If you follow Paul's link I think you will find he has documented his fine railroad in great detail.

Great idea!

Well put, Doug.......

I beg to differ, Doug. I have seen your modeling and I think it is top-notch. I understand and respect your intention to treat it as being totally irrelevant after you pass on, but I think there are plenty of people who think otherwise and would tell you that your modeling does not belong in the dump.

I think with a little bit of effort, you could find the right home for it (or all the models), and it will at the very least, make someone else happy, and continue to give people joy and pleasure. This would be, in a manner of speaking, part of your legacy which would be a reflection of your talent, skills and hard work that would be recognized by other people who know how to appreciate something like that.

My intention, as far as this thread, is to have a discussion with all the members on how best to implement this kind of transition, and if we could perhaps establish something as far as this forum.

I just came upon this thread, and while I hopefully have awhile to go before this issue concerns me....I do have a few thoughts on how your stuff would be distributed. Mainly, how you would get it to others.

As Rick our moderator pointed out, shipping a built up kit is dangerous. Here are my insights, as I have worked at UPS for 40 years. I don't think you can safely ship anything with any freight company and have peace of mind that it will arrive undamaged. I sold one Finescale built up kit on Ebay and luckily the guy that bought it was about 10 miles from me and I drove it over.

When you ship anything, it goes over belts, gets sorted per destination, more belts, then loaded into trailers. Then it is driven and or piggybacked to a hub (warehouse) near you where it is unloaded over more belts, sorted, more belts until finally it is loaded into the package car that brings it to your door. The process is as gentle as they can make it while still sorting 15 million packages a day. In order to do that, speed and automation have to be involved. Things get broken, obviously, but 99.9% makes it alright. But Im talking general freight here, not built up structures or dioramas etc.

If you really have to ship something like that via UPS, the best thing I can recommend is to build a plywood box to put the structure in. Screw the diorama base to the box and then screw the whole thing shut. And this is why: a plywood box can not go over the belts etc. They have special battery powered carts that they put this stuff on, called "irreg carts". It is all the oddball irregular stuff like pipes, tires, angled things, plywood boxes....none of this stuff can go over belts. So it is hand loaded on these carts and driven to the appropriate trailer. Then it is hand loaded into the trailer, and ALWAYS in the very back, loaded last. So there usually is nothing on top of it. It will also be unloaded this way. If you absolutely have to ship something delicate, this is the way to do it. JD.

Great advice JD'. Thanks for the information.....

The video is a decent idea.......But who knows what

will happen after we are all gone.....Things change

Life goes on. As significant as we think we all are,

doesn't mean what we would like to see happen, will

happen. The bottom line is, `none of us can take it with us,

So, give it away, before it's too late......As they say, if you love something,

set it free.......When it over, it's over...............

Leave plenty of cash, That's what they want.....

Per my post from June of '09:

I have been told multiple times that I have a small hobby shop, and I know that my stripwood bin is better stocked than the Caboose Hobbies shelves. I have started keeping a 'rough' estimate costs on the value of items in a spreadsheet which I update at the start of each year. I base the 'cost' on what I think I would get from e-bay style sales if I were to sell the items today.

I will be making a large donation of items to 'Youth In Modeling' program. As my son is not into modeling, I'll have him sell what he wants,(thus the Costs spreadsheet)and than have the rest of the items put up on this site for just a shipping fee. My layout, which will be built in modules, and the club layout modules, will go to the Modular Club I belong to.

I just hope that the plan works.