Seems like most O gaugers (and other ga. ) may start with a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood or a ping pong table layout. After the novelty wears off they decide to get real and build em like they 'should be', a 'for real' pike. So they (we) cut and saw and buy and build and gradually (or instantly depending on ones purse size) become the owner of a mega O ga (or S or HO.....) layout. All 'works of art' and skill and visual/mechanical wonders.

When it comes time to move, or is time to greet the Great CEO in the Sky, their heirs wonder what to do with the 'Monster in the Basement, Garage, Attic, or wherever else Mr. Modeler was able to glean for their layout.

Other than sell the rolling stock, there is No Logical Way one can salvage or run the now defunct RR empire. I mean, nearly all this stuff is built as if the layout builder will live forever. We can easily revise/change all the other rooms in the house but NOT the $$$ and hours spent on the layout.

In retrospect, with myself included, this is far from bright or intelligent thinking. We can will or gift our furniture, books, pocket watches, dishes, sculpture or such, but not this important hobby that has taken up so much of ones' time and money.

Pretty strange. Beyond strange?

L

Right, I also am a member of this short sighted approach.....

I think if I had the room for a large layout, I would build it like a modular layout. That way if something did come up it could be moved with minimal effort. Custom layout builders do it all the time, build it in their shop, disassemble it to move, move it to the customers location and assemble. You can also change out sections much easier if you get bored with a certain area of your layout without tearing most of it down.

While plans should be made to help ease the burden on those "left behind" I think we need to live our lives for us first. I can't imagine not doing something I enjoy just because my time and money will be gone when I am. While I hope I am in the neighborhood of 50+ years away from this, I have thought about it a little recently. I have some pretty heavy and odd items that I don't envy others having to deal with...like heavy metal roll signs from subway cars, actual subway doors - yes sliding doors! along with a bunch of other stuff. But, if the alternative is not enjoying it myself then that's not a good solution either.

I think we just build for ourselves. Not planing to "Get our money back out of it" Just becouse thats what makes us happy.

I started my "lifetime" layout when I was 40 and my kids were toddlers. Now one is one her own and the second is almost out. I weighed the likelihood of my ever finishing the layout (nil) against the possibility of something happening to me and the burden it would put on my family to figure out what to do with the layout and the trains. At that point I decided to take everything down and pack it away carefully so that my family could easily put it in storage or consign it.

Now I am building a portable O gauge layout, and after I finish that I'll build a portable "N" scale layout. So I'll still have plenty to do, but I won't be leaving as much of a burden to my family if something happens to me.

I wanted to build my layout in a modular fashion, but then the passion of wanting to get the benchwork done fast and the track layed so I could actually run trains overcame this logical desire for a modular layout. It is much easier just to build something without worrying about it ever being taken apart then it is to build it with the thought that someday it will all be gone.

On a side note, how many of us have not wanted to move to a new home because of all the time and money we have put into our layouts? In some ways, our layouts are like an anchor...

You make a good point.
I had not thought about it, but my benchwork is modular, without having made a specific decision on it. I was just thinking last night that I need to get some removable pin hinges.
Now having said that, several modules are 4' x 8' in size!!! Perhaps some adjustment is in order on those.

Russell

I lived in my last home 10 years and never felt secure enough to build a layout that wouldn't have to be torn down right away. I was correct because something told me we were not in the right place and we did move. I was in my present home 5 years and took a close look at my prospects for staying put. Since I saw nothing on the horizon for at least 20 years I started building. Does not seem like I will ever get to a reasonable finish. When the time comes I will salvage the wire and cut the structure up with a power saw. If there is a next layout I will be too old to do framework and will use simple 4x8's on saw horses.

Like any major facet of ones life, they should plan so to minimize the effects of their hiers or for moving the layout.

I was asked to take down a layout in return I could take whatever I could scavenge. The trains were already gone but I still rescued some good stuff from the dump. The agent was going to just call one of those trash haul it places. EEEEEEEEEEEk. Please no train stuff to the dump. I couldn't take what was going to be left of the benchwork but it was just a hodge podge of cheapo wood anyway.

I have rescued a few things from going to the dump so far. I don't get much out of it but it has made me aware that when its time for me to have a layout, I plan to build in features/instructions for dismantling.

quote:

Other than sell the rolling stock, there is No Logical Way one can salvage or run the now defunct RR empire. I mean, nearly all this stuff is built as if the layout builder will live forever. We can easily revise/change all the other rooms in the house but NOT the $$$ and hours spent on the layout.

