One thing that has been consistent in my many acquisitions and turnovers was my ability to cull unwanted items. In my lifetime, I had accumulated literally hundreds and perhaps several thousand trains and accessories in O, O27, standard and G primarily. In the early days of my train renaissance, I would rebuild and restore postwar locos like 675's and 2056's, or acquiring like-new items like a 2340 GG1 by word of mouth or newspaper ads. I ventured into MPC in the early '70's, and loved those colorful 6464 clones. When ennui set in, and that was frequent, I sold or traded my then "treasures" to buy something different. I also purchased a number of boxed original Lionel standard gauge sets and replaced drive wheels or detail parts as needed. At one local TCA meet in 1978, I acquired an LGB European starter set and an extra beer wagon, and that purchase set off a deep dive into those wonderful and very reliable German made trains. I was always in a kind of conundrum when I tired of my present gauge and trains, and my only reasonable choice was to cull out some to be able to afford the "next best thing"! Of course, being sub-clinical OCD, I had to choose the items on a scale of perceived "defects" in order to cull the "right" ones. Over the years, this evolved into an art form, and whether Lionel or MTH scale O, live steam G, Lionel Classics or MTH Tinplate Traditions, something eventually had to be culled to acquire some more! I have probably packed and shipped more trains and accessories than some of the smaller dealers over at least four decades! I recently made my third, and hopefully final, incursion into original LGB, and financed that, in part, by divesting all of my O gauge, save a Bachmann New York Peter Witt trolley that was a gift from my daughter. Amazingly, I also still have a three-car MTH state set I purchased in1998 and a Z-4000 I bought at the same time. In addition, have a repro 400E and a 408E and four repro 200 series freight cars. The bulk of my present trains are LGB and PIKO, with seven engines and seventeen cars. At 77, I have no immediate plans to cull anything, but never say never! LOL!
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