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Wow! Congrats! You scored big!

That would never happen to me!  I have always been jealous of people with such good fortune. 

Sound's fishy to me..

eddie g posted:

Sound's fishy to me..

Ok "Eddie the pessimist".  Your "warm" attitude is probably why you have to advertise for a friend to go to York with you every year. I always chuckle to myself when I see them. Have a good day.

Forget the gift certificate- take him out to dinner. It might be nice to invite him to see some of his old stuff running again too.

Yea- stuff like this never happens to me either.

george posted:

That would never happen to me!  I have always been jealous of people with such good fortune. 

Believe me, I'm 99% of the time just like you. I just happen to be in the right place at the right time!  He put it out there on the local radio and a friend heard it and called me immediately. I gave him my story and he chose me and my boys as the recipients. We beat out many others. Yes I'm very lucky and grateful.  He worked the kids and myself pretty hard though cleaning his garage after the trains were out. 

Serendipity!

Dinner at the best restaurant is in order.

Make sure he sees his stuff run, the sooner the better.

Lou N

I'm 70, would you care to adopt me?   Wow, what luck you have, I never have anything like that happen to me.  I'm glad you have a good friend who was paying attention.

Hope you enjoy them to the hilt and I agree, you need to take him out to dinner on more than one occasion and you should definitely have him over to run trains with you.

I think that was a very nice gesture by the elderly gentleman to do, sounds like a good bloke, nice to have friends like that.

Not that I needed most of it, but a good friend of mine did a similar thing he gave me his complete workshop! I kept the lathe and the Mill and some specialist tools and sold the rest for him and gave him the money, he was pleased with the deal so was I. There still is some good people around in any country.

Nice thread thanks for sharing your experiance and enjoy the trains. Roo.

Unfortunately these will be in storage with the rest of the stuff. I'm hoping to build our house in a year or so. Then they'll come out. No going out for dinner. He lost sight in one eye already. The other eye isn't far behind. He gets injections in it and it makes it better for a short time. He fully believes he is getting close to "checking out". He is obviously pretty well off, he donated to some local schools etc,  and is giving lots of things away.  

What a fantastic gift !!! 

He may be" well off" but he may also be short of true friends or those able to help with everyday choirs.

If he is willing to accept help it would be great for you and your sons to help him with whatever the need.

Fantastic gift and that haul looks like more than I currently own.  Better in your hands than a dumpster.

fantastic gesture. 

As Frank Barone would say "Holy crap!"

He wouldn't have dumpstered it,  i don't think anyway. He has been selling it off on ebay last bunch of years. He said he started with over 200k in trains, been selling about 25k per year.  Time is chasing him too quickly now that he said he couldn't chance waiting for another year or two on ebay. Time to give it away 

MattR posted:

[...]Time is chasing him too quickly now that he said he couldn't chance waiting for another year or two on ebay. Time to give it away 

That's the irony of such hobbies as ours -- our toys will outlive us all.

Balshis posted:

That's the irony of such hobbies as ours -- our toys will outlive us all.

Ectually, I find that rather comforting.  Long after I'm gone, my gi-raffes will live on in other homes... 

Mitch 

M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

Balshis posted:

That's the irony of such hobbies as ours -- our toys will outlive us all.

Ectually, I find that rather comforting.  Long after I'm gone, my gi-raffes will live on in other homes... 

Mitch 

I enjoyed learning of your good fortune. 

Im truly fortunate to have a great friend who has done the same but with mechanical tools. He's losing his sight and downsized his home, property, business, historical cars an trucks.

I'm comforted by this story of the model train inventory.

John d.

Dave Funk posted:

What a fantastic gift !!! 

He may be" well off" but he may also be short of true friends or those able to help with everyday choirs.

If he is willing to accept help it would be great for you and your sons to help him with whatever the need.

Excellent idea!

It is very often the case that people need human contact far more than they need stuff or even money or food.  Loneliness is a profound problem, and few outside ever see it.  And, given his health issues, help around the house may be a God-send to him.

First thing I offered was any help he may need. We did a lot of work while we were there and of course told him to call anytime. We we're actually ordered not to just stop by. Call or he'll call me. His concern is his 2 old dogs. No joke. They have heart issues and they go nuts when they even hear a vehicle get close. Never mind knock on the door. He's afraid they'll have a heart attack.  These trains were in a climate controlled outbuilding.  When we did enter his house to get some things from the basement, he went in first with his hired assistant, told us to wait till he waves. He put dogs in a side room. We weren't allowed to talk, even in the basement. Got the items and went out. He called yesterday and said he found a bunch of Lionel catalogs for me to come  next week. Also, some Browning firearms items. Don't know what they are yet.

Way to go MattR. Post more pictures when you get some of those boxes open. You must be a true giver yourself and now receiving 10 fold for your kindness.

so, now you're a "free-loader"?

Just kidding. Congrats!

George

MATTR, How many times have you been to York? I've been there over 78 times in the past 40 years. Always had someone with me. I live 500 miles away.

"Holy crap" is dead on 

I'm not sure you can thank him properly, other than to repeat it over and over till he kicks you 

Thanks for the "feel good" 

Matt, That is great he chose you and your boys!  He found the right family; someone who appreciates the value and is willing to "pay it back" in chores, friendship, and just knowing it all has a good home!  Congratulations!