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Yesterday I went downstairs and immediately felt horrified by the massive amount of trains stacked up all over. I guess my big problem is I can't pass up a good deal!

I can't be the only person who has experienced this emotion at times.

It does have me thinking I need to downsize soon. Too many things I never run.

Anybody else ever feel overwhelmed by their collection? Did you sell some things? Just power through it? Buy more?

No right or wrong answers just curious. We can consider this group therapy!

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I've been working on just this situation. I began at the beginning of the stay at home time in 2020 and seriously assessed all the items on my layout and on my display shelves. Strangely, I felt a greater sense of clarity in deciding what meant something to me and what I could really live without. I gathered and boxed a huge assortment of no-longer wanted items and rented table space at one of the last club train meets held in 2020. I had never done that before.

I sold everything at fair and generous discount pricing. I wasn't there to make a profit. It was a really positive and fun experience. People happy with their purchases, and me reducing a monumental pile of train stuff. The accumulation had become so onerous and oppressive and detracted from the light hearted-ness of train running, (for me at least).

This past week I finished the last sale of the remainder of unwanted items at the first club meet that has been held in this unusual year.  So...that was how I dealt with a overwhelming collection that in reality most of it I didn't want when I was honest with myself.

The resulting freedom from possessions and keeping the stuff that has meaning to you is a feeling I highly recommend!

John

I do you a degree , but I’ve been enjoying model trains since I was six . But I’ve got all of the collection my late dad and I have since . Some were his from when he was a kid in the 50’s .

But I to as mentioned already can’t pass up a good deal , but that’s on about everything .

I also collect diecast cars , tin toys , toys from about every era up to the early 80’s and vintage video games , if those words aren’t allowed on here 😉

But I do plan on a more permanent layout with storage underneath to help elevate some of the clutter .

I have too many trains.  I have sold a lot of trains over the years.  Unfortunately, I keep buying new trains so the total collection numbers seem to continue to grow.  Every new catalog is a temptation.  Obviously, I enjoy buying more than selling especially since most sales are at a loss.  

My wife accuses me of being a train addict.  I suppose that there are many worse addictions.  The problem is at some point a collection begins to own you instead of you owning the collection.  I will say, however, many of my friends have much larger train collections than I do.  NH Joe

Last edited by New Haven Joe

I am lucky in that when I first set up my now permanent layout I had waited to start construction until I had lots of financial freedom.

At the beginning I had yet to hone in on things I like. Now I only run "Hi-Rail Scale" equipment and concentrate on Steam/Diesel transition New York Central. Although I do have a fondness for some C&O and my collection reflects that.

I've sold non-scale items, a scale set of Rio Grande Alco PA's etc to swap them out for things I'm more interested in.

I have a modest layout, one that was kindly designed by a fellow forum member years ago. With only 3 contiguous loops and only two being main-lines I often feel overwhelmed by my choices but considering my slow and deliberate purchases I chalk that up to me needing more main-line track!

Sometimes I get overwhelmed at the prospect of running them. Having paid so much for many of these models, many with delicate pieces, temperamental smoke units etc at times I find myself looking for issues or getting caught up worrying too much about certain things to enjoy running them. Sometimes if I'm switching in the yard with a train parked and powered I can't shake the idea that I'm burning the parked trains smoke unit. It's not terribly often, but enough that it stops me from enjoying my trains to their fullest.

Not so much by the trains themselves, although maintenance and diagnosing of gremlins can be daunting at times, but the layout itself, such as the amount of projects going on at any one time, can be overwhelming. I try to follow Bob Bartizek's sage advice of putting in an hour per night...yet as I get older it seems I can accomplish even less in that hour then I could just five years ago, so frustration builds to an extent...but age is for another discussion.

I'm feeling a little underwhelmed by the size of my basement.  I think that's what is making my trains seem overwhelming.  When I finally find the right house, I'll be in business.

I know what you mean though.  I've gone overboard in a lot of other hobbies.  But now I've shed myself of most everything but trains.

If you haven't done so already, the first thing I'd do is get seriously organized.  Make a spreadsheet of your inventory and build some good shelving so you can literally SEE it all in one spot.  If your stuff is scattered all over or piled up in heaps, it can seem overwhelming.

Organize it.  Then if you still have space, make expansion shelves and limit yourself to that space.  Tell yourself after that, if you buy something, you sell something.  A man's got to know his limitations!

Happens every few years.  The result is that I sell off some specific portion of it.  One year, I sold off all the ACW 2-rail.  Another, I sold off all the Large Scale.  Some years ago, I sold off a modest Standard Gauge collection (and fell right back into it just last year).

I'm almost due for another sell off, but no portion has irritated me enough yet . . . .

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