"strange inheritance". and remember... you can't take it with you. >> a mysterious death. >> the story of my strange inheritance occurred when they fished my cousin's body out of the gowanus canal. >> a flood of questions. >> you think it's something sinister? >> i do think there's something going on. >> are the answers locked in storage? >> i just shook my head and i go, "oh, my god, this is a nightmare." >> he was, one might say, an idiot savant. nobody has what he had. howie frank had the best. >> he was sitting on a photo collection potentially worth $10 million. >> they dubbed him the "million dollar beggar." is it worth a million dollars? >> don't change that channel. it's a made-for-tv "strange inheritance." >> dy-no-mite! [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ]

[ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ] ♪ >> i'm jamie colby, and today i'm in brooklyn, new york, on my way to meet three brothers at a self-storage joint in historic coney island. that's where they found their strange inheritance, left to them by a homeless relative with a big surprise under lock and key. >> my name's seth lerner. our second cousin, howard frank, died mysteriously in 2012. that's when my brothers and i found out that we inherited the contents of his five storage units. we were shocked the first time we rolled up those doors. >> hi, guys. i'm jamie. >> i'm ian. >> good to meet you. >> hi. i'm seth. >> nice to meet you both. you wrote me about a wild story about a cousin and that he left all his belongings here? >> his whole life is here in this storage bin. >> howard rented five of these

10x15-foot units. >> when we opened up the lockers, we actually found a place where he might have been sleeping. >> wow. >> we didn't really know until we found this place. he never really told us. >> they did not need to be told back in the spring of 2012 that their 55-year-old cousin's life was unraveling. >> he always looked very disheveled. wore the same clothes over and over again, did not bathe. >> didn't bathe? >> did not bathe. was afraid of water. >> the lerner brothers do what they can to help. seth is a successful art director. todd and ian are dentists. >> i felt bad for him, and if there was something i could do, i would, whether it's doing dental work for him, giving him a little money to eat. >> but they don't know that howard, who once had a thriving business, is now begging for money on the streets -- a familiar figure outside several brooklyn synagogues. you seem to have sadness. >> it's sad.

you know, the whole thing is sad. the best way to describe howard is he was a lost soul. >> was he mentally ill? >> i would say there was a certain amount of mental illness, but not anything that was dangerous to other people. >> then seth gets a distressing call from cousin howard. >> it was an odd conversation. he wanted to remind me that he wanted to be buried near his parents, and i said, "howard, you're a young man. why worry about these things?" and he says, "well, i have to worry about them." >> on june 28th, howard frank's body is found floating in brooklyn's gowanus canal. police suspect it's a suicide. do you believe that he committed suicide, seth? >> no, i don't think so. >> you think it's something sinister? >> i can't put my finger on it, but i do think there was some type of cover-up or conspiracy. >> this much is true. it's, as they used to say on television, one of those 8 million stories in the naked

city that make great tabloid copy. i wanted to read you a section that i found curious. "the city medical examiner's office says the cause of death has yet to be determined but did not conduct an autopsy, at the family's request." is that true? >> no, that's not true. we were never contacted by the medical examiner's office. >> there was no autopsy. >> no. >> no. >> who said "no autopsy," then, if it wasn't you? >> somebody from the jewish community came down there and told the medical examiner that howard had no family, no living relatives, that there should be no autopsy. >> howard's death draws media attention -- not only for its mysterious circumstances, but also because of what his cousins find hidden away inside his five storage units in coney island. >> howard frank used to beg for money, even though he was sitting on a photo collection potentially worth $10 million.

>> he saved everything. >> what the hell is that? >> is howard really a millionaire beggar? i take the deep dive into this strange inheritance next. >> but first, our quiz question. the answer after the break. find your keys.

find your get-up-and-go. find pants that aren't sweats. find your friends. find your sense of wander. find the world is new, again. at chevy we'd like to take you there. now during the chevy open road sales event, get up to 15% of msrp cash back on select 2020 models. that's over fifty-seven hundred dollars cash back on this equinox. it's time to find new roads, again.