Do you operators build layouts as investments, or as a source of pleasure?

At my demise, I would think my wife would sell the house and leave the layout for the new owners to dispose. She has said when I die she's going to yard sell the engines and rolling stock, as no one in my family (to date) has any interest in trains. I always reply to the yard sale threat with the standard cliche, "When I'm dead, I won't care", which is the bottom line. Diet, don't smoke, exercise, die anyway ! Enjoy it while you can like there is no tomorrow! And when the morrow comes, embrace it cause you'll drive yourself nuts pondering about it.

Stack

PLEASE, STOP PLANNING AND BUILD YOUR LAYOUT NOW!!! Whether it's permanent or modular, just build it while you still can!

All my life I had been collecting and saving for my retirement. I had collected about $10,000 worth of N scale trains and plastic model airplane and automobile kits. I had built the benchwork for the N layout, but I was waiting until retirement to finish it.

Then about four years ago, I went blind. I recovered some of my sight, but I'm still legally blind. (I have to use text-to-speech software to use the computer.) I suddenly found myself "retired" without the ability to enjoy all that I had collected.

I sold the N scale trains and plastic models to buy O scale, which I thoroughly enjoy.

Then I died one day. ...on my wife's birthday, no less! No, really. (I wanted to take her someplace expensive for her birthday. Well, you can't beat the hospital for expensive!) My son was home from school and found me lying on the bed with my eyes and mouth open, not breathing. He brought me back. I've now used about four of my nine lives, by the way.

I decided it was time to quit planning for the future and start living my life. I have a small O27 layout built on a door. I can't build much because I can't see very well, I'm very weak, and I'm stuck in a wheelchair, so I'm putting Lionel FasTrack on the old N benchwork. Obviously, the old track plan had to be modified!

Dang, that sounded like a bunch of doom and gloom! I'm actually leading a very happy retirement now, and I'm living like there's no tomorrow.

Rick

quote:

Originally posted by ricomon:
PLEASE, STOP PLANNING AND BUILD YOUR LAYOUT NOW!!! Whether it's permanent or modular, just build it while you still can!

All my life I had been collecting and saving for my retirement. I had collected about $10,000 worth of N scale trains and plastic model airplane and automobile kits. I had built the benchwork for the N layout, but I was waiting until retirement to finish it.

Then about four years ago, I went blind. I recovered some of my sight, but I'm still legally blind. (I have to use text-to-speech software to use the computer.) I suddenly found myself "retired" without the ability to enjoy all that I had collected.

I sold the N scale trains and plastic models to buy O scale, which I thoroughly enjoy.

Then I died one day. ...on my wife's birthday, no less! No, really. (I wanted to take her someplace expensive for her birthday. Well, you can't beat the hospital for expensive!) My son was home from school and found me lying on the bed with my eyes and mouth open, not breathing. He brought me back. I've now used about four of my nine lives, by the way.

I decided it was time to quit planning for the future and start living my life. I have a small O27 layout built on a door. I can't build much because I can't see very well, I'm very weak, and I'm stuck in a wheelchair, so I'm putting Lionel FasTrack on the old N benchwork. Obviously, the old track plan had to be modified!

Dang, that sounded like a bunch of doom and gloom! I'm actually leading a very happy retirement now, and I'm living like there's no tomorrow.

Rick

Wow, what a story! I agree with you 100% though... there is no time like the present to get started on doing the things you want to do... like building a layout.

quote:

Originally posted by ricomon:
PLEASE, STOP PLANNING AND BUILD YOUR LAYOUT NOW!!! Whether it's permanent or modular, just build it while you still can!

All my life I had been collecting and saving for my retirement. I had collected about $10,000 worth of N scale trains and plastic model airplane and automobile kits. I had built the benchwork for the N layout, but I was waiting until retirement to finish it.

Then about four years ago, I went blind. I recovered some of my sight, but I'm still legally blind. (I have to use text-to-speech software to use the computer.) I suddenly found myself "retired" without the ability to enjoy all that I had collected.

I sold the N scale trains and plastic models to buy O scale, which I thoroughly enjoy.

