# If your Aunt Sophia left you a fortune



## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

...you might find something that you'd like
in this collection. 

Catalog - 3,000+ Pieces of HO Scale Model Trains

Some beautiful models...but dream on...

Don


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## Jscullans (Jul 8, 2019)

That’s an absolutely astonishing amount of collected locomotives for one person. They’re selling locos in lots that are of a size I’ll never own. Wow


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## Severn (May 13, 2016)

Why do people do this... I can think of a fairly regular post for o gauge over on some other forum that all went something like: 

"Help. I've inherited a *__* (large, huge, ginormous) collection of model train things from my dear *_* (brother, father, grandpa, uncle) and I don't know what to do with it. Is it worth anything? How can I sell it? It's enough to fill a ____ (shed, garage, basement, the 1st floor, the house, multiple shipping containers). Can someone come and write me a check and haul it all off?"


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## GNfan (Jun 3, 2016)

If this were N scale I might bid on something obscure, and if I happened to win it make it the focal point of my layout.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Severn said:


> Why do people do this... I can think of a fairly regular post for o gauge over on some other forum that all went something like:
> 
> "Help. I've inherited a * (large, huge, ginormous) collection of model train things from my dear  (brother, father, grandpa, uncle) and I don't know what to do with it. Is it worth anything? How can I sell it? It's enough to fill a _* (shed, garage, basement, the 1st floor, the house, multiple shipping containers). Can someone come and write me a check and haul it all off?"


Ummmm, because they don’t want the collection….? That’s just a guess, of course….


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## Severn (May 13, 2016)

Let me rephrase .. why do people collect so much stuff they can't possibly even use. And in some cases items are unopened, even in the original shipping containers. I find it astounding.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Collecting trains, or anything really, can be a hobby in itself to many….sometimes the collecting gets ahead of the actual hobby itself….I tend to collect more trains than I use, so I know how that can be…..

And those of us that happen to come across such collections are more than happy to grab them up….even if we don’t need more, because we’re addicted to collecting….plastic crack (unless you’re into brass)…..😁


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## Steve Rothstein (Jan 1, 2021)

Severn said:


> Let me rephrase .. why do people collect so much stuff they can't possibly even use. And in some cases items are unopened, even in the original shipping containers. I find it astounding.


I can understand that part of it. I have done similar things with airplanes. The basic thought process is that I see something I really think is neat, I have cash now, and I don't know when I will see this item again. I know I am not going to build/use it right now because I am in the middle of something else but I will do this one "next". Then as I am getting close to finishing my current project, something else comes up and I put it aside for a while. Then when i get back to it, I find a different project to work on or I find another "I want it" to work on. I either buy too many of the models I want someday to ever get them all done (happened to me and when I got out of flying RC I gave it all away) or I had plans but life interfered and I never got to do them (this is what happened to my father with his HO collection - bought things for years, then had a stroke and couldn't do anything with it).

Either way, people end up with a collection of things they never got to use and now want to get rid of. Some sell it, some give it all to friends or family, and some, unfortunately, keep it until a family member inherits it.


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## Severn (May 13, 2016)

To me collecting implies thinning toward an ever higher level, a more rarified set.


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Steve Rothstein said:


> Either way, people end up with a collection of things they never got to use and now want to get rid of. Some sell it, some give it all to friends or family, and some, unfortunately, keep it until a family member inherits it.


And, when that family member that inherited it doesn’t want it (which happens more often than not), they put it up for sale….


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Severn said:


> To me collecting implies thinning toward an ever higher level, a more rarified set.


Really? The word “collecting” implies adding more of what you have….at least, to me it does….


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## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

Old_Hobo said:


> And, when that family member that inherited it doesn’t want it (which happens more often than not), they put it up for sale….


After they come here asking what to do with all of it.

"I'm not a model train hobbyist, but I just inherited my Grandfather's (Uncle's, Father's, etc) model trains and have no idea what all of this stuff is or how to sell it. Anyone know what this is worth?"

Maybe Traction Fan could write up a piece and post it in the New Member forum for all of the heirs to see.


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## Gramps (Feb 28, 2016)

Old_Hobo said:


> And, when that family member that inherited it doesn’t want it (which happens more often than not), they put it up for sale….


And then they have to deal with the cold hard reality that they will not get anything near what it was originally bought for.


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## Trackjockey05 (Jun 30, 2020)

I knew a guy years ago that had a sizable collection of Brass locomotives, mostly SP, UP, and Santa Fe prototypes, once bought he took them out to look at them, never ran them, then stacked them in their original boxes on a big floor to ceiling shelf that took up an entire wall in his den, must’ve had near $25k worth of models (this was late 80’s early 90’s) he had some beautiful models but never even displayed them


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

So what became of those?


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## Trackjockey05 (Jun 30, 2020)

Old_Hobo said:


> So what became of those?


No idea, I had a falling out with that person and we parted ways mid 90’s he still living and still a member of the club I used to be in, as far as I know he probably still has them in their boxes on that shelf, back then brass was considered an investment, but nowadays you almost can’t break even selling one


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## Stumpy (Mar 19, 2013)

I have a friend that "invested" in baseball cards many years ago. He has boxes and boxes of them, many packs unopened. Decisions...


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## Trackjockey05 (Jun 30, 2020)

Stumpy said:


> I have a friend that "invested" in baseball cards many years ago. He has boxes and boxes of them, many packs unopened. Decisions...


Yeah, one of my cousins collected baseball cards, went to shows and everything, paid big bucks for some, had unopened stuff too, he got in a jam and decided to sell them to make some much needed cash and found out the hard way his investment didn’t pay off, I collect things I like, I never buy anything with the intention of reselling for profit, just doesn’t work out very often


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## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

I think that’s the best way….collect what you like, use it (or not), but never collect for the sole purpose that you think you will make money, because more often than not, you won’t….


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## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

A lot of good stuff there. Too bad it is the wrong scale for me . . .


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## Gramps (Feb 28, 2016)

Not just baseball cards, or model trains, but Hummels, Cabbage Patch dolls, Smurfs and probably other so-called collectables that just never increased in value.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Gramps said:


> Not just baseball cards, or model trains, but Hummels, Cabbage Patch dolls, Smurfs and probably other so-called collectables that just never increased in value.


Very few so-called collectibles ever increase in value. For most, it's the having (or using) them that's valuable.

The issue is that when it comes time to get rid of them, no one wants to expend the effort to value everything and sell it, but everyone is afraid of letting go of a gem for a fraction of it's value. In my book, you either want it or you don't, and if you don't the sooner you are rid of it, the better.


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