What is a layout worth?

[Dungrange]

For insurance purposes, I believe that the value of a model railway layout should be the cost of paying someone to build a layout of equivalent standard from scratch, which will likely cost thousands of pounds.  However, despite many years of work on a 'layout of a lifetime', when we come to depart this earth, what is the layout that we leave behind worth?

 

I ask because, as secretary of my local model railway club, I have been asked whether the club would be interested in purchasing a layout belonging to a railway modeller who has passed away.  I suspect the consensus within the club will be 'no', as it is a DCC layout more suited the diesel and electric era, while the majority of club members do not use DCC and interest in the steam area dominates within the club.  However, the photographs that I've been sent indicates that the gentleman who built the layout must have spent many hours creating a layout to run his trains on and it seems a shame that it may have to be dismantled and tossed in a skip - even although I know that is the fate of many model railway layouts.

 

The owner (the deceased's wife and son) knows that it will be difficult to sell the layout and that it won't be worth much, but are hoping to get what they would get if the layout was stripped it of it's more valuable parts and these were sold separately.  That is, the layout can be broken up and some parts could easily be sold off, such as the DCC controller.  My question is therefore what parts of a model railway layout retain some value and how much?  If the club (or possibly myself as an individual) were to decide to buy this layout (or indeed any other), how do you go about valuing it?  As a buyer, I wouldn't want to overpay, but at the same time, I'd like to think I was paying a 'fair' price.

 

I'd therefore appreciate your thoughts.

[newbryford]

Very much a "how long is a piece of string" question.

 

Small layouts can can sometimes sell for more than the larger ones as the smaller layout is more easily homed elsewhere.

Is it portable/easily dismantled/re-assembled?

As you say, it could be worth more when stripped down.

It's not just the controls that may be reusable.

For example, are the buildings removable without damaging them?

People and other scenic details?

 

Not an easy task - I don't envy you.

 

Cheers,

Mick

[tractionman]

An interesting discussion on valuing layouts from a few years ago here

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/29936-how-much-to-offer-for-ex-exhibition-layout/?p=315949

 

Seeking a guide price seems to be a good idea.

 

All the best,

 

Keith

[RexAshton]

I've been fortunate to sell several of my previous exhibition layouts in the past. Working on the assumption that I built a layout in the first place because it's my hobby and not necessarily a business venture I have never costed my time into the final sale price. I've always worked on the replacement cost of the materials used - less than that and it would have been more cost effective to dismantle a layout for it's parts. Working on that has meant the price has been realistic to a potential buyer, I haven't lost money on the deal and someone hopefully gets to enjoy the layout in the future. Assuming the layout you're looking at is predominantly built from proprietory parts it shouldn't be difficult to work out a fair estimate of it's original cost.Of course if you're looking at the cost of replacing a layout for insurance purposes this is going to be a much higher price.

[cypherman]

Hi There,

There are always layouts for sale on Ebay. So selling the layout would not be a problem. As you say putting a price to it may be a bit difficult.

[Regularity]

It has the value of what someone is prepared to pay for it, whether that be as second-hand recovered parts or as a complete working layout, built by a craftsman with models from the finest craftsmen in the land is open to interest.

 

It could range from very little to quite a lot: not just because of the above, but depending on who wants it and why.

 

As an example, take a largely scratchbuilt pre-grouping layout that would fit along one side of a garage, but which also has an extension piece making it slightly longer. Let’s assume say 10 locos, 4 rakes of coaching stock and about 50 wagons. All in all, it would take a highly skilled modeller say 5 years to build, but on the upside, it was mostly from raw materials so those costs are small. How much should a skilled craftsman be paid - and we are talking of someone at the top of their game? Well, the national median income works out at about £24k. But got someone highly skilled, maybe we should double that to show that we really do care about craftsmanship. For the sake of the sums involved, let’s say £50k per year - from which the modeller must pay his own tax, NI, pension, etc.

 

That’s a quarter of a million pounds.

 

And that only really works if the layout is commissioned at that price at the outset: if a layout for sale isn’t precisely what you would build for yourself given the time/money/dedication/skill, then it is to be avoided. Alterations cost a lot of work.

