...there is no place left to store the empty boxes.
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Or, when you walk into your storage space and the aisles are too narrow to turn around. And the boxes are stacked floor to ceiling.
Rolland
... every inch of track on your layout is occupied by a car or locomotive and the only way you can operate the layout is to run all the trains at one time...
MELGAR
You seriously consider tearing out the bathtub/shower and replacing it with extra deep shelving to hold some of the overflow of trains you have stored in all of the other rooms in the house.
@Robert S. Butler posted:You seriously consider tearing out the bathtub/shower and replacing it with extra deep shelving to hold some of the overflow of trains you have stored in all of the other rooms in the house.
Hadn't thought of that...and what with all the Hollywood celebs giving up bathing we'd be right there on the bleeding edge. ("You stunk in that movie." "My performance?" "No - you.")
I have never experienced that feeling because I never have, and never will have, "too many trains"...
In order to calm your wife, you purchase the house next door for use as a STORAGE CENTER for surplus trains and their boxes; so that your house can be filled with trains running on your multi-room layout.
Mike Mottler LCCA 12394
When the wife doesn’t bother to yell at you anymore with the next delivery
@Mike H Mottler posted:In order to calm your wife, you purchase the house next door for use as a STORAGE CENTER for surplus trains and their boxes; so that your house can be filled with trains running on your multi-room layout.
Mike Mottler LCCA 12394
Rob Gronkowski of the NE Patriots did a similar thing when he played for them. He bought the house next door to his and turned it into a full scale personal gym and training facility.
I actually met a guy who had purchased the house next door and filled every room with train layouts and walls and walls of trains. He invited me over to see the collection. I arrived in the morning and didn't leave until around 7PM.
"Too Many Trains. " That's called an oxymoron.
When Lionel, MTH, and Atlas call to check on your well-being when they notice a dip in sales... 
Andy
@MELGAR posted:... every inch of track on your layout is occupied by a car or locomotive and the only way you can operate the layout is to run all the trains at one time...
MELGAR
Good problem to have!
The problem is, all my trains wouldn't fit on my layout! 
I doubt I could even fit all my engines on my layout, never mind all the rolling stock! Maybe when I get my freight yard completed... 
Maybe those of us who, objectively, already have way too many trains and keep getting more, have a Commodore Vanderbuilt Vanderbuilt complex. LOL.
What we want is a Railroad Empire!
Too many what???? So far the bathroom is untouched, I think. All this started in 2016 with a Marx Commodore Vanderbilt red shell from a garage sale.
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There are doll collectors, coin collectors, stamp collectors, the guy in Reno, Bill Harrah, bought railroad shops for his car collection...packratitis is an expensive disease, an addiction in which a "fix" seems short lived. (There must be some abandoned rail shops available cheap?)
Yes, you could see the old SP shops lettered for Harrah driving around . I believe on his death every thing was liquidated by Holiday Inn. A lot of things ended up in the National Auto Museum in Reno, mostly from people donating or selling back. I may be confused on a few things between Reno and Sac.
Corrections welcome
stay safe, John
....when you can accept that this true.
#1-When you buy something and start to go through your trains and find out you already have it.
#2- Similarly, when you go through your trains and see things you forgot that you had.
When you no longer have room for wine!
Cheers, Dave
By the time I read all the responses, I forgot the question. The short answer is, 'who would ever ask that question'!
However, it brings up a discussion my wife and I were having the other night. When is there too much shelving? I have something over 2900 linear feet of shelving filled with MTH, Weaver and Williams. It is primarily engines and passenger sets. The exception is the last couple of hundred feet which I have begun filling with pre 2000 K-Line sets. Not sure I can get to a mile unless I put the freight cars up.
If the Chairman of Lionel sends you personalized Christmas and Birthday cards it might be a sign.
@mwb posted:....when you can accept that this true.
Your by-line, mwb, reminds me of a title to one of my favorite songs by Jimmy Webb: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.
You know you have too many trains when you wake up one morning, look around a dnsee that there are trains on the walls, trains on the layout, trians on the table, trains on the floor, trains in all the closets, trains in the garage, and you sit down and with a tear in one eye, you quietly say to yourself " I have too many trains." So sadly you go to the OGR forum to tell people you are going to start thinning out your collection, you accidentally see that someone has this locomotive for sale for an unbelievably great price and you e-mail him to find out if it has sold yet. . .
When you don’t have time to properly maintain everything.
When you look for a place to store a new acquisition, the theme from Tetris starts playing...
---PCJ
When your wife finally says, "It's either the trains or me!"
Reminds me of an old Jack Benny joke, but I'll substitute trains:
Wife: "I've had it with your stupid hobby. It's either me or the trains!"
Husband: "Hmm, . . . [long pause].
Wife: "Well, are you deaf? Didn't you hear what I just said?"
Husband: "Just gimme a minute will ya? . . . I'm thinking."
You guys are missing the point here.
- If your trains won't fit on your layout, you don't have too many trains. You have insufficient layout. Enlarge it to accommodate the trains.
- If you don't have room to expand your layout, your layout isn't too big. You have insufficient house. Enlarge it to accommodate the layout expansion.
- See #1 and repeat if necessary.
But in keeping with the theme, you know you have too many trains when...
- Your equipment roster makes BNSF, CSX, Norfolk-Southern and Union Pacific look like minor league players.
- The Class 1 railroads consult YOU about equipment assignments.
Adding an additional floor to your home to accommodate the overflow 
@luvindemtrains posted:#1-When you buy something and start to go through your trains and find out you already have it.
#2- Similarly, when you go through your trains and see things you forgot that you had.
I learned that when we packed up to move into our new house when I pulled tubs and foot lockers out from under the old layout looking for empty boxes. Only to learn the tubs and foot lockers were filled with full boxes I did not know I had. Or when you are packing and inventorying and find two and three of the same piece.
@Mannyrock posted:When your wife finally says, "It's either the trains or me!"
I have the bumper sticker “ My Wife said if I buy one more Train she will leave me. Gee I will miss her”
When you have trains in your office (aka train room with a computer), the garage, and a room 45 minutes away, but no layout.
Don't ask me how I know this one...
You go to load your train inventory spreadsheet and you get the message "Insufficient Memory"
@Mannyrock posted:When your wife finally says, "It's either the trains or me!"
I saw this at a meet: "I got a train for my wife. It was the best trade I ever made."
