Anyone buy just to collect?

I'm sure there are some.  But I on the other hand buy to play with them, so they all get run, and the operators include my 1 year old son.

I don't but love to buy from the estates of those who do.  Post war minty stuff in crisp boxes, made in the USA, and usually the family has sensible pricing.  When I get it home, it runs right out of the box like days of yore.

Not me. Just to have something nice to look at not to use otherwise is not my game. No way.

As time goes on, The Older I Get, Absolutely NO. WE run everything, with moderation, as that's What Its All About...Fun to Run....Good Question. Happy Railroading!

Definitely not! i have no need for a shelf queen. I use it and enjoy it while I'm still on this side of the dirt! 

I run just about everything. I say that because I sometimes forget I bought something. My father has always said to me when buying trains "you can't run the box".

Yes.  There are the two 120 volt direct from the wall to the track trains which could be run but which I really don't want to try running and there are the great looking American Flyer cast iron steam locomotives from the 1930-32 period which cannot run because of blown wheels for which there are no replacements.  Other than that - anything that can run is run.

I do have about 11 sets. All Lionel, all military and approximately 30+ pieces of military rolling stock that I have never run.

The oldest would be the Commando Assault Train up to the more recent USMC Alco AB and Navy X-628 Promotional set and Operational Eagle Justice set.

I will run them eventually. I don't consider myself a collector just a sucker for buying the military trains that come available .

Larry

I'll admit to this.

rat

By default, yes, but only "sort of" . . .   I do not "collect" in the sense of what the word means to me (to buy so that you have the multitude).  I buy largely because I want to look at and study the locos and I don't intend to run most of them very often.  I have a "wall of steam" actually two (photo), where I display my locos so that I can look at similar locos and compare them, etc.  that is very fun for/to me.  

But all of these locos, I actually do run, but maybe not often.  I have about 125-140 locos now, and I can run, at most, four at a time, and have about ten "favorites" I like to run a lot, so some locos get run almost never - seriously it has been three plus years for a few . . . they sit on the shelf the vast majority of the time.  

I have only four locos I do not run: my father original 1930-ish wind up Marx tinplate o-4-0, tender, and three car train and the Lionel Lincoln funeral train (both on display in my study), and 3rd Rail ATSF Northern 2929 (on display in in a case in my office at work), and when it gets here in a week or two, the 3rd Rail Train of Tomorrow, which will go on a special shelf made for it here in the study, too. 

ratpak, maybe you should be 'pakrat'

No layout for me, so I guess I'm in the collect only group right now. 

Actually, I'm in the 'display in box' group-even worse!

Soon to change as the layout plans have progressed and I have all the track.

No Way... I run em at full speed!

If I own it, I run it!!

Sometimes...so far only one unopened box:

What Lee said, more or less...minus the beautiful display walls!

- Mike

A long time ago when the hobby was more oriented toward collecting, I had hundreds of feet of shelving with trains just to look at...but...I found the joy of running them!  Then it got even better when I found that a layout could enhance my love of the hobby even more.  Since then, there was no looking back.  I do not buy just to collect anymore....I am more in tune with what is happening in the O-gauge hobby today....enjoying the trains for their great features and the layout for what it gives back to me. 

Alan

I used to be like that, now as I get older I figure what the heck.

Art

If I buy it, I run it. I wish I could do that with my cars.

Open it, Open it!!!

Cars???? You Got Cars??? what kind Spence??

I had a 1973 Pontiac Lemans from my grandmother once, wish I still had it.

lovely car. 350 under the hood, she was a peach and would cruise all day!!!

If I didn't run them I wouldn't be wanting to quote Gomez Addams as often. Cant have that now can we. 

A perfect striped "blacker than green" GG-1 would sit behind UV blocking glass untouched, just to look at till it fades, that's it. I would run All of the rest at least once a year. I'd drive the oldest Model T to Alaska in a heartbeat too. If it died along the way Id give it an E.F.I. "Heartbeat", and a real big gear.  Id even run the little store displayed motorized wood cart if I owned it! Movement is more interesting.

I lean more toward running what I buy but at the same time there may be a car that I think will become a collectable. Not so much engines. I do have one shelf queen that I only ran forward and backward to see if it ran. The Hudson from the 80's era with display case. I have always been in the hobby for the enjoyment of running trains.........Paul

No way! Leave it sealed!   Decades from now advanced meta-human mutants will x-ray it to see if its still in there before selling it on ebay!

