As long as you are enjoying the hobby, that is all that matters. It is extremely easy to become a “collector” though.

I'm an older guy (66) and I've only been in the hobby 6-7 years, so I don't have the back-story and collection many model railroaders have. I have a display case that holds 25 locomotives. If I have 26 locomotives, then something has to go (I currently have 3 on ebay to make room for locomotives I've ordered). I've become much more selective in what I'm buying, I'm only buying premium rolling stock and locomotives from now on. Anything that doesn't fit that criteria has to go. But it's different for everyone, for some collecting is the hobby and many are nostalgic. There's a hundred ways to be involved in the hobby, we all do it out own way.

I stopped collecting when the display cabinet got full. It's a real problem when have you go back to Ikea to buy more shelving. One thing for sure, you have to take your locomotives out of the boxes to truly appreciate how much you have. Thanks for sharing.

Super. Out of 91 locomotives that I have bought new over the last fifty years, 64 units, from almost every manufacturer there is, (No brass) have proven to be survivors on my railroad. Nineteen locomotives were turned into lighted dummies as malfunctions occured, ten were traded or destroyed by accident, and two are sentimental roundhouse scenery queens, because I bought newer, better versions. These locomotives operate inside and outside, in all kinds of weather, and some of the older models have a nice patina that makes them look very realistic. Hello from the Tracy Mountain Railway in Colorado. 💙 T.E.N.

I'm a big fan of Donner pass. So when your layout is ready to operate you should do a cab ride showing off your handy work.

Despite living on the west coast, I'm modeling near South Bend Indiana in the late 60s the interest came from GTW 5629 and needing a place near Chicago to have steam excursions.

I know what you mean. I bought an Atlas Mp15dc NS non sound. I put sound in it and re decaled it to CIT 1515 not a Proto typical number but it suits me for what I wanted. Happy with it. So I'm not really a Proto typical modeler but it is fun!

I really enjoyed your showcase about can you have too many trains. I have always been fascinated by model trains we have an exceptionally good model train museum here in San Diego in Balboa Park. I have been going to that for years and am a member. I do not have model trains. I have had a toy growing up, but never really got into it, but they have always fascinated me when I go to fair's museums or shows. I really like your KZfaq shows that are remarkably interesting and you enjoy your work. Someday I would not mind seeing your display. Thank you for your time.

Last time i did an inventory of my locomotives it was over 230 engines. Thats not even including self propelled rail cars. This video was very informative thanks for posting it!

Very good thoughts. I downsided my collection to better represent what I wanted to have on the layout. Layout is far away but is still there !!

I once had a big fleet. I reduced it to 8 diesels and 8 steamers (i need to do a recount on NG locos and stock) plus i think 40 cars and 12 coaches.. everything retained was things that were special to me or fit my time period. Occasionally i still get new equipment but only if the price is right and it fits my era (with some exeptions) of the 1920s and 30s. The diesels all come from before i chose this time period but the detail work i put into them to make road accurate models (and i only ever weathered diesels.. never steam) means i will still use them time to time. My layout is a double inglenook (5-3-3 at end, 3-2-2 doubling as a run around for up to 4 cars in the middle with a 4 track slide staging at the end. Total length of 10 foot (8 for layout 2 for staging. It is large enough that i can ise every loco i have comfortably (even the lone large loco.. a reading T1) and 14 cars i can switch between

Thanks Dan, as always, My reasoning for having around 250 locos, is that I can only fit about 8 0r so on the layout, at a time & the rest are stored in drawers.My reasoning is that because I use only about 8 locos at a time, is that 250 locos share the workload,so dont wear out. I are you supposed to do when a reputably company choses to release a model that you NEED.Turn a blind eye??? I think not. It really is a bugger but its just something that has to be done. We, as consumers, are abliged to purchase these models, eh? Although, I confess to shop more on ebay than purchasing brand new. I dont put my locos back in boxes, as they are more "hidden" than having them in drawers, ready to go,The steamers, I have all the tenders connected up ready to go as well as it prevents having to connect & disconnect those electrical plugs.Thanks again fir the video, from an SP & UP modeller.....michael NZ

Glad to hear of the progress on the train room. Very interesting discussion Dan glad to hear your perspective how you got to where you think you will be when the layout is done. Thx for sharing!

Well said! But! When all this cool stuff keeps coming out, it’s hard to do. I have downsided to about 200 locomotives, it’s still too much!

Let’s be wise. Thanks for the advice.

Most people don't realize it but the fuel tanks on the Atlas Santa Fe Dash-8s are too long. Santa Fe's Dash 8's have a shorter fuel tank, with a larger gap between the trucks and fuel tank. If you look at prototype photos side by side with the Atlas model you'll easily notice it.

