A traggic thing has occured on the famous Ebay. Someone has a acution for a 12’ x 20’ multi level ho layout. The first pictures you view, says, yeah that would be a good layout to work with. Then the last pictures show that they broke it down and stacked it out in the yard. What a shame for the one who started what looked like a promising layout. Of course its an estate sale and the opening bid is 19.99. I guess sometimes you just don’t know what you have till it’s gone. If you want to view, just type in ho train layout on e-bay. Unbelievable…
Thinks like this happen all too frequently – a modeler passes away and the heirs have absolutely no interest or knowledge of model railroading so the stuff gets hauled to a landfill or is torn apart and sold in pieces.
I’ve picked up a couple of MR items that were listed as parts of an estate sale. It makes me feel good to clean up and upgrade old rolling stock and put it back on the rails. I guess it’s kind of a tribute to those railroaders who have gone before us to the big roundhouse in the sky. We’ll all get there one of these days, I guess. [angel]
Unless, of course, we end up down in that hot basement. [}:)]
For $19.95 it had a lot of potential…to bad it was dissassembled by a cave man.
http://cgi.ebay.com/HO-Train-Layout-12X-20-Multi-Level-open-grid-NO-RESERVE_W0QQitemZ250001878547QQihZ015QQcategoryZ19142QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem[url][/url]
Quite honestly, very, very few permanent layouts have any value (monetary or otherwise) beyond that to the original owner/builder. Very few large layouts can be moved out of their present locations successfully. Fewer still can be made to fit into a new location without considerable modication. Small, fully portable, “display” layouts, however, do somewhat better.
Face it, guys, your layout is 99.9% likely to exist only for the duration of your interest, or at best your lifetime…they have no future beyond that.
CNJ831
with no info on the type of track and turnouts you’re basically buying a load of used track with wood attached . and who knows what condition the track is in after being stacked like junk . for $19.95 it’s probably not a bad deal if you can pick it up yourself
That looks like it WAS a nice layout at one time. Too bad it was torn apart by some TROLL.
Even though it’s a few miles from me, it might not be worth the gas to haul it away. It looks like it’s being stored outside and it has been raining for a couple of days now. The wood probably wet and warping. The only thing salvageable seems to be the turnouts and track, if they’re not already damaged.
This reminds me of reading about the V&O - how when Allen McClelland moved, one condition in the purchase of the home was that his model railroad had to be moved out.
That’s like someone buying Paul McCartney’s house who is not into music in any way saying, “we’ll take the house, but please remove all those junky guitars…”
My wife and I will be moving in the near future (house is for sale as I type). We’ll be moving to our favorite place to live, but aren’t sure whether the next property will be the “long term” house, or one more step towards it.
If we do make it to the “long term” house, you bet some layout planning will be underway.
If it’s a “step to the long term house”, you bet some modular layout planning will be underway! i.e. one or two modules!
You can always build a modular layout in your long-term house and start build moduals in the almost long term house!
Anyways, thats a shame. I really liked some of the grass details(Grass inbetween ties, ect), but the fact that it’s being stored in the yard is sad. If I ever sold a permanent layout, I would sell it and then HELP the buyer dis-assemble it where he wanted it cut. I don’t know.
Great find though! You really can buy “IT” on ebay!
Well I just asked if the seller would ship, my guess is he will not. Unless the owner made the track to be taken apart, most people would not have done any better than the seller.
I would say that 85% of my set is from estates sells, no wonder I find trains so hauting. It does give me joy to get the old stuff running again, many former owners must have had great skill with this hobby. I am sure they are watching there beloved engines and freight cars making the rounds again from either up or down.
What bugs me is the people that buy them for pennys on the dollar. Heck I just bought like 4 Athearn U-boats and 12 rolling stock for $40.00 with shipping. Guess more the fault of the former owner that the buyer or realtive that sold the stuff.
On my death, I have left a list of the stuff I have so wife or daughter knows what the stuff is worth, not what I told them I paid for it. Not the same thing. Hate to have the wife sell a $1,200.00 Amp for $50.00 at a yard sell. I am a Audiophile as well.
Cuda Ken
Thanks guys for the support, It just seems as hard as you work a dream in your mind and visualize it as it starts to form, you think that maybe you can be remembered by what you have left behind instead of stacked outside for someone to pick up and haul away. Well, we will continue to move forward on our dreams and hopefully someone can appreciate them. The shift has changed and we have one inbound.
I few moves ago I built my dream basement with a house on top. The basement was 30’ x 50’ and I had constructed a modular (dominoes) layout which ran the perimiter of the basement with a second deck planned. The sections were 18" x 72". No scenery but lots of Shinohara/Walthers code 83 track and a four track 50’ staging yard along one side. Although I was not ever planning to move, the sections were constructed to be unbolted and moved. There were very sturdy and made from quality 3/4 plywood cut into 1x4 lumber. The layout was wired for DCC and I put loups in the 12 ga buss wire so it could be cut and reassembled in a new location. I was not going to leave this layout behind! There was no scenery, but I had hosted several operating sessions.
What do you do when you move from a home to a small apartment? I had to leave the layout behind. (I did take the DCC and the roling stock.) I thought this would be a great assett to someone buying the home as the layout could be easily utilized for any era.
I was later informed that the wife of the family who bought the home refused to move in until the layout was gone. The new owners called the local hobby shop and asked them to come and get the entire layout. The local hobby shop sold the layout to a modeler who reassembeled most of the modules in his basement. The owner of the hobby shop said that I had a nice layout and he and his son disassembled the entire layout in two hours, with no damage to any of the sections. I did not ask what he sold it for, and I guess that it doesn’t matter.
After five years in an apartment, I am back in a dream basement and going to try it all over again. My point is that even it you can move a layout…you might not be able to move it!
Jim
I heard another modeler say that some time back. He said the basement contained the layout and the house kept the rain out.
This thread reminds me of one I posted awhile back.
It will be interesting to see if it gets sold. Storing it outdoors is not good, unless he has some good tarp material covering it for protection. And it seems that he might have had a better time selling it in one piece and then letting the buyer break it down, but timing might have been an issue too.
Selling off a model railroad collection and layout on eBay is NOT a trivial task. Although it does maximize the money from the sale, unless the heirs have a very good idea of what each item is, have pictures ready to go, (hint, hint to us while we are alive) and each item’s approximate value, there is no way they have the time to properly sell the collection amidst the grief and other work of settling an estate. Furthermore, unless the heirs are model railroaders themselves, all the extra work in getting rid of the model railroad (dismantling, selling, hauling disposing) will not help their otherwise fond feelings for you. When one considers the situation of the heirs, it really is a wonder more model railroads (and a positive testimony to those who built them) don’t end up in a dumpster amid a chorus of curses of the builder.
If you truly love your successors, prepare your stuff for your demise while you are alive. As other posters have said, very few layouts get re-used to any real extent - a layout is too individualized. There are few greater gifts to your survivors than a well thought-out, documented plan of how to handle your death.
yours in living life
Fred W
It sold for $20.49 on July 2nd. Probably more than that worth of track and misc stuff, and a good deal if it is all still in good shape.
Anyone know the guy that bought it? I very curious what he came away with?