# Trying to gauge my collection size



## morland

Hello All,

I'm fairly new on this forum, I've been mostly reading and trying to digest a lot of information instead of posting. I started my train collecting (HO scale) about 10 months ago, I already had some trains from when I was a kid (A Tyco set and some old American Train and Track). I bought a Athearn starter set and since then I have become extremely addicted to buying trains! I wish somebody had told me this before I started...so after the last 10 months I've bought only DC and DCC ready trains. I've lost count of how many but I have mostly been buying Athearn and Atlas. 

I have a friend that told me when he collected trains he started much as I did by just shotgun buying anything that caught his eye, which is exactly what I do. He said I might want to start thinking about what I really want to do with my layout. I'm not quite ready for the layout yet but I did build a 4x8 table and put a long oval of track on it so I could run the trains. I'm still having fun collecting trains here and there to start spending on the layout. He also said I should probably go DCC, which I do have a lot of DCC ready trains, but I just can't help myself when bargains come along like Athearn Blue Boxes.

Something that seems to be a reoccurring sentiment on the forums is "do what feels good/right to yourself". So I think I'm going to take those words of advice and just have fun. Anyways sorry for rambling...

BTW here are some pictures of my collection so far...I would assume that mine would be considered a small collection?

Santa Fe - I love the color schemes of the old Santa Fe's.
Side View
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/9372497709/

Another side view
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/9372489113/

Front view
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/9375256008/

Side View
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/9375249486/

My 4x8 cluttered with my other trains...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/9372465259/

View 2
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/9372456557/

Thanks for looking....

-Trever


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## Southern

morland said:


> I have become extremely addicted to buying trains! I wish somebody had told me this before I started...


It happens to the best of us. You are off to a good start. Some people just collect and never even run them.


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## Big Ed

Welcome to trainaholics, you are not alone. 
But it is a good addiction. 

It looks like your off to a good start.
But your going to need a larger room.


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## Blackout

Nice engine collection! Now some rolling stock.


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## morland

I guess I should've started off by saying, "Hi my name is Trever and I have a problem. I'm addicted to collecting trains". 

I have some Athearn blue box rolling stock. It just seems you have to put money into them though to switch to knuckle couplers and to swap out the plastic wheels for metal wheels. I do have some newer Athearn Ready to Roll and Intermountain stock that have metal wheels, they seem to be a lot smoother rolling than the BB with plastic wheels. Does anyone else swap out the wheels?

-Trever


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## txdyna65

Very nice looking collection, thats alot of engines, or to me it is lol
As for the plastic wheels, yes I switch them all out for metal wheels, usually intermountain.


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## DonR

There's little argument that metal wheels are far superior to
plastic. They roll with less resistance and are smoother.
But some cars do just dandy with their plastic wheels. If a car
starts acting up, splitting turnouts or derailing on curves that's the
time to consider replacing the plastic. I use some Kadee and some
Intermountain.

Don


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## mopac

Nice collection. I wouldn't call it small. I think many of us have the same addiction.
I can't pass up a deal on an athearn BB kit either. No reason to. I do think I should
have stayed with fewer road names. I am all over the place. I still have not started
my dream layout yet. Its coming soon. As long as you are having fun then you are 
on the right track. I add metal wheels and knuckle couplers to my BB kits. I try to
buy the BB kits at a price so that I can add wheels and couplers and still be below
$10.00 a car. Not many RTR cars below $10.00 any more. Buy the wheels and couplers
in large lots and it lets you pay a little more for the BB kits of the cars you really want.
Main thing - Have Fun !!!


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## morland

*More pics...*

Thanks for looking and for the comments. I've never taken any pictures of my trains so I got all of the engines together except for a handful that I haven't opened yet. I surprised myself with how many that I do have.  So here are some pictures with most of them lined up.

Lined up - left side
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/9416451267/

Lined up - right side
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/9416441261/

Lined up - straight on
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/9419194836/

My Tyco shelf
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/9416419027/

Some of my unopened engines
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/9419161666/

What I'm working on now, SP SD45
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/9416375019/

Empty box shelf
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/9419150180/

Thanks for looking again!

-Trever


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## Big Ed

If you got all of them in the last 10 months your sick! 

Yep......you got it bad, there is no cure but to buy more.
And if you get too many HO you can start buying others scales. 

Now....we will really know the extent of your sickness if you have as many or more rolling stock? :smokin:


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## gunrunnerjohn

He has a terminal sickness, not the regular kind! That means he needs a large terminal for all those trains!


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## eljefe

Now THAT is a LOT of locomotives! I thought I had too many. Now I feel better!


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## morland

*Train Bug*

Now that I have been diagnosed with the train collecting bug, how do I cure it?  

