Selling it all? Possibly

I would keep a few key pieces that have either special meaning or you really have an attachment to.  Sell the rest.  By the time, in 10years, you possibly get around to it you'll want the newer items anyways and the current inventory will sell for a lot less.

Marty,

    I keep thinking that too.   I look at the gorgeous roster of 3rd Rail ATSF engines I have and I think oh the Y-3!   Oh wait the 2900!   But but the custom 3752 I had special painted!   Or the Texas that has a special smoke unit that gives steam from the cocks.   I can't find a place to draw the line.   The 3800 class 3rd Rail loco has some of the best details of any of them.  And so it goes...   Yes I certainly can see keeping 1 in a glass case on a display shelf.   Hard....  very hard choices.

I know it's like picking a favorite child.  LOL!

Do you have a family member or friends that could store some of it?

Marty's suggestion is great.  Of my 12 engines and 60+ pieces of rolling stock I could easily narrow it down to 3 engines and a dozen pieces of rolling stock.

My daughter and her husband moved to Sicily last year and every time I talk to her she wonders why they took so much stuff with them.  The movers broke most of the furniture.  Her advice would be...take what you need and nothing else.

Oh yeah, get a Magic Jack.  Talking to her thru the one she has is like calling next door.  I think it costs her $100/yr.

One thing's for certain, you're going to need a "mental" blindfold. Pretend they belong to someone else as you sell each one. The electronics more than likely will fail after prolonged storage if you decide to keep them. Even if you have a family member hold on to them. As for choices, it would seem that you do not have many. You could buy a nice display case for your favorite engine. Carefully protect both and take it with you as a,"shelf queen". It just might keep the feeling alive for a few years. 

Let it go as the popular song goes. Keep a few items that were produced in ultra low numbers that you really really like and might be able to use in a club in your destinations. Keep the cash or value in a mutual fund for a future hobby.

My wife wants us to move to cali and I'd let go most of my O scale except for a club I would join. Fortunately, I have a ton of n scale too just in case that scenario solidifies. Then that 10x10 bedroom becomes an n scale layout. hehehe.

For now still holding out for an east coast home and basement.

It sounds like you have your head on straight and your priorities well thought out.  I would sell all and you can easily get back in in 10 years if and when things are right.  Storing doesn't make much sense given your situation in my view.

Best of luck.  Sounds like an exciting future for you and your family.

Art

Do it 

10 years from now, who knows that the model train world will look like?   N scale is big overseas - perhaps focus on that.   I have a lot of N-scale stuff and upgraded most of it to DCC over the last couple years.   It's a blast, but in a different way.   N-scale is good at some things (cost, standardization, large trains/space, etc.).  I can put an N scale layout on my (admittedly large) dining room table that is more complex and interesting to run than my O-scale layout.    More variety, larger yards, less power.   With DCC, all I lose is sound, which you don't HAVE to give up but it's so weak I don't see the point.  

Storage seems like a joke to me.   You take a bunch of stuff thats currently not worth what you paid for it, lock it up for ten years where it will be worth considerably less, and pay for the privilege?  Not in my world!

And here's the thing - you may NOT regret it.  You never know.   You might get really into N scale, you might find other hobbies, etc.  Your world is expanding right now - let it expand and roll with it.   Don't let something like model trains slow you down - maximize this opportunity with NO regrets.  if you THINK you will regret it, you WILL regret it, and that's a bad way to live.   

SELL !!!  And good luck!!!

Putting things in storage for ten or so years makes little sense, and this is coming from someone that has everything in storage. Personal tastes evolve over ones lifetime. What was once considered an end-all may not hold interest years forward. Retain one or two as suggested, unload the rest. It's not as if there's a shortage of this stuff, or any stuff for that matter. Now, if I could only heed my own advise. Good luck on your journeys.

