the appropriate amount of pleasure from participating in the hobby. I know lots of people who collect sneakers and never wear them. I know gun collectors who do the same.  Many people collect cars like this, just the idea of knowing you own is enough.

I understand , but I would be running them.

Wow.  Some really great ideas here on this post.

I guess that if you want to get rational, I would go through all of the unopened items and find out which ones are actually worth alot more than you paid (and I don't just mean $25 more), and sell those now.   O Gauge  is sadly a dying hobby.  Every year there are going to be fewer and fewer folks who would be willing to shell out big for your valuable items.

Take the rest, and open them up and run them!    If there are several items that you just don't think you would enjoy running, or don't fit your layout scheme, take them to a large train show and cash them if for what they are worth.  The folks who would likely buy these items will likely run and enjoy them.

Think of all of the people who decided to keep their collections of 1 oz. silver coins, even after silver reached $50 an ounce back in the 1980s.   They thought that "my silver will always go up in value."       If they had cashed them in, and taken that money and just put it in a simple S&P 500 index fund, or really any reputable stock mutual find, they would have ten times (or more) than their original money today.     All investments mature, and when they do, you have to sell.  Same with collectibles.

Hope this works out for you.

Mannyrock

Yes, I think you are the only one. 😂😂

@Robert S. Butler posted:

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.

I love this. Ever since I saw a couple of still-sealed-in-the-outer-box postwar sets at York, I have joked that the owner must show off an x-ray like an expectant couple with their first sonogram. Now, I know. 😏

@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

Earlier this year, I went to an estate sale, and there were more than 15 still sealed R-T-R sets, along with loads of new Fastrack. As I looked around, it occurred to me that he didn’t have enough space to set up even one train, let alone everything he had accumulated. Trains weren’t even the only thing he had been buying. Sad, indeed.

"See that little blur right there on the X-Ray.  That's it's coupler!"

Not limiting the issue to whether or not  boxes get opened... in either event...absolutely the wrong forum to ask that question.

You are in the majority.

I used to have a co-worker who when I mentioned that I had a modest Lionel train  collection told me he collected G gauge trains. He told me, every year he would get the LGB catalogue and buy one of every new item they produced. When I asked if I could visit his layout he told me he didn’t have one, he just liked to collect them. Was he crazy?  I don’t know but he was also building a kit airplane in his garage.  

John

@G3750 posted:

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

What he got out of it was the pleasure of knowing that he owned an ultra rare train set that pretty much no else had. For him this was his way of enjoying the hobby. I always say there is no right or wrong way to go about this hobby. Why do some people buy a classic car and never drive it? Why do some let a classic car rot in their backyard? Because they like owning it. Me personally, I don't agree with either of these philosophies but if that's how someone wants to enjoy their hobby who am I to judge? Although, in the case of the rotting car I definitely think it would be better to find a good home for it than to let it possibly get so bad that it becomes beyond the point of restoration.

I have 3 locomotives that have never been out of the box. One is a few months old, the second is about 3 years old and the 3rd is about 14 years old. Each one is in the box for different reason. The second and third are in the box because I feel that if I take them out somehow I will mess them up (you know break something on the locomotive). The first one is in the box because I ordered the wrong locomotive and I am not sure what to do with it. Believe me if I had a layout or display shelves the 2nd and 3rd locomotives  would be out of the box.

Buy ‘em and run ‘em… everything is out of the box. I keep the loco and caboose boxes, everything else the boxes get tossed - rolling stock, accessories etc.

Reading this thread reminds me of the movie "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." Ferris tries to convince his friend Cameron to let him take his Dad's Ferrari out for the day, to which Cameron replies: "He never drives  it. He just rubs it with a diaper."

I'm convinced that pretty much everyone outside our hobby thinks we are all crazy, regardless of how we enjoy it.

This may be like the Comic Mag collector fad.

Every Collector brought 2 copies of every new mag, but only opened and read one.

