When I'm gone ...
#1
Most of us don't give much thought to what will happen to our trains when we're no longer around to keep an eye on them. So I'm going to give and invite suggestions on what to do.

You should have a careful friend who will be willing to take down your layout and pack the movable bits for sale or donation. If you're in a club, there may be a member who will do that and the club may have an event where things can be sold.
Your spouse should have an idea of what items are worth. I know that a lot of you sneak in new locos and tell her that it's just an old $10 Athearn, but a couple of brass locos may top up her pension for a few months. Or it may keep you in the nursing home for another month. A list with cost and current values is extremely useful -- and you should have one for insurance (my next project).
Find out if the local shop will sell off your trains. Find out also if they will charge to take them away.
You might make notes about how your layout went together and should come apart.
David
Moderato ma non troppo
Perth & Exeter Railway Company
Esquesing & Chinguacousy Radial Railway
In model railroading, there are between six and two hundred ways of performing a given task.
Most modellers can get two of them to work.
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#2
David;

Been thinking along the same lines for a while. About all I've done at this point is to provide the wife with the name of a trusted friend that would sell off most of stuff for her; perhaps even purchase most of it outright. Have also told her that anyone can have anything they want - PROVIDED they pay her for it. Over the years, I've spent a lot of money on this stuff and it would not be fair to a very understanding wife to just see it all walk out the door when she could benefit from selling it off. Surviving spouses are easy targets.

If I had a son or nephew that was into model railroading that I knew would appreciate it, I wouldn't hesitate to donate all my stuff to that person, but that simply isn't the case.

I do need to spend some time one night making a list of what there is and what it's more or less worth, and put it some place where the wife can easily access it.
Ed
"Friends don't let friends build Timesavers"
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#3
Well I am trying to keep an accurate inventory of my stuff...I hope that I am a long long long way from the big train station in the sky, I am only 29. I agree that it is alwasy good to know what you have anyways as I think it keeps me from buying stuff I do not need.
Be Wise Beware Be Safe
"Mountain Goat" Greg


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#4
I can say from recent experience, the first and most important thing you can do is to share with others exactly what you have and what it means to you. My grandfather recently passed away, and his house is filled with stuff the rest of the family has no idea what it is, or why it was kept. Sometimes it is not just about the value of the items, but having others understand what was important to you and perhaps wanting to save something for sentimental reasons.
--
Kevin
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#5
All good and interesting points. A little morbid but realistic!

When my Dad became severely ill (parallysed) from a stroke in Dec. 1994, I had to take control of his estate. I was only 35 at the time and had not been "re-bitten" by the train bug yet! I also was not married at the time and just living in a basement apartment in Toronto -- his house was a 2.5-hour drive away in southwestern Ontario so I had to commute there on weekends to sort and clean out his house. I had limited resources, time and space.

My Dad was a huge collector, basically a hoarder (as you see on TV, but not as extreme!). He had books, magazines, newspapers, and (in the garage) motorcycles, car parts, motorcycle parts, loads of "junk," you name it.

Well, he had had his layouts set up in his basement and I had to make quick decisions regarding all of his possessions. Some I sold and others I kept. I did the same with his model railway stuff. I dismantled and sold his layouts and also sold a LOT of his MRR stuff. I vaguely remember selling most of his buildings, a lot of his rolling stock but generally keeping his locos. I "shudder" now because I almost certainly got rid of many things I would loved to have kept now!

Long story short, I put what I kept of my Dad's MRR stuff into storage in 1996. Sadly, he died in 1999. My wife & I married in 1997 and in 2000 and 2003 our sons were born. I started to get interested in trains again around 2002 because of our boys, and started to set up my Dad's trains in 2004. Now, I'm really bitten by the bug and am totally into MRR & railways-- too bad my timing was off as I wish I could have shared this interest as an adult with my Dad (although my Dad & I did enjoy trains together when I was a boy).

