I recently read an article about a train collection owned by a gentleman named Dennis Chandler who had amassed the largest Lionel collection perhaps in the world. To make a long story short it was purchased by a museum in Painesville, Ohio. They will build a museum to handle and display it. They apparently purchased it for about one fifth the estimated value. I suspect that was because he wanted the collection to remain together. I also remember reading about someone several years ago that wanted to donate his collection to a train museum if they would promise to keep it together. They declined.
My point here. Enjoy your trains. If I could take them with me I would. However my instructions to the family are to put me in the nearest dumpster when I die because at that point I don't care.
I collect. I don't have time to build a layout, maybe later. I have, in my mind, built a very nice collection of Weaver, Williams and MTH. Compared to the amount of product out there it is not important and with enough money and a little effort I could duplicate it within a few months. At least one of my sons will want the trains and that is fine with me. There is other stuff for the other kids. Anyone want a collection of three to four hundred electric shavers? Or, maybe you are curious just how many little hand held TV's were produced before they were made obsolete by cell phones. Trust me, a lot!
If the end goal is the wind up with the most money and ones time spent is not important then ebay is the only real answer. The largest number of possible buyers will see the product and determine just how special your years of fun is worth.
