Trying to figure out the aspects of this hobby.

there are collectors and modelers,     The modelers tend to be more in your camp, but maybe their like is different.     they might an era and RR and only obtain stuff that fits that concept.    for example late steam between WWII and 1950 when it is was still "king".     they would focus their equipment on that era. 

A collector on the other hand would be doing something like you suggest, getting every version of the GG1 that Lionel made - or MPC or MTH or joe schmoe for example.

It is fun either way, do it as you enjoy.

Build yourself a model railroad and run your trains. That will keep you occupied and interested. Do you have grand children with whom to share?

MELGAR

Vandalia Guy posted:

Because of storage (and age), I am limiting my stock to what I really like, and couldn't afford when I was a kid.

Ultimately, that is the best rational for being in the hobby.  Run them, display them or keep them in their boxes.  In the end it doesn't matter which aspect of the hobby provides you with enjoyment.

"Enjoyment with an everlasting challenge," said A.C. Kalmbach, the founder of Model Railroader magazine.  This statement does not indicate there is one and only one way to participate.

Rusty

I know more than one person that loves trains and model railroading. They never get past the arm chair railroad phase and that is ok.

Looking around at the age of most of us I’d say it is too late to sell off you pw  collection for big bucks. While there is a pretty big market for 3 rail that will be around for another 30+ years, it will be at a lot lower price point. It’s all good no matter how you enjoy the hobby, the important thing is that you enjoy it.

Bottom line, enjoy the hobby your own way and don't worry about how others get their enjoyment.

Are "most" of the modern items intended to be carefully inspected, looked at once or twice, perhaps run around the oval, and then put back in their box and back on the shelf? 

All of my engines are PS-3 MTH bought maybe 3 or 4 years ago new. All of them have over 1000 operating hours on them. Only engine in a box here is an MTH Hudson I bought in 1999.

This hobby is anything you want to make it. If you like to run trains, run trains. If you like to build kits, build kits. If you like to collect, do that. I do a little of all of those, when ever I feel like it. I built a canyon from rock molds that was over six ft. high and went all the way to the floor. By the time I finished it I never wanted to see molds again, but I learned a lot. I have a 3-D printer to make what I can't buy. I have learned many skills I thought I could never do. I have scratch built buildings, like this Shell Station for example and I think done a fair job of detailing my layout. I pushed my photography stills almost to the limit. It's all good and fun stuff. Don't worry about figuring anything out, just enjoy. Don

I grew up with postwar Lionel.  Over a period of time I had a nice layout, several engines and a bunch of cars.  My favorite train was a double headed 671 and 681 pulling about twelve hopper cars filled with crushed coal glued to plywood inserts.  Second to that was my ABA Santa Fe and aluminum cars.  Then life interfered and the trains faded into the past.

When Williams started producing the brass engines, the timing in my life was right and I started buying them.  Did not have a layout, do not have a layout and may never again have a layout but I thought they were cool as compared to the postwar Lionel.  They just sat on the shelf and I looked at them.  They never failed to bring back memories of running trains in earlier years.

As Mike Wolf entered the hobby an began taking it places Lionel never dreamed of, or at least got to, I bought pretty much an example of everything he produced.  Bottom line, my shelves are filled with passenger trains from the 30's to the 50's, some of the most unusual sets ever produced and engines types so rare that most people had never heard of them.

Trains are not an investment/retirement plan.  Trains are an enjoyment/escape plan.  If you bought them to enjoy, keep them and continue onward.  If you bought them as an investment plan, sell them, take the loss and move on.

Someone asked to see what my opinion of unusual sets and rare engines might be.  Remember my comparison is with postwar from the fifties to mid 60's.  I remember getting a NYC F3 AA and passenger cars.  It was WOW, two passenger sets.  So here goes:

Vandalia Guy posted:

 But how many are "enough?"

You never know what is enough until you know what is more than enough.

One thing to remember, it's your hobby and you get to define what that means to you. Others don't really matter. Do what makes you happy and brings you enjoyment.

Bill DeBrooke posted:

1...some of the most unusual sets ever produced and engines types so rare that most people had never heard of them.

2. Trains are not an investment/retirement plan.  Trains are an enjoyment/escape plan.  If you bought them to enjoy, keep them and continue onward.  If you bought them as an investment plan, sell them, take the loss and move on.