>> the answer is "b," fort lauderdale. while self-storage facilities date back to ancient china, the first u.s.-based operation, lauderdale storage, opened in 1958. >> todd, ian, and seth lerner inherit the contents of five storage lockers in coney island, new york, from their second cousin howard frank, who dies mysteriously in june 2012. what they find inside has some in the press speculating that howard had locked away a fortune worth anywhere from $1 million to $10 million. >> it's a mystery that's still unfolding -- a collection vast enough that howard frank needed storage space. >> you wrote me to come take a look at it. >> i did, yes.

>> well, i'm ready to take a look. >> great. >> really? open sesame! is this howard frank's version of aladdin's cave? piled to the ceiling -- photographs of classic tv stars, boxes and file cabinets full of them, going back to the 1950s. captain's log! there are hundreds of "star trek" photos. and from "the flying nun," more than 10,000. and "a horse, of course." it's "mr. ed." lucy? >> yeah. he had a fondness for lucy. >> who doesn't? look at these pictures. oh, my goodness. this is iconic stuff. >> yeah. >> "batman"? >> mm-hmm. >> "happy days." >> "happy days." >> these are some of the greatest shows. look how young they are! and now that you've been in the storage lockers, how many are in there? >> it's probably close to 2 million. it's just an incredible amount

of media. >> so how, and why, did their cousin get it all? that's a real brooklyn tale. it begins in 1956, when howard frank is born in bensonhurst, the second of two sons. >> i know there was a lot of family problems. >> what kind of problems? >> i think there's some type of mental instability. it was a very difficult family to be raised in. >> many of us have been there. thank goodness for tv. howard's a fan of hit shows of the era, like "leave it to beaver" and reruns of one of his favorites, the popular western "the lone ranger." in his teens, howard begins writing to tv studios, requesting photos of his favorite stars. his early collection includes these "i love lucy" photos, behind-the-scenes shots from "batman," and autographed pictures of his hero, clayton moore. >> howie lived and breathed

photos. >> fred westbrook, now a hollywood talent agent, met howard frank when they were both teenagers, prowling around photo shows in manhattan in the 1970s. >> he was, one might say, an idiot savant. he was a walking encyclopedia on the history of television. >> the two become fast friends, despite howard's quirks. >> as much as howie loved photos, he hated water. he didn't go swimming -- deathly afraid of water. so that means he didn't shower that much. >> howard is especially close to his father, alex, a disabled accountant confined to a wheelchair who works from home. >> howie and his father were very, very close. and they supported each other. >> with that support, howard takes his photo hobby to the next level. he drops out of middle school and begins selling his prints at flea markets. then, in 1974, howard's dad

injects the capital to expand his son's enterprise. >> he uses $12,000 from an inheritance to buy out a well-known celebrity photo shop in manhattan. why do you think his dad put him into this business? >> from alex's point of view, he probably knew somewhere down the line that he wasn't gonna be around forever, and he wanted to give him a chance. >> i also think it was something that alex and he could do together. >> in the buyout, howard snaps up photos from game shows, including "family feud" and "the dating game" -- also, sitcoms like "the munsters" and "laverne and shirley." >> there was about 200,000 photos and books in that collection, and suddenly, howard was in business. >> at just 18, howard officially launches his own company, called personality photos, and sets up shop inside the family home. >> the pictures were

everywhere -- on the bed, under the bed, turn the oven off, put them in the oven. but, boy, what a treasure trove. >> after howard's mother dies in 1978, father and son become inseparable. who was taking care of who? >> i think it was mutual. howard was basically alex's legs, and alex was the business guy. >> in the days before the internet, newspapers, magazines, and tv stations rely on independent dealers like howard to provide them with photos. and howard builds an impressive client list. >> howie would physically walk to the major publications and meet the editors and say, "hey, i have all these archives." 'cause nobody had what he had. >> picture an editor on deadline who needs a shot of fred gwynne or one of adam west without his batman cowl. fastest way to get it -- call howard, who locates the physical photo in a cabinet, box, that oven, or even in this messy

