Do you ever feel overwhelmed by your collection?

Short answer is yes. I'm going to be leaving California and I have to pack up my trains into manageable moving boxes. Not fun.

I've been working on just this situation. I began at the beginning of the stay at home time in 2020 and seriously assessed all the items on my layout and on my display shelves. Strangely, I felt a greater sense of clarity in deciding what meant something to me and what I could really live without. I gathered and boxed a huge assortment of no-longer wanted items and rented table space at one of the last club train meets held in 2020. I had never done that before.

I sold everything at fair and generous discount pricing. I wasn't there to make a profit. It was a really positive and fun experience. People happy with their purchases, and me reducing a monumental pile of train stuff. The accumulation had become so onerous and oppressive and detracted from the light hearted-ness of train running, (for me at least).

This past week I finished the last sale of the remainder of unwanted items at the first club meet that has been held in this unusual year.  So...that was how I dealt with a overwhelming collection that in reality most of it I didn't want when I was honest with myself.

The resulting freedom from possessions and keeping the stuff that has meaning to you is a feeling I highly recommend!

John

No,....now if you’d please excuse me, there’s an auction ending for another locomotive,......😆😆😆

Pat

Yes.  For one thing, I realize what a nuisance it will be for my heirs to eventually dispose of the stuff. Seriously.  I probably should start finding new homes for some of this stuff sooner rather than later.

I do you a degree , but I’ve been enjoying model trains since I was six . But I’ve got all of the collection my late dad and I have since . Some were his from when he was a kid in the 50’s .

But I to as mentioned already can’t pass up a good deal , but that’s on about everything .

I also collect diecast cars , tin toys , toys from about every era up to the early 80’s and vintage video games , if those words aren’t allowed on here 😉

But I do plan on a more permanent layout with storage underneath to help elevate some of the clutter .

No. I run about 95% of what I’ve got at least several times each year. And what doesn’t get run anymore, holds sentimental value to me and likely little to no value to anyone else.

As far as what happens with everything when I check out; fortunately my youngest son likes and collects trains so it will all pass to him.

Curt

I have too many trains.  I have sold a lot of trains over the years.  Unfortunately, I keep buying new trains so the total collection numbers seem to continue to grow.  Every new catalog is a temptation.  Obviously, I enjoy buying more than selling especially since most sales are at a loss.  

My wife accuses me of being a train addict.  I suppose that there are many worse addictions.  The problem is at some point a collection begins to own you instead of you owning the collection.  I will say, however, many of my friends have much larger train collections than I do.  NH Joe

I am lucky in that when I first set up my now permanent layout I had waited to start construction until I had lots of financial freedom.

At the beginning I had yet to hone in on things I like. Now I only run "Hi-Rail Scale" equipment and concentrate on Steam/Diesel transition New York Central. Although I do have a fondness for some C&O and my collection reflects that.

I've sold non-scale items, a scale set of Rio Grande Alco PA's etc to swap them out for things I'm more interested in.

I have a modest layout, one that was kindly designed by a fellow forum member years ago. With only 3 contiguous loops and only two being main-lines I often feel overwhelmed by my choices but considering my slow and deliberate purchases I chalk that up to me needing more main-line track!

Sometimes I get overwhelmed at the prospect of running them. Having paid so much for many of these models, many with delicate pieces, temperamental smoke units etc at times I find myself looking for issues or getting caught up worrying too much about certain things to enjoy running them. Sometimes if I'm switching in the yard with a train parked and powered I can't shake the idea that I'm burning the parked trains smoke unit. It's not terribly often, but enough that it stops me from enjoying my trains to their fullest.

I started out as a tinplate guy but really fell down the MPC rabbit hole. I'm thinking I need to shrink both down quite a bit. Mainly the MPC stuff.

Wife feels overwhelmed by MY train collection, not me.....

Heirs can worry about the trains.....

Not so much by the trains themselves, although maintenance and diagnosing of gremlins can be daunting at times, but the layout itself, such as the amount of projects going on at any one time, can be overwhelming. I try to follow Bob Bartizek's sage advice of putting in an hour per night...yet as I get older it seems I can accomplish even less in that hour then I could just five years ago, so frustration builds to an extent...but age is for another discussion.

All I will say is this....

My collection is well documented on a large Excel file. I hope my future heirs like trains.

Bryce

I'm feeling a little underwhelmed by the size of my basement.  I think that's what is making my trains seem overwhelming.  When I finally find the right house, I'll be in business.

I know what you mean though.  I've gone overboard in a lot of other hobbies.  But now I've shed myself of most everything but trains.

If you haven't done so already, the first thing I'd do is get seriously organized.  Make a spreadsheet of your inventory and build some good shelving so you can literally SEE it all in one spot.  If your stuff is scattered all over or piled up in heaps, it can seem overwhelming.

Organize it.  Then if you still have space, make expansion shelves and limit yourself to that space.  Tell yourself after that, if you buy something, you sell something.  A man's got to know his limitations!

The dream layout has been built, the collection is complete, and "one of these days" I just might think about downsizing - maybe.

Happens every few years.  The result is that I sell off some specific portion of it.  One year, I sold off all the ACW 2-rail.  Another, I sold off all the Large Scale.  Some years ago, I sold off a modest Standard Gauge collection (and fell right back into it just last year).

I'm almost due for another sell off, but no portion has irritated me enough yet . . . .