They thought the value of the sealed copy would greatly rise, but the market was flooded with "new sealed" mags.

"He who dies with the most toys wins" - not likely.

When I obtain an item, I get it out of the box and check to ensure the couplers work, the wheels rotate freely. After adding it to my inventory, it currently goes back into the box (I just moved and haven't finished unpacking everything, but will have a layout some day. I don't know where I'm going to put my collection - probably near 1,000 items! In another thread someone suggested adding a lower level yard to store the items. Not a bad idea. Don't know if I'll have the room to have a track between levels.

I have a friend whose ideal collection would be shelves of unopened factory sealed boxes. He’s got a decent amount of them too.   I don’t know if there’s anything wrong with him, but he doesn’t even have a computer.  He has a muscle car collection that stays in his garage too. If they too came in boxes that’s where they’d be as well.

We all have our quirks. He’s actually a good guy.   As I tell my patients the difference between the stupid things you do and that  I do is that we don’t talk about the stupid things I do.

Alan

I bought stuff and never opened it. Those days are thankfully past. I’m in the process of moving out what doesn’t fit the layout. Too much is just in the way. Why did I buy stuff and not run it ? The joy of purchasing or the challenge of hunting down a particular item or because maybe someday I might use it. For many years I didn’t have a layout. Now I do so it’s use it or loose it. Sometimes I think those purchases were border line hoarding. But heck I enjoyed owning the stuff. Without delving too deeply into my troubled mind maybe because I grew up poor and couldn’t then buy stuff. Now I can. The good thing is I plan to start listing stuff here soon so there’s that.

I've bought 99% of my collection used. Everything is out of the boxes, if it came with one, and on a shelf, in a drawer, or on the layout.

All the boxes are in trash bags in the attic. The CEO says that will save time when they go to the curb. I should get rid of everything but the loco boxes.

I do have two locos that are still boxed, a WbB D&H Shark A-B-A, and a MTH PC RS-27. Don't know why they are still in the boxes but they are.

There is one advantage to leaving stuff boxed.....you don't have to dust them all the time.

As for the crazy part, my wife says I am so it must be true!

Bob

If I was filthy rich, I might buy 2 of everything I love, run 1 and keep the other in pristine condition rarely running it. But all would be released from the prison of their box, and all would at least rarely be run. The one commonly run would be run a lot.

Not me.

Everything I have is either on display or the layout. Trains are rotated from one to the other

Yep !

I run everything I have, then put it on display or back in the box.

Not only do I not open the box - ever. I don't even buy it in the first place. I just imagine it's somewhere in my train room. Saves money and valuable storage place.

Hal

I went to an auction back in 2019 for a man who passed away. They had well over 400 lots of trains/rolling stock. Brand new, even some in the sealed shipping boxes. I got a BRAND NEW Lionel PRR Shark diesel ABA  Century Club set complete with the plexiglass display stand. All unopened in the original shipping boxes. I couldn't believe someone would buy so many trains, and then never run them, or even display them!

Anyway, it made me super happy when I won it. And yes, it's on my layout now. I run it often and get alot of enjoyment from it. I wonder if his spirit ever joins me and sees what he missed out on during his living years?

These recent comments remind me of a situation I had while doing some contracting work in the warehouse of one of the largest train distributors on the East Coast.

I noticed a large skid of cases of Lionel product and a smaller shipment of individual Lionel cars and engines shrink wrapped ready to leave.

Curiosity got the best of me and I asked what was that about.  The business owner mentioned he had an overseas client who would order a case of new Lionel offerings to save and an individual unit of the same item to either display or run.

He sent his own plane to pick up the order .

Am I The Only One Who's Crazy?

No, you fit right in! 😂

Larry

@Stinky1 posted:

I went to an auction back in 2019 for a man who passed away. They had well over 400 lots of trains/rolling stock. Brand new, even some in the sealed shipping boxes. I got a BRAND NEW Lionel PRR Shark diesel ABA  Century Club set complete with the plexiglass display stand. All unopened in the original shipping boxes. I couldn't believe someone would buy so many trains, and then never run them, or even display them!

