So here I am, in the middle of some very cool N scale projects and opening my foam-lined storage boxes packed to the HILT with the most beautiful NP-centric collection I could imagine, and I come up on an opportunity to make a massive change in my life...... Seems I finally have hit my personal goals in life, (clean up my credit, get in top physical shape, have stability at home), before I go and get myself into the career I have always wanted; Law Enforcement. I've always wanted to do it, and now it looks like it's actually feasible! I am very, very excited! I will be putting myself through the 6-month academy. It's a way to more easily/quickly secure a job, and have better training/skills/opportunities than relying on getting hired on in this cash-strapped California. Regardless of my career choice (everybody's got their opinions on cops, sheriffs & etc.) there's a catch. Isn't there always? The catch is: to do this, it looks like (since no rich uncles seem to be dying LOL) I'll need to sell/liquidate a good portion of my locomotives and cars. I've gotta be able to pay for the academy ($5k plus) and pay the bills in the meantime. What a big ugly pill to swallow! So, I guess what I'm getting at, is that it's a bit of a hard decision but one I had to make. I'll have to go through my collection and set aside the few rare or special things I have which I can't replace. I'll keep going on the couple projects I have in progress, no sense in stopping short! Everything else will be get catalogued, photographed and sold. It's gonna be tough! I've been collecting on-and-off for over half my life. And this is after I just liquidated a big part of it (all the impulse-buy and off-roadname stuff) last February to buy-back my old hot rod! Of course that was worth every bit of ebaying and mailing, I drive it every day. I'm curious... Anybody else here ever have to sacrifice their N scale buying/collecting for personal growth? Was it worth it for you?
Yes I have, but it turned out to be the right thing and in the end, a helped me become a more focused modeler. It wasn't that long ago that I was married, a home owner and had many other model railroad advantages. It was not uncommon for me to buy many Kato and Atlas locomotives, freight cars and general stuff at shows. I remember one year when Kato came out with their SD70's, I bought four BNSF units, plus an undec. Most of my model RR stuff was in storage as my layout was not up at the time and my purchase protocol was based on whatever I liked, a rather shot gun reasoning I guess. In time, a new job, moving into a new house then a divorce followed by bankruptcy and all the fun that goes with that followed. So much personal "junk" in my life, dealing with lawyers, courts, attempted theft of my vehicle, break ins and more, kept me away from model railroading and any other hobby for that matter. This dark period went on for two years. Finally in late 2010, I saw the light at the end of the tunnel and resumed my hobby. It was tight, so tight in fact that one year at Galesburg, I slept in my Jeep rather than get a hotel. The days of shot gun spending were over. I sat down and looked at what I wanted to do in this hobby. I realized I was not into modern stuff as I had previously thought. I focused on 1970's B&M and 1960's CB&Q. I sold all the other stuff and used that money to focus on my B&M layout and my CB&Q T-Trak modules and immediately was enjoying the hobby again. Flash forward to today. I'm now working a great job, back in Illinois with my girlfriend of three years and her two great kids. I finally got my Wrangler back that my ex-wife had gotten rid of, so I can totally understand your hot rod, I love driving my Wrangler every chance I get. I get to work on my stuff almost everyday and I don't have an expensive collection, just what I need and money for what I don't have yet. Long story short, it may seem like a sacrifice now, but I encourage you to sit down and really focus on what it is you want to do in the hobby, goals if you will. Sell the excess, focus on what you want and remember, you can have just as much fun with a small layout than you can with a basement empire. I hope this advice helps, it is knowledge I learned from the University of Hard Knocks.
I've been there. Raised four kids which always calls for sacrifices. Spent long hours away from home on occasion working overtime shifts to make ends meet, and when my wife wanted to go into nursing, made some more sacrifices to finance her dreams. As a result I never had the big collections that some folks have, and had to pass at a number of things I wanted, often stretching a meager budget at shows. But in the end it made me a better modeler because If I couldn't get it I learned to build it or bash it. Today the kids are all grown and there are grandkids and I'm still married to the one and only who is still happy with her career in senior healthcare and services while I am now retired with finally some time and money to spend on my hobbies including model RRing. My frugalness of the early years is still here and I still build and really have no desire to have a big collection having learned to be more practical. Beside there are grandchildren to spend money on now. I also retired from a career in law enforcement, retiring as the lead investigator in arson/explosives and hazmat and environmental crime and had some presidential security details under the belt in the last years. Went back to work after retiring, as a senior building inspector, and retired the last time as a field supervisor from that. So when I build a structure it is often with that eye toward correctness in what should be on the structure. So my career choices often called for sacrifices, including being away from home for long stretches. Good luck on your choices.
Yes. I have sold off trains to attain a life goal. Parting with treasures was difficult, yet the outcome was worth while. I remained solidly in the hobby and became more focused, which has been good.
