The Land of Happy Layouts

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I’m 71, and my health isn’t the best it could be. It takes exactly no brains at all, to realize I have a lot more days behind me than before me. Every time I look at my layout and the tons of stuff (!!!) I’ve acquired over the decades, I wonder what’ll happen to it when I’m gone. Although I know some people who bristle at the subject, I strongly believe end-of-life subjects, and the decisions that may be involved, are not wisely ignored.

I have averse feelings about denying my surviving family the prerogative of dividing up my possessions either when I’m gone, or if I have to eventually relocate to quarters far smaller than I now own, especially if I’m no longer competent to have a say in such decisions. The fact that 100% of them live hundreds of miles away, and that none of them have expressed real interest in model railroading suggests to me a general lack of interest, except that there may be some financial legacy related to divestment of my collection. We have no children of our own. The fact that I was away from my family for the many years I was in the Navy worked against my being a regular or frequent participant or motivator in the growth and development of my peers or younger family members. Many got train sets as gifts when younger, but Uncle Gene wasn’t often there to exemplify how much playing with them and imagining their expansion could mean.

The modeling community is familiar with stories about how difficult and financially unrewarding it can be, to dispose of a collection, not to mention the difficulties involved in disassembling and salvaging layout parts for reuse elsewhere. Now and then we hear stories of a layout, perhaps well known in the hobby, ending up with a happy forever home in a museum. I love those stories, because I understand that the best way to ensure the future continuance and growth of the hobby is dependent on its accessibility and visibility. My love of the community

1 Like
2

Gene,

This has been discussed on here (and likely every forum in this hobby) many times before.

Personally, I have never seen model trains, or any of my worldly possessions other than real estate, as investments.

I buy model trains with what I call “restaurant money”, money you know you will not get back the minute you spend it.

I have, partly by plan and partly by accident, created a life style that has never spent any great amont of money on fancy or frequent travel or vacations, overly expensive cars, boats, or other expensive toys - except model trains.

I do have a grandson who will likely enjoy the trains, and a granddaughter who will enjoy the vinyl record collection.

But if things change and that does not work out - so what? I won’t be here.

I have never lived my life trying to control outcomes related to the choices or behaviors of others. I have no such expectations after I am gone.

But I have no plans to stop living, give up my toys, or try to plan past the simple assignment of things in my will.

Others will feel differently.

I have friends who made choices to take down layouts, move into retirement communities, give away or sell their stuff. I’m sure they made the right choice for them.

I’m about to be 67 and starting a new layout, a big layout. Hopefully I can enjoy the hobby to its fullest for the next 10, or how many ever years. Not really in my control.

I am blessed to be in pretty good health, so we will see. I’m still working, self employed, starting to wind that down. Not sure when or if I might stop completely. But last week I worked two days and spent three days on home projects and layout construction.

People always leave something for others to take care of or dispose of. It is part of life. After everything I have done for them, the least my children can do is fill the dumpster or have a yard sale if it comes to that.

Others will feel differently.

1 Like
3

I feel bad for you, mainly because you seem to be so conflicted. You will likely get many replies, mostly thoughtful and respectful, but no one can really tell you the best thing to do. My advice would be to prioritize all of the options that you discussed in your post. Then do what you consider best.

Rich

4

Gene, what a thoughtfully considered and beautifully written essay. I loved it. It did make me sad, but only because you’re singing my song. I think very often about the piles of stuff I own, even though we give things away by the car load. It keeps coming up, out of our closets and drawers, like bolders in a farmer’s field.

Like Sheldon, I don’t think of my model railroad stuff as investments, not monetary ones anyway. As I get older, I might leave a list of items that are worth a coin or two in case my family wants to recoup something, but I know my wife – she’ll give the stuff away on our local Buy Nothing group to some eager kid – and mainly I’ve amassed my collection at swap meets and on eBay for ridiculous deals.

Really I saw your musings as reflections about letting go, which is possibly the most significant emotional journey any of us will ever embark on. For me, this has been brought into stark relief lately by the necessity of moving my mother out of her house an hour away to an apartment close to us. It was terribly difficult for her to part with furniture and books and knick-knacks she’d owned and treasured, and none of her family wants to own these things. They’ve become burdens to my wife and me as we try to find homes for things. The whole exhausting process has made me realize that I don’t want to leave all this behind me for my own family to dispense with.