Now, I not only appreciate model railways and real-life, full-scale trains, I am also fascinated with the vintage model trains that I my Dad was also into -- trains from the 1960s & '70s. My favourite loco is a Hornby Dublo 2-6-4 tank engine that I fondly remember my Dad & I running together when I was a boy in the mid-1960s (really dating myself here!).

To answer your question, David, I hope that my youngest son will continue with his train interest into adulthood and I hope he will happily inherit and use my trains!

Frankly, as much as I really like the trains, they are really just things, and there are ultimately more important things to think about. But it is a good idea to have a plan re what to do with your MRR stuff.

Rob
Rob
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#6
I to have thought this from time to time and yet knowing my wife gets into trains but not like i do as much. She may keep them around and perhaps ol dad will rub off on daughter or future child :mrgreen:
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#7
Well, all I have to say is I pity the poor fool who has to take down my layout. I glued and used a lot of screws on all of the joints and deck work. Misngth

Seriously, it comes apart in four 8 foot sections. I also made it possible to remove the deck from shelves underneath it. I made it so that track work wise, there is no turnouts or other bits of important track work over these joints, the only thing I did not do was cut gaps in the rail at the joints. A task that could easily be accomplished using a hobby saw and a straight edge for a clean cut. Electrically I've thought about this as well. I used trailer plug connections for the main and accessory buss lines a la Free-Mo style at each of the joints so that they can be unplugged and reconnected easily. I've never tried it but I imagine the whole layout could be dismantled and be ready to move in about an hour.

I've shown my wife this. One day she asked me what I would do if we decided to move to a new house one day. So I point these features out. I just hope she remembers this if I'm not around to show her. Confusedhock:

At this point in time I don't have any really expensive loco pieces or rolling stock. All my "money" is invested in the track work components, ( stationary decoders, frog juicers, NCE Power Pro etc...).
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#8
We have some close friends who are dealing with this very thing. Her father died a couple of years ago, and was a life-long Lionel man. Had a huge basement in the Chicago area full of O scale layout, all Lionel from the 30's, 40's and 50's. Untold thousands of dollars, as much of the rolling stock is pre-WWII. She told me one engine was appraised at over $5000 several years ago. The two sisters have been fighting over what to do since Father died. One wants to give it all to me, with the understanding that I would never sell any of it and would build another layout with it. Sort of an honor to her Father. The "evil twin" (not really, she's a great lady) wants to sell it all of for the $$$. Father left a big estate, but never specified what to do with his huge layout. It's really become a problem between them. Could have been avoided if Dad would have included his layout in his final wishes.

I don't want to be in the middle, but I sure would like to have all that stuff!!! Icon_twisted
Cheers,
Richard

T & A Layout Build http://bigbluetrains.com/forum/viewtopic...=46&t=7191
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#9
Having just celebrated my 67th, I know that the days behind are far greater in number than the days ahead.
I believe that there is nothing in anyone's "contract" about tomorrow. We only have this moment, and we should live it and make a good memory out of it, so that if there are that many tomorrows, we will have something good to look back on.
My Sister and I seem to have become the "keepers of the family history". We keep the family heirlooms, and the knowledge of their place, and time.
The importance of these things, overshadows any meaning "my layout" might have. My daughters have expressed little interest in the models, and the family history.
Perhaps there is greater truth in the idea of "all good things must come to an end". Some things are not "meant to last". These things brought me joy to build, a sense of belonging to a greater time than my life adds up to, satisfaction, and education. If they do not serve that purpose for future generations, so be it.
When things lose their importance, they become clutter.
I would rather see them gone, than to become the "seeds of regret".
I would leave no obligation for any to have to live an ongoing life for me....they have their own lives to live, their own joys, senses of belonging, satisfactions, and educations.
If one or more, should choose to become the "keepers of family history", there is record of each thing, and its relative importance. If that is meant to be, so be it also.
We always learn far more from our own mistakes, than we will ever learn from another's advice.
The greatest place to live life, is on the sharp leading edge of a learning curve.
Lead me not into temptation.....I can find it myself!
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#10
Sumpter250 Wrote: Having just celebrated my 67th, I know that the days behind are far greater in number than the days ahead.
I believe that there is nothing in anyone's "contract" about tomorrow. ... My Sister and I seem to have become the "keepers of the family history". We keep the family heirlooms, and the knowledge of their place, and time. My daughters have expressed little interest in the models, and the family history.
... If one or more, should choose to become the "keepers of family history", there is record of each thing, and its relative importance. If that is meant to be, so be it also.

