Your collection

Hi Yesterday my wife and I visited her aunt her husband uncle Bob sadly died five years ago he had a layout in his shed . We were away at the time so missed the funeral any way recently her Aunt found out I was interested in model railways not some thing I shout about but at the same time no something I hide either . Aunt wants to sell the layout and the stock she and daughter did try to sell it not long after he had passed away however the enquiries they had only wanted certain items . Trying to deal with all the other things that crop up when someone passes away they found this difficult so it got left it in the shed until now. Well you can imagine what time and conditions have done to the trackwork . It is now scrap which leaves the stock . Having a quick look most of it is old and not in good condition there are about five or six loco's that maybe alright and a few coaches the rest might be good for some spares .

The thing that struck me and not for the first time is what happens to our model railway collection when we pass. I like many have spent a small fortune on my collection and when the layout is built will amount to quite a lot more than than uncle Bobs . At the moment no one in my family is interested in model railways and my wife says should something happen to me she would move to a smaller house . So I'm building the layout in a way that it can be dismantled reasonably easy with may be cutting the the bus wire at the baseboard joints and unbolting the baseboards. Then there is stock everything that I have bought new I have kept the boxes . However I can't imagine my wife or any of my family members getting all the stock into the right boxes. The only way I can think is to put small labels on the underside of the stock with a four digit number and a corresponding label to it's box. Also keeping a record of the item and how much it cost I know that the items will loose there value but it might aid them in the difference between the quality and worth of the stock.
This also may assist for insurance purposes . As to Uncle Bobs collection there were a couple of loco's and some coaches that I was interested in but most of my spare cash is being spent on the shed construction at the moment and I'd rather not offend them with an offer they might feel was unfair .

What happens to your collection when you can't use it anymore. Jim