Reconsideration

Uhmmm....and this from a guy that bought a trailer load of locomotives just a few days ago!!!  By the way, sounds like you got the deals of the century!!

Alan

What to do with the time you are allotted, Scrappy?  That's easy!  Write more articles for the magazine!  

Okay - spill the beans.... what all did you get at York?.... I am not over your buying both T-3's yet.... but I am trying...

The stuff adds up fast. I haven't regretted thinning out my train collection.

Isn't the answer just to decide what you want to do along the way as things evolve - I dont get this "I must" that I read about on here often.I would just let matters take their course.

MIKE

After reading what you had for sale on the For Sale forum, I:

• Was wondering why you would be selling such good stuff
• What possibly could be left after the sale
• Why I didn't win the lottery so I could have bought it all myself!

The engine in the video is incredible! Keep it and run the wheels off of it. I've been thinning my roster too, but it's all been non-scale, non-N&W.

Gilly

The stuff can and does add up, and that's why I have focused on 2 roads....the N&W and the NKP.  That has helped me keep things in line...somewhat.

Funny that this can apply to trains:

Reconsider Baby 

Pete

There are certain engines that are hard to part with. The S-3 is one of them.

I purchased an older Allegheny - Lionel 1601, it is dated a bit but with the upgraded board from ERR and its reference to Greenfield village and being one of the first monster steam locomotives I saw when I was a kid- its a keeper.  

Sigh . . . . a very interesting series of replies. I have never been one to be able to just "enjoy" something for too long. I believe everything changes and I really do like to participate in those changes by way of flowing in the river of journeys.

Trains are in my blood and will always be so. I am so blessed to have an absurd number of trains. Much more than I ever thought I would have and many more than I "need." In fact, I find that I spend 95% of my time on the layout doing scenery which I really adore. Sometimes I run a train around for one lap and dig the experience but it only lasts for a brief moment in time. When the layout is at the point where I consider it "finished" (no layout is ever really finished) I plan to make the next plan. I will probably take the layout down and either build another or enjoy trains another way. It is the building process I enjoy the most, along with the photography, of course.

I also enjoy stamp collecting and cars. I spend quite a bit of time playing guitar too. I recently got a Taylor 816ce which is just amazing. OK, off to play blues.

Sigh . . . . .

Scrapper,

You truly are a renaissance man.  Now if you could get some country to "Make A stamp just to add to your collection.", or find a guitar that "plays the notes you are thinking>"  you would be ... "The Most Interesting Man in The World."  Stay flowing my friend.

I wish I had bought that house next to yours! You'd have plenty to do. LOL

you can play "the thrill is gone" by bb king

Hey Eliot,  how about a video with you 'playing the blues'?  I'm certain many of us would enjoy seeing/hearing you.

Especially perhaps a blues rendition of 'City of New Orleans'....

C. Sam,

The world is not ready for a video of me playing guitar.

Aren't times difficult enough ?

Scrapiron

The Scalin' Back Blues.

So sad, it almost makes ya cry.

I am where you are-I collect just nyc only-I am from Syracuse and Albany.i look at all the trains I have and ask myself do I really need anymore.i think of the thousands of dollars spent.thinking of going back and start playing my guitar again-ovation-I never realized how stiff my fingers got .

Joe,

Gotta keep those fingers movin'

eliot

I will try-maybe I need a 25 year old blonde to help loosen my hands to play guitar.

how many knew Alvin lee of ten years after died 6 months ago.what a guitar player.

he was planning on going  to Nashville to record again-country shredding

Best wishes Eliot   There is a lot to do in addition to model trains.  I spent some time with this young lady (youngest Grand daughter) last summer at French Creek, (PA state park) and Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site. She is now walking.  I need to get back to Boston, to visit her soon.

 Mike CT

Mike,

The trains are not really going anywhere anytime soon.

The Munoz Lines has a way to go. At least another year or so.

We still have to have the dedication to my Father In Law.

Please plan to visit us again and stay over.

eliot

Eliot - I think it is natural to have the interest in a hobby ebb and flow, or perhaps just evolve, over time, but you do seem to have more changing interests than many others I know, including me.  Still, I doubt you will give it up anytime soon.  

As for me, I won't, Im sure.  For 60 years, I have always maintained a hand in toy trains and model shipbuilding, and, since age 16, cars.  But toy trains has supplanted the other two as my main hobby and I expect that will continue: I'm to old to enjoy it when I lay on a concrete floor and weld on headers or work on a dry sump system underneath a car, and my eyes aren't good enough for the detail work my model ships required.  By contrast, big (O gauge) Toy trains are perfect.  I do vary what I work on - buildings and scenery, 'Streets vehicles, locos, or just running trains, but that's normal I think, and the variety is why I like the hobby so much.

Sometimes, and I think this thread is an example, ideas take on a life of their own. My original intent was to describe how my attitude changed toward a particular locomotive as I planned to reduce my collection. In addition, I wanted to communicate how incredible I think the Linel S-3 locomotive is. I wanted to describe as accurately as possible that each time I planned to sell it, I wanted to run it first to see how I felt.

Amazingly, each time I ran it as was more impressed  than the time before.

I guess my message seemed to communicate the idea that I was leaving toy trains. I could never leave toy trains. I'll be buried with my toy trains. Hopefully, they'll stay in the box with me, LOL. In an effort to be more clear, I'll say that I live my life and I want my life to be a challenge. I want to challenge myself to do things I have never done before. I never wanted the layout to become what I did in retirement with all of my free time. Of course, I never anticipated the many friends and incredible train experts I met along the way. I thought I would build a layout where the trains just ran around. I never thought the layout would become what it has with so many fascinating scenes.

Life has a way of sending you signals. Many of the friends I had are no longer around for one reason or another. It's really important to share the layout with folks who enjoy seeing the trains roll around and dig the vignettes and stories. For me, creating the scenes has been a gas and we have a huge Holiday party that brings the Ooohs and Aaaahs. 

Now it's time to think about the next challenges. That does not mean giving up trains. I will NEVER give up trains. I have some health issues to work on and those will require me to address them ASAP. The trains? They'll have to be pried out of my cold, dead hands.

>>>I wanted to communicate how incredible I think the Linel S-3 locomotive is. I wanted to describe as accurately as possible that each time I planned to sell it, I wanted to run it first to see how I felt.<<

IMO, S-3 value has increased in a market now beyond soft simply because it is one of the best running and sounding locomotives Lionel has made to date. 

Not too big, not too small, just perfect.. 

Joe