My collecting has outpaced my space!

Join the club. It's really bad for us conventional runners as it seem there is a lot of dumping of modern conventional trains right now. I say I'm done buying then a real steal comes along and I buy.  I am selling off other hobby interests to make room.

"My collecting has outpaced my space!"

 

I know the feeling! Happened a long ime ago..........

 

Rod

I'm reminded of this sad fact every month when I send a payment to Extra Space Storage!  

 

- Mike

My wife says I am a train horder!

I am not sure that's a bad thing............

I think it's still cheaper than therapy!

 

Rod

Gentlemen, I feel your pain, and experience the same of my own. I have been thinking about sub-dividing the collection into different groups. Some would be just for operation at Tracker shows, others for the home layout. At least that way I could decrease the mass on the layout and shelves. I will explore that tonight.

 

For example: Long passenger trains are best operated on large layouts, bigger than I have at home. So, perhaps a box of the UP, another of the Santa Fe, a third for the TCA Special, another for the Williams Amtrak Superliner, etc. set up to be for transport to shows.

 

The problem becomes evident.

 

Welcome to the "fold"!

"Space" happens.

 

Am in the same boat.

Have decided no more4 stuff except for parts, tools, etc. And there are so many delectable locos out there

Buy a bigger house and get more "space."

 

It's expensive, but cheaper than counselling (which doesn't work) and medication (which has side effects).

Well, this thread covers is a new problem, doesn't it?

I have the same problem,

More then I need, but not as many as I want.

I found that new space can be acquired easily by building train shelves and displaying those beautiful items and then storing those pesky boxes in a dust and environmentally controlled area.. under the bed in the spare bedroom works for me... 

Amen, brother. Out here in Calif., no basements mean little storage space.

Yep - this happens to me, too.  I added gobs of shelves a couple of months ago thinking it would hold me for a year or two.  Already half filled up!

Like AMCDave said:  Join the club!  

I would like to put up display shelves, but my basement walls are already covered! I had to slow down, ( hoping that works).

I am fascinated with this concept.  Collecting expensive toy trains, with no means to run them, and not enough space to store them.  Sounds like you need a layout built, buddy.  At the very least.   Maybe a couple shelves as well.  Cheers.

I am fascinated with this concept.  Collecting expensive toy trains, with no means to run them, and not enough space to store them.  Sounds like you need a layout built buddy.  Investing some time on a 4X8 may quell your urge, if not your pocketbook, to expand your collection.  Run your trains my good man, run your trains!  Cheers.

I thought I would make some space by selling some Railking diesels engines that don't seem to get run anymore. Unfortunately, selling Railking locos, and replacing them with a premier steamers that have to have a string of passenger cars seems to have the opposite effect on my space problem! 

Building a layout has not helped me. It keeps growing. And have three. Downstairs, living room ( tree came down, snow melted but layout remains on expanded 3x6 bay window sill) and father/dom Carpet central. And I am on medication and in therapy. LOL And combined are much cheaper than my train hobby/habit/addiction. Having a large house with huge finished basement with full kitchen and bath is great but more likely part of the problem than the solution. No need to even leave. LOL. Maybe I need to get a wife to keep me in check. But what if she gets into the hobby. And God forbid, she might like diesels. I am steamies only. That would mean her own layout in the spare bedroom. LOL. .

I have bought 9 shelving units that I had hoped to put in my spare bedroom (train storage facility). Unfortunately that room is so packed with stuff that I can't move the shelf units into the room!!! Now I have 6 assembled units and 3 units still in the boxes that are sitting out in the hallway that I can't move into the room, which has made my hallway a 2 foot wide rabbit path. Talk about being out of control! I got a call from the producers of the TV show "Hoarders" and they said my situation was soooo gross that they dared not show it to their viewers.

 

It is a good thing I am already divorced, as I am sure it would be a relationship killer to just about any normal person.

 

The good news is that I do have two running (sometimes) layouts and my main layout could be running if I just focused on it for a while.

 

All that said, I am very happy with my addiction to toy trains and prefer it to other obsessions like drinking, bar hopping, gambling and such.