So far today I've only bought two engines on Ebay...trying to stay off but I just can't help myself. Bought a BB Athearn F7 SP in the "black widow" paint scheme and as a bonus it came with a Mantua Alco Spirit of 76 engine. Got it for $11.99 plus shipping. I really bought it for the Athearn but hey, I'll take a 2 for 1 deal.:smilie_daumenpos:

I'm working on my rolling stock, I'll take some pictures of what I have but I think I have more engines than I do rolling stock.

-Trever


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## Big Ed

Well at least you can have the diagnostic analysis now, you have been found to have Locomotionizist a rare form of the trainaholic disease. :smokin:

The only cure know to cure Locomotionizist is to buy three times as many rolling stock per one Locomotive.


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## sstlaure

Nice collection. You definitely need to plan out a nice layout - with that kind of power laying around you can have all of your trains pre-built and sitting in staging ready to run.


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## morland

big ed said:


> Well at least you can have the diagnostic analysis now, you have been found to have Locomotionizist a rare form of the trainaholic disease. :smokin:
> 
> The only cure know to cure Locomotionizist is to buy three times as many rolling stock per one Locomotive.


LOL...a couple of days ago I bought six pieces of rolling stock, so I'm on the way to a cure! Oh wait I bought two engines today, I guess that offsets the rolling stock. :laugh:


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## morland

sstlaure said:


> Nice collection. You definitely need to plan out a nice layout - with that kind of power laying around you can have all of your trains pre-built and sitting in staging ready to run.



Man, I read through your layout thread the other day, very impressive! I only hope that I have the patience and expertise to build something like that one day. I definitely love the staging area and how you have it looping up to the city...

-Trever


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## morland

So, I lined up all of my rolling stock, it's embarrassing light when compared to my engines! 

Here are some pictures:

Rolling stock first side view
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/9418336487/

Rolling stock other side view
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/9418328721/

Rolling stock rear view
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/9418320885/

Thanks for looking...
-Trever


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## sstlaure

morland said:


> Man, I read through your layout thread the other day, very impressive! I only hope that I have the patience and expertise to build something like that one day. I definitely love the staging area and how you have it looping up to the city...
> 
> -Trever


Thanks - if I could just find some time these days to work on it, then it might be more than a plyboard railroad.

As big an complicated as it is, I've been tempted (and still are) to tear sections out and completely change them. It NEVER ends.


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## gunrunnerjohn

sstlaure said:


> As big an complicated as it is, I've been tempted (and still are) to tear sections out and completely change them. It NEVER ends.


You, on the other hand, have a whole different kind of RR sickness!


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## kimber

I am new here and just looking around, I thought the model airplane guys were bad.
You people have a major problem.


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## gunrunnerjohn

My brother is into model planes, he has it pretty bad.


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## Carl

That is quite a "collection" and it happens to all of us that go into local hobby shops and quickly convince ourselves that we have to have a certain box car or engine. You either runout of money or run out of storage space. AND, Welcome to the site.


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## morland

I amassed my collection pretty quickly due to a train and model store in Little Rock. I got to know the guy that ran the store and he let me buy stuff out of his backroom which had lots of Athearn BB and RTR, Atlas and a few Ahm/Rivarossi steam engines. He had, over the years, collected a lot of train stuff that he thought would not sell out in the store or were part of stuff he was saving for himself. I mean it was like taking a druggie to a drug den...there was wall to wall of trains still in their boxes that had never been run. He was also selling them to me at Very reasonable prices, way better than Ebay.

Sadly, in July after 16 years in business he closed his doors...I was pretty sad about that...so Ebay has become my friend and the forum here. 

Happy days, just bought three engines here on the forum! Drug fix, applied. :smilie_daumenpos:

-Trever


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## morland

*Train Show loot!*

So I went to my first train show today! Man I was like a kid in a candy store...I had a lot of fun shopping and made a lot of good local contacts. I'm looking at checking out a couple of the local train clubs...they all seemed like a bunch of good laid back guys and best of all the talk was all about trains. I'm going to go back tomorrow to look again!

Now here are some pictures of my days loot...out of all the stuff I got I'm most excited about the Rock Island passenger train cars! I think I got a good deal  on them, all 9 for $135.




































-Trever


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## Southern

kimber said:


> I am new here and just looking around, I thought the model airplane guys were bad.
> You people have a major problem.





gunrunnerjohn said:


> My brother is into model planes, he has it pretty bad.


Trains do not fly off never to be see again. When they crash it is not as bad. I will stick with trains. I am just glad that I am not addicted to model trains. I can stop any time I want.:smokin:


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## golfermd

We do seem to have our AD's (LAD-Locomotive Acquisition Disorder, et al).


