Shopping Addiction and Trains

Somewhere there has to be a balance.   Perhaps Suzie Orman said it best-"people, money, things."   There's so much product out there it can get overwhelming.

I found out long time ago that stuff can't get you happiness.

 

I never cared much for shopping, except for the window variety.  If you have to shop to be happy you have a hole in your soul that can't possibly be filled by material things and you probably should seek professional help.

 

Unless I'm in denial the only thing I'm really addicted to is making music, and I'm pretty sure it saved my life.

 

Pete

 

I can quit anytime I want.

I have seen some folks who have gone to an extreme of continually buying more and more expensive new trains, probably tens of thousands of dollars worth, to the point of overflowing their hobby space - or even filling their entire home and multiple buildings. It makes my hobby habit look modest by comparison. I have enough projects to catch up on without buying more trains.

I fell into the trap and became your typical obsessive compulsive O-gauge hoarder.  Well, that's what my wife called me.  Buying stuff "on the sly" only works for a while as wives catch on once it spreads into multiple storage areas.  It's bad when you have to get rid of the boxes (rolling stock only) because boxes fill rooms, crawl spaces, garages, and storage sheds!  I actually became very paranoid as styrene is a serious fire accelerant and extremely toxic once it does light up.  This went on for 10 years and then suddenly, like overnight, I quit running trains.  I didn't even enter the train room for about 4 months- go figure!  I haven't been in a train store for over a year- they miss me very much so my friends tell me.  At last I have no desire to buy more stuff, and have only recently started running trains again.  In hindsight, I think I was more enthralled with the hunt and aquisition.  Running something new was my motivator, once I stopped buying (wised up) the thrill was gone.  I had come to realize the amount of money I had spent, how there is no resale value on most of the stuff, and how when I die how badly my wife or daughters will get ripped off on the resale.  Good thing most people in this hobby have good judgement and are reasonable.  Oddly enough, I don't want to part with any of my engines and really only run about 30 of them on a regular basis. If this tale of woe sounds familiar to anyone out there be forewarned, stop and think real hard about why you are in the hobby and what is motivating you.  It can leave you cold as a stone in a heartbeat.  Just my 2 cents.

 

Stack 

Collecting model trains has ruined my life........  At least I made a lot of great friends along the way.

I can safely say the one thing I dislike more than anything else is having THE conversation with the guy in the mirror. He's cold, tough, and puts up with no malarkey.

 

A few months back,  I was summonsed.....to the mirror. Storage areas are maxed out. A good 50% of the stuff in boxes have never been out of the boxes. And the money spent...well, it is money spent. And the guy in the mirror didn't cut me any slack whatsoever. He said, Self (he always calls me Self) - what in the wide, wide world of trains are you doing? Can't say I had any rock solid good answers for the ...uh....abundance.

 

So, acting on Mr. Miller's advice, I have narrowly chosen which lines I want to pursue/model. The rest have to go.

 

Well I have slowed way way down, but this time of the year I still love looking for the UPS truck. As well as looking under the big green tree.

Larry

So can I, At least once a day.

YUP!  Same here!  And along the way my most favorite piece of my collection was the one I happened to be holding in my hands at the time.

Phil

It sure can catch up to you quickly that's why I only model I road and limit my rolling stock to those roads in the same state which would interchange with it.

 

--Greg

I've spent a lot of money on trains in my lifetime...the rest I've just wasted.

As long as you aren't spending money that should not be spent on trains, then I think you are alright.

Solution simple. Just run out of space to store it!!! Worked for me... With some help from my wife.

Great topic.  I have always wondered this.  last year I went to buy some pieces that were up for sale due to a train collectors death.  His family was selling his collection.  It was gigantic!  Had to be 30 years of trains, easily over 100,000.00 worth even at discount prices (sheer volume).  What amazed me was that 80% of the items had never been opened.  Still sealed in factory shipping boxes.  I have seen this time and time again.  They don't even take them out of box to look at them.  I never understood how you could buy something , spend tens of thousands of dollars and never even open the boxes.  It's great for me because I can find things I like from years ago that I am the first to open, but I always wondered why someone would just buy things to sit in a closet or something.  

