I fail to see the desire to get the most possible dollars out of the trains after we're gone. It's not as if we'll be able to spend those dollars any more than we can take the trains with us.
If we want to maximize the sale returns, sell them now while we can manage each sale. We know more than anyone else what we think it's worth (of course, the market knows what it is ACTUALLY worth, so we should be prepared for disappointment if we inflate their value). We could spend our retirement making a career of offering the trains for top dollar, and revel in being able to guarantee the highest inheritance for whoever gets the money.
Who choses to go this route, I don't envy that retirement.
Better yet, we should enjoy the trains and not worry about what they bring in afterward. If Charlie Siegel gives our survivors ONE penny on the dollar, it's still one penny more than they had before.
Who says our deaths are supposed to enrich those left behind with treasure that rusts and moths destroy? We can give those people ourselves NOW--even if that means playing trains with them--and they (and WE) will be happier about the whole thing. If the money is all they want, well . . . they need to be disappointed.
