Do you have any sentimental attachment to any of your trains?

[FloridaBoy]

Hey guys, You all know I don't post that many new topics like I used to in the old days.  But this afternoon, I was running an older loco which I love and loved throughout the years, but from a modeling standpoint, it is far below standard, but I ain't changing it, because I have strong emotional and sentimental attachment to the loco and some of the rolling stock.  You will see this on other forum boards too, as I lurk 4, so be patient with this old guy, and reply if you choose to.

I must confess I have way too many locomotives and way too many pieces of rolling stock and passenger cars, not even to mention structures, etc. I just seem to accumulate and deny myself getting rid of anything. A large estate purchase a few months ago basically forced me to relieve myself of some of my inventory while incorporating the newly acquired stuff into my permanent stash.

So the decision process began. What do I keep and what do I sell? Then I realized I had somewhat more emotional attachment to some of my locos more than others.

Even though I sold a lot of trains, I ended up with a lot more than I started with before I got the estate. So here is a few examples of the larger inventory I decided to keep and why:
1. Locos and rolling stock from close friends layouts
2. Special locos - like my "Jawdropper", a Bachmann Northern with a Sagami Can Motor flywheel and tender pickup. I re=motored a few locos with Sagamis, kitbashed an American Steamer over an old Kato JNR Steam mechanism, a NYC Jet Powered Budd car I made for showing off on the Atlas board, and for NMRA shows.
3. The 4-6-4 ConCor Kato Hudson I got for $20, field stripped it, rebuilt it and painted it, and finished it on the night my son was born.
4. The Rivarossi Pacific I got in pieces as a gift from a hospitalized hobbyist I visited in the hospital whom I didn't know, but heard about. He gave me the loco from the spare parts in the back of our mutual LHS. It was the latest Rivarossi mechanism and turned out to be a winner.
5. Some of my earliest first locomotives.
6. A Big Boy that HermanZGerman fixed for me
7. My first Kato RS's, RSD's, SD's and F's/
8. A ConCor PRR F3ABA from Roco in which I installed old Atlas GP7/9 mechanisms because those first run Geeps were horrible looking. I build internal clamps and brackets to make sure the shells were tightly installed.
9. My JNR Steam locos. all my Rivarossi Berks, 0-8-0's and Mallets.
10. All my PRR Minitrix Pacifics and decapods that I upgraded and detailed
11. All my new stuff.
12 Lots of other stuff for various other reasons.

I find some weird sentimental attachment to these and some other locos. Am I the only one out there, or is my accumulation syndrome so deeply ingrained that I am hopeless? If I am hopeless, I plan on contacting Dr. Phil....lol.

Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman

[wm3798]

My favorite was a brass doodlebug I got in exchange for some decoder installs.  I like it a lot because I got over $200 smackeroos when I sold it!

Just an FYI, Ken, this type of philosophical thread usually ends up in the Crew Lounge section, which will appear on your menu after about 20 posts. 
We do like to have our fun here, but we try to focus on modeling topics (techniques, questions, photos, successes, failures etc...) in the scale sections.

Once you get the Crew Lounge feature, you'll be amazed at how far off topic we can get!
Glad to have you aboard.
Lee

[Mark5]

Just a few.

My Atlas (Kato) RS3. To me this is the loco that saved N scale. I added the Kadee pilot conversion and painted/decaled it for N&W. Even thought the phase is wrong for N&W I'll probably always keep it (I recently re-powered it with a Atlas "Classic" RS3 mechanism). It is the only loco I have kept from the 1980s (and prior) - except for all the older stuff that I still keep in my parts bin for some reason.

Then there's the Kadee boxcars I bought when they 1st came out. Even though they have no reporting marks on the ends and somewhat crummy printing I'll never give these up.

And one more thing comes to mind - a Atlas N&W boxcar kit that I built as a kid - the printing is even worse than the early Kadee but I still remember that proud feeling of having something (anything!) N&W in the primordal days of n scale.

