Or is it "culling the herd"?
I've recently been selling off parts of my HO scale freight car fleet in what I call a "rationalization." That's the umbrella term I use for the sale of various cars, both unbuilt kits and assembled models.
This fleet numbered about 190 cars at its highest in 2003, and I was able to get them back through a series of events I won't cover here. However, I chose to seize that opportunity to liquidate certain cars.
My "rationalization" has three parts. The first is disposing of cars that are inappropriate for my long-planned switching layout. That meant cars like the dozen Walthers autoracks I had, and because said switching layout doesn't have a place for them. Moreover, their length means they'd take up too much space on the layout once it's built. Other cars that didn't fit were a couple of cars in a demonstrator paint scheme, which I couldn't justify, either.
I also targeted certain other cars, such as certain covered hoppers. While I probably could strip them and repaint them for something else, I figured someone else may enjoy them, too, so on the market they went.
I also chose to part with certain cars decorated for specific connections to my past. I put up for sale a couple of wood-sided reefers that had been decorated for the Garden State Model Railroad Club's Garden State Northern club layout, because of unpleasant memories associated with the first club to which I belonged.
I also targeted anything connected with CSX or its non-Conrail predecessors, because of that company's desire and program to get rid of me. Fortunately, I had few pieces, which meant I would get rid of them quickly, such as a three-pack of Athearn Center-Flow covered hoppers custom decorated the three Chessie System constituent roads, as well as a factory-decorated pair of 45-foot CSX intermodal trailers. I look at this part of my "fleet rationalization" as a healing step, if nothing else.
The third part is, if it can be called that, a protest against Union Pacific. The "Borg of Railroading" instituted a licensing program that I, as a modeler, felt was ridiculous in general and onerous for hobby manufacturers.
The UP set forth certain stipulations with respect to the use of their intellectual property. While they're within their rights to do so, they actually saw it as a bona fide revenue stream. UP is a billion-dollar freight railroad. They make their money transporting freight, and they wanted licensing fees as a revenue stream? At best, these fees would amount to a negligible portion of their annual revenue as a percentage.
So, in my own little way, I decided to protest this by selling off all my Union Pacific, Southern Pacific, Missouri Pacific, and Chicago & North Western stuff, which also extended to other items such as mugs. Granted, it's not much, but at least it makes me feel better.
There was also a fourth part that wasn't consciously planned: era. Part of this sell-off included cars not suitable for my contemporary era in which my railroad is set. Coincidentally, the GSN reefers were part of that, as were the "Heritage Collection" cars that were offered to NMRA members in the 1990s. These cars were decorated for modelers' railroads of the past, such as John Allen's Gorre & Daphetid and Frank Ellison's Delta Lines. While I thought they would be "interesting," they technically don't fit my layout's concept, so I decided someone else might enjoy them.
I sold the first seventeen cars not on eBay, as I should have done, but on a Yahoo! group created for that purpose, and which was devoted solely to HO scale. However, due to my objection to the way that group's owner ran his group, I bailed shortly after I sold four cars from my second posting to that group.
Instead, I shifted my future sales to eBay, where I was likely to get better exposure for my items.
Say what you will about eBay, but they offer an integrated system for listings, sales management, money receipt and payment, printing shipping labels. That integration makes it extraordinarily easy to track the items one sells.
It also begat an interesting experience with a prospective buyer. I seem to attract the weirdoes, and I don't know why.
I'd listed the three-pack of Chessie System Center-Flows as one auction. One person bid on them shortly after the listing appeared. "Great," I thought, "they'll sell."
Then I got an email from another eBayer asking about local pickup, whether he can pay in cash, etc., as he lived in a town not far from me. Mmm, okay.
We went back and forth as to the neutral location, etc., and in each of my three responses, I mentioned he'd have to be the winning bidder.
I never heard back from him after my third response, nor did he ever bid on those cars.
I inferred two things from the email exchange.
First, he wasn't too bright. I don't think he grasped the idea he was expected to bid on that auction and win it, if he expected to pick them up locally.
Second, I also got the impression, from reading between the lines, he wanted me to end listing early, just so he could have the cars. There already was one bid on them, so there was no way I was going to deprive a legitimate bidder (I never heard from him again after the auction, either.)
For all I know, he was a con artist, looking to scam me.
Lessons Learned
If I could go back in time, I would have listed all of the cars on eBay, for reasons I mentioned earlier.
Another lesson I've learned is the use - value, really - of pictures. Part of the reason some things were not getting the bids I hoped for is that, as I write this, I'm in no position to upload photographs with my listings. However, I've been able to sell a number of items despite this handicap.
