I think that's For The Win. I'm reminded of a cartoon published many years ago, the caption of which reads: "I spent most of my money on wine, women and song, and like a fool, I wasted the rest!"
to little and not enough currently: 2 steam engines (0-6-0 and a 2-8-2. The 2-8-2 im still hunting down a tender for, its a kato heavy mikado) 8-10 assorted freight cars For HO: 2 engines (santa fe F7 and chessie gp38-2) 10 assorted freight cars 2 napa valley wine train cars (still in box) im "disassembling" all my HO stuff due to no interest on any sites it gets listed.
60 mixed freight cars. All on the layout. All either out running on the mains or staged in T.H.E. Lucky Penny Yard. All get their fair share of mileage !! No hidden staging. (opppssss...forget that consist was under there !!) No boxes or totes full stashed somewhere. (Wowsers...I forgot I even had those cars !!!) No fancy display cases. (If they got wheels...they get run !!!) 6 Amtrack passenger cars. These stay in T.H.E. Lucky Penny Yard till THE Wife decides she wants to run em ;-) 6 older mixed passeneger cars. These are on THE Wifes Excursion Train. Parked at the passenger terminal in Jeans Valley if I am running 2 freights on the mains. 10 caboosesesseseses. Usually run with my freights. Best way to tell if cars came unhooked somewhere ( Hey look...where is the caboose ?!!!) 1 Steam Locomotive (DC) Doomed to be on static display at the passenger station in Jeans Valley :-( 10 Diesel Locomotives (DC) Awaiting $$$$ and decoder installs :-( 9 Diesel Locomotives (DCC) All get their fair share of rail time When I get new cars or different 'hand me downs'...I give away some of the other cars so I always have right at 60 freight cars on the layout at all times
Almost 59 years in the hobby (started at 8). Raised 4 kids which only left time for armchair railroading and excessive collecting. 889 Freight cars (need to sell off about 500) 75 Passenger Cars 128 Engines (mostly cheap ones) (101 diesel; 5 Electric; 4 RDCs; 16 steam; 2 trolleys)
I keep track of mine using "MiTrains". I have 334 locomotives, 3020 freight cars, and 672 passenger cars
Before I started thinning out my collection to buy my wife her ring, I had in excess of 170 feight cars (75 of which are log cars), 26 locos, and about 10 passenger cars. And thing that sucks about that. I STILL have no layout!
I also use Excel to track loco's rolling stock and orders.. I have: 79 loco's all DCC'ed and all operational 384 operational cars with 21 of those being cabeese..
I went down to my workshop, started counting cars, got to my unfinished kitbashed UP CA-1 caboose...took it over to the bench and started working on it....lost count. I've got enough to run several east and west bound trains (at 30 cars max length) and several east and west bound passenger trains in the same op session...that's good enough for me. Cheers! Bob Gilmore
300 passenger cars 940 freight car (including the 159 tank cars I just added) 200 locomotives collecting since 1977
Last time I tried counting, I lost track after 300 cars. Not too much in passenger equipment. No current idea on how many locomotives. I'm sure a few friends, or my folks would say Too Many!! Which may be true, but..... My Dr asks about the collection, when I go in for monthly check ups. Asked yesterday, what I had tied up in my collections, insured, inventoried etc... Not yet, but something I probably need to look into real quick! One question though: HOW does one put a price on various pieces? Regular equipment, special runs, limited editions, brass etc...?
Without digging into my database, about 150 engines, 3200+ cars. Started N scale when I was about 11 or 12. That would be 40 years ago.
Well, I own a total of 9 cars and 3 engines. I have some other stuff, but it's in very poor shape and is actually some of my dad's old stuff, so I don't consider it part of my 'collection'. Everyone has to start somewhere I guess, my beginning just happens to be small and detailed!
How I inventory cars Offshoot topic that several have been discussing as a side issue to how many cars.... I have repeatedly been wanting to show how I keep my inventory of rolling stock in a table made in MS Word but have not been able to figure out how to display a table here. I finally figured out I could copy and paste part of a word file as an image into Photoshop. Doesn't display perfectly, but I cleaned it up and redrew the table lines that didn't display to give an approximation of part of my inventory. I am interesting in what prototype is modeled, much more than how many models I have from a particular manufacturer, so my inventory is by prototype road name and road number first. This is from my boxcar page, which I format as a "landscape" across the 11 inch page. I have approximately 100 boxcars and you can tell from the beginning of the alphabetical list, I am heavy on Santa Fe. After the reporting marks, the AAR car type. (what is listed in Official Register as AAR Mechnical Designation). XM is regular boxcar. Next the RAILROAD's class number where known. This is often a quick reference top theb history of the car. The Marking/Appearance column is my "cheater" indicator. What is a big identifying mark on the car other than the official reporting mark so I don't ALWAYS have to read the tiny numbers. For Santa Fe house cars, it is the name train slogan. For many private owner reefers, it is the name of the lessee company like DUPONT, DOW, SUN that is in big letters while the legal repoting marks may be GATX etc. "Description" is the prototype description, such as length- 40', DD for double door, SSh for single sheath, USRA, PS-1 etc. authen? how close does it onform to a prototype? FINALLY, the model information- what kind of coupler does it have? who is the model manufacturer? what is the catalog number? The note that says xMKT means this car was painted for MKT when I bought it. but I repainted it to what I wanted. How I keep cars when not on the layout? Usually in inch deep boxes by car type... Returning to the original question- about 300 freight cars, 50 passenger cars, 50 locomotives - but about 15 are unpowered dummies.
Been in N scale now for 11 years. Got 157 locos, 1527 freight cars, 32 passenger cars, 13 BN Business cars. So far I also have 8 of the cars from the American Freedom Train from Lowell Smith. Also on my inventory I got 176 intermodal container or trailers. I also use an excel spreadsheet.
N scale since 1987... over 50 locos, over 400 freight cars, 40 passenger cars 3x7' HCD layout to run it all.. Doh!
I use an excel spreadsheet, mostly so I don't buy duplicates at train shows. 425 freight cars, 52 passenger cars, 98 locomotives (120 if you count the powered B units).
Last count I can recall was 63 and 21 locos. But my collecting is finished. But then again I also model HO and Z not as many cars and locos in either of the others thank goodness. I'd need a larger house.....LMBO! PLus I could really have a Collection sale still have all that I need and feed a few folks for awhile which would feel much better than housing a bunch of cars I don't use. To tell the truth.
135 locomotives almost all diesel 691 freight cars 83 passenger cars 208 structure kits 42 years in N scale. I've been using MS Access, but I'm going back to Excel. I'm tired of redoing the reports everytime MS changes Access.