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## 93firebird

OK since no one else has said it. It's not the size of your collection, it's how you use it!:stroke:


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## California RailFan508

Impressive collection, morland. Quite the collection of Santa Fe, Southern Pacific, Cotton Belt, and Union Pacific units that you have there. :smilie_daumenpos:


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## SR KARALIS

Beautiful collection,compliments!!


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## ggnlars

I feel the same as you. I can't resist a good bargain on a NP item, but no layout yet. 

Pertaining to metal vs plastic wheels. Metal wheels add weight which is good. Also, the plastic wheels shed on the track, making it dirty faster. This is a big issue in DCC. 

Another clue is to look at what the RTR models come with. Most are metal wheels. There is a reason they spend the extra bucks. It maybe a fad, but it is in favor today. 

Larry


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## briangcc

Looking good! Just wait until the repowering bug hits ya with those open frame blue box Athearns...

Just be careful on those impulse purchases...last time my dad and I counted, we had over 300 HO locomotives. That was 10 years ago and we're still buying, mine just happen to be O scale right now until my son is old enough to appreciate (and not destroy) HO!

God only knows how many freight cars we have. I lost track when I was around 30 or so autoracks and took up almost 2 full tracks of the club layout yard. Dad has a military train that rivals that alone.


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## D&J Railroad

You don't have it bad until you buy a new house with a full 2000 square foot, unfinished basement just to accomodate your model railroad ambitions. 
Check this video of my empire. I started building this just two years ago in my new house. The signal system is installed on about 2/3 of the right of way. Scenery is in the planning phase right now and Timonium is coming up in a few weeks.


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## scaleddown

Now you folks are scaring the heck out of me. I am retired and getting ready to jump into this HO scale train hobby. I haven't had a set since I was 13. Hoping to duplicate the old set my Dad designed for me. I even don't remember how to wire the dang thing. Just found the old box containing some pieces. After crying a little bit regarding Dad, I decided to go ahead with this project. Happy to have found this site.


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## morland

First off, never get rid of the trains with the family memories, I think that almost goes without saying. 

Secondly, I started with an old Tyco set I had as a kid and some older ATT trains my dad picked up years ago at a yard sale. I got back into trains about a year and a half ago. I stopped at a local hobby store (LHS) and bought an Athearn DC starter set. What that gave me was some reliable track, power pack and train to start playing with. From there I fixed up my old trains and got them in working order. I then started buying lots of random engines, mostly Athearn blue box engines (relatively cheap and plenty of them around). 

Now I'm getting into DCC...I enjoyed getting all of my early DC purchases but now I have become more focused on what I want to run and have begun selling a lot of my older stuff off to get into the DCC world. I'm still keeping the older engines that I really like but quite a few of them were new old stock that I bought from a LHS before it went out of business...he had a lot of them in his backroom and he was selling them to me at a good price, better than eBay.

So I'm rambling but to the point, buy a starter set to get your feet wet and then go from there. 

Regards,
Trever


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## morland

scaleddown said:


> Now you folks are scaring the heck out of me. I am retired and getting ready to jump into this HO scale train hobby. I haven't had a set since I was 13. Hoping to duplicate the old set my Dad designed for me. I even don't remember how to wire the dang thing. Just found the old box containing some pieces. After crying a little bit regarding Dad, I decided to go ahead with this project. Happy to have found this site.


Also this website is a treasure trove of information and if you can't find what you are looking for just ask a question and someone will answer. Maybe post some pictures of the old trains, chances are somebody may know something about them if you are trying to repair them.

-Trever


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## Patrick1544

Wow. That is a nice collection!


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## Phoebe Snow

*Try an Inventory List*

Does anyone have a detailed Inventory List they've done up. I'm in the process of updating mine and I didn't realize how many trains I had until it was sitting right in front of me. I use Excel for this purpose and works just dandy.


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## Locodub

I try to keep an inventory using Excel, send an updated copy to my phone if am am going to a show, to avoid purchasing duplicates. Has worked pretty good so far.


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## broox

93firebird said:


> OK since no one else has said it. It's not the size of your collection, it's how you use it!:stroke:


small and rarely used :smilie_auslachen:


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## DonR

Phoebe Snow said:


> Does anyone have a detailed Inventory List they've done up. I'm in the process of updating mine and I didn't realize how many trains I had until it was sitting right in front of me. I use Excel for this purpose and works just dandy.


I created a form of rolling stock inventory via a car card system as I outlined
in another thread. You can use old fashioned index cards, type or
print on each card the Car type (box, tank, etc), Road name and number,
description (color and or graphics), and where the car (or loco)
should be returned (west yard track 5, etc.). 

I did it so the cards can be used to deal out a train consist to make
switching operations more fun. Shuffle 'em, then deal a train.
Use them again when you 'break' the train.

Don


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