Then I died one day. ...on my wife's birthday, no less! No, really. (I wanted to take her someplace expensive for her birthday. Well, you can't beat the hospital for expensive!) My son was home from school and found me lying on the bed with my eyes and mouth open, not breathing. He brought me back. I've now used about four of my nine lives, by the way.

I decided it was time to quit planning for the future and start living my life. I have a small O27 layout built on a door. I can't build much because I can't see very well, I'm very weak, and I'm stuck in a wheelchair, so I'm putting Lionel FasTrack on the old N benchwork. Obviously, the old track plan had to be modified!

Dang, that sounded like a bunch of doom and gloom! I'm actually leading a very happy retirement now, and I'm living like there's no tomorrow.

Rick

Not doom and gloom at all. Its a lot of info there we should all live by!! People ask what you would do on your last day alive... well... it just might be!!

The hobby means something far different for me. I have never built a layout ever thinking how I would financially recover from its existance. A train layout is built ONLY for the builder and his friends or family to enjoy. If you build a layout considering how intellegent an investment it is, you built a layout for entirely the wrong reason.

It is only for you to enjoy, to learn from, and to share with others what you have learned. It is simply a vehicle to be used to enrich your life. It is a tool you use to enhance your memories, your knowledge, or your pleasure. Its value is in how you use it. What others do with it after you leave is for them to decide, based on their values.

Jim Barrett

Before I got started on this hobby my wife and I had purchased a 35' travel trailer which was located in a campground in Chestertown,MD along the Chester river.Over the next few years we acquired a golf cart and a 16' bow rider boat with a 50HP Mercury outboard engine. We sunk a lot of time & money into this adventure but we enjoyed every minute we got to use the campground.

When we started getting more active in the train hobby we attended a lot of train shows and visited museums, etc. therefore spending less and less time with our camper.

We decided to sell everything and basically broke out even. When we began building our train layout we thought we would only be building a 4x8 layout which would not be too much of a hassle if we needed to tear it down someday. Now that we have a 8x16 layout we are enjoying it now while we can. In ten years or so if I decide to downsize or move than I'll worry about disassembling the layout. As long as I get enjoyment out of running my trains and sharing the hobby with others the investment I have made in the layout is paying off for me.

Steve Tapper

I'm currently building a layout in a small room that is fairly permanent. (It's not modular do the room shape.) I'm planning on living here for a quite a while but probably not all my life so someday this will need to be ripped out. I'm building it with the intention of being able to reuse the background buildings and other scenic elements but probably not the bench work and track as it'll be ballasted down. If I get 10 - 15 years of use out of it, I'll be OK with sacrificing the track down the road if needed. Maybe the next one I'll build will be modular. Regardless, I'm happy to be building a layout right now, even if it'll be destroyed down the road.

Build it while you can,I know a young man who was on top of the world and 31 yrs old who just left by ambulance yesterday whos outlook at this time for living is bleak.He drove a nice beemer. Nice home and wife and two kids and thought he would live forever and had so many plans.He now has two inoperable tumors on the brain and some brain damage and memmory loss ,seizures and muscle spasms and due to health has lost the Beemer and a lot that he had been collecting and now about to lose his home and has not much hope for a future and I have watched him slide down hill the past year and have loaned him money just to buy his meds with. Life is short and if you dont enjoy what you like to do you might never get the chance again.Im lucky in the fact if I pass I have 10 children and 25 granchildren and several enjoy the hobby and my trains will be taken care of and still ran and loved. So enjoy life and do what you love while you still can.

Lotta variants in the chat here. What makes me feel good is that there
is a whole spectrum of reasons,cures, and whatever.

For those that have read into my post regarding the dollar, I have NOT pointed
to the dollar, I have pointed to those human beings that are our kin AND heirs,
that may also love the choo choos, but are UNABLE TO RECEIVE THIS HUGE
REMEMBERANCE of ____ (your name goes here)_____ and the times he spent
with him and his marvelous RR.

Even with a garden folks, lovely as Aunt Susie's or Dad and Moms one may
be, one of the first things survivors want to do is rescue some of their favorite
tulips or hydrangia bush to then put in their own yard as a rememberence.

Money aside people, you/we have already spent it on the RR. Its the 'Great
Moving Landscape in the Basement, with its memories, we are talking about.

And the major point is there are no logical breakaway points, nothing sized
to get up the stairs and out the door, no readable diagrams for rewiring, no
jack plugs between the pieces, and so on.