stack next to the sink, then mails the print, with an invoice of 75 bucks an image. >> we found loads of tv guides that he sold photos to, and we found evidence that he supplied photos for the franklin mint for their plates and things like that, for john wayne, lucille ball, elvis presley. >> did he own them? >> no, he didn't own them, but studios sent out press photos for years and years, and they were handed out for promotion. so he had just as much right to them as anyone else. >> by the early 1990s, howard and his dad are raking in more than $200,000 a year. things are looking good. howard next surprises both friends and family with some big news. >> i get a call from howie, and he says he's gonna get married. i was the best man. i was happy for him and shocked. >> but the honeymoon is short-lived. howard gets divorced less than a year later.

then, in 2001, another loss -- howard's father passes away. >> he was the rock that i think kept howard together in terms of having a connection to somebody, and i think it was kind of devastating for him. >> he started to spiral, he started to lose focus. >> at the same time, howard's business becomes one of the many wiped out by the internet. when you need that picture of gary coleman or david hasselhoff fast, why call howie from brooklyn when you can instantly download your choice of shots from an online catalog? for the next several years, howard lives off his savings, but eventually lands on the street, moving his trove of pictures to those five storage units in coney island. >> he loved the pictures so much, he would go without eating. it was his life and made him who he was. >> then in the spring of 2012, howard tells his cousins he

fears for his life. he even makes a fatalistic request, in connection with his favorite show, "the lone ranger." >> somehow, he identified with that character. he told me at the time we make his tombstone, he wanted the word "lone ranger" somehow brought onto that. >> howard's cousins just don't know what to make of his ramblings about an overdue loan, money he says he borrowed from a business associate to cover the rent on his storage lockers. was he paranoid or did he have a legitimate reason to be concerned? >> i think he had a legitimate reason to be concerned. he may have pushed the wrong people. >> whether murder, suicide, or accident, on june 28, 2012, the body of howard frank is found floating in the gowanus canal. >> howard frank was last seen alive the night of june 27th, begging for assistance at one of his usual spots. >> no one in howard's family, including his estranged older

brother, is contacted to approve an autopsy. the d.a. opens an investigation, but with a lack of evidence, soon closes the case. and for years, that's where everything sits, until the heirs call in "strange inheritance." we can tell their story, but can we help? well, turns out i know a guy. what are some of the valuable things that you did stumble across? >> here's another quiz question for you. the answer when we return. tara, did you know geico is now offering

an extra 15% credit on car and motorcycle policies? >>wow...ok! that's 15% on top of what geico could already save you. so what are you waiting for? idina menzel to sing your own theme song? ♪ tara, tara, look at her go with a fresh cup of joe. ♪ gettin' down to work early! ♪ following her dreams into taxidermy! oh, it's...tax attorney. ♪ i read that wrong, oh yeeaaaah! geico. save an extra 15 percent when you switch by october 7th. ♪ give it up for tara!

>> so, which actress was originally offered elizabeth montgomery's role of samantha stephens in "bewitched"? it's tammy grimes. the two-time tony award winner didn't like the premise of the show and wanted to know why samantha wouldn't use her magical powers to stop wars or untangle l.a. traffic jams. >> after their second cousin howard frank dies a mysterious death in 2012, brothers todd, ian, and seth lerner are the sole heirs to howard's nearly 2 million entertainment photos. media reports speculate the inventory of howard's defunct business could still be worth a fortune. could that be true? auction house executive bobby livingston volunteers to help sort things out. so, this is just one of the lockers you looked at. >> that's right. >> so, did howard know what he was doing? >> i think howard knew what he was doing for his time.