But selling stuff is a pain. Takes time, and time is the ONE thing I cannot get more of (and a certain kind of young person’s muscle, I guess). So I’ve begun giving things away, and I’ve found it a sad, painful, rewarding and even joyous process. The vinyl record collection I carried from house to house for 45 years went to a little record shop nearby; the guys were overjoyed to receive it. I’ve been thinning my library of nice hardback first editions, when a nephew or niece or a friend expresses interest in a book I own – "here, allow me to make you a gift of th

5

Hi Gene.

I think we all have thoughts about what happens to our prized possessions once we have moved on. I am on the same page as Sheldon on this one, it is just stuff. If the retail value of my train stuff is $30,000.00 what can be the expected return on the aftermarket upon my demise?

Both my kids are highly paid professionals and it would be a waste of their time trying to sell this stuff. I have told them to get hold of one of the established clubs in the region and let them have it all. They can keep what they want and sell the rest at train shows to raise money for the club. A well-established club will have people in it who know the value of what they have.

I have been an Executor more times than I wished I had said yes to. Early on it was clear to me that other people’s stuff can mean very little to others. I have sold houses of the deceased with the entire contents included because no one wanted the stuff inside and the most economical way to dispose of the contents was to include them in the house sale.

I am 67 and at some point in my life, I learned that the value of material possessions is limited. It is not anything I spend time thinking about at this point in my life.

6

Gene-

I am most concerned about my heir (wife) having to deal with my models after I depart, if that should happen in that order. We have no close family and it will be all in her hands.

I sense the monetary struggle that some go through, thinking it is worth x dollars and actually not easy to get that, or even realistic. Heirs may feel a responsibility to monetize or otherwise dismantle the layout in a certain way.

After witnessing others struggling with expectations, I decided to keep my stuff to a minimum by selling off a majority of stuff (just went through this a couple months ago) while I am able. At age 66 i feel there are still many good years ahead of me (I still work full time), but don’t want there to be a burden for her. To me, the best approach is to not leave a basement full of stuff for her to deal with.

I listed my things on ebay with a .99 price. Everything in good running order. Unbelievably, some of the freight cars were not bid on in the first round. Everything finally sold but some did only bring .99 plus shipping. On the up side, some things brought more than I expected so it kind of balanced out. Any further sales, I will be picking a higher starting price and doing free shipping. I am not out to make a bunch of money but want to be a good steward at the same time.

I feel good about thinning out my posessions, but admit some things are a bit hard to let go of.

7

To me my Trains is a Investment they keep me going they keep me alive and they make me happy if it were not for my Trains I will be lost.

8

That is a different kind of investment. And that is what my trains are to me, an investment other types of people make going on expensive vacations, etc.

Sheldon

9

I agree, they are an investment in my well-being. My guitars and music are top of the list but trains are a very close second. My daughter says she will absolutely keep my guitars when I croak, even though she doesn’t play guitar. She plays clarinet, cello, and piano and I bet she will learn to play guitar at some point.

The trains? To a club or first come first serve if they don’t all go in one fell swoop bulk sale.

10

I have no illusions about the value of my layout. To me, it’s very important and worth a lot.

To everyone after I die, outside of a few locomotives that one could probably get cents on the dollar by selling, the rest of the entire layout will be worth a trip to the landfill.

When my father died, I had to go through the family belongings to prepare for the sale of the house. My biggest take away was that there were a lot of things that were important enough to my father for him to keep for many years, yet to me and the rest of the family, those things meant nothing. Most of it ended up in the landfill.

11

Haven’t read all the above, but have a similar situation.

I got forced to downsize when a son moved home. His son now occupies the space.

After years of having only enough time to buy and not get to buioding, I had much to much stuff.

Suddenly 80 is sneaking rapidly on me and no place to run trains and a lot of stuff to get rid of. A few years ago, before COVID,I started going to shows as a seller, not a buyer. Early shows I sold a good amount, mostly rolling stock and locos. This year I selected more buildings and did OK. Plenty of scenery stuff still available to add. Car size limits how much I can take.

I have a designated area for a new layout so am not “selling out”, just selling down. There are two clubs within reasonable distance that have returned to having shows, a third club, hopefully, will get back to it soon.

What is left when I no longer can play trains, I am suggesting to be divided up and donated to those clubs, if there is no family in0terest.

I wasted all of COVID time and now am struggling to get a shelf started for a layout. Will I ever get it started?

If there is a local brick and morter hobby shop, they might sell for you. There is also ebay, if you or a family member or other willing person that is good with computers. (I’m not.)

Good luck,

Richard

12

I think every model railroader should be required to spend two years building and flying RC planes before spending a penny on model railroad equipment.

The first time you see your “investment” nose-dive into the ground should set your hobby expectations properly.

