Lima HO scale Orient Express passenger car set...

...picked up from a box of castoffs at a local train museum.


Restaurant Car


Salon Pullman


First Class Pullman, one of two


Express Baggage
I am ever mindful of my mortality and endeavor to 1. Keep my hobby simple and inexpensive and 2. Keep my beloved informed of the value and how to properly dispose of what models I have.

How these (and many others from that box) went from one modeler's collection to mine is simple really. No doubt, the original owner fell ill or died several years earlier. Family members then tore down the layout and boxed it up, probably intending to sell them once they knew what they had. Days turned into weeks, then months, then years, all the while the boxes gather dust and other flora and fauna out in the drafty old shed out back. Mom then passes away and the family is left to clear out the house, garage and shed so that they can settle the estate among them. The boxes are found, now not worth much to them so they pass them on to the local museum for a tax write-off. Local museum has no idea what to do with them so they set the boxes out for any and all passersby to pick and choose what they'd like. Few pieces actually go anywhere because they are mostly "old toy junk" and "European stuff" until I came along.

It is a sad story I see too many times. Please, please let your family in the loop. Make sure they know what you have and how much it's worth. Do not depend on local train clubs and other modelers to help you through. At best, too often they are well meaning and ill informed, at worst you will generate a flock of buzzards looking to pick you clean at any estate auction. Even better, pare down to the essentials (if such a word could rightly be used of a hobby) and enjoy it on a smaller scale. Contrary to the popular bumper sticker, the truth is---He who dies with the most toys is still dead.