I had to go 'cold turkey' after bringing home another train set and realizing I did not know what to do with the last set that I bought.  Only thing harder than giving up cigarettes is giving up trains.  Maybe a new Congressional Act is in order.

As long as you have the major items planned for (mortgage, car, retirement, kids college, insurance) then who cares about the rest.

 

What keeps me in line is the thought of maintaining all the engines. It can become time consuming.

Hear here!

 

I could not agree more.  You take care of the important things, then frivolously waste the rest.  I enjoy toy trains.   I buy other toys.  I indulge my grandchildren.

 

But sometimes I look at all these toy trains, and all the remaining portion of the layout that I have not even begun to work on, and I wonder if I will ever have the time . . . 

Hear here!

 

I could not agree more.  You take care of the important things, then frivolously waste the rest.  I enjoy toy trains.   I buy other toys.  I indulge my grandchildren.

 

But sometimes I look at all these toy trains, and all the remaining portion of the layout that I have not even begun to work on, and I wonder if I will ever have the time . . . 

quote:

It's great for me because I can find things I like from years ago that I am the first to open, but I always wondered why someone would just buy things to sit in a closet or something.  

 

Some collectors take pleasure in knowing that they own items that are absolutely brand new in unopened boxes. It's that simple.

I refer to the disease (buying excessive amounts of toy trains)  as "Train Fever".

 

"moderation is the key to a good life".

My sense of this is that the definition and act of hoarding has nothing to do with whether it puts a strain on necessities or does it. It is what it is. Is collecting ( lets say salt and pepper shakers)  also hoarding? It's a tough call. I once bought a draftsman's rendering of a K4 from a fellow in central Illinois. He and I got along very well and he said, Would you like to see some other items? Sure. To make a long story short he had purchased a house to store his collection in. Floor to ceiling pretty valuable stuff..paintings, dishware, you name it. My eyes could not believe what they were seeing. I don't think there is a singular reason to do this collecting\hoarding..some are healthy, some are not. Myself as an example. I found my son dead on the living room couch one morning three years ago. He had an enlarged heart. It set me off to fill this hole, this emptiness, sadness with things that could not "die"..I see this only in retrospect. So much hoarding is based on loss. But, do I still buy stuff. Yes. But the buying spates are more reasonable, leavened..more focused. Am I still hording? No, but at one point it did get out of control as a healthy thing..

HI...... My Name is Bill And I like Model Trains.

All I know is it's curable.    Atlas-O can announce all the reefers they want, and I don't even give them a second look anymore.  Really... After one accumulates more than they can display, then what's the point???

 

The only problem I can see nowadays is the catalogs are HUGE compared to years ago, and the market is over-saturated with more stuff than will ever be absorbed.  So for those afflicted with the addiction to purchase it all, one can spend an enormous amount of money rather quickly.  

 

David

It is an addiction, I totally agree.  As for the question re: does it buy happiness or maybe contentment....I'd have to say "yes, LOL, yes it does!"  It's often said, but bears repeating, those moments when you're waiting for the doors to open in the Orange Hall Thursday morning, or when you're standing in line at Allentown, it's like experiencing the anticipation of Christmas morning all over again.  There are so many of us who have 30, 40, 100 engines....certainly more than enough.  Why keep buying?  I think the collector type -- it could be baseball cards, classic cars, Civil War memorabilia --  has to have somewhat of an addictive nature to their personality.  But simply put, it's a blast to unwrap a new box of ABA's and place them on the track for the first time and pull the throttle!

 

As Lee wisely noted earlier, "if you have the rest of the things in your life in order..."

 

- Mike

Trying to buy back your childhood can be expensive.