he's got every television show. he was obsessed with getting one of everything. >> so, rummaging through the unit is like a flashback to our childhoods. "good times"! >> these were publicity photos. you would have to get someone like howard to find you a picture of "good times." if people magazine, for instance, was doing an article on "good times," they would call howard. >> and then he would give it to them for a fee. >> that's right. but those days are long gone, and so, unfortunately, the value of these prints have gone down considerably. >> well, one thing that is never gonna be gone -- "dy-no-mite!" i love this guy. oh, my god -- j.j. bobby tells me you could sell these prints on ebay for a few dollars apiece -- and the signed ones, more like 10 bucks. >> it's fantastic, right? neat. >> but bobby does find, among the dime-a-dozen don johnsons, alfs, and mr. t's, some real gems. what do you have? >> well, you know, one of the coolest things i found, which is

an original elizabeth montgomery "bewitched" photo. >> i love elizabeth montgomery. >> well, these are original "bewitched" test shots, and you can see she went through herself and put "kill" on them -- she didn't like it -- and she put a question mark on that one, which was kind of neat. >> "i look like i should be sitting in the dentist chair. kill." well, for elizabeth montgomery, someone that's a big fan of hers, this has value? >> yeah, absolutely. probably these are worth $100, $200 each. >> what if there are more like these filed away in these cabinets? here's my bottom-line question about all this. is it worth a million dollars? that's next. what's your "strange inheritance" story? we'd love to tell it. send me an e-mail or go to our website, strangeinheritance.com. [indistinct radio chatter]

(mom) come on, hurry up! all systems go? (mission control) 5 4 3 2... and liftoff. (vo) audi e-tron. the next frontier of electric. get audi at your door remote services through participating dealers.

>> now back to "strange inheritance." >> after inheriting their cousin's trove of nearly 2 million entertainment photos, the lerner brothers are trying

to figure out what to do with it. do you have a plan? >> we pretty much don't know what we're gonna do with it. it's too big for us to do anything with. >> to help them weigh their options, i've invited auction house executive bobby livingston to meet us here at the storage lockers, where he's taken a deep dive into the photo hoard. what kind of condition is it in? >> it's in all kinds of condition. your cousin just didn't really care too much about condition. he cared about quantity. >> so, based on your analysis, do you have good news or not-so-good news? >> well, it's a very difficult thing to be able to give you a value, 'cause i didn't get to go through everything. but i think you could probably look at maybe a couple hundred thousand dollars. [ cash register dings ] >> so, call him the "quarter million dollar beggar." maybe. because, as bobby livingston explains, his estimate can only be realized by scanning, listing, and selling the photos individually. >> well, you have to inventory it because there are some really

great things in there, and then there's a lot of things that aren't so cool. but if you really want to understand its value, that's something you're gonna have to do. >> but think about that. if you spent just two minutes on each image, it would take nearly eight years working around the clock to get through howard's 2 million pictures. so, do you have the time to do these individually? >> no, we don't. >> because you guys have day jobs. >> yes, real jobs. >> and it's costing you a pretty penny to keep them stored up. >> we've probably spent, in storage fees, about $6,000 a year. >> so, what do you think you'll do? >> i think if a person came along and said, "we'll give you a couple hundred thousand dollars for it," i would say, "here. take the whole thing. bye. see ya." >> would it be a relief? >> it would be a big relief. >> what would really ease their minds would be to finally answer the questions they continue to have about howard's death. did it somehow stem from a dispute over those 2 million pictures? they still think so but have

found no proof. and listening to cousin todd talk about his strange inheritance, i can't help but think this is just not the way a made-for-tv story is supposed to end. >> you know, i think when people leave you something, you hope that there's some legacy to it, but in this case, when you have to go through somebody's life and clean it up, it's like somebody leaving you something that you really don't want. >> so, unlike the tv shows that howard frank cherished, where all plot points get resolved before the credits roll, he mostly left his cousins nagging questions, still locked up among 2 million pictures. the lerner brothers recall their cousin's request that when he died, he wanted the name of his favorite tv show, "the lone ranger," inscribed on his gravestone. the brothers plan to honor his wish with a stone that quotes from the show -- "ride on, lone ranger. ride on forever."

i'm jamie colby. thanks for watching "strange inheritance." and remember -- you can't take it with you. [ train whistle blows ] >> a texas-sized model railway... >> do you have any idea what steve spent to put this together? >> i've always heard $1 million. >> ...built by a man on a mission. >> he's telling his life story in trains. >> he is. he is. yes. >> whenever he would add something to it, he said, "you want to see your inheritance again?" >> an inheritance freighted with memories. >> so tell me the truth. did y'all make out at that movie theater? >> no, not that one. [ both laugh ] >> will their plan fall apart? >> your first cut could be the end of this railroad. >> well... [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ]

