Who keeps track of the ownership history of their trains?

I do but only if it was owned by someone famous. I have a locomotive formerly owned by Lorell Joiner, a ore car formerly owned by John Armstrong (with a certifiable of authenticity) and a Rail King switcher formerly owned by Ben Fiorello. 

Those are some nice items! I think the ownership history behind the trains can be interesting. I don't keep track of the eBay sellers nor the retailers I buy things from for the most part. I am interested in knowing that something came from a collection of a TCA member though, especially if they had a high quality collection. They don't need to be famous.  I don't own anything from Tom Snyder, Frank Sinatra, nor Neil Young, but it would be neat to have something from their collections.

George

I have a couple of items that came from the original owner or family.  In those cases, I ask the seller to write down the history of the item along with the name of the original owner and what year they were born.  I also keep track of items that came from friends, although that may or may not be of interest to future collectors.

Too bad they don't come with a title like a car as I wonder who was the first owner and how many owners.  I really wonder about my British/French/Russian trains and how did they get to the USA

Yep, no serial numbers on most of them either.

Not really anybody famous on a national level, but I usually try to obtain at least one item from each of my train friends / acquaintances / club members, and people who are otherwise of importance to me in this hobby, etc. ,  as they sell off their collections or pass away.

Just a few.  Nothing that would raise an eyebrow at a Stout auction, but…

A Williams GG1 that was owned by my uncle who was a massive GG1 fan.

A Lionel tinplate caboose that was part of Charlie Bussinger’s personal collection.

An MTH GP-20 that I bought from the Editor-in-Chief of OGR.

Not at all, as I have found some pretty nasty (condition wise) items that came from prominent collectors.  Plus, who really can document where it was prior to whatever collection you got it from?

I am just happy to find an exceptionally nice item.

Lehigh74 posted:

 

An MTH GP-20 that I bought from the Editor-in-Chief of OGR.

You should have him sign it...

Never thought about doing that. 

I mainly focus on trains I like, the train condition, and the operational qualities.  A pedigree train would probably appeal more to an antique dealer or someone who collects autographs.   I would want to have a picture of the celebrity holding the train that also reveals some flaw or defect to be convinced it belonged to that person.  The same way they authenticated Robbie the robot and the Terminator suit from past films. 

Unfortunately, the only names I recognize above are Ward Kimball (because of Disney), Richard Kughn (from Lionel), Neil Young (CSNY), along with Tom Snyder and Frank Sinatra from TV and movies.  Kughn is the only name I would seriously associate with trains (sorry Neil).

For me, the train would have to do something special to be desirable.   I'd rather have a sealed box postwar set with hospital xrays than a celebrity train.  But that's just me. 

Heck, I run duplicate car numbers on my trains.

Hello George,

I keep the tags from auction items. My Lionel single motor brass 54 was from the Sirus collection, but I really don’t know who that is/was? I just know that when I got it, it didn’t run well and Joe Mania fixed it for me. Those are the names I catalog and keep memory of..  the guys who are there for assistance when I need it. Mostly everything else I have is directly from Germany.

Someday in the far away future, maybe someone will be proud to own something from the ‘Chris Honer’ collection... somehow I doubt it though. I simply consider myself to be lucky enough to be able to collect, enjoy and care for these exceptional creations while I can. They’ll be here long after I’m gone, same as the original and subsequent owners.

Chris

I own all my trains, so I don't need to have any extra paperwork.

PhillyChris posted:

Hello George,

I keep the tags from auction items. My Lionel single motor brass 54 was from the Sirus collection, but I really don’t know who that is/was? I just know that when I got it, it didn’t run well and Joe Mania fixed it for me. Those are the names I catalog and keep memory of..  the guys who are there for assistance when I need it. Mostly everything else I have is directly from Germany.

Someday in the far away future, maybe someone will be proud to own something from the ‘Chris Honer’ collection... somehow I doubt it though. I simply consider myself to be lucky enough to be able to collect, enjoy and care for these exceptional creations while I can. They’ll be here long after I’m gone, same as the original and subsequent owners.

Chris

Oh, I think there are a few items from the Chris Honer Collection that I would be proud to own! 

George

Except for a few (very few) items that came from personal friends, I could care less who had it before I got it. Here are two examples of cars that I know their history:

1. WESTERN MARYLAND business/observation car (no photo) built by Roland Klages @1936 or so along with several other WM passenger cars while he was recovering from an operation. Roland was the treasurer of the Baltimore Society of Model Engineers for many years and after giving the treasurer's position joined the WB&A Tractioneers. I knew him from both places and got the car from his estate. My only regret now is that I did not buy any of the distinctive WM coaches and I have absolutely no idea what happened to them.

2. Three scratch-built brass B&O gondolas (two O-58 as shown and one O-60 65' mill gon) built by Tommy Arnold in1939, they are hand-lettered; note that the B&O classed these TOFC cars as gondolas because they had sides:

This one (no photo) is not from a friend but I have a four-bay VIRGINIAN hopper that has (I left it in the car, hidden by a coal load) a tag the states that it was from Ellison's "Delta lines $125.00". I fished it out of the 'bay for around $20.00 only because I wanted a different VGN hopper to go with my Weaver two-bay. Hopefully when 3rd Rail's VGN "battleship" gon gets here, I will have another different VGN hopper.

Just the ones that came from my father and grandfather so I can pass them on to my children. That's the only provenance that matters to me.

I don't believe in celebrity worship so no I don't collect or care who owned the trains before I did. 

Dave

I only note if it came from eBay or was a private sale.

Steve

Nope, 'cause all of the trains I have bought from other hobbyist were all poor and humble folk.

I do know the previous owner of a number of my items, mostly train friends, some of who are no longer with us. Means a lot to me. As I collect some modern era standard gauge, most of these were made in smaller quantities, so it's fun to know something about these builders and the trains they made.

Jim