Sold a few trains today (various scales)

Wow, Allan...that's one heck of a train-selling day!  Congrats!!

The less you have to carry out the door for the move! 

Chris Lonero posted:

The less you have to carry out the door for the move! 

True, Chris! Have sold the condo and I am getting ready to buy a house (kind of the reverse of what folks my age do). Need a decent-size place for an O and On30 layout indoors and a garden railroad outside. Have a couple of good prospects in mind. Nothing fancy, but adequate. Just have to see if the "plan" all comes together.

Way  to go Allan. I  sold a few items as well over the past few months. Not because of any plans to move but just to make space.

In any case I hope all goes well for you guys finding the right house.  Oh yea, is it going to be the Alaska railroad?

ALLEN,

  Nice going on the train sale, less to move!  Hope you find a real nice place to set up your layouts!   We were lucky and finally found a new home, made sure I got my Train Room in the new house.  Even has it's own Fire Place and Wet Bar, a man can't get any more lucky than that!  Hope you find something equally as nice.

PCRR/Dave

I know most the boxes....are the light blue boxes large scale stuff???

I got a big box of stuff I need to place on the sell forum myself!!

Best of  luck!!

gg1man posted:

In any case I hope all goes well for you guys finding the right house.  Oh yea, is it going to be the Alaska railroad?

I'm keeping some of my Alaska stuff, but have thinned the collection a good bit. The new layout will likely have a combination of U.S. Army Transportation Corps (a military depot theme) and Ohio Central. Will also provide a place for my ever-growing collection of demonstrator locomotives to run. The Large Scale garden railroad outdoors will be predominately White Pass & Yukon.

Neither of the layouts will be terribly large. I want to enjoy working on something that I can handle comfortably in the years I have left. My favorite part of layout building is scenery, both indoors and in the garden.

Once I get a place bought (should be making a final decision this weekend) and get moved, attention will first go to getting the O gauge up and running, with work on the garden pike probably not starting until next year.

Pine Creek Railroad posted:

ALLEN,

  Nice going on the train sale, less to move!  Hope you find a real nice place to set up your layouts!   We were lucky and finally found a new home, made sure I got my Train Room in the new house.  Even has it's own Fire Place and Wet Bar, a man can't get any more lucky than that!  Hope you find something equally as nice.

PCRR/Dave

You got yourself a winner there, Dave! Looks like it's already benchwork-ready. Very nice!

I most likely will have a good bit of "room preparation" to take care of if I end up buying one of the two places I currently have in mind. Will be looking at two more prospects today (Saturday) and hope to make a decision this weekend. We are looking at older places that we can get at a good price. I got what I was asking for from the condo, and Wendy and I are looking for something that we can put some work into to make it what we want it to be. A train room was/is my priority and a kitchen was/is her priority (cooking is her passion and she graduates from culinary and restaurant management school in August). We're both looking forward to the adventure!

AMCDave posted:

I know most the boxes....are the light blue boxes large scale stuff???

I got a big box of stuff I need to place on the sell forum myself!!

Best of  luck!!

Dave: Those large light blue boxes are Marklin MAXI (#1 gauge). I had a fairly extensive collection. Really loved the stuff, but decided that I would probably never make good use of it in the future. The garden railroad I'm planning will be almost exclusively LGB (mostly While Pass & Yukon) because I have a ton of that stuff.

I have petty much thinned-down my O gauge inventory to what I want to keep, but may uncover more stuff to sell once I dig into some of the many boxes I have stored in a climate-controlled storage unit. Didn't have nearly enough space for all the trains while living in a condo, even though I really did enjoy living here.

Allan. I kind of miss my condo. Not so much for the lack of space but someone else shoveled the snow and cut the grass!    My landscaper "my son" joined the Navy. The trade off is my layout which would never had been possible in my condo. 

Tom Tee posted:

 

Allen, Take your time in searching for a new home.  We found that for similar pricing you can find homes with a wide variety of basement situations.

A 2000 sq ft two story house could have a 1000 sq ft basement, a 2000 sq ft ranch house could have a 2000 sq ft basement.  Some ranch houses still only have half a half basement with 1000 or less sq ft.  Many homes can have a wet basement.  Took us a long time to find this 2000 sq ft dry basement with a house on top.:

The only real downside is finding the time to build a good sized layout.

Wendy and I have looked at a good many homes in recent months, and virtually all have had good points and not-so-good points regarding potential layout space (basement or otherwise). Have a couple of prospects on the list now, and will be looking at two more possibilities this morning. I, of course, am looking for a train layout room--basement or other space--with a house "attached" somewhere, and Wendy is looking for a kitchen situation where she can gut the place, if necessary, to upgrade to what she wants. The surrounding neighborhood is also very important to both of us. I have to be out of my condo by July 2, so the search is in "urgent mode" at the present time. That said, I am not going to let myself be rushed into buying anything. Most of the trains are already in climate-controlled storage. We will have ample funds available for renovations, so a sound, dry structure is really our first priority. Frankly, I tend to prefer older construction since I have found the buildings to be better built in many cases. I'm going to use my VA loan availability for financing, and their home inspection process is quite strict.

Congrats allan!  I hope you find the perfect house.  I didn't see any lct boxes in that pile, do do you plan on having the prewar layout as well?

Hi Allan, Got to ask.  What is your secret for selling so much so quick?

Mothers Day week end showed at train show at Spencer in Old Southern Shops Back Shop.   Took 56 O-Gauge items and only sold 26.  All like new never run only out of boxes for photo.  Good! prices as example Atlas box cars $35.00 and MTH Premier box cars $30..00.  Every one that came by said good prices even on LGB.