Yr humble and Obt. Servant gave his starter HO layout to his best friend. Said
layout was in another city. He called me and asked if he could have it for his
11 yr old son. SURE said I. But you will have to sort out the controls and
wiring. Including for turnouts and blocks!!!! NET RESULT. They got it, and
it SAT. No idea how to make it work. Size about 6 x 10 or so.

L

quote:

And the major point is there are no logical breakaway points, nothing sized to get up the stairs and out the door, no readable diagrams for rewiring, no jack plugs between the pieces, and so on.

If and when I move onto the "Great Beyond", I couldn't care less what happens to the layout and trains. After all, my problems are over. It's not my problem any more.

I, for one, plan on living forever or I will die trying.

Disposing of loved ones' estates is a fact of life that almost everyone will have to experience in some form at some point or other. Written instructions and a proper inventory of a collection (with notes pointing to rare or potentially valuable items) is all that is really necessary, IMHO, to help dispose of our trains in the absence of someone to which they can be given in a will.

Andy

quote:

Originally posted by Mark Diff:If and when I move onto the "Great Beyond", I couldn't care less what happens to the layout and trains. After all, my problems are over. It's not my problem any more.

"If"? Are there other options?

No, it's not your problem any more. Only that of your loved ones. I'm sure you would not want to burden their memory of you with a load of problems.

Again thanks all for the interesting discussion.
The messages say a lot about the individual posting one, of course.
Whatever will be will be.

Enjoy, whether you are a hoarder, a collector, an operator, or a giver.

Life's a choice.

Enjoy!

L.

Actually Andy the target age is 100. If you make it to 100 there is every indication you will live forever. After all how often do you see an obituary for someone that age or older.

Everytime I read one of these I just have to chuckle. As someone who has been there, done that, you can build it anyway you want to and it's not going to work when you move it. Bought a layout from someone with a little smaller room then I had. It was professionally built for him and was easy to take it apart. Took it home put it up in my room and it wouldn't fit, seems I had poles where he didn't. They are designed for a specific room. Took the wood apart and reused the wood. Friend bought a "Modular" layout that was in the exact same size room as his. Took it home set it up, wouldn't work, his doorway wasn't located exactly the same as the place he bought it from. Once again ripped up track and scenery took the wood apart and reused the wood.

So the moral of the story is use screws so you can take the wood apart and reuse it.

Gene Anstine

I think that were I to be concerned about leaving some of my handiwork behind for family / friends to remember me by, that I would:
1 - video the layout in operation, with the people I care about in the movies
2 - build some of the scenery as dioramas, and make it relatively simple and straight forward to remove them from the layout.

Your family / friends are more likely to have the facilities to watch the video, and/or display a diorama, as opposed to having the where-with-all to move an entire layout.

When I'm gone, and someone comes in to take what they want or sell it off through that time's TRAINZ, or other auction house, I'm not going to care one bit how much trouble they have disassembling the platform.

It'll be built solid enough to support me if I need to get on it, designed to fit the room with the most surface area for the most trains, and buildings, and so that folks can come easily to watch the trains run.

an, too, if they struggle trying to figure out how to break it down, than at least one person will remember and speak of me @#$%$#@#!!!, when I'm gone, . . . at least for the short time it takes them to finish up!

I remember spending many years building my vegas layout and never being able to finish it before moving. I was able to tear it out in 2 days. Not much trouble other than the emotional pain.

Satisfying my desire to create something unique was the reason why my layout was built in the first place.

When it was "finished", sharing it with others became the more important consideration.

After I'm gone??? Heck, I'll probably just tear it all out and start again well before my time comes. For many of us, our layouts are a never ending, constantly changing process - sort of like the geology we depict on the layout.

I have to admit though that it is very nice to realize that this current layout will live on in the memory of others and in the pages of magazines.

Jim

Maybe the History Channel should do a segment of "Life after People" on model railroads. I wonder how they would make a layout look say 1 year after people, 10 years after people, and so on.

Ahhh yes
Video the layout for your heirs and loved ones.
Then sell the trains since they dont want em anyway.

SMART!