>> i'm jamie colby driving through dallas, texas. what do you get when you couple a one-track mind to a boxcar full of bucks? a strange inheritance that i'm told is just the ticket. >> my name is jane sanders. my husband, steve, was always into his model trains. but when he got sick, they became much more than a hobby. they took him on the trip of a lifetime. >> i meet jane at her home here in dallas. she leads me upstairs, and i am transported to a railroad wonderland. [ train whistle blows ] oh, my goodness. unbelievable. it's massive, 2,000 square feet, taking up an entire wing of jane's house. oh, my gosh. that's so fantastic! the locomotives drive past

hundreds of hand-crafted figurines and intricate details. there's two men sharing lunch on the stairs, a blonde bombshell hitchhiker, a 1950's gas station. they're cleaning the windshield like the good, old days. >> yes. >> and a scene from main street, usa. >> there's the diner with people actually sitting in there eating. >> absolutely spectacular, to every detail, jane. what's more, there's a tale behind each detail joined together like verses of a poem written by jane's late husband, steve. >> it's all his story. >> a story that begins in 1944, when steve sanders is born right here in the heart of texas. >> his mother would take him to union station in downtown dallas, then put him on a train to go to camp in colorado. he just always loved it, so ever since then, his love of trains built up. >> a love that continues to build even through steve's college years at the kemper military school

in missouri. steve goes on to become a green beret who sees action in vietnam, is wounded, and awarded a purple heart. >> he loved his military service. that was the best thing he ever did in his life. >> back in dallas, he's set up with jane on a blind date. had you ever met someone like steve before? >> no, and i never have since. he was a very, very loving person, generous, and enjoyed life. >> steve and jane are soon married, and he opens his first business, a hobby shop. >> that's when he started collecting the trains. i didn't think about it. he would just buy the trains and set them back, and set them back. >> steve goes after the largest-size models he can find, the g-scale trains made in germany. "g" stands for "gross," german for big. >> he wanted the biggest and the best. >> in 1981, another of steve's dreams comes true when he and jane adopt twin girls, christina and stephanie.

did it change him to be a father? >> yeah. in a lot of ways, it did. he was so protective of those girls. oh, my gosh. he just was so scared about anything happening to them. >> how would you describe him and his love of trains? >> he would find ways for us to go on train trips. he made us ride the train all the way from dallas to minnesota once. it was horrible, but he had a great time. >> steve wants to give a better life to his young daughters, so he looks to make more money by going to work in the family oil-drilling business and becoming a precious-metals dealer. >> he used to work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, and everybody would say, "well, why are you working so hard?" he goes, "well, i have to take care of my girls." >> and steve keeps buying up model trains. his lucrative business ventures allow him to add hundreds of engines, cars and pieces of track to his stockpile. probably some you didn't know about. >> yeah. well, i never really paid a whole lot of attention to them. i would just keep seeing

these red boxes building up. >> steve does have a plan. one day, he's going to build the model railway of his dreams. >> he had a train room, and he had started a small train set. it was never finished. >> we weren't allowed to touch it, not allowed to play on it, and we'd be climbing on it, and he'd, "get off that! that's where my trains are going to go!" >> maybe he'll finish it when he retires, when he'll have all the time in the world. but steve learns the 60s can be a cruel decade. he suffers a string of health setbacks -- triple-bypass surgery, prostate cancer, and multiple back operations. so much for a life of leisure. he really suffered. >> he was so tired, in pain, everything. >> steve knows the proverbial train is leaving the station. it's time, once and for all, to finish that railroad display. he'd always had a big vision for it, but knew he needed help

bringing it to life, first-class help. so he tracked down an artist who designs museum exhibits and film sets. >> steve approached me and wanted someone to design the ultimate train layout. >> robert reid is dazzled by steve's ambitious plan. he's on board. but did they start too late to fulfill steve's dream? >> that was the tragedy. >> here's a "strange inheritance" quiz question... they're all model-railroad enthusiasts, but which music legend was a spokesman for lionel trains? the answer after the break. find your keys.

