I am in this position at the moment following my fathers passing in January.

He has a stack of OO with an awful lot of locos only released in the last few years and barely used. I know what they are worth but have attempted to sell them en masse to most of the usual suspects but, as you suggest, you don't get much. Sure, they need to make a profit but I feel they know a lot of people don't know the value and need to sell them so bid accordingly.

The only way to get any kind of half decent return is probably Ebay but do I really want to list a hundred or so items, deal with all the chancers then get reported to HMRC?

I am actually off to a localish model shop tomorrow who will buy whole collections, we shall see.

Harder still are cars and buses. He collected Southdown buses and has 40+ of them plus around the same amount of Oxford cars etc. They are basically worth diddly squat and no one wants them.

At the end of the day I need to get as much as I can as mum's care home fees need paying somehow.

I have a friend who is involved in a group that is trying to restore the 4 Sub 3rd Rail electric train that used to run in Kent. He goes around to a lot of model railway exhibitions and Events such as Galas at preserved railways and sells merchandise for the 4Sub group (mugs, keyrings etc) and second hand model railway items such as carriages and locomotives. He is mainly interested in N gauge stuff but is happy to sell anything that is donated. He has been doing this for at least 5 years and recently the first carriage of the 4Sub was rolled out and returned to the group having been fully professionally restored. Only two trailers and the other motor end to go.
I have previously given him an exhibition standard model railway in N gauge that was not wanted by a MRC I was a member of and he raised a few hundred pounds from that. I have also put his details in my Will for all of my models and accessories to be collected, catalogued and sold on with the funds again going to 1:1 scale railway restoration..
I don't have any family that would want my collection and want to just enjoy my stuff and not worry about it being a burden ( or binned) by my executors.
Hopefully this will be a good while yet, but he's about half my age, so hopefully will still be around to sort it all out when the time comes.
Although I will not directly benefit from the sales of my model railway, I have made provision for a substantial part of my legacy to be in the form of charitable donations to causes that are important to me, and this allows me to carry on getting a few new railway items that I fancy now, knowing that they're not going in the bin when I am no longer here.
I'm sure that if someone else wants to do something like this, approaching a Heritage railway or well established restoration group would be possible, and at least with those sorts of organisations, there's people in them who have some idea of the value and saleability of your model railway collection.

Quote from: njee20 on <strong>Yesterday</strong> at 01:57:04 PMBest of luck with the sale - your prices are likely a way off for UK buyers I'm afraid. Your Dapol 56 at €175 posted is available brand new from Rails for £125.

Many thanks for this remark. I will amend the price.
If you see other irrelevant prices, please tell me so that I can make the appropriate modifications.

Rest easy. I haven't popped me clogs yet
A recent post has led me to ask "Has anyone real experience of selling either their own or maybe a relation's model railway collection en masse i.e. the entire collection.
I'm not talking about the forum N'Poriums or EBay for just a few items. I'm talking about maybe the box shifters who advertise "Best prices paid for your collection" (yeah, right) and then being stunned at just how little our valued collection is worth, bearing in mind, of course, they would want a profit when they sell it on.
I think any such information could be useful as a very rough guide (everyone's collection is different), and what would be offered this week may be different next week so I emphasise the 'rough' in the rough guide.
Any recommendations or 'avoids'?

For example - I won't be around to sell my stuff and anyone who does sell it would have no knowledge whatsoever on the subject

Having cleared out my father's lifetime collection of O gauge last year I've learned a few bits that would make life easier for those sorting it after we have gone - although morbidly, it's not our problem any more!

- think about who will be doing the sorting. Do they know what they are looking at. Can they tell a brake coach from a first? This was a big one for us because a Lima O gauge mk1 and a Heljan Mk1 are very different in price! I had to spend a lot of time re-sorting a lot of what my brother had boxed away as best he could. The less knowledgable your heirs, the more you might want to prepare things for them.

-Ebaying is hard work - boxing, photographing, testing, communicating. You have to work for the extra money. And on top of all the other grief and admin, we just didn't have time to do it. The dealers will offer less money of course, but they do provide a service, and it keeps the money moving in the hobby. Happily recommend Footplates of Kidderminster who were very helpful, respectful, travel nationally and are fairly priced. But plenty others out there. You could consider approaching a dealer yourself to get an estimate ahead of Your Time, and using it to inform your successors. They might charge for this valuation service which is fair enough. But be realistic, a lot of models that were once state of the art are now very dated and hard to sell.

- Identify any things that have particular sentimental value for you or your successors. Projects you're proud of. Stock they remember running with you. My Dad was a prolific kit and scratch builder so glad to keep some locos he's made himself. Far less bothered about RTR items.

-Similarly, any unique or high value items you should identify them (in writing or stickers) or sell them yourself ahead.