If I was still in 3 rail, I'd say sell it

Maybe do not  ship it all to AUS, however get a hold of Dave Allen and see if he needs trains to sell there. Then let the company ship what he wants to buy

I was in the same spot as you, lots of HO trains and railroad books but moving to an apartment in Tehran.  And then what?  I took only a handful of books.  The company stored the rest.  Many of my books and trains were well damaged by the time we got back to the USA.  And then we did the overseas move two more times.  

My advise is sell the trains, taking one special loco and one special car with a display case and your best books.

ChipR

I don't envy your hard decision, but firmly believe cbojanower and thestumper have hit it exactly.  Best wishes.

I'd sell it all ASAP and get over the hurt.  If model trains still holds your interest after a decade or so start over.

Looks like someone beat me to it. Check out Kato N scale. From what I have read, the Japanese have smaller houses, so they put trains up on the weekend and take them back down.

I have been checking it out, my wife says she wants to move to a condo at some point. I suppose I could join a three rail club though.

Oh oh oh - bonus - scale length N scale passenger cars don't get hit by the "dimensional weight" BS of UPS and Fedex shipping. And it only stands to reason that a passenger car that is 18 or 21" long will not fit inside the 17" limit of the drop box at USPS, so you have to wait at the counter to ship it. Just saying.

===============================

Maybe in 10 years when you come back the whole Legacy vs DCS/PS3 will be sorted out? There I go again, dreaming!

Not to worry, It all ends up in a sale at sometime or another.

friend of mine sold his entire collection, only to turn around and start

collecting again. Half the battle and FUN is the chase!!

Train will always be available and what ever you have will show up again

somewhere.

Take a few pieces and sell the rest or convert some into a smaller scale if you need something to "run". If you are in a larger area, there are clubs to join too. Who knows, you may take a liking to Australian railroads...you can buy models of them there. There is nothing here that requires giving up anything...just creates a whole mess of new experiences and opportunities (trains first..scale second).

Peter

Agree with keeping a few special items and selling the rest.  Storage is not likely to prove either worthwhile or cost effective.

Personally, I vote for selling them, save for a small little oval around the Christmas tree train,and maybe a couple accessories. Besides, in 10 years you'll probably "HAVE TO HAVE" the new MTH or Lionel Maglev Passenger set.

Keep a loco and a caboose.  Get a rolling stand from $ from sale of items.   See the one JAK Tools makes.  Place loco and caboose on it.  Run when you want (will need a transformer too.

If you need to do quickly, contact an auction house as you don't want to deal with packing to move and playing delivery service for your items.

It is a liquidation.  Do it in an orderly manner to get $ out of it.  You will not get nearly what you paid for items, and that in itself is an indication of what they are worth today, surely to be worth much less at the point when you return.

Here's my take:

1. Determine the cost of storage for your entire collection.  E.g., call three storage facilities and get the lowest quote for the total cubic feet you need to store.  Hold this number aside.
2. Keep whatever pieces hold even an iota of sentimental value for you.  If these are just a handful, a relative, a train friend, or any number of people here would hold them for you.
3. Sell the rest.  Put the money from the sale into an interest-bearing bank account segregated from your other accounts.
4. Each month thereafter, while you're away and train-less, make a deposit to the bank account in the amount of the storage quote you got in Step 1.
5. At the end of 10 years, you will have ten times twelve times [the monthly storage payment], PLUS whatever you were able to get for selling your trains.
6. At that time, look at the bank balance and decide whether you want to:
   
   a) Buy replacement trains -- OR --
   
   b) Add the money to whatever you had been saving for a house ... except now with the train money, you can afford a nicer house -- OR --
   
   c) Send children to college, etc.

Those are my $0.02

SJS

P.S. During the entire 10-year period, refer to the sum in the bank account as "my train money".  This will give you a 0.002% chance of achieving 6a.  

If you're having trouble deciding what pieces to let I would certainly sell anything with a battery in it such as a ps2 mth engine.  Beyond that I can't really argue with anything else said here already.   I  don't know if you would get more for the collection here or in Australia. 

I'm going through a similar assessment right now. Keep the special pieces and sell off/gift the rest.