L

Due to limited space but still wanting something that looked nice, I hired a carpenter friend of mine to build a modular 6x8' layout base. It's in four pieces and is made of high quality oak. He did a wonderful job. Each section has nice doors that open up to heavy shelving. One shelf is wider and it pulls out. This one holds my transformers. This four-piece layout would be easy to sell. It's all my locomotives and rolling stock that would cause considerable inconvenience for anyone trying to sell them after I had passed. This is why I've tried to downsize a bit and to be very certain of future purchases. I do agree, however, that we should do what makes us happy. Thanks.

I fully understand that my trains and my layout are strickly for my enjoyment. And I have been graced with 34 years as and adult (52 years in total) of pleasure because of them. On stressful days after work, 15 minutes with my trains would allow me to totally unwind and be much better company for my spouse and my kids. For whatever expenditure I have in my trains,I feel I have been re-inbursed many times over in my mental health and well being. If I should die tomorrow, my trains would cost no one anything and whatever they could be sold for would be more than my survivors would have had.

Investment hell! Lets just enjoy our hobby.

I am often reminded about a comment Walt Disney made to the contractor building his outdoor railroad when the contractor told Disney how much he could save if he did not put a curve in the tunnel. Disney responded - "Hell, we could save a lot more just not building the the layout at all."

Happy railroading,
Don

My only train issue with dieing is that I want my sons to be able to easily dispose of the trains at a reasonable price and not give them away. I'm still looking for a reasonable inventory program so they can provide its info to a dealer and get a fair price for it. Any ideas?

The layout I'm building is for me, all of my trains are for me. I have no children and what my wife does with it when I'm gone is her business. I'm living for today and enjoying myself once I'm gone who cares. As for my investment it was not to recoup my money when it's time to sell but so I can enjoy meyself when I want to NOW. I'm just living day to day and having fun with my trains

Mine's portable, originally designed to get that fifty dollars offered by The Great American Train Show (GATS) before they disappeared. It spends most of it's time disassembled, and pretty much operates as a floor layout these days.

When I'm gone, the plywood with track can be used in a treehouse or as a fort. The trains and track can be turned over to some kid and continue as a floor toy.

When I need to play on a real layout, I go hang with the Angels Gate High Railers (AGHR) in San Pedro. They have always made me feel welcome. Here's hoping theirs will last forever.

-rrick

When I'm gone, I'll be the last to know or care.

So why would I care about what happens to the layout and trains.

I enjoy building the models and solving the problems building the layout. It does relieve the stresses of the day for me. That's its purpose for me!

I look at moving to a different house as an opportunity to try a new layout plan. BUT, My house is paid for and moving is not in the plans at this time.

When I die, I assume the layout will be ripped out with the track salvaged. I have a list of all the trains with purchase price on Exel that can be used to sell the trains, probably at 50 cents on the dollar.

quote:

It is only for you to enjoy, to learn from, and to share with others what you have learned. It is simply a vehicle to be used to enrich your life. It is a tool you use to enhance your memories, your knowledge, or your pleasure. Its value is in how you use it. What others do with it after you leave is for them to decide, based on their values.

quote:

When I'm gone, I'll be the last to know or care.
So why would I care about what happens to the layout and trains.

Gee Jim & Alan,
That's pretty shallow. I have plans for a large layout. Planning how my family will dismantle it after I am gone or when I am all alone in feeble health is a VERY valid thought! What if unforseen health or financial reasons pop up requiring a move to another domicile? What is one to do? Just scrap everything? I think not!

How I can make things easier for my family or myself to move out at a later date is a thought that has crossed my mind many times. One that I will admit that I haven't quite figured out yet...but I will.

Building a big blob of a layout with the idea of "I'll be dead, so what do I care what they do with it" is more than a selfish way to go about things!

Big JIM

Shallow smallow

I am not in this world to please you and You are not in this world to please me!

If we meet and things work out, then swell; if not it can't be helped.

I found all of the above varying opinions interesting reading. I'm 60 and have never had a permanent layout and am still not sure that I will ever want one.

BUT....

I have 10 engines and about 90 pieces of rolling stock. Enough O27 track and switches to build a reasonably sized layout.

About 75% of my rolling stock is Pittsburgh related and special to me. Some of the "businesses" on those cars my kids have never heard of so they mean nothing to them. They are sentimental reminders to me but the kids have no attachment to them.

I know that I'm buying for me and me only.

