Reckless Collecting

[montanan]

I had done the same thing when I was in N scale years ago. At the time I had 16 scale miles of main line and I have no idea how many cars I had, well into the hundreds, but I could put a few long train together and use them.

When I made the switch to HO scale, I had a plan and knew what I needed, the time period I was modeling and knew pretty well what I was going to need. Thankfully, it all worked out and I probably have enough (or a few extra) for my operations. Been there, done that.

 

[railfan]

Don't know if I would buy such a scattering of different cars from so many different railroads which this big collection on ebay today seems to be. At first I bought any and every cheap railcar and locomotive of whatever railroad I could get my hands on. Now I mostly stay with ATSF, Union Pacific, and BNSF in atlas, microtrains, trainworx, kato, and intermountain. Blocks of coal cars, covered hoppers, gondolas, tankers, boxcars, flatcars, and ATSF passenger superliners.

 

[Hutch]

Mike I think I see myself heading down the same path. I'm almost beginning to focus.

 

[railfan]

Mike I think I see myself heading down the same path. I'm almost beginning to focus.

Yeah, it's a milestone when you figure out what you really like. Now I can sell some old stuff to finance the new.

 

[Iron Horseman]

I am over 1500 and still do not own a layout. What does that say about me?

I would say that still makes you a light weight compared to some people I know.

 

[Mionerr]

About 10 years ago I was at an N scale meet in the state of Washington. Got a tour of one of the top 3 Microtrains collectors. He had, at that time, over 18,000 Microtrains cars. I have been humble on that subject ever since.
I've got around 750 cars, most of which will go on my layout. Still laying track.

 

[railfan]

About 10 years ago I was at an N scale meet in the state of Washington. Got a tour of one of the top 3 Microtrains collectors. He had, at that time, over 18,000 Microtrains cars. I have been humble on that subject ever since.
I've got around 750 cars, most of which will go on my layout. Still laying track.

18,000 cars? Okay......good! Now I've got a number to work with. I'm almost to two hundred........so I'm catching up fast!

 

[Mionerr]

That was 18,000 in 2003. He was missing 80 of MT releases up to that time. So, add one of every car MT has released since then.....
That wasn't his only collection. He had some Concourse d'Elegance quality classic cars, western memorabilia. Three buildings worth of stuff he showed us.

 

[budinoh]

Hey Mike, where in central Oh are you located?

 

[Cjcrescent]

Yeah, it's a milestone when you figure out what you really like. Now I can sell some old stuff to finance the new.

In many ways, it can also be cheaper. When I started concentrating on just 2 roads, 1 fictional 1 not, I found that my buying was limited to the prototypical RR and any engine I liked, that the prototypical RR never had. Any I liked and got, was painted into the fictional one. How else can I explain a C&O H8 2-6-6-6 running in Central Alabama?

Another point is that when you choose a RR to model, and an era, approximately 95% of new releases are of no interest. So there's no pre-ordering, or checking the websites of different stores, or waiting a long time for a new model to come on the market. Chances are the new model does come with every piece of authentic detail on it, but its not in your era, or road name, so you don't even have to look at it, much less buy it simply because it's the latest and greatest.

This really is an "issue" in all scales, not just N. I'm in HO, and when I cut to modeling only 2 roads, I decided that 120 locos were to much. By the time I was down to a reasonable number of engines, I found I could start concentrating on cars for the proper era, and location, so it's time to start cutting them down as well. Some will get re-painted into the SRR, and since according to several Official Railway Equipment Registries ,(ORER), my shortline never owned any rolling stock in its name, except for 2 cabooses. (My fictional shortline is the name of a real railroad).