 

Let’s assume that the layout comes onto an open market. Does anyone think it would even raise 10% of that amount? Maybe.

Oh, I forgot to mention something.

It’s in S Scale, so unless you know some other S scale modellers, you won’t be running their stock on your layout nor vice versa.

 

The most likely outcome is that individual items might be of some interest, but a complete layout? Probably not.

[Dave John]

I actually have no idea. 

 

But a thought occurs to me. The more unusual the subject of a layout is the more time a modeller will spend on research and gathering the information to make that layout and associated buildings and stock. Does that make it more valuable? I doubt it, it probably makes it less valuable since the number of people who would be interested in buying such models is a small number who are probably already making them for themselves. 

 

Regularity makes the point that a less popular scale reduces the sellable value, I would argue that that is true of subject too. 

 

Anyway, how do you explain to an insurance company that you have spent a lifetime accumulating information and that part of the model you have made is probably beyond price ? 

 

Er, sorry to the op for drifting off a bit. 

[kernowtim]

There are many layouts for sale on ebay and facebook but how many actually sell?? And if they do are they purchased to break for parts to sell on. A now defunct club I was a member of had a 24ft long finescale OO model of a small through station that had consumed many Pounds in parts and materials and hours of work. It was never completed and no buyers were found so it finished being stripped of its tortoise motors and skipped.

At the end of the day its worth only what someone is prepared to pay and often that isn't much!

Edited August 20, 2018 by kernowtim

[DCB]

It depends a lot on detail. If a layout is simple, 00 or N gauge set track pinned down, not ballasted it may well be worth 1/2 of the S/H value of the track and points and point motors if fitted.

If a bloke down the road fancies it for his kid at Christmas you might get £100, If its portable someone may pay a couple of hundred quid but by and large you cant give layouts away and if the track is ballasted you can't even strip it for spares so its worth nothing minus the cost /hassle taking it to the tip.   My son blagged an N gauge layout from a skip, got it running, strengthened the baseboard and sold it for £20 on ebay, the bloke never paid so we stripped some of  the points out, sold them for about £20, kept the flexi and some points and stuck the 6 X 2 approx  baseboard in the shed.  Had it been any bigger we would have left it in the skip as it wouldn't have gone in the car. Really only the stock has resale value and then only around 33% of new price.

Best bet is give the layout to someone who would appreciate it, maybe a young but enthusiastic chap or chapess.

[newbryford]

From another thread.

If a layout is well known - it is likely it will fetch more.

This may be worth watching - but it does include a lot of stock.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/exhibition-railway-layout-EM-gauge-Reighton/273416204162?hash=item3fa8e02f82:g:Q68AAOSwovBbeWuG

 

Cheers,

Mick

[RexAshton]

From another thread.

If a layout is well known - it is likely it will fetch more.

This may be worth watching - but it does include a lot of stock.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/exhibition-railway-layout-EM-gauge-Reighton/273416204162?hash=item3fa8e02f82:g:Q68AAOSwovBbeWuG

 

Cheers,

Mick

Good value at the starting price.

[brianusa]

Very interesting.  Up to now most have been small and semi portable layouts but what about those who have a roomful?  My tinplate layout occupies most of a  room that is app 16' x 14' and is solidly attached to the walls in places; not an easy thing to move.  As the locos and rolling stock age, they may lose whatever value they may have had so as they age further so too the values decrease even more.  These are not rare or unique - average Hornby and American trains in various conditions, all already quite old!  There are the usual buildings and accessories, track, controls and wiring. etc which add little to the total.

Due to my location, I have a feeling that it will be all cut up and taken to the tip as there is little interest and none from the family, who might indeed wield the saw!

 

Brian.

[Spitfire2865]

Very interesting.  Up to now most have been small and semi portable layouts but what about those who have a roomful?  My tinplate layout occupies most of a  room that is app 16' x 14' and is solidly attached to the walls in places; not an easy thing to move.  As the locos and rolling stock age, they may lose whatever value they may have had so as they age further so too the values decrease even more.  These are not rare or unique - average Hornby and American trains in various conditions, all already quite old!  There are the usual buildings and accessories, track, controls and wiring. etc which add little to the total.

