IMO, this is an excellent topic, and I have a funny, but true, story to share.
I had two 1st cousins, one about 10 years older, and one a few years older, than me, who had more and nicer Lionel trains on bigger layouts, than I had. However, I had no childhood friends with trains, except I almost had one.
Almost had one? How could that be?
Carl Sherman and I were about 9 or 10 years old. We were becoming friends. One day, he came to my house with a Lionel diesel. I had 2 Lionel steamers, a 2065 and 2055 Hudson.
Carl wanted to trade his diesel for my 2055 Hudson. I thought that was a good idea and told him so.
Now, here's the funny part. My mother overheard this trade talk, nixed the deal, kicked Carl out of the house, and chastised me for attempting to trade one of my trains!
She told me: "don't ever try to sell or trade any of your Lionel trains again; your trains are nicer than Carl's trains; and your trains will go up in value over the years."
So, I collected and operated Lionel trains (and a few other kinds of O Gauge trains), off and on, for the next 59 years and never sold or traded any of them until about a year ago when a local train buddy, not a Forumite, convinced me to trade a few of my trains for a few of his.
By the way, once I became a teenager, I never sold or traded any of my trains until recently, not because my mother told me so, but because I loved them all.
Obviously, my late beloved mother, a sweet. sensitive Victorian lady, loved them too. Arnold
