NOT my problem as an operator - I check and run EVERYTHING! NO surprises at my houses! But I can sympathize! ☺
I don't even have enough trains to forget what I have, especially since 99% of what I own is on my layout.
Apparently I'm slacking in the purchasing department. Or frugal. Depends on how you look at it.
I suppose some surprises can be fun.
...as we get older, memory is the first thing..
...second, uh
...third, uh
...fourth - YES, fourth thing to go.
In a thread on the Lionel Mogul issue, Ryan Kunkle states “The total number of Moguls returned was so small that it was more economical and expeditious to send them to China than to bring techs to the US. Only about 12% of the total production was returned for complaints of the jitters defect, including all dealer stock which had not been sold to consumers”... I have to wonder how many of the remaining 88% are sitting in unopened boxes 
Lou1985 posted:I don't even have enough trains to forget what I have, especially since 99% of what I own is on my layout.
Apparently I'm slacking in the purchasing department. Or frugal. Depends on how you look at it.
Lou, did you not read the fine print in the Forum rules? There are minimum purchase requirements, failure to keep up and you may be reported to the authorities. I have no idea what the minimum is, but I'm not taking any chances.
Chris Sheldon
FireOne posted:Lou1985 posted:I don't even have enough trains to forget what I have, especially since 99% of what I own is on my layout.
Apparently I'm slacking in the purchasing department. Or frugal. Depends on how you look at it.
Lou, did you not read the fine print in the Forum rules? There are minimum purchase requirements, failure to keep up and you may be reported to the authorities. I have no idea what the minimum is, but I'm not taking any chances.
Chris Sheldon
I agree, I refuse to be a quitter.....
I did that a few years ago when Justrains (Kirk era) had their own uncatalogued set of F3 Santa Fe engines. I bought the ABBA set and after about a year sold them. The buyer even acknowledged my original receipt upon receipt.
I am guilty of buying somethings recently I have not run, but everything is out of a box.
John
I bought this 773 PWC set at the April 2016 York meet,I left it and forgot about in the bunk of my truck camper and it stayed there until I found it when I went to tidy up the camper for a Memorial Day weekend trip...after that day I finally brought it in the basement but still have not got around to trying it...makes a great end table though !
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taycotrains posted:I bought this 773 PWC set at the April 2016 York meet,I left it and forgot about in the bunk of my truck camper and it stayed there until I found it when I went to tidy up the camper for a Memorial Day weekend trip...after that day I finally brought it in the basement but still have not got around to trying it...makes a great end table though !
My wife wants a new end table, what do you want for it?
Chris Sheldon
FireOne posted:Lou1985 posted:I don't even have enough trains to forget what I have, especially since 99% of what I own is on my layout.
Apparently I'm slacking in the purchasing department. Or frugal. Depends on how you look at it.
Lou, did you not read the fine print in the Forum rules? There are minimum purchase requirements, failure to keep up and you may be reported to the authorities. I have no idea what the minimum is, but I'm not taking any chances.
Chris Sheldon
I don't think I have the funds to purchase trains to this extent. I will however take donations in the form of U.S. currency or scale size Santa Fe or Southern Pacific equipment to rectify the issue.
I was at a recent train auction where everything was brand new never ran or even removed from the boxes. 425 lots. All from the 70s to the early 2000s. I got a Conrail SD60M from 1994, and a Century Club II Sharknose ABA set with display case still in the shipping boxes. The guy just didn't run anything. It was his private collection. He didn't have a store or anything. I've never seen anything like it.
Lou1985 posted:I don't even have enough trains to forget what I have, especially since 99% of what I own is on my layout.
Apparently I'm slacking in the purchasing department. Or frugal. Depends on how you look at it.
Lou don't believe everything you read here. I'm sure some of these stories have been embellished to some degree.
Stinky1 posted:I was at a recent train auction where everything was brand new never ran or even removed from the boxes. 425 lots. All from the 70s to the early 2000s. The guy just didn't run anything. It was his private collection. I've never seen anything like it.
