This site has been getting a fair amount of attention from people wanting to sell their old train collection. I am unfortunately unable to help most people because they are outside the DC metro area, so I thought it would be helpful to suggest some other options.

Probably the first thing we should talk about is the size of the collection and also whether you have a layout with track and scenery.

Layout

If you have a layout, you generally have one of two options. For layouts which can fit (or which can be disassembled into pieces which fit) into a small car, you can easily sell it on Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, or Ebay. Shipping is too expensive to be worth it, so you’ll need to limit the buyer to picking it up in person (unless you can transport it, which would be great).

If your layout can’t fit into a small car, you’re going to have a problem selling it. You might be able to find a local model train enthusiast to come cut it up for you and hopefully salvage  it, but the simple truth is most larger model train layouts aren’t salvageable. Really the most likely outcome is that you’ll need to have someone use power tools to cut up the layout and take it to the dump.

Collection

If you are giving away some model trains, first we should talk about the quantity.

Are we talking about  one box with some track, an engine, and some cares? If you stacked all the trains in one place, would the pile be bigger than a breadbox?

A Small Collection

The reason I ask is that for a small collection, your best bet would be to list the trains on Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, or Ebay. You’ll need to take at least a few photos, and if you sell on Ebay you’ll need to be prepared to ship the trains.

If that is more work than you have time for, then you could simply drop the trains off at a thrift store such as Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc.

A Large Collection

If your collection is going to fill more than a few shipping boxes, what you might do is find a local auction company which handles estate sales. They are prepared to do all the work required to sell the trains online, including taking photos, setting up auction listings, processing payments, and even shipping.

One way to find one of those auction companies is Google, but you could also look on sites like Hibid.com that host estate sale auctions and search for auctions near you. You can get a company’s contact info from the auction listing, and take things from there.

I hope this helps!