Anyway, it made me super happy when I won it. And yes, it's on my layout now. I run it often and get alot of enjoyment from it. I wonder if his spirit ever joins me and sees what he missed out on during his living years?

What about the spirit of the train that you liberated from the prison of the box?

LOL, Arnold

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

What about the spirit of the train that you liberated from the prison of the box?

LOL, Arnold

To paraphrase an old song, "If you love something,  set it free."

Fresh in the box after c. 85-90 years!

I have no plans to open them, as how many prewar items do you find unopened in their original boxes at this point?

I should note that the seller opened the 4th box for me, so I don't need to open the rest.

NWL

@Nation Wide Lines posted:

Fresh in the box after c. 85-90 years!

I have no plans to open them, as how many prewar items do you find unopened in their original boxes at this point?

I should note that the seller opened the 4th box for me, so I don't need to open the rest.

NWL

How do you know that you didnt buy a sealed wood block? Will these sealed boxes be passed down to relatives or do you have plans to resell? Assuming there are trains in those boxes ( I am sure there is), that is a nice find.

I'm thankful I'm an operator, not a collector. I'll set the boxes aside as nothing beats them for storing a locomotive during a move, but otherwise they're out and running on the layout.

@jini5 posted:

How do you know that you didnt buy a sealed wood block? Will these sealed boxes be passed down to relatives or do you have plans to resell? Assuming there are trains in those boxes ( I am sure there is), that is a nice find.

LOL!  I can always get them x-rayed.

I have no doubt about their originality, as I am familiar enough with prewar American Flyer packaging.

I purchased these as a birthday present to myself in the early 2020.  I have no plans to resell them, but at some point everything gets sold, whether by me or whoever inherits them.

Presently they sit in a display case with several other items.

NWL

I faced this big time in one of my other interests: Strombecker slot cars of the early-mid 1960s.

I recently purchased this NIB example of a very hard to find Strombecker Corvette:

I was now faced with such an issue: Leave it like it is and simply enjoy owning it, OR, take it out and use it as Strombecker intended: Race it and have fun with it.

With slot cars running it/racing it introduces the very real risk of breaking off the fragile windshield and/or putting a few mars on the plastic.

I pondered this a bit, and came to this conclusion: Screw it. I'm going to run it and race it.

And so I have. The enjoyment I get from watching it go around a track is quite satisfying. Along with my recent re-entry into my aspect of the slotting hobby, came the resolution that THIS TIME I would NOT sell off only to regret it later. These cars will out live me, then I care not what becomes of them.

SO...

I would not hesitate to open a "collectible" train item and run it and enjoy it. The environment a model train lives within is FAR less dangerous than a slot car!

Bottom line: Enjoy it however you want!

It's your model. There's no "wrong" way of doing whatever you want with it.

Andre

It seems to me that this behavior (keeping the model in the unopened box) occurs only among O gauge enthusiasts. If so, why? Or does it also occur with other gauges?

MELGAR

Hi MELGAR,

As I mentioned in an earlier post I had a work friend who collected LGB Large Scale trains.  He didn’t have a layout; he just liked to collect LGB trains.

John

There’s always a little bit of nuttiness in us who enjoy the hobby. Whether it be collecting, building or anything else related to trains. But hey! Who cares. I’m happy.

Laming, thanks for the memories. I received two figure 8 strombecker sets for Christmas back in the mid sixties. One set was under the tree. After my excitement calmed down my mother brought the other set down to make a larger layout. Best Christmas ever for me.

@MELGAR posted:

It seems to me that this behavior (keeping the model in the unopened box) occurs only among O gauge enthusiasts. If so, why? Or does it also occur with other gauges?

MELGAR

It happens in all model railroad scales and gauges.  The opened boxes are just easier to hide and store in the smaller gauges so they aren't seen as often.  NH Joe