Leftover scenery materials

I'm at the point now where I won't be adding to the layout for at least a few years. I'm going to be working on building a roundhouse, converting to metal wheels, adding DCC, bringing all the rolling stock up to specs, and I'll be moving sometime this year.

I've got a bunch of scenery materials that's just going to take up space. So should I get rid of it, or keep it? At some point I fully intend to build more layout, so I'll have need of supplies. I just don't know if it's worth it to keep what I have. If I get rid of it, I'll find someone to give it to.

What would you do?

 

i was in the same boat as you 6 months ago. i sold all my scenery supplies for much less than they were worth. 6 months later i regretted that decision as i found time and a new motivation to keep doing scenery! ended spending a ton more cash that i didnt have to. if i were you, id keep it. one day i may find myself walking past my layout and out of the corner of my eye see a place where i want to add another tree or a patch of grass but find i have nothing to accomplish it with. i dont like that feeling

with that said i may be interested in some stuff if you choose otherwise hehe :tb-tongue:

 

I suppose it depends on if you have room to store the stuff, might as well hold onto to it until you're sure you won't use it.

Of course, I'm a bit of a pack rat by nature, I've got two 24' rolls of foam trackbed and some flextrack stored away, haven't had a chance to use it since I took apart my last layout in 2008. Probably got some peanut butter jars of ground foam and ballast in there too. Donno when I'll use it again, maybe I'll go with cork roadbed instead, or a different color ballast, who knows, but I figure the odds of me finding somewhere to use the stuff again is pretty good, so as long as I've got a place to stick it where it's not in the way, might as well save it til I know I'm not going to use it.

Heck, I still have some of my HO rolling stock from the 90's in a few boxes, but maybe 30 years from now when I'm old I might use it again, heh.

 

keep it--never know when you might need it--can always give it away before the move

 

Keep them you never know when you might need them and the prices are always going up, but not on what you already have
:tb-wink:

 

Judging by the responses so far, I don't think model railroaders get rid of much stuff if they don't have to. How much do you wanna bet some TB'er has a half empty box of that bright green dyed sawdust stuff they made as ground cover in the 1980's packed away, lol. Heck, I may even have a jar of that stuff in one of my old HO boxes somewhere.

 

On November 28, 1983, I collected a big grocery bag of authentic East Texas iron ore bearing dirt for my East Texas layout.
Some of it appears in this scene.

I have switched to another layout theme for which reddish dirt is not appropriate. But my wife says it is not appropriate for our garden. What do yhou do with dirt?

 

I don't know... But they had some good ideas for what to do with extra dirt in The Great Escape. (my favorite movie)

 

In a few months I expect to have pounds of unwanted blue and pink foam. One can only make soooo many hills, valleys and such. I intend to cut as much as I can into rectangular pieces and find a place to store it. A school administrator suggested an elementary or middle school art dept would appreciate the more usable pieces.

Ken - pack it in baggies and sell the dirt for the cost of shipping plus a minor compensation for your time. You would be helping other modelers and everyone wins.

 

I've saved scenery materials since I started this layout in 1982. But I even have leftover scenery materials INCLUDING GROUND LEAVES and DIRT from the Hickory Valley built in '76. My fathers sawmill produced burned sawdust ashes that made some of the best color 'dirt' I've ever seen and it contains nothing left that can grow stuff. I still have a bag.

To me the biggest reason to save stuff is that invariably you'll change something, and when you do, you really want to be able to match the colors and textures you already have. I can't tell you how many times I've needed another teaspoon of matching ballast or another thumb pinch of that particular color of turf.

Now for the stuff underneath....foam, plaster.... I ditch it all!

 

I have a ziploc bag of green AND brown dyed sawdust stored away. I used it on my HO layout that I built around 1980. I don't plan on using on my N scale layout, but when my grandson gets a little older (he's 5 now), I will probably use it for his first one. Seeing how the rest of his toys fair, it will last about a week. Heck, I have trees that are that old. They need new lichen before using them, tho. And yes, I still have all my HO trains and buildings.:tb-biggrin:

 

Why not build a diorama or Ttrak module, just for the heck of it? I just reorganized my track box yesterday and realized I have enough spare code 80 to furnish a HCD layout!! Scenery I lack, but figure what the heck- I'm gonna build a spaghetti-bowl layout and put that old '80 Atlas stuff to use. It can be fun to have a "goof around" project....