-keep things organised. Any projects keep all the bits together in one project box. I spent hours trying to match chassis to bodies and tenders. I knew what i was looking for but my siblings would have had no chance. A box of "incomplete Brittania Project" is a much more attractive sell than "box of unknown brass bits and wheels". things that run together should be boxed together.

-getting organised will also help you enjoy your hobby time you have left, and safer too. The mess in my dad's garage made it unusable and so he didn't get to play trains much in his final years sadly.

-But enjoy what you have while you are here to enjoy it. There will inevitably be some work to be done by your successors, no avoiding that. There's a balance to be made.

Quote from: ohlavache on <strong>Yesterday</strong> at 12:47:27 PMI am still young but I worry about the burden for my children when they will have to sell most (not to say all) of my collection. Any ideas to prepare that fateful day would be welcome.

Unless someone has a log of who pays what for 2nd hand model railways then no one can really help you with that. You're doing the right thing in disposing of some of it while you're still around to control what you get for it. I have no children, and have resigned my self to the fact I will get a pittance for mine when I shuffle off this mortal coil. All I can do is specify a charity close to my heart in my Last Will & Testament to benefit from whatever my executors can get, and the executors will take the easy way out and won't be bothered if it's £1000 or £10,000

Best of luck with the sale - your prices are likely a way off for UK buyers I'm afraid. Your Dapol 56 at €175 posted is available brand new from Rails for £125.

As daffy, but for different reasons, I have to substantially shrink my collection of rolling stock.
My layout has been located in my mother's secondary house that I have now to sell. For a temporary but long period, the layout and the rolling stock will be moved to a smaller place. This triggered the sorting of my collection with many items for sale (see http://www.herbavache.free.fr), many others that will remain inaccessible in moving boxes and the last part staying with me. I am even considering selling a part of what is about to be stored in the moving boxes; this may be due to my current mood. I am still young but I worry about the burden for my children when they will have to sell most (not to say all) of my collection. Any ideas to prepare that fateful day would be welcome.

Anyway, if any of you are interested in some of the items for sale, please send me a PM, even to propose me a lower price. For those in the UK, I know that shipping from France is expansive and I will take it into account when agreeing on the final price.
Thanks by advance for helping me in shrinking my collection.

Quote from: elmo on <strong>Yesterday</strong> at 07:01:22 AM

Quote from: PLD on November 05, 2026, 09:58:44 PM

Quote from: trkilliman on November 05, 2026, 07:18:54 PMDapol have dropped their controversial cardan shaft. ... ... ... (I wonder who was responsible for the cardan shaft at Dapol?)

Quote from: trkilliman on November 05, 2026, 07:18:54 PMI paid two deposits with D.J. for Kings.

The very same DJ was Product Designer at Dapol through most of that period...
It was amusing that as soon as he parted ways with dapol, some of his most vocal supporters slated the very designs he was responsible for!

Theres nothing inherently wrong with the principle of the motor in the tender with a cardan shaft driving the loco wheels - it's the flavoured layout for 2mm finescale locos; just that to make it so locos would go around train-set corners, Dapols design had to have sufficient 'slop' in it that with rough handling the shafts were liable to pop out of the sockets.

At a toy fair a few years ago I saw an o gauge Merchant Navy running  a train of Pullmans using a cardan shaft. It is not than many years ago in the big scheme of things that the smallest motor available did not fit a locomotive body but could be squeezed into the tender. I do not personally mind tender motors or tender drive so long as the locomotives wheels are free to run. My first n gauge locomotive was the Lima 4F tender drive. People without model railway knowledge never knew the tender was doing the work until I pointed it out to them.

I think the first motor in tender with shaft drive into loco was the Arnold P4, 4-4-0 . I had one, about 40 years ago .

Quote from: PLD on November 05, 2026, 09:58:44 PM

Quote from: trkilliman on November 05, 2026, 07:18:54 PMDapol have dropped their controversial cardan shaft. ... ... ... (I wonder who was responsible for the cardan shaft at Dapol?)

Quote from: trkilliman on November 05, 2026, 07:18:54 PMI paid two deposits with D.J. for Kings.

The very same DJ was Product Designer at Dapol through most of that period...
It was amusing that as soon as he parted ways with dapol, some of his most vocal supporters slated the very designs he was responsible for!

Theres nothing inherently wrong with the principle of the motor in the tender with a cardan shaft driving the loco wheels - it's the flavoured layout for 2mm finescale locos; just that to make it so locos would go around train-set corners, Dapols design had to have sufficient 'slop' in it that with rough handling the shafts were liable to pop out of the sockets.

At a toy fair a few years ago I saw an o gauge Merchant Navy running  a train of Pullmans using a cardan shaft. It is not than many years ago in the big scheme of things that the smallest motor available did not fit a locomotive body but could be squeezed into the tender. I do not personally mind tender motors or tender drive so long as the locomotives wheels are free to run. My first n gauge locomotive was the Lima 4F tender drive. People without model railway knowledge never knew the tender was doing the work until I pointed it out to them.