Sell it.  It's sometimes difficult, I think, to avoid the trap of letting this expensive, time-consuming hobby take over your personal life, affecting how and why you make major decisions.  You however appear to have managed to avoid that trap.  More power to you.  

- Mike

Good advice already given.   If I were in your position, I would keep just enough to put on a bookshelf or run around a holiday tree each year and sell the rest.   Another idea might be to "donate" some of the items to a club or boy scout troop or similar.   You are paying it forward and might even get a writeoff on your taxes?

Sell it all. No other option IMO.

That's certainly what I would recommend. Given the location you're moving to (a great place, by the way) and the cost and other hassles of storage, it's really your best option.

My East Coast Home (Boston) 3 story house, 4 bedrooms, 3 bath, full basement with utilities and washer/dryer all moved to the 2nd floor will soon be for sale :-)  Also has 2 car garage.   I'm a 2 min walk to the train and a 10-15 min ride to downtown Boston.   Oh and I live 6 houses away from these guys:   http://www.bsmrm.org/    they are 2 Rail O however!

Thanks all!   Was hoping I wasn't off my rocker and missing something.   I keep telling myself...  ya I got this right it really is the best way.

To answer a few questions above...

As far as a family member storing it all.   I have my father.   My train hobby is HIS fault.  He is into HO and has a layout that has been in Model Railroader countless times.   He too models Santa Fe.   He lives in Colorado and well...   shipping and storing it all there....   just not really feasible.   His basement is really already very full of his HO trains.   It's a collection I will one day inherit and it rivals the imagination.   He's also already storing my 1966 GT350 Mustang and my wife's 1960 Austin Healey in his garage.   I can't imagine imposing further.

As for keeping a few.   I keep waffling on that...   As for N scale etc..   If it was just me sure.    However, my biggest fan is my 4 year old son.   He's got the train bug big time.   Much more then my 7 year old ever did.   Honestly, my biggest heartache is for my 4 year old and his love for it.   Sat and Sun I'll spend 6+ hours in the basement and my 4 year old is 110% into it.   My 7 year old (when he was 4) would watch for 30-40 min and be done.   My 4 year old has the train bug big time.   But here is the rub...   he's legally blind.   His vision is about 20/250.   I can't imagine going to N scale.   That's why I like the idea of On3.    O scale trains on HO track gives me the size and the ability to scale down to something that fits in a smaller space.  I love shays anyway :-).   Almost as much as big ATSF steam!

  Just store all the trains inside the Mustang and the Austin Healey. Visit your dad when we have our modular layout set up in Colorado and run them! Problem solved. Just leave your Red Sox hat behind. Good luck in Australia !

Can't really add much to what has already been stated except for a comment on this.

quote:

As, you can see I'm strongly leaning toward selling.   It just kills me tho.   I love model trains.   Will, I regret it?   No doubt, of course I will.  

I really, really like O gauge trains but I have not missed any of the trains I have sold.  It is possible that you won't either.

What model Healey do you guys have - a 3000 or the Sprite?

I'd sell it all.  

i'd sell the mustang (as you can tell by my name) seriously i'd sell most maybe keep that 1 favorite put it in the truck of the stang and buy a Lion Chief set for your son and build a under bed layout for him. i had 1 as a child and ran the wheels off my 675. and for dad i'd buy a on30 shay and take a look at Joey from trackside scenery did on a very tiny layout. this way you will still have your trains be able to enjoy a under bed layout with your son and really not miss anything.

So, your the new Bast%$! Operator from H*^%.

They are only trains and you can have them again when the time is right. Keep a setup for littleman. He won't understand if they are all gone. You can get 120v\60hz converters.

Good luck on your major life change! I respect your confidence. Just don't let them use you up without paying for it dearly.

I'll provide free storage for your engines.  I'll even run them once a week to keep them in tip top shape. 

I agree with the others.  Keep one or two sentimental items and sell the rest.

Ron

Sell the wife and kids and keep the trains !!??

Very smart idea ,  Serenska !!