As a member of the "older set"...........my initial advice (without fully knowing the circumstances of course), would be to "go for it"!! The trains can always be replaced. It seems you have worked hard already to overcome some stumbling blocks, why not continue?? My whole experience in the hobby has been like this.........in good times, I build and enjoy a layout, and accumulate "stuff". In bad times, or when I get bored, I sell off "stuff" to get something else I like, or to get $$$ for life's necessities. I have always been a member of the "working poor", and am now a disabled veteran, so I have never been able to "hoard" a basement full of trains. Kind of glad, really......I've got a lot of fun from the trains, but they have never taken over my life. I always get in trouble for saying this, but it is my firmly held belief, and I'll claim it as such..............trains are toys after all, and sometimes, you have to put aside your toys for something more important.
I was in a similar situation last July. I wanted to buy my girlfriend an engagement ring. The ring when I was first looking at it was $1,499 and in June had jumped up to $1,699 with the price going up and up due to the market price of metals. Here was the catch, my credit isn't stellar, so getting approved for an account somewhere might be kind of difficult. So I made the decision to sacrifice and liquidate some of my N-scale stuff. This included things like cars, I have if EVER ran on a layout, some locos, some building kits, and even my most prized possesion. Yes I sold my OMI MILW E-79 Little Joe to help pay for the ring. It was a tough pill to swallow, but in the long run, was worth every $0.01 We are getting married in 3 weeks on June 17th!
am currently doing so. began with trimming back what i had as to be in a more time accurate era of steam/deisel transition time. as layout constuction is going to have to wait have been selling turnouts which will give me a fresh start in track planning w/ option of different manufacturer (w/ different angles) when i am at the point of able to construct. am now selling extension sets of Kato passenger series as the basic sets of 9-11 cars are sufficient without the 4 car or two car add on sets, especially when there are 3 or 4 of those add on sets to begin with. will be selling structures still in box and plan to focus more on a particular industry or two and to be more realistic with space available to model urban scene. so, i am guessing this is a worthwhile venture. it does not remove me from the hobby but gets me in a better place with less things in storage, more income that is needed, and better plans for the future. respectfully Gary L Lake Dillensnyder
I used to be into classic cars. I sold my last one to pay off some medical bills and help out financially when my wife and I were first married. I miss that car (68 Barracuda) but don't regret it. If your life's goal is to become and LEO, than I say definitely go for it. I am a graphic artist professionally and when I was starting out, I lived in my Cherokee because I didn't have money for an apartment. However it's what I wanted to do... and I'm still doing it today, though I'd be making more in a factory. While happiness in your work isn't essential, it helps a lot and makes day to day life more enjoyable.
I whole-heartedly agree with all of the supportive comments so far. If you don't make some sacrifices to pursue your dreams, then in the end, all you'll have is a collection of trains and a bunch of unfulfilled dreams. Due to having to cut back and move into a smaller place, I have had to part with some things this year. Since January I have made about $2K so far selling off some locos and rolling stock on Ebay. Be careful though. If you chose that route you'll need superhuman discipline to resist using your newly obtained PayPal funds to turn around and buy new items. Though I had no interest in acquiring anything further during this round of selling, I must admit that I have succumbed and bought some additional items with the newly obtained funds from this sell-off. It's so difficult to stay focused when every email, Ebay page, and notice contains suggestions based on your selling and viewing history. Unfortunately, I now have a growing Watch List that I had no intention of maintaining a few months ago. "#@%$ You Ebay!"
My family was in law enforcement. No one ever heard of the cadet paying for the acadamy. The dept. you'll be working for should be paying.
Thank you guys, all, for the kind words! It's surely a good thing, just a tough thing I'll still be here and still keep model railroading, just doign more with less And Mike- as a non-affiliate in academy, I put myself through the course without needing to be "hired". That means I don't have to find a city/county that isn't too broke to hire/train cadets, and in California that can be difficult! (We have our priorities all messed up here). So, my job opportunities increase a hundredfold as my cost of training is nil. Means I don't have to settle for the Oakland P.D. Bash 'em up Squad, I can potentially write my own ticket. Cheers!
Funny how the tables have turned on training in the last 5 or 10 or so years. Similar situations in IT... No employer want's to take the time and money to train their existing or prospective employees for fear they will take thier training and go get a better job. There's a saying that goes something like "I like my IT budget tight and my developers stupid." The up side to this is that people (like you) will still do what it takes to get what you want, which makes them (you) better at what you want than people who didn't want it bad enough to get thier own. Besides, despite what some would have you believe, this hobby isnt' going to die anytime soon. At least not before you're done with your training and find your ideal job!