There are more of those situations than you might imagine. It's quite something to buy a train set that was made in, say, 1980, and it's still sealed. You have to wonder about who owned it and why he let it just sit unopened for decades. Pretty neat to open them up, though, knowing that the engines and cars haven't been touched by human hands since they left the Lionel factory 35-40 years ago.
I've had a few situations lately where I've purchased cars, only to discover I already had them, sitting in unopened boxes. Probably a red flag there!
I know I bought a lot of locomotives in 2014. They were at least test-run at my friend's house to make certain there were no DOA's. I searched for and found this image of one of the test runs that I thought was part of that group:
Buuuuuuut....that thread was from 2012.
okaaaaaaaay.....
---PCJ
After near a decade of letters asking for one to be made, Gramps bought 2 of the first run o GG-1s from Lionel in 1947 and only opened one of the 2 shippers that arrived that day, placing one shipper one high the shelfs and running the oother. Three houses, 35 years, and about 8 layouts later, he still hadn't opened it yet.
Yes, the GG-1s made the first night are more black than green, and some have silver pinstripes, some gold. One runner had gold, one had silver, I don't recall which was the later buy. (no telling what color stripe was in the #2 shipper box, but it was postmarked at the same time as box#1, so another Black Jack 2332 was pretty much ensured.)
Not by accident, and I know every day he didn't open it was an exercise in restraint for him too.
It always amazes how nice the old shippers look compared to a new box after the modern USPS gets done with them.
My problem is that I have many trains, all opened an used at some point, but since I moved very few have seen run time for any significant time. I am seriously thinking about thinning the herd. Unfortunately a lot of them are TMCC. I imagine someone will want them.
Another move in my future may rectify that problem but that's hard to say. Bottom line is I am a lot more selective on what I purchase so I don't have to regret seeing something just sit in the box.
I hope your wives don't read this and find out you bought trains and never opened the boxes. In your defense, there are probably plenty of unworn shoes in their closet.
When we recently transferred some items to our new house, wife finally realized how many trains I had as the boxes were now located in one place instead of scattered around in the basement.
The boxes of plastic model kits containing cars and trucks were another sticking point.
Of course, all the never opened boxed Hallmark ornaments are a non-issue.
Thanks for all the feedback. Its nice to know that most of us are alike. Especially when you enter a nice trainsshop with lots of good stuff, you tell yourself you have enough trains, the hair raises on the back of your arms, and all you can say is "charge!". 😀
I've mentioned before that I'm just newly returning to this hobby so this problem is not one I specifically have (yet), but I'm finding that perhaps some of the hobby shops I've frequented do.
My first purchase coming back into the hobby was a new in box MTH Galloping Goose. It's Protosounds (some call it PS1) and the hobby shop stated they'd just installed a new, updated battery. This is less than a year ago.
After buying it and picking up some track I went looking for a transformer to power my "layout." Went to a different hobby shop and found a nice, new in box, Lionel transformer. Looked at some of the others that I either seen warnings about or were too expensive (and too much power for my figure 8) so I chose this one. It has a control box and a seperate 135W brick for power. Imagine my surprise when I opened it up and the literature said, "New for 1997!"
Since then I've purchased a new in box Lionel Lines Docksider. Yup, brand new but several years old.
Hmmmm.
Apples55 posted:OK... that’s it - I think we need to start a twelve step program:
- buy trains
- buy more trains
- buy even more trains
- engage in denial
- read the OGR Forum, begin to think you are overthinking the issue
- realize that you have no problem
- buy trains
- buy more trains
- buy even more trains
- publicly deny that you have a problem
- vociferously deny you have a problem
- seek solace with a group of like minded addicts...
I think it should be 14 steps:
13. Buy more trains to alleviate the guilt you have from following the previous 12 steps.
14. Repeat steps 1 - 14.
Guitarmike posted:
I think it should be 14 steps:
13. Buy more trains to alleviate the guilt you have from following the previous 12 steps.
14. Repeat steps 1 - 14.
Guilt??? What is guilt???
Don't feel too bad I got some great passenger cars to like that.
o gauger
