How many do you have?

[DarkRedCape]

As some of you may know from my other thread, I’m slowly creating a collection of my own. I have ten locos now and still no track. I have probably 100+ coaches on various wish lists, many of which I may never actually buy, and haven’t really even delved into wagons yet, of which I think could easily be another 100+.

I’d be very interested to know how many locos, coaches and wagons other people have in their collections. And if people have preferred, or favorite loco + coaches/loco + wagons setup that they use often, while other locos and rolling stock is just kept in sidings and rarely used.

Edit: from reading the posts on here, some of you have been at this for a long time. Would love to know how long you’ve been collecting for.

[CORKY.]

It started with the Flying Scotsman and teak coaches, then a Mallard to also make use of the same coaches, then some Pullman coaches, then several HST125s in swallow livery, and coaches to match, then Deltics to share those coaches. Class 47 in swallow to share the same coaches , and some freight 47s too. Several 0 4 0 tanks, with open trucks, fuel tankers, closed vans and a guards van.. or two, for shunting and tight radius duties Then too many container wagons for the class 47s and then a class 66 or two to help out. During this time I became a huge fan of Hornby Railroad, more detailed models have had missing parts, broken. loose fragile bits, Bachmann have failed badly in this respect and are no longer sought out... except for a Heljan HS400 Kestrel which is my pride of fleet. My strategy is if you like it, or need it to complete a rake, buy it while you can, it may sell out. C.RAIL intermodal could see some more container orders coming their way too. As for favourite... they all are. And all this in about a year!

[Tony57]

260+ Locomotives covering big 4, BR Steam early and late periods, green and blue diesels and modern electric overhead, transcontinental / Canadian Pacific and National

Coaches and trucks for the above, in total 1100 bits of rolling stock

Makers Triang, Triang Hornby, Hornby (Margate), Hornby (China) Wrenn, Mainline, Airfix, Lima, Bacmann, Trix / Lilliput

Started with British railways outline both Steam and Diesels then fell for the Transcontinental range, went back to British outline, currently working on doing a modern image with a working catenary system using super 4 track, have been buying Hornby Class 86 x 5, class 90 x 4 and a 91 and Lima class 87 x 6 all with working pantographs, just need some MK2 and 3 coaches in executive livery.

If running say GWR will only run with matching coaches and trucks, same with transcontinental or CP / CN. Will do the same with the overhead layout

[The son of Triangman]

1523 locos, 874 coaches and 1100 wagons

[JJ73]

Ooo a VERY good question Dark red - Well it started when my late Dad bought when I was 8 yrs old, 3 Train Sets - 2 Lima Set (which were 1 x BR Blue Plymouth Switcher with a 3 Wagons a circuit of Tract & a Controller) & 1 BR Green A1A-A1A also with a circuit of Track & a Controller. Then I just left it at that!!!

Then in the last 15 odd yrs - I got back into Model Railing again & my Train set went out of Control - I have now got a total of 16 Train sets!!! :-

Gloucester City Pullman R1177

Masters of the Glen R1183

Night Mail R1144

Highland Rambler R1220

GWR Fright R1254

Just to name but a few...

On my last count for how many Loco I have got...(03/05/2020)

10 x 0-4-0 - (Smokey Joe, Southern 102, GWR 18 + more!!!)

5 x 0-6-0 - (LMS 74141, LNER 8472 +more!!!)

1 x 2-6-0 - (James The Red Engine)

1 x 0-4-0 - (SE & CR No. 263)

1 x 4-2-2, 2 x 4-4-0 - the list goes on!!! All together I think I have 35 locos but since my last count I must have bought a few more, so it could be 40 or 45 Locos!!!

Also a few yrs ago I bought a magazine fortnightly call "Great British Locomotive Collection" where in each issue it talk about 1 Loco & came with a Static Model - there were 41 Issue - so that is an extra 41 Locos there!!!

About 21 Carriages (with 8 wheels or 2 sets of bogies) - (3 with working lights)

3 Small Carriages (with 4 wheels)

2 Maglight Carriages

about a mixture of 40 odd Wagons (2 Cranes, 2 Car carries, flat bed, etc)

+ Miles of Track (Straights, Curves Points) a few Loco Sheds, 2 Suspension Bridges, 4 or 5 Stations with Platforms & a few other bits & pieces

90 % is Hornby (of course!!!) Small amount is Lima, Airfix, Bachmann 😉🚂🚂🚂

[wairoalbany]

I have 63 locomotives with another 5 on order. They are UK, Continental Europe and U.S models. I like trains from all over the world.

I have around 15 coaches and I guess around 100 a wagons.

My favorite engine is my Lima Class 87 from the mid 80s. However, my most impressive engine is likely my Athearn Big Boy. It's size is pretty awesome.

I can't think of any coaches or wagons that really stand out at the moment. I have around another 30 locomotives on a wish list that I hope to have by around 2026/27.

[threelink]

90 plus locos, 50 plus carriages and 200 plus wagons all cobbled together over the last 15 years from bits and pieces of second hand rubbish bought at car boots and toy fairs - a chassis from here a body from there wheels from hither and a motor from yon - patched up detailed a bit and repainted. Average cost to date of a loco (all analogue, of course) has been £8.00, a carriage £4.00 and a wagon £2.50 to include decent wheelsets (modern Hornby or finer) and near scale link couplings. Although second hand everything runs perfectly - quietly, smoothly and down to a crawl - otherwise it gets binned. Far more stock than I will ever use, but cobbling is ferociously addictive. Favourite loco is a Trix Twin 2 rail 00 Britannia bought for £12.99 as a filthy dirty, apparently damaged non running spares donor. Under the muck it was pristine, little used and easily repaired - a real collectors' item. Quiet as a mouse, pulls like an elephant but display only because the large flanges do not like code 100 track. Close second is a whitemetal kit built LNWR 0 4-2 tank on a nice brass chassis and near scale Webb wheels (£4.50).