About four years ago I was outsourced and I went from 52K a year to 35k a year temping with no bennies About three years ago it was down to 25k a year as a cashier I was upside down on my mortgage I was 3 months late on my mortgage before I knew it, (combine ADD with bad vision) I owed about 5k in credit card debt My vision was failing I was in sever emotional turmoil with a love interest, (I didn't want to fall in love). Over the last 3 years I: Sold off some of my track and trains to "runners" who truly wanted the items, (not collectors or profiteers). Cut my lifestyle significantly and learned how to make pasta and oat meal taste good 12 times a week. Gained control of my wine drinking Learned to cook Learned to only buy staples on sale sale. Had cataract surgery Paid off the credit cards Made good with the bank Allowed myself to fall in love with "Lady Grandure" who stood by me, kept me on target and helped me get through it all. It ain't easy. Not easy at all. Lady Grandure on the "Blakemore Street Bridge" watching trains with me:
Best of luck in your future LEO Career!!! And what's wrong with OPD???? I know a couple of officers there and they love it. But anyway I have sold collections to pay bills when I was laid off. So I know the feeling.
When I was about 24 and been married a couple of years, my wife made me choose between football and study. I chose study and never looked back. It wasn't until about 5 years ago, and after I had retired, that I started my n scale layout after disposing of my Marklin HO collection. That collection funded most of my n scale layout. Career first, hobby second. It's a no brainer. If you need to sell to pay for tuition, then that's the price you pay.
Interesting thread. I'm not sure of the reason, but several years ago, I decided to FOCUS on a specific era (with an absolute cut-off year) and specific place. After doing some research, I decided to model the U.P. "helper district" between Ogden UT and Wahsatch UT in 1951, with the motive power, cars and automobiles allowed to go through 1956. I sold off all the non-U.P. engines I had, everything that was the correct era, but didn't run on that stretch of real estate, and everything that was either too early or post 1956. I had a ton of brass including Amtrak Superliners, the most beautifully detailed Oriental Ltd. FP-40's, brass SD45's, 40-2's 40-2 Snoots, superdetailed Centennials, several U-boats, and several GTEL Big Blow turbines! I made thousands of dollars on the sales...most of the sales were really good, a few were very disappointing. Then, I started selling off my post 1956 rolling stock and plastic motive power at the local shows, and made a lot of money doing that because I had several thousand cars and a lot of engines that didn't fit my time-period! What this did was finance my hobby for several years, buy me top-o-the-line DCC with enough decoders to get a good start at DCC-izing most of my motive power, and all the stuff for building almost a dozen new modules using premium materials. Now, I hardly even look at any release that doesn't represent railroading in my time period or location. This "focus" has made me get ass-up, elbows out on building a pot of new modules, design my modular standards, start a new modular n-scale club, and start designing parts and structures for 3D RP (Shapeways) to get me the pieces and details that simply are not available anywhere. I seem to have much more money available for those pieces that appear that I really need now that I am "disciplined". And...my son has done the same thing, except he's a RSPF (Rabid SP Fanatic). Luckily, the SP ran into Ogden during this time period, with a nice-sized engine facility there until 1952 when the roundhouse came down. I have not had to choose between the hobby or career, but the hobby has saved my life at least once during a business failure, when due to a horribly egregious contract with a competing greeting card company, I was forbidden to do ANY artwork, other than what they approved (the contract was thrown out because, as the judge said "Slavery went out during the Civil War!"), so...no money at all came in for almost a year. I discovered that a lot of model railroading really doesn't cost a lot...particularly scenery and scratch-building structures, and weathering engines and cars...etc., etc. But, the creativity of my model railroading brought me up out of my depression and gave me goals and something to look forward to every day. LE is a great career, and takes a mountain of dedication and self-discipline. I've worked with SWAT teams quite a bit in my varied career inventing and selling weapons-mountable night vision and digital recording devices and I have nothing but respect and admiration for the SPECOP cops. Can't say the same for the LEO's who think writing speeding tickets is what God created them for, but I know it's always a tough job, no matter what the duties are. Truth of the matter is, for most of us, that model railroading is a hobby and on the world scene is relatively insignificant in most respects. If the balloon ever goes up and we all get into survival mode, the toy trains won't seem so important...because they aren't. In the meantime, since the balloon isn't up yet, I'm enjoying being a grown man playing with toy trains about as much as possible! Cheers! Bob Gilmore
I've gone through several ups and downs, but I've always come back. Sometimes the selling hurts, but when you're back in the saddle on the other side it is just as much fun chasing things all over again. I've learned that these are just models and can be sold, replaced, and sold again. My wife calls them my mid-life crisis when I go through the changes.... but if that's all I'm really worried about, things aren't so bad. Family on the other hand....is priceless and worth more to me than any collection or item I have or may have in the future. Good luck in the pursuit of your new career. I have a lot of respect for LEO's and the crap you have to put up with on a daily basis from John Q. Public... Brian