After the second of my parents passed last February, the subject of mortality slapped me in the face. All of a sudden I came to many of the same realizations that Pete describes above. It's not being morbid ... it looking reality in the face and coming to terms with it.

As I live in Florida (as did my parents) and my brother in Virginia and my sister in Michgan, I became the defacto keeper of the family history and "antiquities." My brother has no apparent interest in family history, my sister is very much involved in her social passion,the gift of music to underpriveledged inner-city Detroit kids in the form of The Detroit Childern's Choir and the lives and careers of ther three daughters, I am the curator all the the important artifacts that were my parents and my grandparents (people don't realize that when they wonder why I have so much "stuff" and why I don't just "toss all of the old stuff" that it's Family History.

As luck would have it, my daughter, who now also lives here in Florida, is very much into family history. (She recently informed me that she wants to go to Nebrasks on an upcoming vacation. Why? Because there is a "ghost town' called "Marsland, NE" that she wants to check out. She thought I might want to go with her as the Google map shows railroad tracks nearby.)

She will become the keeper of Family History. She has been very interested in my model railroading since she was old enough to understand such things, and built several Athearn Bule Box kit as a five year old ... and did a nice job, too! (with Dad's careful supervision.) She will undoubtedy get all my train stuff, and she has at least some small idea of it's worth, knows about Big Blue (monitors it on occasion) and research is something she does well.

On the other hand, her very young son may be able to be influenced by Granddad to get into model railroading ... who knows? I'm still alive and kicking (though not as hard as I once did) and there is still some time to exert some influence ... I exercised such influence on my daughter and that was coming along just fine until her mother and I got divorced and she was taken away from me. Maybe, with her help, Ol' Granddad can influence the little man to enjoy the hobby ... he's already got his own Big Blue "onesy!"
biL

Lehigh Susquehanna & Western 

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." ~~Abraham Lincoln
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#11
One friend used to be in the Royal Navy. He was upset once hearing somebody talk about getting a dead modeller's stock cheaply. In the Navy, tradition was that a dead sailor's kit would be auctioned off to his mates and the mates would bid high knowing that this would be what his family would have to survive on. They also knew that the same would happen if they died.
Of course, some wives would be happy just to get all that junk out of the house.
One of the BRMNA members is involved with 3 or 4 estate sales at the moment. Some of the material has been offered for several years now.
David
Moderato ma non troppo
Perth & Exeter Railway Company
Esquesing & Chinguacousy Radial Railway
In model railroading, there are between six and two hundred ways of performing a given task.
Most modellers can get two of them to work.
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#12
scubadude Wrote:I don't want to be in the middle, but I sure would like to have all that stuff!!

Perhaps a compromise is in order. Select some equipment that means the most to you, put a value on it. Determine the value of the rest, and sell it. If there are the three of you to split the proceeds between, deduct the value of what you keep from your share.
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#13
A few of older gentlemen from my club have large layouts in their basements, house, or even out buildings. I was recently talking with one whose basement is filled with a 2 layered very nice, but large layout what is going to happen if/when he moves. He told me he will give them the house for free but the price of the house will be the price of the layout. He started building it in the 60s.
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#14
I'm trying to find it, but I can't. I came across a picture on a Blog a few years ago. There was a photo of a quote in a photo frame. It read, and I quote,

"If I die before I finish this layout I'll be pi$$ed!"


Misngth Misngth Misngth
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#15
To be blunt...if I'm hiding purchases from my beloved, there are other issues in my life that need serious addressing.

With that out of the way, my wife knows what I own, something of its value and how to dispose of it. My children and she both have their picks, some friends will be surprised by the arrival of a small package with a note...the rest hits eBay starting at 99 cents.
...prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits...

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