I'd like to think I will run them all....but have more than I could run.....so I must collect too.....

Originally Posted by chipset:

Sometimes...so far only one unopened box:

 

 

Open it, Open it!!!

it's like a fine wine...

First, i have to admire the label for a few weeks.

Then enjoy the "new" smell.

Then, slowly open it over a few weeks, then stare at the contents for a few more admiring its color and textures, before actually running it.

The general rule of thumb... Condition and quantity doesn't matter, if you own more trains then you can run, join the club you're a collector.

Joe

Years ago yes, but not any longer. Discovered scale trains and unloaded the others.

One exception is the LCCA Civil War General pair from 2012. I feel that these are genuine collectibles due to the popularity of Lionel's General 'in general' (oooh) and the uniqueness of this particular pair. Of limited production (less than 650 sets) and the fact that they are a pair and have supposedly real gold and chrome plating along with the story has created a true modern collectible!

I bought them with this in mind and am saving them for a trade when just the right piece comes along that I'd like to have (and to operate of course!)...

Chip,  while you're waiting pick up a rattle-can of gloss clear for those engines...

I know one fellow who buys high end steam engines including those from 3rd Rail and just puts them on a shelf.  They never turn a wheel.  He has a Lionel Big Boy on order and it won't turn a wheel either.  It helps that he has a lot of space for shelves.  Yes, he is married.

A manufacturer told me that many of his customers do this.  They are the perfect customer because there is never a warranty claim as long as the model doesn't have any broken parts or scratches out of the box.  How would you know if the lights, sound or smoke unit doesn't work if you never power the engine up?  

I try to run everything that I buy.  Some of my stuff has never gotten out of the boxes beneath the layout just because I don't have the space for them anywhere on the layout or on my few shelves.  I intend to run them someday.

Joe

If I Own it I bought it to run.

No shelf queens here. Tho I do have more than fits on the current limited layout in the den While I rebuild the main layout. And that one will be bigger than before as I ran out of sidings for trains.

They were made to run and I run them! My only problem is giving all of the engines equal time on the rails.

Right now all my trains are stored in a climate controlled storage unit. Actually 3 units. Hopefully this time next year our addition will be finished and the layout started. So even though I will eventually run them I guess you can say I'm a collector for now. Hey Lee, very nice wall of steam.

Mark.

Like Lee, I'm "loco poor" (or just loco); I run them all, but not any of them often.

I do buy the occasional loco (or car) with no intention of running it; these are primarily

older 2-rail items, often fairly cheap, that I buy for historical and esthetic interest.

Some have a middle rail in their futures. I have converted several cars to 3-rail use;

nice variety. I actually enjoy the way-it-was crudeness of some of the 40's/50's stuff.

We are so lucky these days; this is why I have little patience with "M or L or A or

K was off by 8 on the rivet-count! The trucks were not exactly right! I want my money back!" (Poor baby.)

So, I collect the un-collected, really.

Sometimes i feel like I just buy to buy.

all the best,

Miketg

Both.  I have niches and categories I collect, although some I plan to run when, if, I

get an appropriate industry built (like a postal dist. center for RPO cars), and others

are to run.  I don't buy any new engines or powered rail cars except to run.

100% RUN • I do collect some special engines and litho tin printed building.

I don't buy anything to collect.

I have two train friends that buy and never run any trains as they have no layout.  The one friend has collected for years and has a room completely full to the ceiling with his collection.  He doesn't even have shelves to put them on.  He called me this week and said he was setting up a standard gauge set under their Christmas tree this year.  Maybe he is getting closer to starting his layout.  He just retired this past year so there is hope.

Art

There certainly are people who buy to collect, not to run. While this board is comprised mainly of folks who like to run their trains, outside this board the collectors may outnumber the opeators.

Then there are people who do both, as Colorado Hirailer described, running some items and collecting others.  (I think they are probably the largest group)

Don't feel sorry for collectors, they are doing what they please with their time and money.

I never thought about collecting.  That said, I still don't have a train room, but I have 25 new trains.  When the room is finally complete, I will probably be able to run 13 trains, so I will have twelve, not running, but collected.  Don't know how this happened.  I guess the collector fairy sneaked up on me whilst I slept, and dropped the collector dust upon my person.