Yes but only because I don’t have a permanent layout. Three Christmas engines: RS3 Route of the Reindeer, Peanuts Steam engine, and a North Pole Central GP35 are more than I can run on a single under the tree loop. With that said, the minute I start on my permanent layout I’ll need a lot!

Well, now that I have my layout at least running trains, I can start thinking about maybe downsizing the collection.  Maybe... maybe not...  Perhaps next year...

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Well, now that I have my layout at least running trains, I can start thinking about maybe downsizing the collection.  Maybe... maybe not...  Perhaps next year...

Yeah, but what to do with all those shelves and boxes?

I may be downsizing the boxes as I unpack stuff from the plastic tubs.  I'm not keeping rolling stock boxes except maybe passenger car sets.  I keep most engine boxes as if I decide to move some out, they make it easier to sell and ship.

He who dies with the most wins. The **** with downsizing

I've got a reason to own every piece I own, at least in my own mind.

I was , and I have been downsizing to the pieces that really mean something. Its taken 5 years but I have gone from more than 1000 items to just under 100 now. Feels great ! Less storage space needed and when we move it will be manageable!

Yes I too couldn't pass up a good deal. I have way more than makes sense. I should sell some but don't bother. I'm lucky I don't need the money. I'm old now and have quit buying even though I could.

@RamblerDon posted:

I started out as a tinplate guy but really fell down the MPC rabbit hole. I'm thinking I need to shrink both down quite a bit. Mainly the MPC stuff.

Don; I feel your pain re the MPC. Lewis Collier, the fine gentleman who owns Memory Station over in Watkinsville, GA “had my number” for several years where MPC was concerned. I never left a train meet where he had set up without some more MPC items for the collection.

MPC rolling stock gets run regularly but, after I shifted to MTH DCS equipped engines about ten years ago, my MPC engines are in the 5% I mentioned above. I don’t run them but, I couldn’t bear to part with them either. 🤷

Curt

I buy trains and I have sold trains, I love what I have now, Mpc, some MTH some PW and even some Lionchief.

I have told my heirs they could take them, sell them, give them away or trash them.

I will run trains till my last breath and what happens to my trains will not be up to me.

Dave

No, I buy what I want and sell what I no longer want. I have been selling most of the lines that did not come through where I live.

I never really learned the concept of selling.  I sold my 50's 773 and Madison cars (not because I wanted to), my 65 Mustang and my 69 Riviera.  However I still have my 33 Ford 3 window coupe I bought when I was 14 for $75 sixty four years ago.  Fortunately or unfortunately I own and live in a three story building with 7000 feet on each floor.  A tenant occupies the first floor so I live for free. Therefore I have plenty of room for my trains, my cameras and some of the other things I like and collect.  My message to my kids is that I enjoy my trains and other things.  If they don't want to deal with my stuff, just lock the door and don't worry about it.

I am pretty sure I will keep buying.  and, I have plenty of room for box storage.

Yes, now that the large layout we used to run on is no longer and my meager 4x12 won’t justify me keeping many of my scale cars so I’ve been selling a quite few.

1 of 3.  This is just rolling stock and track items.

I look at them and think "What shall I buy next?"   Then I just laugh maniacally.

Only now as I will have to move it this year.  It does overwhelm me in terms of how much I spent but then I justify it by dividing how much I've spent by the number of years in the hobby and it doesn't seem as bad when I figure how much I spend in a year on average.

My better half thinks I have enough trains. But she's alright with me ordering parts for the trains.

Then when I bought a pw 681 w/ 2671w tender, she seen it in the box and said I thought you ordered parts. I said, "OH WOW"..... that was nice of that guy putting all the parts together for me.

Yes I have been. I'm slowly moving my collection from my parent's house to my apartment. Needless to say it is overwhelming boxing things up and trying to find space for them. It is forcing me to downsize, but that is ok. I'm using the money for higher end train stuff.

I get the same feeling when I go a little overboard at an auction, and I have to sort all of that stuff, so I am kind of used to it.

Yes, for sure. The light bulb came on for me actually only about a month ago. I've started thinning out pretty heavily, mostly picking on duplicates and triplicates and keeping the best. Also, anything that is not postwar goes. I've come to the realization that the dream layout may never happen anyway , so there's no sense having all these trains for someone else to have to deal with. And I don't think my kids share the same love for them that I do

From F.B Group:

Windup toy trains-R-us

My collection, and it is a collection, has started turning into a hoarding nightmare.  It has spilled over into other rooms as my room of requirement is now packed from floor to ceiling with stuff.  I had investigated making the room of requirement transdimensional but that didn't pan out.  So now, I'm trying to go all Æon Flux and have several rooms occupy the same space via phase shifting.  This way I can have one room that is my train room, my wood working room, my storage room, my electronics room...

Anthony

@Oscale_Trains_Lover_ posted:

All I will say is this....

My collection is well documented on an large Excel file. I hope my future heirs like trains.

Bryce

That reminds me...I need to update my spreadsheet.

I went the train show route with what i considered excess a few years ago, a rewarding and cathartic experience.  Did that with the 11 or was it 13 bicycles as well.  Now that the trains have been reduced to something managable a few more will be moving on. 

Once in a while I think about downsizing. I do realize that soon will come a day when I am not here and my wife will have to deal with the collection. Then I snap back to reality and realize that she will probably have a 19 year old boyfriend with a single syllable name and the two of them will have a field day throwing away the trains. I couldn’t deprive her of that. Kudos to her and Spen or Brad or whatever his name will be.

@A. Wells posted:

That reminds me...I need to update my spreadsheet.

Glad I could be of assistance!