Q&A - Well I'd say that it depends on what are your goals, where you are in your "modeling" life and your own preferences in the way. Engines are most likely to be out numbers. Especially if you're modeling more than one paint scheme or more than one era. Cause for me, it's possible to run trains (separately) from different eras. I'm trying the best I can to respect rolling stock and engines of the same era running together. Not always the case but that's what I do. So at the end, that's a general question that can't sometimes applied to all modelers. At the end, we're doing it for fun. There's no "need" here. It's a hobby we're doing for as many reasons as there are home layouts. I'm in it for so many years... at this point, I'd say that I'm nearly married to it. Sky is not the limit here... but close to it ! Keep on your good work Dan. Your videos and time sharing are precious to us modelers.

Looking forward seeing progress your layout dan I am doing my collection lately been love life gotten in way I still make tike for my layout and my club as well

Put together a display case and your problem is solved! jk It's really cool your goal is to keep everything displayed on the layout itself.

Can you have to many trains? The easy answer is NO! But, you can run out of space for new trains, at which point you may have to make a couple of tough decisions! A: you stop buying completely and what you have is what you have, or, B: you have to sell off some stuff to make room, or help pay for the new stuff! These are the decisions I'm going to have to start thinking about now! I love buying more trains, the problem is, both the space I have, and my budget for buying more is getting extremely thin at the moment. Plus, I'm going to have to start thinking about working on the house at some point, so now, that's another problem, where to store them once work begins where they're stored at. So in an odd way, the answer is actually both yes and no! No, because they're fun and its cool adding new stuff, but also yes because there's ultimately a limit on how much stuff you can have in a given space and also you can afford!

interesting point you brought up. I often think the same. My layout that i am in the process of building has lower staging as well and a lot of the trains run to and from stagging. What I have discovered is that you cant have to many locomotives but you can limited your freight cars especially on unit trains and mixed freight. I had a layout I visited once where the owner would run the train to and from staging. when the train got to stagging he would swap the power out lash on New Power and send the train back over the layout again. normally to speed up the process he would run the train to stagging uncouple the power on the front hook new power to the rear and re run the train backwards. He explained it as such in the rear world rail fanning you only pay attention to what's at the front and maybe a special car or two by swapping the power and maybe a car or two you give the allusion of a brand new train when in reality its just the same one. Now to help with storage of all these locomotives he had several " power yards" that were on carts so he could easily wheel away entire rosters of locomotives and bring in more in seconds. My home layout I agree you need to work with the space you have which is why I have limited what I buy. Although frequent to the prototype I am after 89 auto boxcars just are difficult size wise to have on my layout I instead opted not to use them because a normal person would not notice them missing and instead buy some enclosed auto racks and piggy backs which would be more noticeable.

I predominantly collect Conrail, though I'll add other locomotives to my collection if I find them interesting or odd (I recently saw a post on social media where someone found an HO scale Japanese-style bullet train in Warbonnet livery, which I'd absolutely see myself buying because yeah, that's definitely weird in an amusing way). I've got plenty of sturdy shelving space, but a lot of it is cube units that need inserts to be utilized more efficiently. Ikea offers them for their "Kallax"-series cube storage, but not Target for their own furniture. It basically means I'll probably need to source or make some custom inserts.

Whose counting I'm in it for the FUN of the WGH😁👍OperateOnOperator

I'm 40 something and finally decided to start getting into the hobby before xmas. Only have 1 train that i absolutely had to have for now and there's 4 that I'd really like to have that I remember from my childhood. Given the price and space I'll have to cap a collection at around 10 maximum.

Modelling the Northeast, there's a lot of individuality among railroads' equipment and levels of variation between units up here. In most cases, locomotives will have their own defining aspects, even for those built in series. I want to portray this uniqueness in my modelling so to this I say... There is no such thing as too many trains!

more pictures of trains would be nice

I think the number of cars and locomotives depends on your operating goals. I model Centralia, IL in the 1955-1960 time frame. Four railroads (IC, CB&Q, Southern and Missouri Illinois). Centralia was the main access to the Southern Illinois, Western Kentucky coalfields and a division point on the IC. I'm estimating I need 400 hoppers and gondolas just to model the coal traffic. The CB&Q was almost all coal but the IC was coal and mainline traffic including 15 passenger trains a day. The Southern was mostly thru traffic into St Louis and the M&I served several industries in town. There was a refinery, two wholesale grocery warehouses, bulk oil dealers, a grain elevator, oil field supply companies...........The IC had a large car shop and the division point engine facility serviced 120 locomotives from 3 divisions. That's a lot of railroad in a town of 12,000. I'm planning staging in a separate room in my 30x40 building with shelves to hold the equipment that's not on the layout and so it's easy to change some out between operating session. I think you should have whatever amount of equipment makes you happy. With the hobby always evolving and new more detailed equipment becoming available I find the hard choice is deciding what older equipment to sell off and replace with new better detailed equipment or if it's a better use of my time to detail the old equipment to a higher standard. When I started back in the hobby I didn't have any layout and I built models. When I started the layout I soon discovered that there wasn't time to build hundreds of cars to a highly detailed standard. Compromises have to be made based on time, money and your hobby goals. The right answer to this question will be different for everyone.

Too many or not, one thing that doesn't lose value is train stuff, especially the Big Boy. So there is at least an investment factor there.

