If you, can still get thru the door, you may not have enough.
@jim sutter posted:If you, can still get thru the door, you may not have enough.
I'm sorry.......... I refuse to walk on top of locomotives. 
I go with the following answer.
612
I’ll call it “too many” for myself when I hit the number of threads that regularly get posted asking “How many trains are too many”.
Emotions tend to hamper clear thinking on this topic. It's painful to think about it. Will a certain engine or car next see daylight, or be run on a layout, after an estate sale?
If the owner regularly runs trains on a layout, then, if there are cars or engines that have not been run in the past year, that may indicate too many trains. The longer they are not used, the less likely they are to be used in the future.
If, on the other hand, the owner's trains are for display, when all available display space is in use and there are more trains that never get rotated onto the display tracks, that may indicate too many trains. Unless there is a concrete plan for building more display space, those trains will stay right where they are.
"Someday" trains of one owner could be "Everyday" trains if sold to a new owner.
@Strap Hanger posted:I’ll call it “too many” for myself when I hit the number of threads that regularly get posted asking “How many trains are too many”.
...................It is the right IMHO of every Forumite ( regular or non regular contributor or their pets 
) to have a vote on this subject .......or any other subject . 
When YOU can really walk in a train show.... AND not buy anything of interest.....
@Dallas Joseph posted:
Certainly Dallas and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Just an attempt at a little humor on my part.
I've reached that point. Prospective routes are blocked with trains. Locos around the turntable don't get used for weeks. Happily, I've replaced the batteries in all locos with supercapacitors, so they still run.
How many trains are too many?
When you start buying trains you already have and don't remember you bought them.
John
@gunrunnerjohn posted:You think a boat is bad, you should see one of my other hobbies! With an airplane, you don't throw the money, that's not fast enough. You pour it in!
Hilarious
@Tom Tee posted:If you really want to spend some serious money.....
Plus travel, blown motors, crashed hulls...broken bodies...
Years ago in 1994 after I had retired from boat racing, I first went to my first 0 scale swap meet. As I went to buy my first engine, A caring person came over to me to warn me that this particular model has a bad engine. With decades of racing behind me I froze in my tracks. I asked "How much are the motors?" His response was "Those things can run upwards of $25". I broke up in laughter and paid for the loco. It is all relative...
Awesome boat! Awesome photo!
Yup, a pontoon boat and Canon camera gear - my other obsessions. I wanted a Yamaha jet boat, but the boss said we should get the pontoon boat for the grandkids - she 'won' (I say in jest).
Indeed there is no 'win-lose' in a solid marriage - only 'win-win' or 'no-deal' if your lucky enough to be married to an angel. +35 years and counting............. 
A more thoughtful answer to this topic than my original flippant answer is that I feel that I am at the point where I have enough trains. The last two TCA Desert Division auctions have been proof positive as have my auction site purchases. There are a few cars I am looking for, but it is really down to maybe a dozen passenger cars at best and I have some GGD / Sunset items on preorder that won't be made for a few years. At the November and January TCA auctions I walked out with just a few cars that I got on an opening bid hoping to be outbid, some railroadiana, and mostly books for my library which to me is as important as my train collection. I just was not seeing anything that interested me and the few items that were of interest sold for more than I was willing to part with.
I still have a number of trains that I am looking to sell as they no longer meet my interests and if I can catalog them properly, they will go to my TCA Division for a future auction. My thinking has evolved to how much space my collection occupies and how much space I am willing to let it occupy in the future. In that sense I am to the point where any future purchase will necessitate the disposition of other trains. I also know that this home is not my last one and that my next one will have space for the kind of layout I hope to build one day. Once I get settled there, that will also influence my future thinking of what is too much, just right, or not enough for the various aspects of my railroad hobby.
Others have talked about how other hobbies are similar. I have rediscovered my music hobby after putting it on hold for a while and gear collecting is the same slippery slope. I have discovered a whole new realm of "boutique" synthesizers which are faithful replicas of classic 1970's instruments in smaller packages at greatly reduced prices from the originals. Much like certain trains there are several I've always wanted since I first discovered my own music tastes in high school and having these instruments in reach is a dangerous thought! Add that to the wall of guitars, the drum set, and other gear and it is the recipe for too much in a whole other world.
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Thank your lord that we each get to make this decision for our self. There are people who look at your money and are certain they can spend it wiser than you can. j
I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately myself. My O gauge collection is pretty reasonable, I’m not too concerned about that. HO, on the other hand… As of now, I feel I already have “too much”. Over 100 locomotives and maybe double that number of cars, and no permanent layout. I have some space for one, but not much motivation to build one.