Mark

[Nato]

 Boy,you're not the only one with an accumilation syndrome. I could open two fully stocked hobby shops and then some. Even when I started to prioritise and put a huge bunch of modern diesels on consignment at my LHS and recieved over $400.00 store credit I still have way too much and there hasn't been a passenger train yet that I didn't like. Ok ! so I wish I had my old Lone Star 000 Gauge UP F-7 diesel with Athearn-like rubberband drive. Naw I don't really, I saved a dummy unit that is painted in British Rail colors, and was later given a UP dummy from someone. Hey! Now maybe that Rapido German Federal RR 2-6-2 loco lettered from the factory as a Pennsylvania loco, no wait a minute, I still have that puppy, and I converted it into a Germanic loco with smoke deflectors and red side rods, hey the loco is all metal with a plastic tender, real pulling power and a fairly decient slow speed. Oh well!                                                                                                                                                      Nate Goodman (Nato0. Salt Lake, Utah. "Moderators please move this thread to the Karoo (Krew) Lounge for continued replys". Thanks a Bunch!

[Pete Steinmetz]

No.

I look at all mine as rentals.  When their time is up, I sell them.  If I am lucky, I break even.  If not, I have rented them.  Once in a while, they appreciate in value.

This fall, I will see how much rent I have paid on a lot of trains.

Pete S

[ai5629]

When I first learned how to decal effectively, I decalled a bunch of Micro Trains cars Conrail, Penn Central, and PRR.  At the time, MT cars were the only good looking cars out there, and manufacturers basically ignored Conrail and Penn Central, and to a lesser extent Pennsy.  I wanted 50' plug doors, 50 double doors, and flatcars painted CR/PC/PRR, so I stripped some MT cars and decalled them myself.  When I was older and wiser, I became aware of the fact that MT cars were all different prototypes than the cars I was modeling.  I started and continue to decal cars that CR and PC owned that N scale manufacturers actually produce a reasonable model of.  Those "stand in" cars now occupy a drawer as they have for 15 plus years.  I have thought about selling them, but I have not got the courage yet.  I may just put them on a track in the back of the yard and say they are all in storage.  Since I model 1984, tracks full of stored cars were the norm on Conrail.  I have no problem selling my older (non CR/PC) N scale items.  I actually sold the first freight car I ever purchased back in 1984 on the Bay this year.  It fetched 3.25; the same price I paid for it 24 years prior.  Model trains are not a good investment.  Oh well.

[ljudice]

No, absolutely not!

In fact, every day, I remind my entire fleet of locomotives and rolling stock that each and every one of them are this "" close to being dunked in a bath of WashAway, airbrushed black or oxide red - to re-emerge with NS markings.

[wm3798]

I suppose my BL-2 #81 is a favorite... it was my first successful decoder installation... well... John helped a bit...

Lee

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I definitely do.

For starters, there's the model of Strasburg's 90 that my father bashed for me when I was 7. It's an incredible model, and one I don't run nearly enough.

Then there's that Bachmann GP40-2 custom painted in blue with the road number 12282. Yeah, I know, there's an extra digit there, but it was also a present from my dad for my second birthday.

I have a couple pieces like that.

[diezmon]

Just this one:



It's my twin girls' initials 

[Kisatchie]

No sentimental attachment at all here.

[Van Horne]

At the risk of pushing this in a maudlin direction, I have numerous items that were gifts from my late wife.  I can't imagine I'll be getting rid of them anytime soon!

David

[Powersteamguy1790]

None whatsoever.

Stay cool and run steam.....

[3rdrail]

I'm kind of proud of some of the work I have done, so I have an emotional attachment to those pieces I scratchbuilt or kitbashed, but I really have no sentimental attachment to anything. No "gifts" or the like.

[wcfn100]

The closest I come is a brass (two actually) DS-4-4-10 from the collection of Don Thies (sp?).  Anyone in N scale 12+ years ago from the Twin Cities probably met him.  My father and I did many mall shows set-up next to or nearby him.  His collection of Milwaukee Road stuff was very impressive and he was always nice enough to lets me just stare for hours, leave, and then come back for more..  With that said, I would sell it if I had the need to.  But until that need comes, I like having it.

I can say with some certainty that Don never ran some of his locos.   Ahhh, the smell of burning brushes (and the bits of smoke that goes with it).... ;D


Jason