Hi, My name is Casey, and I like trains.

Not to make light of this very real problem, or disease in some cases, but I will post this sick little animation here;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHkKJfcBXcw

 

Your childhood might not be that expensive. Buying the childhood you think you should have had could be disastrous.  

Six years ago I was diagnosed with skin cancer. I was in the middle of building my dream layout. I stopped all construction and train purchases.

 

Last May, the doctor gave me the all clear, and my wife suggested I get back into the hobby. Since then, I've been on an eBay binge, spending something on the order of the equivalent of a nice new car.

 

I think I am finally approaching the end of all that pent up train purchasing demand. The underlying mentality for all this has been the idea of "building a railroad", buying what I see on the rails locally. That seems like an open ended proposition, but it really isn't. The limiting factor will be the total amount of track the plan calls for.

 

A couple of weeks ago, I had Menards deliver a good sized bale of materials, just before the snow flew. It is a slow transition from buying to construction, but I'm moving in the right direction.

 

I have expanded my trains collection during the fall months leading up to Christmas seriously  for about five years now.

The buying has increased expotentially each year.

I can hardly wait for next year!

I am not a trainaholic....they go to meetings!

 

Here's another video that's hilarious:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvZBZgALlNk

Addiction....

perhaps.  But I'm not going to change yet.

I pay the bills, I keep some money saved back for emergencies.

I have 7 extra mouths living in my house. A niece, her fiance, and her 5 kids.

They don't pay rent or utilities tho I plan on changing that come the new year.

 

If I have the cash and want something for my trains, I'm gonna buy it !!!

And yes, I have not bought anything for several months due to the extra mouths.

But I just got a Bonus from work and I'm darn well gonna enjoy it !

I used to be a train hoarder too, then I became a train retailer, I don't hoard anymore, now I have inventory.

Others (like me) buy it because it's available now, with the intention of using it "some day." I've got a small stable of SP steam locomotives in S Scale brass sitting in my closet, NIB, and they will stay that way until I have the room (and time) to build a layout. For now, I'm making do with a Timesaver in HO and hope to start a Lionel 4x8 layout shortly after Christmas. OK, I'll also admit to getting a couple of things jus because I want to own them, but almost all of the railroad stuff I have I got because I intend to run it some day. Whether that day ever comes is another story...

 

My name is Ken. I'm 48 years old and I still play with trains...

Thank you Killian. The fact that you replied to my "confession" will serve as motivation. That whole cancer business really messed with my head. I'm now going to put on my shoes, head down to the basement and make some sawdust!

 

Elliot, Good idea, I for one will be looking forward to some pictures.

Larry

I had over 300 pieces of rolling stock and around 40 engines. I realized I had more than I'd ever run, so after selling a bunch I'm down to about 100 pieces of rolling stock and 20 engines. I've pretty much stopped buying for the last two years. I still have more to sell Unfortunatly for me, I started getting into standard gauge about a year ago!

Maybe it has been said before, but most of us remember way back spending a lot of time studying those colorful train catalogs and if we were lucky, we got a set or maybe a few pieces at Christmas or a birthday.  I'd be thrilled to get a 79-cent Plasticville piece.  We wished we could have it all.  Today most of us are in a position to have it.  And then all heck breaks loose!

 

Though I'm an American Flyer guy I always looked at the Lionel catalogs and wished I could have the Timken yellow box car.  Well yesterday I ordered the Flyer version as a present.  I don't mind if it comes in after Christmas.  (I'd love to have a Flyer version of the pickle car!)

 

Phil

I spent my younger years doing without to raise a famiy working two or three jobs.  Today I can basically buy what I want and make no excuses or apologies for it.  Life is short and if you have the extra money to do what you want, great for you.  You have no one to answer to but yourself.  Enjoy today for tomorrow is not guaranteed. 

Addiction - but I have taken steps to keep in control. My railroad will simply grow at a slower pace.