Being one that is practical I do wonder what the kids will do with my stuff when "the time" comes. Yes, I would hate to see them just sell it for peanuts just to get rid of it but, being practical, I can see them saying "who wants this stuff?" because they don't know any better and are only interested in getting rid of it.

If I ever build a permanent layout I know that the kids will just come in and tear it down with no regard to it's meaning or value. I accept that and I think that's a good thing that I accept that.

It makes me stay in the moment, you know?

- walt

He who obsesses about his own death,
and begins to constrict his own life in anticipation.
will more than likely hasten an early demise.

That’s not philosophy.
That’s not ideology.
That’s the wisdom of those older than ourselves.
Supported by the science of Gerontology.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Happy July 4th all ... and a cold one for all those who can!

Some of the comments on this thread remind me of the song "The Rose" - "the one afraid of dying that never learns to live"

Enjoy your trains!

Don

I have changed my mind;

I'll start packing up my trains today cause I might be hit by a car tomorrow.

I've built everything as permanent as possible. I wish them all the best as they have at it. I did what I was suppose to do. Put the four of them through college with no debt. I believe my sweetheart wants for nothing

I helped clean up my wife's family estate, primarily her mother, and participated in my parents disparsal and recently my eldest brother. All this is not fun. It is very difficult to make anyone happy at that point, but as has been stated it is a part of life. They will all move on, two rooms of trains would only slow them down for a couple of days. I wish them all well.

It's the price to be paid for a "more pleasant person" that this hobby has created.

Last summer, my dad and I built a permanent layout in the basement. In about four or five years, I plan on moving out of here. I'm going to rip up the track and all that stuff, but I tell my parents that the wood is their problem! lol.

I can appreciate people worried about the burden of a layout on family members if something should happen, or logistics, etc. I have had to deal with issues like that, and it can be hard, for any number of reasons.

That said, from my perspective, if worrying about those kinds of things precludes building a layout, better to build the layout and let things play out as they may. Trains are in a sense a selfish endeavor, since in spending time and money on them is something for ourselves (or hopefully maybe something we share with friends and family, so a bit less selfish). But there is nothing wrong with that, since unless someone is a total selfish pig, we also all do things during our lives that are the opposite of selfish, and in many cases those we will be 'burdening' with taking apart the layout probably would be glad to, considering a)the joy the trains gave us and b)the fact that they themselves have been 'selfish' when it comes to what we could and did give them and they recognize that being able to 'pay it back' in some way is not a bad thing (I am not saying they would 'owe it to me', rather that I suspect they might only be too glad to help pay back..). As an example, I am trying to figure out how I can build a layout given the tight finances I have (given a son who is seriously pursuing music as his avocation as a classical violinist, with all that entails, and a stay at home spouse who does a lot of the support work for said early teen musician, and if I figure out a way to be able to do said project given those confines, and then maybe have a bit of extra money to be able to go more into the dream layout state some day, I have to be able to think that being selfish a bit would be understood by those I left behind

quote:

Originally posted by AlanRail:
I have changed my mind;

I'll start packing up my trains today cause I might be hit by a car tomorrow.

Way to go Al, now that's being reasonable. Put my name on one of those ten wheelers as you pack them up. I'll put in a good word with St. Peter and you'll be looked upon with favor. You've made a good decision.

-rrick

Whatta thread. 46 replies and most are who cares when I M gone thats it and the rest can deal with my heap of stuff that cant be moved...

Even more suprising is that no one is/was concerned about giving this labor of love
(or addiction...) to any charitable organizations....... but about every 5 years someone on the list comes up with a new idea " the Give a Kid a Train for Christmas".

Amazing thread.

Cheers

L

I would have concerns about leaving the actual trains to a charity. Make arrangements to have the trains sold and donate the proceeds IMO. How many charities will be prepared or willing to take on the logistics of moving the layout? Just because someone donates a complete model railroad doesn't mean the charity has to set it up.
If it's collectable trains are they really appropriate to donate for use on a layout?
Since I collect and operate mostly post war I have concerns that the items make it back to their correct boxes with all the proper components that belong to each.
I don't want the collection to turn into 3 separate piles.
Pile one will be trains, pile two will be empty boxes, pile three will be track, switches, contactors, lights etc.
I try to keep things numbered so whoever packs up my collection has a chance of getting things together and the trains are preserved with integrity and the respect they deserve.
Whether they are kept or sold after that is really beyond my control.