Afternoon, All! In a previous life, I was many things including an N scale train guy. Oddly enough, in my professional life I have had a couple of outlets to get my "train nerd" on, and actually had several opportunities to drive/operate full size locomotives (under exceptionally controlled circumstances within a switch-yard). 20-ish years ago I had 3 young sons that I was really hoping would become interested in model trains. As it worked out, they all wanted to do outdoor stuff such as riding bikes, motorcycles and outdoor mountain sports like hiking and hunting. I cannot say that I was disappointed in any of this, but it did put an end to my/our deep dive into model RR's. So, the help that I am asking this forum for - is what on earth does a guy with thousands of dollars worth of effectively brand new (most literally new in box, never operated) N-scale trains, tracks & other equipment do to get this to someone who will actually use it? To be clear, due to downsizing for my wife and I, I am looking to get rid of the entire lot of N scale stuff that I own. It has been stored in a temperature and humidity controlled environment for the past 20 years, and as I said above, mostly in sealed, un-used, factory packaging. My wife and I are planning a move to a smaller and far more remote location (currently in Denver, Co), and will not have the time or space to utilize these items. I'll also say here, that while I have a good idea of the items that I have and have recently done a fairly detailed inventory of these items, I am not looking to sell each individual piece - one at a time on ebay or other such site. So, again, the basis of my question is: do you guys have any kind of experience with quality/high integrity companies that buy collections? I'm sure with the membership here that there are collections that are massive and would make mine look like a "starter set," but I would value my items in the neighborhood of $4500.00. That figure was chosen as the average/low retail prices that I could find through various sources such as specialty N-scale train shops, ebay, other private & online sales locations etc. I'd appreciate your thoughts on this! I'll also attach a couple of photos of the items in question. Thank you in advance.
That price is not unreasonable, considering all the locomotives and the amount of track you have. However, helping you get it sold may be a touchy subject. Trainboard has a policy against promoting retailers, but I'm not sure if this would apply to dealers or buyers. That being said, the first one that comes to mind is Trainz. I think they buy collections, and you may have seen their eBay page before too. They buy things and then sell it on their website and ebay page. Brasstrains also buys collections, but they mostly focus on brass models, so I doubt they would be very interested. You may want to ask around locally as well. There may be private collectors and dealers in your area that buy old trains (not that yours are 'old'). I see classifieds in Model Railroader every so often, and they may be worth a call if they live in the Denver area. I know a few guys near me that buy estate sales, I'm sure you could find someone near you that does the same thing.
Thanks for the response. I guess that I needed to clarify that I am not looking to get near that $4500 out of this collection, I just did the rough valuation to get an idea of what I was sitting on. I'll check out the Trainz guys, that sounds like it would certainly be worth a look. I was also planning on seeing if we still have anybody local. We used to have Caboose hobbies here in Denver. That place would make your head explode! It was the single largest train store - on the planet, if I remember correctly. Super dangerous to be within 5 miles of that place if you ever had a hundred bucks in your wallet.
I had the same outfit in mind that @Mr. Trainiac suggested. You do indeed have some very nice stuff there. Resellers will offer perhaps half of what your collection is worth, but that's not unreasonable given the work necessary to sell it. Another option is to post a Local Pickup ad on eBay. That'd sell it all in one big lot without the hassle and time involved in shipping, but you'd need to prepare yourself for dozens of messages from chiselers, people who want to buy just one thing and those that wish you to ship it (I know this scene first hand. ) and protect your interests with the payment process.
You can try placing an ad, or multiple ads for the different items available, in our area for selling- The Swap Meet.
I wish I were a modeler, because I would jump on that massive collection. By the way, welcome aboard Trainboard. I wish you luck in obtaining a fair amount for your collection.
Welcome. One option is to go to a swap meet or local model railroad club. Would be people that know the area.
Well finding someone who is into N scale with that amount of $$ is going to be hard to find. I would guess you spent some time in collecting you collection over a long number of years. Not too many people running around with that much lose change in their pockets. Find a collector that can buy all at once. Some have ads in MR magazines. Selling it piece by piece will be very time consuming.
If you can attend a train show near you, there are often dealers who can, and will, make you an offer for entire collections and sometimes fully constructed layouts that they will resell at future train shows. Sent from my moto g(7) play using Tapatalk
In the Denver area, try N Scale Supply. They buy and sell collections of pre-owned model trains. https://www.nscalesupply.com/buyingcollections.html
