Hi Guys,
Thought I would check in and clear up some misconceptions about my property.
I knew in 1986 when I started to build the out door RR it would make the property hard to sell. In fact, I told my wife when she agreed to building the RR, once I built it we would die owning the property. Add the in door RR and the job of selling gets even harder.
We have a great agent who has done a fabulous job of marketing the property. We have some future marketing plans if the current one does not pan out. I am a realist. We are allowing 10 years for the property to sell as is. We are only 1 1/2 years into that plan. Meanwhile, I am enjoying the property with my kids and 8 grand kids.
The arguement that the home is modest for the asking price is correct. The home is not a Mcmansion. There is more value in the out buildings and Railroads than the house. The new owner must be able to see that. Obviously, we are marketing to a wealthy railroad guy that wants to live in Oregon. If that doesn't pan out in 10 years we will consider other options.
As for the perception that there is a lot of maintenance. The property is designed to be mowed 100% with riding mowers. I have a maintenance company that comes once a week and keeps the place looking like a park. The RR is so well built it requires no maintenance. Plastic ties, stainless spikes and switch hardware. All hand tamped and smooth as glass.
There is lots of speculation as to why I am marketing the property. Well, I am 64 years old and been in this hobby since I was 15. I have built some world class locomotives and rolling stock. A world class F scale RR. What else is there? I don't want to leave this life and have my family have to deal with all of this. Hopefully, someone will come along with a similar vision to mine and continue this legacy.
I don't plan to get out of the live steam hobby, I just want to do it on a more modest scale. I would like to keep one of my loco's and travel around to other clubs and see some of my old friends. I hope this clears things up a bit.
I have taken the firemans and engineers schools at the C&TSRR with my friend Harry Haas. Sonny was our instructor. After the school both Harry and I were given the chance to work for the RR. Harry took them up on their offer and has worked for RR for two years now. I had to decline because of my commitments back in Oregon. It is on my bucket list to work for the C&TSRR before I check out.
Happy Railroading,
Tom
