Hello and Good afternoon, I am what you would call a novice to the model train world. I just inherited a large collection of N scale model railroad equipment made by Kato. And as i don't share the passion that my loved one did I'm trying to figure out what to do with everything. I asked around and someone referred me to this website and told me that it was worth a try asking you good people the best way to find a good home for everything. Any suggestions? and Thank you!
Hi Fin, welcome and sorry for your loss. Yes, this is a good community to find out about the trains that you have, and what can be done with them, including finding a home. The first item of business will be finding out what you actually have. Do you have a roster inventory or photos that you can share? If the original cases are available, they can be a wealth of information. Do you have someone local? A local hobby store or club can also provide invaluable assistance in getting an accurate inventory of what you have. After you have information, our SwapMeet area is a good place to get the equipment to new homes (and ones assured to appreciate it).
Hey, thank you very much. And thank you for such a timely reply. I don't believe we have a hobby store around here, I live on Martha's Vineyard. As to the roster, i plan on spending a couple of hours or so tomorrow on sorting everything out so i should be able to update that tomorrow. My loved one was very passionate about his model train collection as there are over 20 boxes of equipment. I've just been at odds trying to decide what to do with it all. So again thank you very much, and yes that's exactly it, i want these to be appreciated like they once were.
Hi Fin, Sorry to hear about your loss. I can understand your desire to respect the importance your loved one placed on his train models. There are several ways to approach divesting yourself of the models. There are dealers and some hobby shops that buy whole "estate" collections of model trains to sell for profit on the Internet and at train showes. That is your easiest solution, but with the lowest money gain. Model Railroader Magazine has "wanted" advertisements from several such dealers every month, and you could find others by visiting a local model train show when they occur in your area. Another method is to offer individual items in this forum's "swap meet" section. That is probably your best guarantee that the new owners would take good care of the items they acquire. And, there is eBay if you want to sell individual items yourself, probably maximizing both the money obtained and the headaches in doing it. And, if you are not interested in the money, there may (or may not) be a local train model club that would take the collection as a donation. Perhaps your loved one was a member of such a group? This forum has a lot of friendly and knowledgeable members who can probably help you figure-out what your items are worth on today's market. Specifying the name of the manufacturer is key, as is the description of the item. Sometimes, the date that the item was "released" for sale is important. For instance, old steam engines built by Bachmann will have a much lower value than steam engines recently built by them, becuse their quality recently changed much to the better. And, you can check-out this link for objective evaluation of N scale engines: http://www.spookshow.net/trainstuff.html (Don't let the name of the site put you off, Mark is quite a thorough cataloger and evaluator of N scale equipment.) Looking at ASKING prices on eBay is probably not a good indicator of current value. There are some crazy things about eBay, many of which can be found in the long-running thread here titled "More eBay Humor." Looking at SELLING prices on eBay gives you a better idea of what things are really going for. But, that varies by time of year, with the peak being about now. And, if the bug bites and you decide to keep the collection or part of it to enjoy, yourself, there is no better place on the Internet to get friendly and useful device than right here. (And I am saying that as a relatively new member who has no hand in the operation of this forum). Good luck to you, whatever you decide. Steve
Condolences for your loss of a loved one. Condition means a lot. Original packing material can help value, so always keep that as it also helps keep the item (s) safe. Photographs always help.
Haha... Mountain Train man...my sons would love to be on that Santa list! Fin, You can even use the Trainboard Swap Meet forum if you decide to sell items yourself. You'll need to consider payment and shipping, if you are setup with a PayPal account, it can make things much easier for you. The US Postal Service provides free boxes for Priority shipping and you can print labels directly from your computer and printer using the PayPal website. Much easier than trying to hand write everything. Just my experience! Here is the link to the forum here. You can type up a list of items or even just take a photo of a group of similar items (locomotives, railcars, buildings, etc) and let people contact you. http://www.trainboard.com/highball/index.php?forums/trainboard-swap-meet.151/ Best of luck! -Ryan
I do not see mention of a "buy and sell group for n-scale on Facebook." I have no experience with selling on it, but have purchased from it. However, if I were in your situation, I would check with the nearest model railroad club or local hobby shop to see if they would be willing to sell the items on consignment. Some hobby shops are willing to do so and generally, in my experience, will help one determine a fair price. I realize you wrote that you are not aware of a shop in the immediate area. Best wishes with this project.
Sorry for your loss. If there is a club in your area i would try that 1st before dealing with mail. When i lived in orlando our club had an auction for a members family who had passed. Good luck.
Fin, here are some clubs that are (were?) in your general area. While not on Martha's Vineyard, within a 100 mile radius. Phone calls may at least give you some leads and advice. http://www.capecodmodelrailroad.club/index.html http://www.trainweb.org/pwmrr/ http://www.mprr.org/clubinfo
Thank you all so very much for your kind words as well as the great recommendations and avenues as which to use. I now have a compiled list of the pieces that were still in their original boxes as well as many many many pictures of the entire set so i think I'll give the swap meet a try and go from there. Thanks again!!
One of the big things that happens here is that when you're trying to determine what you've got, you're not sure how to identify it. You've got the Spookshow link, and if you get stuff even you can't identify, post it on here. We love stuff like that. You've have it DNA'd in moments. Be aware that at a swap meet or a lot-sale, the guys that tend to buy lot quantities will turn right around and resell it on Ebay, one piece at a time, so this is all a matter of knowing what you're looking at and taking the time to sell it. Your call on whether you want to go that way or not, but one nice thing about N scale is that a rather expensive collection doesn't eat up a whole lot of storage space while you are figuring it out. If it were Lionel you'd need a warehouse. I did an estate buy of Lionel just to do that, it took two years to dispose of the entire collection (it filled an entire minivan), but I hit the jackpot on a couple of very rare pieces and they were bid up to completely absurd levels. I split the proceeds with the family of the owner (friends), and we both made out quite well. But yeah, it took two years to move all that stuff! I had CRATES of track that were sold by the pound. I live in NWPA, and I'm finding more 70's N scale in our local antique shops. Most of it is in rough shape, and I've bought a few pieces myself for restoration and resale. I'm not a collector, but if you get to know this train stuff in general you'll learn to spot what's a POS and what's actually collectible and has a market.
