How do you answer the question “How many trains do you have?”

You should never count what you have.  It breaks the rules of enjoying any hobby.   Also never never add a "total cost" line to your list of things in the hobby, you don't want to know.   

See Cost of the Hobby Car, just replace Car with Trains and it still applies.

I do not have as many as some on this forum but there are an embarrassing amount of trains hiding in my man cave on tracks, shelves and packed away so I just respond with "Several." or "Enough to make the layout work". 

Awhile ago a good friend asked me how much I thought I had in this collection.  I responded with a number that was just a fraction of the actual amount.  He exclaimed "That's crazy!  Really?"  To which I simply dismissed the subject and let him think that I had exaggerated the number. 

The exchange made me think that one or maybe both of us were not that in touch with reality.

Well, usually it's my wife asking, so the safe response seems to be, "How much do your haircuts cost?"  Has kept me out of trouble so far.

Actually, I try not to count.  I know what I have, and it isn't much, but I try not to think of it in those terms.  I enjoy what I have and that's good enough!

My Lionel train collection is like eating potato chips, I just can't stop.

Restarted my Lionel collection in 2010, have multiple 4 X 8 Tables connected together, running Steam & Diesel Trains.

My original trains were thrown out by my mom when I was a kid, BIG MISTAKE $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

"Way more than the average college student should have but hey, better this than drugs I guess."

There will always be more.

When I was a small child, my father had passed. I was sent to live with my grandma and grandpa in Buffalo for a while. There were parallel NYCRR tracks behind their house. Grandma was an invalid and had little she could do with me, on the other hand grandpa, seeing the fascination with trains taught me to feel the rumble long before the headlight.

I would wait at the fence, till around the bend came all the happiness I needed, the behemoths would shake my world. Grandpa would have me count every car, every train, grandpa knew how to occupy my restless imagination. Later he wanted car types, road numbers, loco's etc.

More than 60 years later, I still sometimes count my trains, but the numbers matter little; I know if I wait there will be more coming.

Through years of being in the hobby and selling at train shows, I don't remember being asked that question.  I could look it up, but it wouldn't change the facts.

I think I would put that question in the same category as:

How much is in your bank account?

How much do you owe on your house?

How much jewelry does your family have?

And any intimate relational questions about my wife  etc.

To me it's just an odd question, that might be asked, but doesn't have to be answered.

Quite A Few.

Too many... also, not enough...

@Überstationmeister posted:

A train is “a locomotive with or without cars displaying a marker”

Yes, it certainly can be designated a "train", but I was hoping that no one would go deep enough to check me on that. But, you did.

When asked I just say, “A lot”.

I have no idea actually.

As one of the Hunt Brothers said when ask how much money he had he said. If you can count it you don’t have very much.

Pete

I've gotten carried away collecting before in other hobbies. There is some danger in not keeping some general idea of what is on hand. OTOH, for my mom and many folks, shopping for things is the stuff of life! And yumpin yehosafat, what can it hurt?

You just have to watch for the tipping point--which is reached when it starts to feel like the stuff owns you instead of you owning the stuff.

I have about 70 locomotives and maybe 23 passenger trains (that are pulled by the 70 locomotives). Not too many freight cars. My basement is damp and storage space elsewhere in the house is limited. What I have right now is about all I can handle.

Don Merz

Sometimes when asked, without a story, I just give a big smile and a long stare, that is my answer.  No reason to confirm or deny, no specifics implied.

Downsized my collection considerably. I've adopted the minimalistic lifestyle and I have discovered that you can still enjoy the hobby just as much with fewer trains. There is truth to the power of less stuff.