A while back I saw a man’s name at a site that had lots of covered hoppers. I knew the man from church, but I didn’t know he was a model railroader.
The next time I saw him, I asked him about his layout. He said he doesn’t have a layout or want one.
He works for a large grain company, and he collects HO and N hoppers and covered hoppers with names of various grain elevators on them. He displays them in his office.
That got me wondering if there are many like him who collect trains, but don’t have a layout.
I know there are many collectors on the Classic Toy Trains forum, but is it more common than I think on the Model Railroader forum? Do any of you buy cars just to display and not to run on a layout?
I have no desire to build a layout but have thought about getting random cars/locomotives of my favorite railroads to display. I know that I’ll never get around to it, though.
I have acquired a few things that are not the scale I model, or don’t work, or I have kept from childhood. Some are on the shelf by the bar or stored away. I always think about getting a proper display case for them. I think buying train stuff just to collect is a cool pastime and could see myself getting into it.
An old neighbour collected beer cans from around the world and the entire downstairs of his house was shelves with thousands of empty but sealed beer cans. I think trains have a leg up on (empty, LOL) beer cans, at least in my book.
I have a few random locomotives that I like, a DMIR SD9 and Soo GP40. No room or desire for a layout right now but may build a suspended loop or something similar in my future house
Me and my older brother collect HO and N-Scale locomotives and railcars. I’m the one with the layout (or at least I did have a layout before I moved to Illinois), and he’s the one with the massive collection in his garage, it’s all Union Pacific Steam power, some GE power here and there (all in UP paint), but a lot of EMDs (majority in UP Paint some in SP, C&NW, and D&RGW Paint but they are patched units). All of the units in my collection are mostly Athearn units, with some blue box units in there, some ALCo Power with a lot of GEs and EMDs, but my favorite unit is probably the UP 4-6-6-4 Challenger #3985
I’m not sure there is a clear-cut definition of “collecting”.
I make a point of keeping an inventory of locomotives that are functional, but most don’t get a lot of running time on my layout. I just like having them and seeing them run from time to time. Many don’t fit my layout - they can all run, but some don’t fit with the industries I have. Some are large locos that can technically run on my 22" curves, but they look “funny”. For these, it’s closer to collecting than running for fun or operations.
My father would fit that bill. He collected trains not for display but to run on the layout he was going to build. He bought all kinds of stuff cars, locomotives, buildings. In every scale from Z up to G. He never got around to building a layout. he bought model trains up until a couple of weeks before he passed away (he was 92). He had over 300 xerox boxes full of model trains and model train related items. I have been going through the boxes. I have made it through about 10. We are selling a lot of stuff but I’m keeping a some too. I have inherited about 65 locomotives and 125 assorted cars. It is exciting with each new box I open because I never know what I will discover.
Al
It’s not taking any power from the track, I use Atlas track, and I’ve checked all the connections and cleaned the unit out (I used isopropyl alcohol so I don’t damage anything), and it still doesn’t work. I might throw the shell onto another one of my SD70ACes and use the shell from that one and turn it into a dummy unit.
Im sure its ok just something isnt conducting if other units work there. The sprung truck units are a little finicky if the tabs are touching the side contact strips. Also the front of decoder or stock board needs that white piece under board to"push"up on board.
Some people just enjoy the buying and selling. Sometimes, it’s to see how much they could make on a piece. Sometimes for the social interaction, or to see interesting items at a show.
I don’t collect for display, all of my purchases are for my layout. I do have the trains from my childhood, but they are packed away, and I haven’t looked at them in years.
A previous job was in a company that sold services to the trucking industry, and several people had scale truck models in their offices. They represented the fleets that the company had interactions with. But they had no interest in trucking beyond that, and did not have any trucking company memorabilia at home.
There are probably a lot of people similar to the examples you and I gave, but in my opinion the question you asked represents a different behavior entirely. An example that comes to mind of that behavior is photographers who collect old photographic equipment.