 

Paul Goodness

I had the same issue when I was living in a condo.  No place for a layout except some floor running once in awhile.  When we moved into our house 2 years ago I finally had a spot for a layout!  I financed most of my layout so far by selling off all the extras that I would never run.   Yes I lost a lot of money in the process, but I do have a layout and only a handful of locomotives now and I can run trains whenever I want.  

Great Post!

 

laz1957: feel the same as you.

 

J Daddy: Must be a super King size bed.

 

Paul goodness: My situation is much like yours but I have a slight out for you [maybe]; put the stuff in the room on the shelves built (and in the hallway) and build the shelves that are unbuilt in the room and start to reload the room with the stuff from the hallway and hallway shelves, then move the shelves for shelves in as you go. Now my problem is I resued some old greating card shelves from a drug store that was remodling to make teired shelves but where I would made the teared shelves is filled with train stuff and no place to put it. Plus I have a small storage room filled with stuff, plus were I would build the train lay-out is piled with stuff. How to boot I have to get my Modules out of the garage to replace it's roof and to use some next month in a VBS workshop on trains. Where do I start. 

Great Post!

 

laz1957: feel the same as you.

 

J Daddy: Must be a super King size bed.

 

Paul goodness: My situation is much like yours but you have a slight out for you [maybe]; put the stuff in the room on the shelves built (and in the hallway) and build the shelves that are unbuilt in the room and start to reload the room with the stuff from the hallway and hallway shelves, then move the shelves for shelves in as you go. Now my problem is I resued some old greating card shelves from a drug store that was remodling to make teired shelves but where I would made the teared shelves is filled with train stuff and no place to put it. Plus I have a small storage room filled with stuff, plus were I would build the train lay-out is piled with stuff. How to boot I have to get my Modules out of the garage to replace it's roof and to use some next month in a VBS workshop on trains. Where do I start. 

"I spent a lot of money on wine, women, and trains. The rest I wasted."

 

Rod

Very common problem in this segment of our hobby.  Sounds like it's time to thin out the collection by posting a few items on the OGR For-Sale forum!    Works like a charm... although you might be tempted to "re-invest" the proceeds to fund new equipment on your roster. 

Got to that point about 5 years ago. I try to be very selective in purchases anymore but that is very difficult.

Oh, no!  Can't do that!  The whole idea is to "collect 'em all."  Innovation is called for in cases like this: I noticed yesterday that with a little work, I could add 16 feet of shelving in the half bath I have off my train-room.  That will hold me until I get some additional shelves added underneath the layout edges along the central aisle through my layout: I'll be able to store trains but not display them, but it's better than having no place at all for them.

I assumed he must have meant a bed elevated like a bunk bed, but with no lower bed.  That might be a start to the problem solution.

 

-Dave

Having had a nice layout and a fair sized collection and now having no layout and no room for half the collection - I can assure you that the layout is the most important part of the hobby! No need for therapy or medication. Just head off to the layout, pour yourself a favorite beverage, dim the room lights and fire up the trains. Aaaaaahhhh

You're preaching to the choir here. I have two more things in the queue and [hopefully] I'm done for a while. I'm running out of space, even though I've started thinning the herd a bit. Of course, this will go right out the window should something really desirable shows up in the fall catalogs or the Atlas monthly.

If you're speaking to me, I have a large layout built, so it's double jeopardy for me.

Isn't this what is supposed to happen?

All the best,

Miketg

Funny thing is, when you get new stuff you're overjoyed...then think about what gets replaced and stored.

I've never liked having stuff packed away out of sight in boxes...

I had to branch out:

 

Now you're talking, Bob.

All you fellows with insufficient space should have collected Z scale.  Besides being significantly smaller, you can't find as much to accumulate. 

 

It's also easier for the hen-pecked to smuggle in their pockets.  "Is that another train in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?" 

 

 

 

 

What, me worry?

I have a large closet full, several shelves full, a whole wall of them in the basement, and stuff is still stacked around my office.  I haven't resorted to a storage unit yet...