find your get-up-and-go. find pants that aren't sweats. find your friends. find your sense of wander. find the world is new, again. at chevy we'd like to take you there.

now during the chevy open road sales event, get up to 15% of msrp cash back on select 2020 models. that's over fifty-seven hundred dollars cash back on this equinox. it's time to find new roads, again. ♪ >> so, which music legend was a spokesman for lionel trains in the '70s? neil young was a part owner of lionel, but it's johnny cash, the man in black, who served as its spokesman in the 1970s. >> for decades, these model trains are stockpiled in steve sanders' texas home to be used one day in the mother of all model railroads. in his 60s, with his health in decline, steve works with a movie-set and museum-display designer to finally bring his lifelong dream to fruition. >> he wanted it to be a tour of the southwest from colorado through new mexico to arizona

to west texas and on through dallas. >> he's telling his life story in trains. >> he is. it is. he was definitely involved. each little vignette had to tell an important story. >> but putting together a display for steve's g-scale trains is a huge challenge. >> it's much larger than most train layouts. figures in this scale are very difficult to come by. >> hundreds of figures like these, many personally handcrafted and all custom painted. >> these weren't things that you just buy off the shelf. we had people making trees, all the rock work, the scenic work. we actually created the buildings, most of them from scratch. steve, running out of time but not money, spares no expense. forty-two thousand dollars to create a pint-sized drive-in theater, complete with a feature film playing on the screen. >> it's a miniature projector. it's not a tv screen. and then the sound

comes from original drive-in movie speakers. >> steve pays a sculptor $80,000 more to create a rocky mountain scene that includes 32-inch trees and a working tram. and another $40,000 for murals to give it the feel of big sky country. >> there's shooting stars that go across the sky. there's thunder and lightning effects. we were able to develop something that was museum worthy. >> dad always did everything all the way, especially this. >> do you have any idea what steve spent to put this together? >> i've always heard the figure of $1 million. >> does it matter? >> not to me. i thought he works hard, he's a good husband, if he wants it, let him have it. before i knew it, this is what we end up with. >> what were your thoughts about it? >> whenever he would add something to it or finish it, even though

i'd seen it a hundred times, he goes, "you want to see your inheritance again?" >> in december 2012, after four years of construction, the 2,000-square-foot display is finally completed. it seems that it's not just a train set. >> it's pretty much the story of his life. >> the journey starts here, 1950's dallas union station, where steve's love affair with trains first blossomed. from there, the layout heads to steve's boyhood summer camp in colorado. then continues past his hobby shop and through the oil fields of west texas, which helped make him rich. then there's the ranch where jane and steve raised their girls. is it an exact replica? >> pretty close. it has the blue roof, which is one of favorite things that we had about it. >> and that drive-in? playing an army movie. tell me the truth. did y'all make out

at that movie theater? >> no, not that one. [ both laugh ] >> and, of course, he creates a tribute to his wife, the mary jane train station. and it's more than just a massive piece of art. steve designed seven track loops that can handle up to 12 engines running simultaneously. >> he had ideas in his head and he'd be sure whatever he wanted done, got done and done the right way. >> with his vision realized, steve began sharing his magnificent train display with anyone who will come see it. and he loved that? >> oh, heavens yes. he stood up there and ran those trains all night long. >> but steve's joy is short-lived. in february 2013, just months after the display is finished, steve is diagnosed with his most dire ailment, stage-four lung cancer. >> he'd walk me in here and show me how to work everything. >> because he knew he wouldn't be able to be