[new lad on block]

Hi Dark Red, well the the guiness world recod is 2956 trains.The guy who holds the record is American and what I can find out a model train is classed as an item of rolling stock or a loco.I am confident I have more, I have approached Guiness earlier this year, they are waiting for me to send details of my collection. All items must be unique, no code 3s, must have been commercially available.

Photos shows thomas part of my collection, all Hornby, represents 2 to 3 % of total collection.

I await the rude commments I received last time I posted description of my collection.

[Potterton]

@ new lad on the block

Rude comments? I'd say that is a pretty impressive display. I can see that some items are duplicated in the two photo's, but even so, it's a mighty fine collection my friend. Well done! smiley

[JJ73]

WELL DONE New Lad - I DO hope that Guinness does accept your Collect record so that you can bring the Record amount to the UK!!! That would be sooo C😎😎L!!!

I can even Spot 'James The Red Loco' who appears in every 1 of my YT Vids!!! 😎🚂🚂🚂

[Rana Temporia]

A fantastic display! No idea why there would be rude comments. I would like to do the same with my Playcraft collection but very few people would know what the history of the models was.

If I was to answer the original question I would have to be honest and say I don’t know. I have a few hundred locos in a complete state, more if you include the clockwork ones. I could also probably assemble a couple of dozen more from some of the spare parts I have, add in the unfinished projects, then there are the sets…..I know I need to downsize as i could never run them all.

A few years ago I made an attempt at tidying some of the stock an had a box each for Tri-ang transcontinental, GWR, modern(ish) BR diesel, Tri-ang princesses and Jinties etc., shortie coaches, starter locos, clockwork locos and stock, Playcraft locos and stock (plus some Lima HO), Jouef locos, Hornby AcHo locos, etc. Etc. When I write it down I realise just how much there is and how much I need to get it down to something manageable.

If I had to keep just a few, I think it would be the clockwork stock, other than that it would be the Transcontinental and the Tri-ang 0-4-0 locos of various types.

[atom3624]

I've mentioned previously, my elder brother, when a 'child' had a Playcraft Class 22.

I remember the brass wheels and motor which seemed half the size of the locomotive!

What criticism NLotB - your purchases with your money.

As JJ said, good luck with Guinness!

Al.

[DarkRedCape]

Not really sure what I was expecting in terms of numbers when I started this thread, but I have to admit that I’m blown away by all your collections. I’m sitting here looking at ten locos and thinking it’s a bit much and I’ll never be able to use them all.

How does everyone prefer to store their collection? I’ve been thinking about ways to store the boxes (as I don’t want to get rid of any of them) and any locos and stock that aren’t on my track.

I’m a fairly competent carpenter and am going to put together some sliding storage units in the tight spots in my loft, but I feel like my collection will eventually outgrow this kind of storage.

new lad - that is a mighty impressive collection. I’d be very interested in hearing the outcome of your Guinness records request. I’d be very sad to see any rude comments and very much hope that none appear here. I’ve never seen anything like that here and everyone has been super friendly and helpful to me, not to mention patient.

[JJ73]

@ Dark Red :- Hello - I'm no carpenter myself, but this is how I've done it - store my Locos - I have put up some shelf units with track

back in 2017 - Just to give you some inspiration / idea - I made a few vids that might help???

Hope that these might be of help some way & yes you are right "but I feel like my collection will eventually outgrow this kind of storage." Even my Train Shelfs are starting to get full & I am starting to look for space around my cottage where I can put up more shelving!!! 😉🚂🚂🚂

[ellocoloco]

I've decided that if my wife doesn't see them all at the same time, then she'll never know how many there are!

(About 100 locos, 30 coaches, 200 wagons - but only about half of these are any good and continue to provide interest. All the stuff from the 70s and 80s, though functional, needs to be disposed of.)

[VESPA]

My lot is now totally out of control. I have well over 200 locos. I have no idea how many coaches and wagons. The collection got silly with Britannias' (26) and some locos ended up with complete trains ie coaches, that usually totalled 6-8 depending on what they were. I have around 3 Royal Trains and just recently bought 2 more Clans to go with the other 3 I have. Funnily enough, I never saw a real Clan in my trainspotting days, usually being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I can't wait to see Hengist finished.

[Simmo009]

@ Dark Red, I am not sure how much I actually have, hoping to do an inventory over Christmas. Definitely north of 50 locomotives and plenty of stock. Due to start a new large layout, so most is boxed at the moment. Where possible, in the original packaging, or a good replacement with acid free tissue paper. The boxes then go into 64litre Really Useful Boxes. I have just had to get a 5th one due to running out of space. Plus the 35 litre box of items to move on, and another one the same size for ones that need working on, chipping etc.

[ColinB]

Sadly over 200, I didn't realise I had so many until I listed them in a spreadsheet. Trouble is I like fixing them so some of them are wrecks that I fixed or made from parts. As to carriages and wagons probably nowhere near this number, I have never counted them. Some of them though are from 30 years ago.

[JJ73]

Well you can see every 1 of my Carriages on my latest Vid!!! 😉🤔🚂🚂🚂