Due to my location, I have a feeling that it will be all cut up and taken to the tip as there is little interest and none from the family, who might indeed wield the saw!

 

Brian.

Always an option for those in the US, Trainz.com

Tried to sell my O scale collection to them, was not happy with the price enough to sell to them, but I do have the time to sell everything piecemeal.  Might be an option for family in the unfortunate event...

[Ramblin Rich]

From another thread.

If a layout is well known - it is likely it will fetch more.

This may be worth watching - but it does include a lot of stock.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/exhibition-railway-layout-EM-gauge-Reighton/273416204162?hash=item3fa8e02f82:g:Q68AAOSwovBbeWuG

 

Cheers,

Mick

What's more, the stock is "supper" detailed and the points are moved by "tortuous" motors! Really....

[Chris M]

So far as I am concerned the value of a layout is the value of the items you can salvage from it when you scrap it.

For me the value might be higher. I have a small layout which might well be replaced by a new project this winter. The track is ballasted but I reckon with care I should be able to salvage most of the points but not the flexible track. Having done a quick mental tot up the cost of buying the parts I can salvage as new items would be over £350. I can’t imagine anyone would want to pay that sort of money for the layout so it will go.

I would also suggest that we get too sentimental about layouts. With only one or two exceptions they are temporary things. They exist for a while but when their job is done they should be destroyed and replaced by something new.

Having said that some layouts seem to have a charmed life. Some friends of mine built a layout many years ago. When they had finished with it they donated it to the local club. At the club I built it into something quite different but with 90% of the track unchanged and exhibited it a few times before donating it to another club. They steipped it,rebuilt it and exhibited it a few times before they sold it to an individual. This sale was fair enough as each time it was donated it was on the understanding that the receiver could do what they wanted with it. I must admit to being very pleased when I went to an exhibition and found the layout, again stripped and rebuilt but with the same track, on display and running. Quite a charmed life. During its lifespan it has gone from narrow gauge to standard gauge and Us based to European based and back to US based. It has been old time and contemporary.

[009 micro modeller]

For exhibition insurance I usually add the rough cost of things I know the price of (specific building kits etc) then add a little bit for other stuff (e.g. scatter, plaster and stuff that comes in packs that will do more than one layout). In the event that something was damaged at an exhibition I would probably repair it myself, but just in case I sometimes slightly overestimate the cost of constituent parts, particularly as the price may have increased since the layout was built. This usually leads to a nice round figure as I don't have precise lists of everything used (I've often forgotten to add stock, controller etc which bring the value up but am getting better at this). I'm not sure about the 'value of my time' - I think that has more relevance to the exhibition scenario than the resale one.

 

I've never really had to come up with a sale price for a layout (I build micro layouts which are small enough that they don't have to be got rid of to make space for the next one, and only started about 10 years ago). The problem here is that the intrinsic value of the layout to its builder (and others who admire or appreciate it) will usually be more than the financial cost of construction. Surely part of the point is to create something which appears to be greater than the sum of its parts?

[Joseph_Pestell]

You should ask Andy P. He has sold more than most.

[Dungrange]

An interesting discussion on valuing layouts from a few years ago here

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/29936-how-much-to-offer-for-ex-exhibition-layout/?p=315949

 

Seeking a guide price seems to be a good idea. 

 

Thanks for that - it seems to mirror the same question that I'm asking with a similar range of answers.

 

Very much a "how long is a piece of string" question.

 

Small layouts can can sometimes sell for more than the larger ones as the smaller layout is more easily homed elsewhere.

Is it portable/easily dismantled/re-assembled?

As you say, it could be worth more when stripped down.

It's not just the controls that may be reusable.

For example, are the buildings removable without damaging them?

People and other scenic details?

 

This particular layout is large at something like 6.1 m x 3.1 m (22' by 12') so it needs a lot of space to erect it and therefore the market for such a layout is probably very small.  It can be dismantled and reassembled and it currently resides in a home that is not the one it was built in.  However, that doesn't necessarily make it portable.  When we scrap club layouts, we have tended to strip anything that may be reusable - trees, buildings, people, fencing etc, but these don't really have a resale value.  In this instance, the seller of the layout doesn't want bits that could be reused on a future layout, as he has no interest in model railways.  Therefore, I suppose I should define value as having a monetary value - ie things that could be removed from the layout and sold on E-bay for a sum of money that exceeds the effort in removing it.

