When Gerry Winn’s massive model train collection was too difficult to disassemble and move to his new house, he chose to do what few home sellers have done before: sell the collection and the house together.
Gerry and Ginny Winn gave their Delmar home a $600,000 listing price. This price does not include the value of Gerry’s train collection, which is estimated to be worth $180,000. Yes, that’s about a third of the cost of what the couple is asking for their entire house. You could even buy a small, affordable car with that kind of money.
The house recently sold to a family who was not interested in keeping the train collection. Gerry will soon sell all of his trains, save for a select few, before their move in August.
“It’s tear time,” said Gerry. “You can imagine the number of hours I’ve put into this.”
Gerry Winn began collecting model trains at seven years old, when he got his first train for Christmas. He has now been collecting for 80 years, and still has that very first train.
A devout collector, he has spent anywhere from $1 for antique trains that he finds at garage and estate sales that he scours to over $100 for the modern trains which fill his garage train station with lights and noise.
“When you get all the trains going and going it really is something,” said Ginny Winn.
The Winns’ five-bedroom, three-and-a-half bathroom home at 30 Partridge Road in Delmar had been with the family for 58 years.
“See, we come from a time before TV,” said Ginny. “All we had was the radio. You had to make your own fun.”
For Gerry, the train collection is a recreation of everything he loved from his childhood. In the center of his collection sits a model Western town. He remembers loving the Lone Ranger and watching Westerns at the Saturday matinee
A tiny man sits with a fishing pole on a lake in the middle. “That’s me, ” he said with a serious tone and flat stare which left this reporter wondering whether he thought that the figures in the town were real, and might actually come to life a la “The Indian in the Cupboard” or “Night at the Museum.”
“No, I’m just kidding,” he said with a smile and laughed, “I do love to fish, though.”
A town transplanted right from the ‘50s complete with a working ferris wheel, diner and car wash with a car that actually moves through, rounds out the collection. A miniature Christmas village is set behind it – Ginny’s corner within Gerry’s world.
All of the electronic work behind the setup was done by Gerry himself, and many of the trains were also made by him from kits. Putting the puzzle pieces together for this giant town is Gerry’s favorite part.
Gerry said he has “no idea” exactly how many trains are in his collection. There are, however, quite enough to fill his 30-foot by 40-foot garage. The trains were moved there after his collection could no longer fit in their second living room.
Parts of the collection were once housed at Gerry’s Delmar-based dentistry that he opened back in 1957, after returning from military service.
He pointed out individual trains, names them, dates them, and describes their engines as he walked me around his room. Some are colorful electronic, others are old and worn. Every piece has a story; every piece is historically accurate – exact quarter-size replicas of their originals.
The pair said they will be sad to leave their house and the giant collection behind, but are overjoyed to move to their new beach side house in Maine, which sits in front of a lighthouse.
They will be living with their eldest son Mark and his wife and children. The couple looks forward to spending more time with their 12 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren, and inviting some of the lighthouse’s visitors into their home.
“It’s a treat for us to take care of people,” said Ginny. “Everyone — I want them all to come visit. It’s a beautiful gift from God.”
Individuals interested in buying Gerry’s collection can contact the Winns before their move or look for the pieces on Craigslist, where the pieces will soon be listed.