13

I managed the train department in a hobby shop where the owner was a very accomplished R/C modeler and flyer. He is still a life long friend. I know more than a little about R/C planes and did gas powered R/C cars before battery R/C cars came out.

But I don’t get you point or what it has to do with this topic?

I think every person with a drivers license should have drive a car with a stick shift and no power steering or brakes before we let them loose on the highway. And an hour behind the wheel of a 28’ box truck would be useful too.

But again, what does crashing a model airplane have to do with this?

Investment? None of these hobbies are for people without the necessary means.

Sheldon

14

I flew line control planes for years as a kid and used to enter combat competitions where your opponent would try and chew the ribbon off that your plane was towing behind. I had the tail of my plane chewed off a couple of times. I had started building R/C planes at 15 and as soon as I had my driver’s license I was off to the airfield with them. I flew for years and never lost one in a crash. If I had I would have put it down to the cost of doing business. I used to spend more on gas driving to and from the R/C airfield than I do on trains.

Our crawl space is lit and has a concrete floor and for years I had all my planes lined up down there as if they were sitting on the ramp at an airport. In 2017 the city storm sewer backed up and that was the end of them. I got a settlement for them and all the other stuff down there, but as they say “all good things”.

I agree with Sheldon, hobbies and other extras in life come after the important things in life are covered. Trains and model airplanes are just stuff.

15

As a pastor as well as helping with dealing with a couple of estates with our club this is a tough subject to deal with. Every family and individual and situation is different. I know one fellow that as a teenager would have loved his uncles Lionel collection. Unfortunately when he died suddenly his widow sold it for not much. He has spent some years recreating what his uncle had. On the other hand we have dealt with a couple of collections at the club (one was hoarding) that none of the family (no direct family in either case) had any interest in. We did not get a whole lot for them but what the members bought means something to them. Sadly I have also seen some families fight over stuff (or more often money.) In some ways I think what you are doing in preserving your layout by donation might be the best thing. I am aware of a well known modeler that had no family that cared and his friends handled the collection. His layout was thankfully preserved. I have a couple of small things that those friends sent to me and they mean a lot. Perhaps you might save some handcrafted things for the family if there might be some interest. They may not be model railroaders but “my Uncle built this” can sometimes mean a lot. I know another family that was like that.

Selling stuff honestly from what our club has seen is generally a pain for the family. Unless there is someone in the family that is interested it is often a burden. (That goes for any collection not just trains.) Unless you sell on ebay any collection will fetch just a fraction of its price (unless it is brass or sometimes certain Lionel)

I hope perhaps this helps

Jim

16

Neighbor’s husband passed on a couple years ago. She is planning to move and desired to clean out his stuff from the basement. Wondered what to do with it. She contemplated hiring one of those “call 800-junk” outfits for everything that was bolted down, and Goodwill for the loose items. I volunteered to gather up the loose items and some of the bolted down items. Bolted down items included some code 83 track, turnouts (not ballasted), and some electronic gizmos that I couldn’t completely identify.

Took that stuff to a train show where I had a couple tables. After deducting an amount for the table and tax I had to charge, I gave her over $2000. Took some more to a local RPM meet and gave her $400 more. I wasn’t trying to make a killing and items were priced to move.

Enough funds for her to get some painting done and other minor repairs. And a lot more than she would have received giving it away or trashing it.

17

I believe that the point he was trying to make was that one can spend X dollars on a model train and have it for an infinite amount of time, or a model plane that costs the same amount of dollars and crashes/burns the first time it is flown.

Not an “investment” in financial terms, but possibly a better use of one’s hobby money.

18

I am expecting to downsize and retire in about 5 years give or take, so I am trying to take a look at my collection and work bit by bit on being realistic on what I will actually use. So I’ve been reviewing my collection and working on selling off items. I also have purchased some N scale train since downsizing probably means a smaller layout.

19

My layout still has primarily Milwaukee Road equipment, with the bulk of the locomotives a lot of the rolling stock equipped for that road. I live in Delaware, but I hope someone might want it. I doubt that my daughter in Maine will.

I hope I can give the whole set to a local club here. The trains are in good shape and the structures would fit well in most Transition Era layouts. They’re illuminated, many have interiors and would be attractive as a display. I’m 77 now, not planning on hitting the RIP track anytime soon, but you never know.

20

My downsizing for retirement (semi retirement so for) decressed my house size by 40%, increased my yard by 130%, and increased my layout space by 150%.

Retirement is looking great.

I don’t have to thin out the trains, I NEVER bought stuff that did not fit the theme and planned size of the layout.

Sheldon