 

I've been fortunate to sell several of my previous exhibition layouts in the past. Working on the assumption that I built a layout in the first place because it's my hobby and not necessarily a business venture I have never costed my time into the final sale price. I've always worked on the replacement cost of the materials used - less than that and it would have been more cost effective to dismantle a layout for it's parts. Working on that has meant the price has been realistic to a potential buyer, I haven't lost money on the deal and someone hopefully gets to enjoy the layout in the future. Assuming the layout you're looking at is predominantly built from proprietory parts it shouldn't be difficult to work out a fair estimate of it's original cost.Of course if you're looking at the cost of replacing a layout for insurance purposes this is going to be a much higher price.

 

That seems sensible, although in this case, the owner isn't looking to recover parts for reuse; he's only looking to recover value from items that are easiest to sell.  I'm sure that there are lots of things that could easily be removed for use on another project, but would these parts sell on the second-hand market?  I guess the question is do you value the replacement cost of parts as the price of buying new (which makes sense in your case if you could reuse them) or their second-hand value, which is presumably less.  I guess what I'm looking to ascertain is that when considering whether to sell or scrap a layout, you consider the value of the things you can reuse (based on the price of replacing these with new components).  However, if you were to strip a layout of useful components valued at £X what proportion of £X do you think they would fetch if sold second hand on E-bay?  I think that's what I am trying to determine.

 

Hi There,

There are always layouts for sale on Ebay. So selling the layout would not be a problem. As you say putting a price to it may be a bit difficult.

 

There are many layouts for sale on ebay and facebook but how many actually sell?? And if they do are they purchased to break for parts to sell on. A now defunct club I was a member of had a 24ft long finescale OO model of a small through station that had consumed many Pounds in parts and materials and hours of work. It was never completed and no buyers were found so it finished being stripped of its tortoise motors and skipped.

At the end of the day its worth only what someone is prepared to pay and often that isn't much!

 

I've noticed dozens of layouts on E-bay, but I'm not sure how many of them sell.  I'm sure that some of the higher priced layouts are listed several times without a bid.  Whether they eventually sell, I don't know.  Clearly, in this instance, you would count the cost of point motors as part of the layouts value, but not much else.

 

It has the value of what someone is prepared to pay for it, whether that be as second-hand recovered parts or as a complete working layout, built by a craftsman with models from the finest craftsmen in the land is open to interest.

 

It could range from very little to quite a lot: not just because of the above, but depending on who wants it and why.

 

As an example, take a largely scratchbuilt pre-grouping layout that would fit along one side of a garage, but which also has an extension piece making it slightly longer. Let’s assume say 10 locos, 4 rakes of coaching stock and about 50 wagons. All in all, it would take a highly skilled modeller say 5 years to build, but on the upside, it was mostly from raw materials so those costs are small. How much should a skilled craftsman be paid - and we are talking of someone at the top of their game? Well, the national median income works out at about £24k. But got someone highly skilled, maybe we should double that to show that we really do care about craftsmanship. For the sake of the sums involved, let’s say £50k per year - from which the modeller must pay his own tax, NI, pension, etc.

 

That’s a quarter of a million pounds.

 

And that only really works if the layout is commissioned at that price at the outset: if a layout for sale isn’t precisely what you would build for yourself given the time/money/dedication/skill, then it is to be avoided. Alterations cost a lot of work.

 

Let’s assume that the layout comes onto an open market. Does anyone think it would even raise 10% of that amount? Maybe.

Oh, I forgot to mention something.

It’s in S Scale, so unless you know some other S scale modellers, you won’t be running their stock on your layout nor vice versa.

 

The most likely outcome is that individual items might be of some interest, but a complete layout? Probably not.

