I'm gonna come right out and say it, you could be a lot worse things than a "hoarder".  Most of us had not even heard the word till some tv show mentioned and now all of a sudden any one that a full attic is worse than an ax murder.

 

If you have a wine cellar full of expensive wines, you are a connoisseur.  If you have season tickets to every professional sports team in your area, you are a loyal fan.  Somehow God forbid, you should have a lot of trains, toys, or whatever you are sick and need help.

 

As long as the bills are paid I don't see how it is anybody's concern how you spend your money.

 

  

Nope. Note at all. As I said in my OP - I admire them.

Collector...saver...hoarder...forgetful...old phart........call me what you will.

 

Yep, I've got the 'closets' (BIG horizontal ones....beneath the train layout!).  I've discovered prior purchases of items I'd long forgotten...and now hold duplicates in both hands!  I've muttered the usual epithets of aging realization many times. 

 

...and "I could've had a V8!" nearly as many times. 

 

(Just gotta remember to not be holding a hammer at that moment!)

 

But, it's always followed with a good laugh, a couple of self-deprecating comments, and a simple request to my loving wife..."Here's something to put on ebay, dear!"

 

It's all part of this great hobby....for me, anyway!!

 

Too much????   NEVER!!!

 

KD

I don't like to think I'm a collector but I do have more action accessories than will fit on my little 4x10.

 

Pete

Like probably most everyone, I started out as an operator with my boyhood train.

 

Then I became a collector focusing on the Pennsy by Lionel.

 

Now I'm an operator/collector combining the two.

  

Of course there's a very large backstory but that's the down and dirty.

Jim, Ya got me.

I like to think I'm planning and operating my trains, But...

I did chase down the entire Inventors series... And the Old Glory Set... and a few others.

So I guess I'm a bit of both.

But I do have a plan to have everything out of the boxes and on the layout or a display shelf soon.  Yeah, Soon...

Still moving stuff house to house... mutter mutter growl....

 

I've nearly come to that.  It's not set in concrete as a rule, but it's not in jello, either.  I have an lower level storage yard on the layout that I use for staging trains in/out of Weirton Steel.  At some point in the future, I will take a good hard look at the number and type of cars in "play" and make some decisions.  Ultimately, my goal is to pretty much have storage bins under the layout that are empty or filled with the boxes of the trains ON the layout.  The passenger car set (I only have 1) and my boyhood post-war trains are the only exceptions here.

George

I've come to the realization ill never have the time to build the layout I dreamed of. So now I'm aiming a little lower and I've concentrated on goal of a layout with tighter radii and within a shorter time period.

I keep track of my purchases on a spreadsheet. At one time I had close to 300 pieces of rolling stock and over 40 engines. Thru sales I've whittled it down to 65 pieces and 10 engines. A few have never been run. Going to sell a few more, and honestly, I feel better about it.