To answer the original question: Oh. God. Yes. It does make me feel a bit better to see that some are worse off than I. But not much better. Problem is, I am not an impulse buyer, and if I liked it then, I still like it now. There are a few exceptions, a very few. I was selling some things at train shows (but I live in a thin market area), all at a loss. I don't care - I never bought any hobby item with resale in mind. Not a business.
I'd sell 2 or 3 (or more) substantial items, come home to put the unsold away, and I could not tell the difference. Still TMS (Too Much Stuff).
My stuff, or the amount of it, rather, makes me unhappy. And I had to pay to feel this way. Those are profound and sad statements.
Then there is the constant maintenance, de-bugging and repair (mostly small) if you try to run much of it. Some things have sat for 20 years. More. Most are fine. Most. I have learned that TMCC is very stable.
Suggestion: buy 12 nice locos, 60 nice freight cars and two nice passenger car sets. Build a modest - not small, not big - layout that can handle half of them with no crowding and some open areas. Build a few shelves for the other half. Rotate some pieces between them with scheduled regularity. Then stop buying and enjoy your stuff. Actually attend to the layout. That doesn't help the manufacturers or the train show business much, but I wish that I had had the discipline.