 

I'm sure that this layout cost more than a thousand pounds to build in material costs, without even factoring in any allowance for the builders time.  However, I certainly wouldn't pay that for the layout because it's definitely not what I would have built if I was commissioning a model railway.  At 6.1 m in length, I will never be able to set it up fully at home - my attic is only around 5.1 m long, so on that basis, it would be best avoided.  However, I've been trying to build a layout for a few years and progress is painfully slow due to a combination of work and family life, which means that I don't find the time.  Although it's also because I spend too long on RMWeb!  I guess I'm only contemplating buying it as a large test track so that I can at least play trains sometimes.  A layout that isn't quite what I'd build myself is still potentially better than no layout at all as all my stock only gets a run on club nights.  I think I'm just trying to be realistic with regards when I might actually have an operating layout at my current rate of progress. 

 

I actually have no idea. 

 

But a thought occurs to me. The more unusual the subject of a layout is the more time a modeller will spend on research and gathering the information to make that layout and associated buildings and stock. Does that make it more valuable? I doubt it, it probably makes it less valuable since the number of people who would be interested in buying such models is a small number who are probably already making them for themselves. 

 

Regularity makes the point that a less popular scale reduces the sellable value, I would argue that that is true of subject too. 

 

Anyway, how do you explain to an insurance company that you have spent a lifetime accumulating information and that part of the model you have made is probably beyond price ? 

 

Er, sorry to the op for drifting off a bit. 

 

I agree that there is a huge difference between an insurance value (ie the cost of replacing a lifetimes work) and the scrap value of an unwanted layout.  Yes, I also agree that a very specialist subject could reduce the value, but on the other hand, those modellers who have spent a lot of time researching something, tend to produce models that are to a higher standard than many more general layouts, that simply looks like a train set glued onto a Track mat.

 

It depends a lot on detail. If a layout is simple, 00 or N gauge set track pinned down, not ballasted it may well be worth 1/2 of the S/H value of the track and points and point motors if fitted.

If a bloke down the road fancies it for his kid at Christmas you might get £100, If its portable someone may pay a couple of hundred quid but by and large you cant give layouts away and if the track is ballasted you can't even strip it for spares so its worth nothing minus the cost /hassle taking it to the tip.   My son blagged an N gauge layout from a skip, got it running, strengthened the baseboard and sold it for £20 on ebay, the bloke never paid so we stripped some of  the points out, sold them for about £20, kept the flexi and some points and stuck the 6 X 2 approx  baseboard in the shed.  Had it been any bigger we would have left it in the skip as it wouldn't have gone in the car. Really only the stock has resale value and then only around 33% of new price.

Best bet is give the layout to someone who would appreciate it, maybe a young but enthusiastic chap or chapess.

 

In this case, the track appears to have been handmade and has been ballasted.  I very much doubt that it would be salvageable and certainly wouldn't have a resale value.  Again, you mention point-motors although I'm not sure if you think they should be valued at full replacement costs or half the typical RRP.  In this particular case, the stock has been sold (ie it has a resale value) and all that the seller wants rid of now is the layout.  If he wanted to give it away as you suggest, I'd probably happily take it, but he is hoping to recover some value from it, hence my original question - what is a model worth once it's creator has passed away.  I guess this is pointing towards calculating the replacement cost of the main electrical components (ie the controllers and point motors along with any other DCC equipment etc) and then dividing that cost by, say, two on the assumption that second-hand equipment is worth only half what it would cost to buy new. 

 

From another thread.

If a layout is well known - it is likely it will fetch more.

This may be worth watching - but it does include a lot of stock.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/exhibition-railway-layout-EM-gauge-Reighton/273416204162?hash=item3fa8e02f82:g:Q68AAOSwovBbeWuG

 

Cheers,

Mick

 

I'll watch and see a) whether it sells and b) what it sells for.  £1,600 seems like a lot of money for a layout, but then 21 EM gauge locomotives at £40 each would account for half of that starting price, so I guess if you wanted the stock, the cost of the layout could be very little.  I'm not interested in that particular layout, but it would be good to see what interest there is.

 

So far as I am concerned the value of a layout is the value of the items you can salvage from it when you scrap it.

For me the value might be higher. I have a small layout which might well be replaced by a new project this winter. The track is ballasted but I reckon with care I should be able to salvage most of the points but not the flexible track. Having done a quick mental tot up the cost of buying the parts I can salvage as new items would be over £350. I can’t imagine anyone would want to pay that sort of money for the layout so it will go.