I tend to agree with others that it’s highly subjective, but if you have way more than you can run, and you have stuff that sits in boxes for a year or more without being run, it might be getting to that point.
@gunrunnerjohn posted:You think a boat is bad, you should see one of my other hobbies! With an airplane, you don't throw the money, that's not fast enough. You pour it in!
Are you still driving this Mooney, John? N3256F is currently registered to Timothy Klingenberg of Udall KS. 
A fire engine could be a bit of a money pit
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@SkyHookDepot posted:Are you still driving this Mooney, John? N3256F is currently registered to Timothy Klingenberg of Udall KS.
Nope, I sold it quite a while back. Keeping your own airplane is a very expensive proposition! I just didn't fly it enough to justify the cost of ownership. I do miss it, I racked up about 1500 hours in it.
IMHO, if you have trains that you are not enjoying by running them, having them on the layout, or on display to see, they are extraneous and, therefore, too many. An exception would be stored trains being accumulated while planning a train room and/or layout.
I've heard too many times "I forgot I had that I that train". If you forgot that you have it, you were not enjoying it.
Just my 2 cents
@Lionelski posted:IMHO, if you have trains that you are not enjoying by running them, having them on the layout, or on display to see, they are extraneous and, therefore, too many. An exception would be stored trains being accumulated while planning a train room and/or layout.
I've heard too many times "I forgot I had that I that train". If you forgot that you have it, you were not enjoying it.
Just my 2 cents
That is the sad part for me. I know pretty much exactly what I have and until I moved out of it, my collection was a full 10x20 storage unit. I had it organized by the classic song by The Clash, "Should I Stay or Should I Go".
When you catch the wifey looking up poisons on the internet. 
@DanssuperO posted:When YOU can really walk in a train show.... AND not buy anything of interest.....
I have done that many times!
Awhile ago I helped a widow clean out her late husbands collection. He was accumulating stock to start a model RR in a 24' X 24' basement. She had been so upset with him she wanted me to get a 40 yard dumpster. I talked her down off the ledge and wound up being instrumental in providing a substantial financial recovery. It took five tables at 6 successive Timonium MD train show plus the late Kurt Mitchel of Justrains DE in a show of generosity gave the widow 90 cents on the dollar for all the new unopened Weaver locomotives.
His basement stash was 6 1/2' high and 18' X 18' long and wide. Took 13 trips in a GMC otherwise empty work van to purge the basement. Hundreds of cars and engines in all scales including both 2 and 3 rail 0 scale. He had one of every Weaver engine in 2 and 3 rail in every road name plus one of every Sunset articulated engine. Plus 135 RR lanterns and an attic full of LGB G scale.
That was an example of too many!
@Tom Tee posted:That was an example of too many!
Tom, I guess I don't have too many yet.
@gunrunnerjohn posted:Nope, I sold it quite a while back. Keeping your own airplane is a very expensive proposition! I just didn't fly it enough to justify the cost of ownership. I do miss it, I racked up about 1500 hours in it.
I know what you mean, brother. I had about 1300 in my Grumman Tiger about 300 as actual instrument. It's a young man's game...model trains are for life. 
@SkyHookDepot posted:I know what you mean, brother. I had about 1300 in my Grumman Tiger about 300 as actual instrument. It's a young man's game...model trains are for life.
Yep, it's been a few years since I last flew as PIC, my medical has lapsed and I didn't see any reason to spend the money to renew it. However, it was fun while it lasted. 
A bit off topic but my flight instructor one said if it floats, flies or (fill in the blank)s, rent it.
@Strap Hanger posted:Certainly Dallas and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Just an attempt at a little humor on my part.
No problem......just my attempt at a little humor also........sometimes I can exaggerate just a wee bit too much.
I should get off this thread 
and run trains. 
My answer to how many trains is too many. My participation in the hobby has changed, I started out with train sets and tubular track and a transformer. It grew to TMCC and oddly enough Super O track. After meeting a friend who owns a business building layouts, I was "talked into" adding Mth Tiu to my newly built Legacy and Fastrack layout. As I discovered the new technology my interest in the older items waned considerably. I have been selling items I haven't taken off of the shelves in years. Recently I started to only operate and buy items from Maine Central, Boston & Maine and Canadian pacific. That in itself narrowed my item purchases down considerably, but also to more expensive items (legacy, premier). For me what I can populate the layout with and have a few items on the shelves is good enough. The very fact that I've been able to finance modern train purchases with the proceeds of selling postwar, MPC era, and later items is a plus for me! I have a friend who has rooms and rooms of items on shelves, its overwhelming. But to each their own. We all enjoy the hobby differently.
