My HO railroad has been set around WWI for many years, and I remain comfortable with that. I do, however, appreciate all sorts of trains. Back in the 1980’s I received a promotion that resulted in quite a raise but which I knew would also mean much less hobby time for a while. I “celebrated” by going out and buying a set of D&H Alco PA’s. The D&H had such a diverse roster and that blue & silver paint scheme looked great. I kept adding some D&H diesels, and I found that adding some details and weathering was a nice change-of-pace for me and also provided a short-term sense of accomplishment while bigger projects had to wait. These diesels went into a display case.
Now retired, I recognized that these things would have to be disposed of someday by myself or by someone else. I sold the entire collection of D&H diesels in one transaction and felt that I was given a fair price. They were all plastic shell, but there were a number of Atlas and other quality pieces in there and a number had been custom painted. The purchaser even paid for the shipping. The proceeds went into the fund for a trip to the Great Scale Model Train show.
But there are still times when I see a nice D&H model - especially of one of their 6-axle Alco’s - that I think “that would look great with my… oh, yeah…” Overall it was a proper decision to sell, but I did get joy out of looking at that display case of Sharks & PAs & RS3’s and SD45s and…
Gee, that pic looks like I took it 5 years ago. I accumulated “stuff” for many years for that huge layout empire to be. But when I retired I realized the 9x15 layout room was it - the last layout space.
I literally bought 1 of each ATSF / IC loco that fit pre 1960. At least half were never run. So I began selling on Ebay, and got down to about half (50 or so) powered units.
And then I moved to DCC, and realized that some of the locos were (at that time) over my head to convert, and so I sold them as well.
Today I have all the locos the layout can support comfortably, and some in a display cabinet, but that is all.
Do I regret selling the others? No, not for a minute. I now enjoy my locos, instead of looking at a hobby shops equivilent of boxed inventory.
Oh, all the proceeds went back into the layout - esp. DCC stuff.
When I changed from European N to US HO, I bought virtually anything with Santa Fe on the side. Why, I don’t know, as my European stuff was all based on anything that ran in the 1970’s. However, after a while, I sold everything off that wasn’t 1960’s, gradually reducing it further to a more specific date.
Yes, I lost some money, initially, though some no longer available items, I did get quite a fair amount. However, I no longer need to keep buying, just getting the odd new model as it comes out.
I have kept all of mine. If I want to run 1950s, have it. Want to run 1970s have it. I have about everything where I can run from the late 40`s to present day. Just run what I am in the mood for.
I’ve learned my interests lie more in the modern-ish era, so I started getting rid of a lot of my out-of-era stuff. Mostly rolling stock, though, but I did sell one Bachmann Spectrum 4-8-4 Heavy to help finance a new Intermountain ES44AC with Tsunami sound. I was sad to box up the 4-8-4, but got over it about five minutes after the last piece of tape went over the box. I will probably hold on to my remaining out-of-era motive power, but the rolling stock is on its way out the door.
BTW, I’d be happy to take one of those Kato SD90’s off your hands [:D]
Well, for me, I guess you could call it dumb luck. When I returned to the hobby in 1993 I was after one or two road names (and still am), and those railroads only lasted into the mid to late 70’s. That kept me from buying “inappropriate era” locomotives. As for rolling stock, I have a few pieces that, although have built dates in the 80’s, could concievably be in that late 60’s to late 70’s era that I model.
I buy and sell all the time. For like new locos in the boxes you will get very close to retail price. In many cases I have actually made a profit selling items that are now OPP (out of production).
Think of your unwanted locos as money in a savings account and now you want to spend it to buy something else. Sell them and spend the money on the items you now want.
The only items I’ve regretted selling were my old Lionel toy trains from my childhood. But now thanks to eBay I am buying them all back. I just found my very first train set from over 40 years ago in near mint condition. It looks like it came from the island of unwanted toys. Half of the track has never been opened. The transformer never wired up. Everything else like new. Never played with, possibly never touched.[:)]
Hey, good feeling having those childhood Lionels back. I did the same in the late '80s thru '90s. Only thing was, I bought during the height of the market. Now, they are worth perhaps 1/3 of that.
Well you could model “today” and include UP 3985, Milwaukee 261, or N&W 611, at least as occasional visitors on fantrips.
I had originally planned on my layout to rotate times from roughly 1940 to 2000, even wrote an article in RMC about it years back. I’m starting to lean now for having each of the four towns on my layout (only one of which is anywhere near complete) being set in a different era - kinda like some layouts I’ve seen where the scenery covers all four seasons. Sounds wacky, but I’ve been testing it out a bit and it seems like it might work.
I store my odd stuff like prr j1a m1b bi polars german steam etc in a roundhouse that set like a museum. This allows me to run anything I want that is modern.