I would also suggest that we get too sentimental about layouts. With only one or two exceptions they are temporary things. They exist for a while but when their job is done they should be destroyed and replaced by something new.

Having said that some layouts seem to have a charmed life. Some friends of mine built a layout many years ago. When they had finished with it they donated it to the local club. At the club I built it into something quite different but with 90% of the track unchanged and exhibited it a few times before donating it to another club. They steipped it,rebuilt it and exhibited it a few times before they sold it to an individual. This sale was fair enough as each time it was donated it was on the understanding that the receiver could do what they wanted with it. I must admit to being very pleased when I went to an exhibition and found the layout, again stripped and rebuilt but with the same track, on display and running. Quite a charmed life. During its lifespan it has gone from narrow gauge to standard gauge and Us based to European based and back to US based. It has been old time and contemporary.

 

I agree that value depends on whether you think you have a future use for the things that could possibly be salvaged.  I'm fairly sure that the track on this layout would be unusable and therefore has no value, but again point motors are highlighted as part of the scrap value.  In your particular example, you think you can use £350 worth of components on a future project.  However, I guess what I'm interested in is what you think you could sell that £350 worth of components for.  In this particular instance, the seller has no interest in the components that could be recovered other than whether or not they could be sold separately on E-bay or by other means. 

 

For exhibition insurance I usually add the rough cost of things I know the price of (specific building kits etc) then add a little bit for other stuff (e.g. scatter, plaster and stuff that comes in packs that will do more than one layout). In the event that something was damaged at an exhibition I would probably repair it myself, but just in case I sometimes slightly overestimate the cost of constituent parts, particularly as the price may have increased since the layout was built. This usually leads to a nice round figure as I don't have precise lists of everything used (I've often forgotten to add stock, controller etc which bring the value up but am getting better at this). I'm not sure about the 'value of my time' - I think that has more relevance to the exhibition scenario than the resale one.

 

I've never really had to come up with a sale price for a layout (I build micro layouts which are small enough that they don't have to be got rid of to make space for the next one, and only started about 10 years ago). The problem here is that the intrinsic value of the layout to its builder (and others who admire or appreciate it) will usually be more than the financial cost of construction. Surely part of the point is to create something which appears to be greater than the sum of its parts?

 

For insurance purposes, most of our club layouts have insurance values that are worked out as you have indicated and we arrive at a nice round number, which should provide us with more than enough money to go out and buy all the components to build a new layout should it be damaged at an exhibition.

 

Interesting that you highlight that the intrinsic value of the layout to its creator is probably higher than its cost.  However, that value is in the eye of the beholder.  Whilst I'm sure that the gentleman who spent many hours building this layout placed great value in it, his wife and son, who are now effectively the owners, don't see any intrinsic value.  They want the space for other purposes more than anything else and hope to recover a small proportion of the costs that were spent on construction. 

 

I'll see what I think once I've actually had the opportunity to see this layout 'in the flesh'.

[Jeff Smith]

I sold an On30 layout on eBay. No one was more surprised than me but luckily it was a US narrow gauge being sold in the US. It was priced just on the original purchase price of the track, kits, scenic material, baseboard materials etc. I was not intending to include stock or the DCC controller but the nature of the enquiry to buy made it worthwhile to include two locos, a handful of wagons and the controller as the buyer wanted a turnkey running layout for his restaurant.....

 

This was the only serious enquiry and it was obvious that it was not from an enthusiast. He picked it up and took it halfway across the US.

 

As a yardstick it was an 8'x 4' oval with the scenic part being the front two feet. The buyer was intending to set it running each day when the restaurant was open. I've no idea how long this would last but recommended he contact a local club or enthusiast to maintain it. It fetched $1500.

 

I have no illusions that my modular P4 layout will go anywhere but the skip eventually, but my collection of kit built P4 locos and rolling stock I hope would go to a better home but even as a give away there are precious few P4 modellers over here!

[009 micro modeller]

I suspect the consensus within the club will be 'no', as it is a DCC layout more suited the diesel and electric era, while the majority of club members do not use DCC and interest in the steam area dominates within the club. However, the photographs that I've been sent indicates that the gentleman who built the layout must have spent many hours creating a layout to run his trains on and it seems a shame that it may have to be dismantled and tossed in a skip - even although I know that is the fate of many model railway layouts.