the conductor here forever. >> yeah. he wanted to make sure we knew how to take care of everything, including his trains. >> his illness spreads quickly. >> he was diagnosed february the 12th and died may the 28th. that was all the time we had left. >> that was the tragedy. we finished this masterpiece and he had such little time to enjoy it. >> steve sanders is just 68 years old. what do you miss the most? >> [ voice breaking ] i miss the most sitting at the dinner table with him and us exchanging stories. that's my hardest time every day. >> he leaves his enormous model train display, along with hundreds of trains in storage, in the care of his daughters and widow. did steve tell you what to do? >> no. he got sick and died so quickly that we didn't have time to discuss it. >> so, for the time being, jane just keeps the display in her home, acting as it's loyal custodian. >> it's a full-time job

to take care of them, to keep them clean and running in good shape. >> then in 2017, jane decides to downsize her life, putting her 10,000-square-foot house on the market. >> i knew i'd have to do something at some point. i felt like i didn't want to leave it to my daughters to have to deal with it. >> it's time to tear up the tracks. but then what? >> here's another quiz question for you... the answer when we return. businesses are starting to bounce back.

but what if you could do better than that? like adapt. discover. deliver. in new ways. to new customers. what if you could come back stronger? faster. better. at comcast business, we want to help you not just bounce back. but bounce forward. that's why we're helping you stay ahead and adapt with a network you can count on, 24/7 support and flexible solutions that work wherever you are. call or go online today. yeah. this moving thing never gets any easier. well, xfinity makes moving super easy. i can transfer my internet and tv service in about a minute. wow, that is easy.

almost as easy as having those guys help you move. we are those guys. that's you? the truck adds 10 pounds. in the arms. -okay... transfer your service online in a few easy steps. now that's simple, easy, awesome. transfer your service in minutes, making moving with xfinity a breeze. visit xfinity.com/moving today.

what happens when puts its customers in charge? well, the good news gets shared. and it gets rated #1 for customer satisfaction. but don't just take our word for it. take theirs. it's your wireless. your rules. only with xfinity mobile. call, click or visit a store today. ♪

>> the term described the constant dancing motion of track workers as they lunged against their tools in unison to nudge the rails. >> his 2,000-square-foot model-train display tells steve sanders' life story. he built it in his house in dallas and, before he died, he taught his daughters, christina and stephanie, how to operate it. and now they're going to teach me. >> i happen to love trains. are you going to let me try something? >> of course. >> show me how it works. >> okay. pull this lever slowly and we're going to go one after the other. >> all systems go. seems easy, until steve's daughters warn me that his complicated layout demands that the trains run at precise speeds. get it wrong, and i'll crash a couple of very expensive locomotives into each other. yikes! so i'm driving three trains at once.

fortunately today, nothing goes off the rails. i love it. i could be here all day. what steve didn't do was instruct his widow, jane, what he wanted her to do with the trains after he died. do you wish he had made these kind of arrangements before? >> well, i wish had, but there just really wasn't the time to even get into it. >> jane estimates steve spent about $1 million on the trains and layout. so perhaps selling off the cars and display, piece by piece, could be just the ticket. enter appraiser laurence martin to provide his expert financial analysis. >> i went through every train, every locomotive, every car. it was over 126 man hours. i mean, shock and awe would be a good way to phrase that. >> and you'd be shocked how much some of steve's model trains are worth. >> he has one locomotive,

was by row and company, that is one of only 30 in the world. >> its value -- $5,300. this pennsylvania railroad model is one of only 250 and worth nearly $4,000. while this limited-edition steam engine comes in at $1,900. the train total -- $137,000. steve's custom display itself is a different story. with no real secondary market, those pieces won't fetch anything near what he paid for them. >> i don't know too many people that spend that kind of money to have a model train set running around in their house. >> laurence estimates the layout and all its components are worth about $200,000, so it doesn't make much sense to sell off the inheritance piecemeal. and that's actually a relief for stephanie and christina. >> his only dream was to make sure that everyone that wanted to could enjoy them.