 

1. I for one would like to see some of those; will you be posting photos?

2. Amen to that!

Mark in Oregon

Vandalia Guy posted:

 "low run time." Do these fantastic models wear out quickly? One of my first locos I bought recently was a Lionel 675 that runs like a champ

And the amount of rolling stock that you collect. Because of storage (and age), I am limiting my stock to what I really like, and couldn't afford when I was a kid.Haven't I caught the "whole" bug yet? (I do have both a 1668 and a 1688 as well.) 

 What would happen to your market if (heaven forbid), four or five of you major collectors left us, and all of your stock hit the market at the same time? 

 "who is going to buy all this?"  I guess what I'm trying to understand is "Do all of you have to have it "all?" 

Don't get me wrong. I love the trains. But how many are "enough?"

Good questions. I'm 77, and a train lover since I was 5, but did not really get "into" the hobby until creating my Christmas layout in 1986...which I still put up every year. In 2005, I started a small (5'x8') year-'round layout. It kept me happily building scenics for 2 years. I have pretty much limited my stock to postwar engines pulling new passenger cars. The new cars have interiors, which I have loaded with people. The engines, including your 675, keep running because they were designed to be played with by little kids, instead of affluent adults. Not having rubber bands (to break) on the driving wheels also helps. Many forum members enjoy fixing "state of the art" engines. My limit is changing a lightbulb.

I have not bought any new trains for about 8 years. Nothing is "stored" in a closet. As a "offshoot", I became interested in good quality 1:43 model cars. Although my collection is large, they are all displayed. I now buy only 1 or 2 each year. I go to York to enjoy walking around and looking. This past York I spent A total of $30. on a 1:43 ambulance.

The market has been going down-hill since the 1980s for a few reasons. #1 Old folks with large collections are dying-off. They, like me, grew up with trains (steam, in my case), so they have memories of railroads that had names other than Amtrak. #2. Few people "collect" ANYTHING any more. If they do, it is often in the form of a few prime-condition examples of______displayed in the living room or den. #3. Most of today's young people could probably not be able to define "hobby". They are interested in "collecting" their allowance each week.

mwb posted:

Vandalia Guy posted:

 But how many are "enough?"

You never know what is enough until you know what is more than enough.

One thing to remember, it's your hobby and you get to define what that means to you. Others don't really matter. Do what makes you happy and brings you enjoyment.

Using part of what you have posted here, MWB, as impetus, though I agree with everything else you stated, I would submit for consideration something additional.

That is, my perspective is that others really do matter, in our enjoyment of this hobby, as well as in our enjoyment of Life itself.

Whether we are sharing hobby viewpoints and personal milestones, on a forum or in-person, showing others what we have done on a layout, or simply telling somebody we have a new locomotive still in its box in a closet, for example, our connections to others and sharing the hobby with them, at times, are what give our  hobby life and real quality. 

 Without those connections, life is just scenery.

FrankM

From one octogenarian to another, it's all in what you want to make it. Like so many others, I grew up with Marx and Lionel trains. I guess because they were the video games of the day. Again like some many others, girls, cars, and then family had my interest until later years, when I had the longing to recreate those youthful fun times. I started by collecting the engines that, as a kid, I drooded over in the catalogs, but couldn't afford, and ran them on floor layouts at Christmas.  As Williams, Weaver, MTH, and then Lionel started producing models closer to scale literally with all the bells and whistles, I moved on to them. Now that I'm retired on a fixed income, the prices of new trains again becomes prohibitive. I now shop and trade in the used market and the phrase "low run time", like "low mileage" in the used auto market, means higher value when buying or selling.

George

Bill Debrooke- That is one heck of a collection!!!! Beautiful! Wow!

I’ve just come into this because I was already interested in model railways, saw a Rail King Hudson and thought, “I want that”. I’ve now been round something of a learning curve and pretty much defined what I want, and can accommodate. It’s a lot of fun..

ConrailFan posted:

Bill Debrooke- That is one heck of a collection!!!! Beautiful! Wow!

Well, for good or bad that is only a piece to the collection.  I was trying to show some of the aspects that got me back into trains.  Williams and then Mike changed the game.  The decision by MTH to produce the diecast Challenger was a watershed moment for the industry.  They went on to prove that collector/operators want a variety of product.

  If I had to pick a time before that it would be the 1984 Williams catalog.  It also proved that new and different product would be supported. I got curious about Williams postwar reproductions up to 1984 and so acquired almost all of it.  Since it is not really 'collectible' it was not that hard or expensive.

I don't spend a ton of time worrying about what happens to my trains when I'm gone.  I don't spend money my family needs to live on for my hobby.  I have more than I need, of that we can agree.  I'm doing it for my own enjoyment, and I really like the people I meet in the hobby.  If you're having fun with what you have and run, life is good.