 

I wonder if you could buy it for the club at a fair price. If nobody is interested it could be resold for a modest profit which then goes towards club funds, so it would benefit the club yet also get it off the owners' hands quickly as you suggest they seem to want.

 

In the 009 Society, which I am a member of, we have the second hand sales stand (and postal orders for members). The sales team often encourage the families of deceased members to sell their collection to them, as they will generally get a fairer price than if they sold to a dealer who might exploit the family's lack of knowledge of the true value (in this case purely financial of course) of model railway items.

[Dunsignalling]

Valuing a layout for sale is tricky. The uncomfortable truth is that you will be doing extremely well if you recover even half the cost of the materials that went into it.   

 

I am making a few of basic assumptions; that the modelling standard is high enough to be attractive to others, that the design makes it interesting to run and that everything on it is functioning. 

 

The first question to ask is; can it be removed from its present location without substantially affecting its potential for re-use in its entirety. Many cannot and therefore dismantling for component recovery and separate sale of locos, stock, controllers etc. becomes the only real option.

 

If it has been built to come apart without any worse damage than perhaps running a knife through board joins that have been disguised by light scenic covering. DCC is usually a plus point, as there's likely to be less wiring across baseboard joins (unless it was converted from analogue, of course.) Convenient multi-plug links are usually confined to exhibition layouts.

 

The next question to be faced is size and shape. That determines its viability to potential future owners. Space, or rather a shortage of it, is a universal bugbear in this hobby so the number of potential buyers for a layout will be inversely proportional to its size. Anything that's too large to fit in a typical domestic garage is probably "off the scale".

 

If one can't attract interest in the layout as a "going concern" there are dealers who buy layouts for dismantling and sale of the recovered materials/components. They don't pay a fortune simply because the cost of their time, transport etc. comes into the equation. Check the classified advert pages of the magazines for candidates. You clearly run a chance of a better offer from someone a few minutes away who can remove sections in his car rather than coming a hundred miles in a hired van.

 

Good luck, I'm very much afraid you will need it.

 

John

Edited August 23, 2018 by Dunsignalling

[Forester]

The first joy of eBay is that it has a "Completed Listings" box. Clicking on it reveals what sold (the price is in green) and what didn't.

The second joy is that items can be relisted quickly and easily (and for many of those with a decent selling record, for free).

The third joy is the facility to set a selling price but also invite Best Offers.

The fourth joy is you can ask buyers to collect.

 

Would anyone buy a 22 ft layout? The answer is yes, they have done in the past. That doesn't mean this one will sell but why not give it a try?

[009 micro modeller]

The first joy of eBay is that it has a "Completed Listings" box. Clicking on it reveals what sold (the price is in green) and what didn't.

The second joy is that items can be relisted quickly and easily (and for many of those with a decent selling record, for free).

The third joy is the facility to set a selling price but also invite Best Offers.

The fourth joy is you can ask buyers to collect.

 

Would anyone buy a 22 ft layout? The answer is yes, they have done in the past. That doesn't mean this one will sell but why not give it a try?

I think the question here is whether the owners know what a sensible price would be and/or have other ways of selling it or if they are relying on the club (and Dungrange) to deal with it?

[Jeff Smith]

Whilst it may not be possible to cherry pick part of a layout, there may be the potential to buy it all then downsize it to fit the available space and salvage or just dispose of the rest.

[37114]

I have managed to sell both past layouts for more than the cost of materials, some of the reasons that I think contributed were;

- They had been featured in a number of magazine articles

- They had been on the exhibition circuit so were known, I did the deal to sell Peafore Yard at an exhibition.

_They were equally suited to home and exhibition use.

- They were less than 8ft long so could fit in a spare room.

- They were both a commercial gauge (00) rather than a more niche gauge.

 

Size wise, smaller layouts command a higher price per length. Of the layouts I have sold, they sold between £500 and £1000 without stock. Offering to deliver is another useful negotiating tool, I delivered one to Manchester (from Bath) but combined with a business trip so 0 cost to me.