I have over 30 DCC/sound locomotives. The chances of running all of those units are very slim. I may end up selling some of those units.

when you talk about building a 40 ft train when you can only park a 20 ft train....i feel like you need to clip that and send it to all the class one railroads. they desperately need to hear that with all their PSR nonsense. And I like your idea for the staging yard so you can have what feels like a real day trackside in your era you model. That is a smart idea.

Collections often fa exceed practical use. Face it,, there are a lot of excellent models out there and for an analog guy like myself, a pickers paradise since many are being sold off to be replaced by DCC models.

Great discussion. I guess it comes down to who you ask. If you ask a model railroader, they always want something else but if you ask their spouse, what they have already is too much. I’m looking forward to seeing the new layout get started. Is this the same Donner Pass plan that you talked about about 9 months ago or have there been changes?

My intention is to stop when the display case is full and have a few on the layout. I only collect CSX and I limit the collection to somewhat unique models like primer scheme, heritage, MOW and things like that. I do not want any in boxes, that does not make any sense to me.

i have 30 big boys & 4 challengers & a few other articulated but only top out @ 50 steam & 20 diesels

You can have too much of anything .. but you begin to refine and get rid of the cheaper pieces

Glad to hear it’s coming along. You have an ideal operating session size in mind? Would love to operate in the future on the layout and I live in the Bay Area so I’m to far from you.

Can never have too many trains in collection, amount of trains on 1 layout is another thing

Trying to keep score of my power. I posted 6.5 video's of just my HO roster. Its got bigger since then lol. Didnt cover my N or G😋 Still watching🚂🇨🇦🇺🇲🙋

A layout tour would be nice.

Te quiero mandar un gran abrazo desde Montevideo. Uruguay. Me encantan los vídeos y revisiones de productos que realizas. Me gustaría que realizaras un análisis en profundidad de la Big boy en escala n de Kato. El modelo no es dcc ready como punto en contra a pesar de que pueda rodar en 11 pulgadas el modelo analógico. Disculpa que te escribo en español. saludos.

Your story is very similar to mine I think if I went strictly prototype I would have to get rid of half or more of my collection....that simply isn't going to happen so my pike is in an alternate universe. (Hey it worked for Marvel...okay maybe not) my issue is I just can't bring myself to sell so the collection grows even though deep down I know it's not sustainable...

It sounds like to me.. you want to change every model.. just paint the1st one... second one use it.. 3rd one use it.. why does every model have to be changed, weathered and add sound and all the bells n whistles.... sheessshh..... if you dont want to do that then move them on.. simple.... why does everyone want to change the models.. if you buy it like that then use it like that.... I really dont see the issue.. but thats just me.. each to their own tho and I get it.. but sometimes people go over board like your saying in the first 3minutes.. I need to do this and that and this and that to each of the models.. why not paint the first one use it.. the second and third are fine just use them... either dont buy them in that condition or do them up and get rid of them but only a few at a time not lots of locos with that amount of work needed... and if you dont know how many you have then you have too many simple answer..

👍👍👍👍👍

Do you have a link to your eBay page so we can watch for future listings you may have?

I have no layout simply set up my ho kato unitrak around my living room 22" curves and about 30' of straight and 1 turnout. Currently I own 71 locomotives 99% are steam diesel transition era and only 2 of those are dcc as i prefer old school DC only. I have roughly 250 cars of all types and 3 passenger trains. Do I have too much? Id like to build a layout but just dint have room for one to accommodate the length of trains i prefer to run. I'm 41 now been collection trains pretty much my entire life and will until they throw dirt over me. :)

He who dies with the most trains wins.

👍🤠👍

If you do? I'll take some

If you ever decide to start a help group for compulsive loco purchasers please let me know, I will be your first member. 😊

I switched to HO in 2019 I was in N I had about 50 N scale locomotives and about 2000 N scale freight cars. I'm still selling off the N while I need to finish wiring my HO layout I have about 80 HO locomotives but probably 1000 freight cars in HO. My goal is to reduce buying more HO and actually get it running and start my KZfaq channel for the layout. I need to organize the trains better.

What is your ebay listing Dan?

I Am Looking for Engines For My Ho And N Scale When I Get Done with That then I Will Go for the Rolling Stock. When My wife And I Have What we Are Looking For Then We Have enough.

Easy… If you forgot that you had it, then don’t run it when you rediscover it. Then it’s too much. For me, it’s when I stop giving my engines names or remembering they had one. Time to slow down. Buying should be a pleasure not a pavlovian reflex…

Hard Question very Debatable on That.

That's an easy one, nope 🙅‍♂️

my collection is pointedly tailored to my operations, PERIOD... no extra that is beyond any wild excess... i am all in on becoming a MODEL RAILROADER and have ZERO interest in becoming a "collector"

Oh boy here we go with the obvious talking point videos. I hate these. A video personality talking about common sense things that we all know the answers to in order to gen up more views because its somewhat click attractive.

Yes. If you just buy anything and everything with no plan or purpose in mind. You end up with a house full of crap and junk. Serious guys only buy things that fit into the story they are trying to tell.