Toward late afternoon second day a guy bought all eight Atlas cars and was happy with price,

But still like to know how you did it.

Ron ( former hometown boy)

Best of luck Allen and I will hope you share any new train build with us once you get settled in your new residence.

Larry

I would imagine this has been a BitterSweet Sale, sometimes we sell some things we will miss, however, in the End, it's best.  I know, Sooner Now, Than Later, I will be Doing the Same, Selling Most of the Collection, keeping a small Few things, for Memories sake.  As I get older, and the wife too, we will Down Size, Smaller Home, smaller operating train room. I am Ready to do that, within the next few years. When I do Accept the Fact, That it's The Right Time, I will take the proper steps to sell my collection as a Whole....However, that's in the Future....????

That being said, Allen, I sincerely wish you the Very Best with your Hunt for a New Home, a Future New Operating Model Railroad....We measure our Wealth, by Our Health...So, Good Luck, and Happy Railroading.....Great Thread...

Very well said Larry

Dennis Holler posted:

Congrats allan!  I hope you find the perfect house.  I didn't see any lct boxes in that pile, do do you plan on having the prewar layout as well?

There were eight LCT locomotives in that pile (under one of the tables). Sold a few of the larger engines (256 electrics and such), but am keeping the smaller stuff, of which there is quite a lot. The tinplate will see some running time and will certainly be displayed in cases because it adds charm and color to any room. Will have to see about having a separate all-tin layout--probably a fairly small one, because I do also have a whole lot of tin accessories.

leapinlarry posted:

I would imagine this has been a BitterSweet Sale, sometimes we sell some things we will miss, however, in the End, it's best.  I know, Sooner Now, Than Later, I will be Doing the Same, Selling Most of the Collection, keeping a small Few things, for Memories sake.  As I get older, and the wife too, we will Down Size, Smaller Home, smaller operating train room. I am Ready to do that, within the next few years. When I do Accept the Fact, That it's The Right Time, I will take the proper steps to sell my collection as a Whole....However, that's in the Future....????

That being said, Allen, I sincerely wish you the Very Best with your Hunt for a New Home, a Future New Operating Model Railroad....We measure our Wealth, by Our Health...So, Good Luck, and Happy Railroading.....Great Thread...

 

Thanks for your comments, Larry! I still have more than enough trains left to last me several lifetimes, so those items didn't make much of a dent in the overall collections. And although all of the items sold were things I liked (would not have bought them otherwise), none had any special memories attached. I really did have second thoughts about disposing of my entire Marklin MAXI collection, but I plan to have a more scale-like LGB layout outside the new home.

I still have large collections of Z, Marklin HO, On30, O gauge, O tinplate, and Large Scale (mostly LGB), so I'm in good shape for the remainder of my years. And, of course, some new buying continues!

Will undoubtedly be listing more things to sell on this forum as my moving plans progress. Still have a lot more than I need in my climate-controlled storage units (a couple of them).

Larry Sr. posted:

Best of luck Allen and I will hope you share any new train build with us once you get settled in your new residence.

Larry

You can count on it, Larry!

PRRronbh posted:

Hi Allan, Got to ask.  What is your secret for selling so much so quick?

Mothers Day week end showed at train show at Spencer in Old Southern Shops Back Shop.   Took 56 O-Gauge items and only sold 26.  All like new never run only out of boxes for photo.  Good! prices as example Atlas box cars $35.00 and MTH Premier box cars $30..00.  Every one that came by said good prices even on LGB.

Toward late afternoon second day a guy bought all eight Atlas cars and was happy with price,

But still like to know how you did it.

Ron ( former hometown boy)

 

ALLAN, thank you so much on your succinct insight on selling toy trains!

Congratulations on the train and condo sale. I hope you find something you really like in a home before your moving day arrives. A great kitchen adds value to the home, probably the best improvement one can make. Unfortunately the kitchen is probably the most expensive to update/renovate. Sounds like you will have some good meals to look forward to as well.  And of course the basement is most important to us train folks and I sure hope you get a good one!! And please keep us posted on your house upgrading and layout building progress. 

We moved to a brand new home about 4 years ago, it was a model home for the neighborhood. We (actually I more than my wife) wanted a town home with maintenance provided. We settled on a single family ranch home that has a very low maintenance exterior. Then I just got a lawn service to mow the lawn and shovel the snow and my wife likes to garden so she maintains the landscaping. Now we are both happy!

Sure hope you can find something you are both happy with as well, and all will be happy in the end! Good Luck!

Hope you have an easier time moving than we did. Everything we owned had to fit in this and we had to move twice and ship a car. We sold our house in a few days and hadn't found one yet to buy. We had to rent a house for months before we made the big move. Don

We too have sold our horse farm and are negotiating for another place with a huge dry basement, perfect for a layout! I have never had a layout except for a 4×5 at Christmas! Can't wait to get stuff out of storage because I have forgotten some of what I have accumulated over the last 6 yrs I have been in the hobby! First I have to get the three horses that are moving with us settled in their new home, then our German Shorthairs settled in a new routine, then get my Dear wife the changes she wants! Then and only then, the layout! Stay tuned guys because when that day comes you will see a post titled HELP! I have no idea where to start or what to do when the time comes! I read everything I can on this forum, electrical, track plans, scenery and structures and while I am learning I seem to get more confused! So be prepared!! LOL