If people wish to start or participate in these topics, they are quite free to do so. Those who wish to go play in their train rooms are encouraged to do so, and leave the other members alone.
I hereby restore this thread to its originally intended subject. Peace out. --- On a serious note I would: Save all of my bullet trains Save all of my beer can tank cars (and have them upgraded with brass fittings) Save all of my 70 Ton ore cars, (upgraded with brass fittings) Save 12 to 18 mixed modern grain cars Fill in around the corners with the best of my remaining. Ironically I will never have to make this decision as I will go from N to O when I change over.
So the question I have for this thread, which doesn't seem to be asked, is WHY am I being limited to 110 cars? There has to be a reason why I need to drop my inventory from what it is to just 110 cars. Why not 100 cars, or 1000 cars, or 10000 cars?
Actually I find these posts quite amusing and nowhere near serious. Fantasies, probably, but for fun. How anybody can get upset because someone poses a theoretical question is beyond me. I can state for sure that not every single railroader has carefully chosen or continues to be enamored of certain cars, locos, or even whole passenger trains. How can anyone enjoy the stuff he never uses or sometimes never sees? Maybe these posts will get these people thinking about what they really want to save, and focus their attention on getting a running layout done. But don't regard them like they were plots to come and take away your trains. Now ... what 113 YELLOW or RED painted cars you own are the ones you like best?:teeth:
I'm sure it was simply a randomly chosen number. There had to be a starting point. Any number might be selected, and many might wonder why.
I counted em today... I have 78 freight cars in my fleet...including cabeese and MOW and ??? THE Wife has 7 passenger cars for her excursion train. Thats 85 cars total. 110 minus the 85 I have means I can go shopping for 25 more cars... WoooooooooHoooooooo...YEsssssssssss !!!! :teeth:
However as Bob pointed out, why would anyone want to limit the total amount one could have? And for the last line, not everyone is in a permanent location to build said layout. So for people like me, we're saving up equipment for the day where we one day have our "dream" home with our dream layout. And the way the model railroad industry is, if I want to one day have such and such car or loco, I better get it now, otherwise its hunt the used market and no guarantee on if or when I'll ever find it there. I am pretty positive I'll be moving homes atleast once more, probably more. And my "dream" layout, don't want it sectional, as I don't feel I can do what I want if it is a sectional layout. As for enjoyment, some get it from collecting, for those, you basically said they are doing it wrong and need to focus and get a layout and run their trains. Probably not what you are saying, but a collector could take it that way.
There are a lot of "What If....?" scenerios that could limit the # of trains one could have. There have already been a lot of modelers who have had to 'cut back' for one reason or the other. So its just a hypothetical question. Just something to think about. If people dont want to think about it or dont want to participate...thats ok too. No one is asking anyone to pick their favorite child...sheeeeshhhhhhh. For MOST people...It's just a hobby !!! I suppose one could simple just ask "What are you favorite 110 freight cars?" Much the same as "What is your favorite road to model?" "What are your favorite locomotves?" "What era do you model?" Putting a # on the question just makes some have to think a little harder on which ones. Nothing devious about it. Just a fun question with some fun and interesting answers.
BoxcabE50 and Ike the bn freak, To answer your question. Simple yes was a starting point and to be on a practical scale without going overboard. Possibly there are many of us N-SCALERS which do not have that large a layout we are on a limited Budget and limited amount of space. Lastly, most of us NSCALERS are not not like Allen McClelland , G.Sellios or the late John Allen etc.. we do not have the space ie, spare bedroom or room in the basement or building to accommodate such a layout, then again their are other priorities we have to deal with! I trust one may see why I chose 110 cars. Tom
Interesting, a tough question. A tougher question is what do I do with all the cars over 110? Where does the other 98% go?
