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Model railroading - just like any other hobby - is only as expensive as you let it be. I wouldn´t say it is really cheap, but even with a very tight budget, you can "stay in business" if you are prepared to cut down on your wants and must haves. I have just started work on my new layout - more of a toy than a real layout. I have literally no budget for it, so I need to revert to freebies, hand-me-downs, gifts and really cheap materials. At first, I was very skeptical about it, but it works. Start with the tool I did the planning with - it´s a freebie software, which does not have all the bells and whistles of those rather expensive CAD tools advertised. It works and I am happy with the result: <img src="http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv185/SirMadig/Bild%2018_zps6gitxwc4.jpg" alt=" " /> Making that plan was already a lot of fun! In the meantime  I have built the cabinet, which will hold the layout. The only parts I had to pay for were the legs, the casters and the paint, all other materials I got for free at my local carpenter´s - right from their dumpster! <img src="http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv185/SirMadig/P1100228_zpsxrfhgoy7.jpg" alt=" " /> The track was a gift from a friend in Switzerland and the buildings were a gift from my son and my Swiss friend, who also gave me some of the rolling stock. The locos were bought for really small money - used, but no abused - from "The Bay". In their previous life, they never saw any track, just sat in a display case. The discount on them went up to 75%... The actual benchwork will be built next week, again from free materials. OK, I will have to spend some money to actually get this layout built and finished, but it´ll be an amount well below $ 350 for all I need to do the job- that´s about $ 30 a month for the next year - most of it for the rather expensive catenary system from Sommerfeldt. How many times have we wasted $ 30 a month for rather useless things, like cigarettes, drinks ...( fill in whatever you like )?
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