Not to start "The Great Box Discussion" but..... we had the roof replaced on our house in November. Ripping two layers down to the sheathing makes a huge mess so I wanted to cover everything in the attic with plastic.
When you have to move a bag full of empty train boxes every time you want to move a foot further along,
you may, just may, have enough trains. 
Bob
@RSJB18 posted:Not to start "The Great Box Discussion" but..... we had the roof replaced on our house in November. Ripping two layers down to the sheathing makes a huge mess so I wanted to cover everything in the attic with plastic.
When you have to move a bag full of empty train boxes every time you want to move a foot further along,
you may, just may, have enough trains.
Bob
Not at all Bob... all that means is you need a bigger attic
@Tom Tee posted:We considered that but then discovered bigger attic = bigger property taxes, which then only grow.
very true Tom. Now think about that statement and that I live on Long Island.......
Too many trains?!!
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Depends on how much space you have. My trains are in the basement - out of sight in my domain. As we are preparing for a move to the land of homes with no basements and little storage (San Diego), I now think I have too many 
. And I'm sure my collection is small compared to others here.
@Reading RR posted:I go with the following answer.
I loved this little jingle. Very nicely done. I'll play it for my wife next time she asks - I can only imagine her what her facial expression will look like!
I'm at the point I really don't need anything - possibly even deleting a few items that do not fit my needs.
How many trains are too many?
When you have to buy a larger house just to store the trains & boxes.
I went from 800 square feet to above 2000 square feet so I can finally build a decent layout and/or more (O, On3, On30, HO, HOn3,N,Z,Lionel Standard Gauge and G garden layout.)
But to move all the inventory 250 miles to the new house has been a chore.
Good thing I am semi-retired from normal work.
@Reading RR posted:I go with the following answer.
Great, now I got this song stuck in my head!
One more train, one more train. One more.................,.
HELP
Hello Fellow Train Collectors (Hoarders?) and Friends,
I’m not sure how I missed this topic until now, but I must say, I can relate to just about every situation, description and concern mentioned in this thread. First and foremost, I have an understanding and supportive wife of 54 years.
We share many of our collecting interests such as books, art, vintage furniture etc. I enjoy her displays of ceramic buildings and villages; she wishes I had a completed home layout for my trains. (My toy train operating has been pretty much limited to a portable layout displayed at train shows and the Oregon State Capitol with occasional forays to the local toy train clubhouse.)
I have a vintage glass front bookcase displaying AF trains in our living room where she displays a portion of her antique and vintage doll collection. She loves doing needlework and framing the resulting pieces for hanging; I love that she has professionally framed many of my favorite train and toy train posters and artwork and has actually hung many of them outside of the so-called train room.
In short, we are both equally concerned with the question of “How many or much of (Fill in the Blank) is enough. We are doing fine financially, and are not concerned when either one of us cannot resist them temptation to add to one of our active collections. Oh yes, we have collections that we no longer actively pursue but cannot bring ourselves to get rid of.
Our vacation home at the beach houses much of the “excess” art work and vintage furniture that exploded out of our main home after I retired. I never have owned an airplane or fire truck, but I do have one legitimate classic and two not so classic cars, two of which currently reside in half of each houses’ double garage, and this not so classic one that was moved to a storage place when we remodeled our kitchen in 2007, and never returned to the garage that became filled with stuff:
I hate to think of how much more I have paid in storage fees than I have to acquire, maintain and upgrade this car. Do I have too many cars? Yes, but my wife and a grandson firmly do not want me to get rid of this one.
As far as my train habit is concerned, when we moved to our current home 35 years ago, I lost half of a 47’ X 13’ family room for my trains and planned layout, and gained a larger home that has met all of our family’s needs except one: my “train room” became a 12’ X 10’ unused 4th bedroom, which some of you may remember from a couple of other topics:
As much or more toy train and related items are stored in cabinets and tubs in the garage, a small storage closet, and the furnace room! Trying to deal with this was going to be my pandemic project, but health issues and other priorities limited me to, what else, YouTube videos and online buying.
When have you bought enough trains? When you have to take the stool from in front of your workbench and put it in the hallway to have a place to stand in “the train room.”
Cheers!
Alan
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