For those who are collectors. Nobody is asking you to get rid of your collection. So perhaps the question doesnt hold water for you. Thats ok. Years ago I had quite an extensive Nascar collection. Just because I enjoyed collecting Nascar stuff and looked at it as an investment. Years later I sold most of it to help finance my kids thru college. Nothing wrong with that either. As far as my trains... I have told THE Wife a thousand times...When I die...just sell the trains for pennies on the dollar and go buy some more beer for my Wake !!!!! LMAO ;-)
George, I am just posing the counter point. what do we do if we have way more than 110. The 98% is a rhetorical number, just like the 110. It seems fair that if we have to trim down, the topic of disposal is also within the scope of the post. Sort of a Point - Counter Point like Saturday Night Live's Weekend Edition...... the Jane Curtain and Dan Aykroyd years
What I like a lot about the premiss of this and the other threads is it reveals our differing priories. It also helped me to decide just what I'll be de- accumulating. If nothing else, it may have given me an idea of who might want what of the stuff I have. Hmmm
If the question was taken serious and someone had to get rid of the 'extras' I can think of lots of ways to 'dispose' of them. Donate some to a 'club'. Donate some to a charity. Donate some to friends ;-) Sell em all to a collector....you could probably recoup a good portion of your investment. H*ll...Sell 25 of em to me...LOL. I know it wont put a dent in the 98% but would up up my #'s to 110 ...LOL. Then there is always Ebay...if ya have the patience for that. ;-)
At one time, I had the four digit rolling stock accumulation. It simply did not serve me as thought, originally. Now I keep it pared down to about a couple of hundred, and that works quite well, for my purposes. If I thinned that to a favorite 110, well, I might be able to reach such a number. But having two scenarios, c1955 and Spring of 1968, I probably would be getting a bit too sparse in a few areas.
First on my list of de-accumulations will be most of my MT 'runner packs' and all of my MT - 'battleship' cars. That will be easy. Those will be followed by most of my Atlas Trainman cars and any others of questionable quality. Again, these threads helped a lot in achieving this focus.
Tom, I understand this is all rhetorical, however you said many N scalers don't have the room. However N scale has this awesome thing called N-Trak. Where all a modeller needs is 2x4 module, and get together will others, and you can have a huge layout where one can routinely run trains with over 100 cars.
This 110 car limit was an interesting exercise for me. I have around 400 cars, less than half in operating condition with knuckle couplers, and a layout under construction, not yet running at all, which will probably accommodate 110 cars at once. I would prefer a few more cars to cycle on and off so unusual cars would only appear occasionally. I accepted 110 as a reasonable number, but i had to calculate it on a spreadsheet to fight with myself over refiguring the total as I added and (mostly) subtracted cars. My layout will be an end-of-the-line seaport with no through traffic whatsoever. Every car on the layout will be switched somehow instead of just going by in a through train. Operations to fit my prototype location are a major consideration. I will need to keep two passenger trains- not “sets” from model manufacturers but consists accumulated from varied sources. Santa Fe all-streamlined Texas Chief: Rapido RPO (45-year-old model), ConCor baggage, Union Station “Jim Crow” segregated coach, JnJ etched-sides coach, Kato diner and lounge, ConCor and BrassCarSides (brand) sleepers, 8 cars. Heavyweight express-accommodation- MTL RPO, express box, reefers, baggage, M&R coaches, Atlas sleeper (45-year-old model), 7 cars. These I just HAVE to keep. Some cars are part of special unit-train operations directly connected to my prototype port. A dozen SFRD reefers for a solid trainload of bananas north when the once-a-week banana boat arrives on its regular schedule. A fleet of 8 special-design sulphur gondolas for a unit train- my proto was the world’s largest sulphur export terminal. I have only scratchbuilt 2 sulphur gons so far... A fleet of 8 hoppers to concentrate at the ore dock when an ore ship arrives. Really should be a much large accumulation- I already have 12 cars for this service but oops, the 110 limit AND my layout spur capacity limit... The biggie- grain and cotton export loads in boxcar. I would like to have TWO unit trains mostly boxcars to the export elevator in grain harvest season. About a 20 car train would be the limit for the staging and yards on my layout. I figure my 110 cars to include 26 boxcars for grain, cotton and general merchandise: 12 Santa Fe, 6 other Texas railroads like MP, SP, CB&Q, MKT, CRIP, 5 “special signature” design cars- a PRR X-29, B&O wagontop, Milwaukee horizontal rib, etc. The limit forces me to cut other cars to 1 or 2 each- 1 automobile boxcar, 1 depressed flat, 1 bulkhead-end wallboard flat, 2 covered hoppers for the concrete ready-mix plant, 2 gondolas for dredged oystershell, 2 mill gondolas for structural steel to the barge works... Plus at least one superinsulated reefer for frozen seafood from the shrimp fleet. Really need two or three to provide daily service but the limit force me to cut... One private reefer for the Swift distributor which leased part of the cold storage at the ice plant. Two tankcars for bulk oil dealers Three other miscellaneous tanks. Plus one helium car for the Navy blimps One boxtank for industrial gases And finally, 5 cabooses. I will probably keep somewhat more cars than this 110 but cycle them on and off