>> but then, what to do? how many options did you have? >> not very many. it's so big that not just anybody could take it. >> the family begins seeking out someone who could take the entire display. >> originally, i'd love to have given then to the children's hospital, but they didn't have the room. it just wasn't feasible. >> so they reach out to a bigger facility. >> we checked with at&t stadium, too, but it was a little large for the stadium so... >> even for a stadium? >> even for the stadium. >> but the family doesn't give up yet. they leave their info at a museum in nearby frisco, texas. >> i got a message on my desk that someone had an interest in donating a train layout to us. >> bob laprelle is the ceo of the museum of the american railroad, which has honored railroad history since 1962. you must get calls all the time of people who think their train sets are good enough for a museum. >> yes, we do. in fact, we've turned down quite a few over the years. >> did you come immediately out

to see it? >> we came out within a week or so. it just blew us away. the creativity that went into this layout far exceeds just about anything else we've ever seen. >> the family offers to donate the display, plus steve's vast collection but there's still one, giant bridge to cross. what if you start taking it apart, and it's destroyed? what's your "strange inheritance" story? we'd love to tell it. send me an e-mail or go to our website, strangeinheritance.com.

♪ ♪ we've always put safety first. ♪ ♪ and we always will. ♪ ♪ for people. ♪ ♪ for the future. ♪ ♪ and there has never been a summer when it's mattered more. wherever you go, summer safely. get 0% apr financing for up to five years on select models and exclusive lease offers.

♪ >> now back to "strange inheritance." >> jane sanders and her daughters want to donate the gigantic model train display their husband and father left behind to the museum of the american railroad in frisco, texas. it's got to be a little bittersweet. >> it is. it's almost like it's the end of an era. >> and how do you feel about that?

>> happy that everyone is going to enjoy his dream but sad that it's not ours to keep to ourselves anymore. >> was it a piece of your husband leaving? >> it is, but at the same time i know so many more people are going to get to see it, and that's what he wanted. >> now train museum ceo bob laprelle needs to clear the biggest hurdle -- moving the layout without destroying it. this can't be very easy. >> well, it's a massive project, and it's a specialized job. >> your first cut could be the end of this railroad. it could fall apart. >> well... >> in june 2017, the breakdown begins. step one -- label every single one of the thousands of individual pieces. >> we'll try to document as much as we can of the existing configuration of the layout before we attempt to dismantle it. >> with the inventory complete, each piece is delicately removed. >> then you've got to consider everything that you don't see -- the wiring, the hidden loop tracks, the

behind-the-scenes parts of it. >> finally, the various sections of the layout, called decks, are ever so carefully split apart. >> you've got to make strategic cuts and be very careful with it. >> the last step -- forklift the decks out of their second-story home. one wrong move and the display will come crashing down. >> we just don't want to drop anything. that would be a tragedy. ♪ >> but there will be no tragedies today. the sections are safely loaded onto a truck and the entire lot gets shipped to nearby frisco, texas, for reassembly. and the museum will not only reinstall the display, but add to it, so they can show off even more of steve's trains. >> we can share it with, you know, literally tens of thousands of people a year. and even though he's no longer with us, he really lives on.

>> do you think he would approve of what you're doing? >> oh, i think he would be so excited. he always had this way of giggling when he was very, very happy and i think that he would just be walking around giggling right now. >> that legacy is still going and will continue for, hopefully, very, very many years, that my children can take their children to go see it and say this was pop's place. >> when it comes to model-train enthusiasts, steve's in very good company. take frank sinatra. old "blue eyes" dedicated an entire wing of his california ranch to model trains. then there's buster keaton. he was so enamored with the hobby that he had trains running through his backyard carrying cocktails to pool-side quests. and when rod stewart's train display was featured on the cover of model railroader, he said it meant more to him than being on the cover of rolling stone.

i'm jamie colby. thanks so much for watching "strange inheritance." and remember -- you can't take it with you. [ train whistle blows ] dagen: good morning, everybody, i'm dagen mcdowell in for maria bartiromo. monday august 3rd, 6:00 a.m. eastern. microsoft to buy tiktok's business after president trump said he would ban the controversial app. secretary of state mike pompeo saying other chinese apps could also face ban in the u.s. extra unemployment benefits a sticking point. high-level talks expected today this as the clock ticks toward the senate recess. futures are showing