What are you willing to pay to get that must have publication

[West Coast S]

I'm at the stage where I need specific reference for SP locomotives and tenders. I recently aquired a bound volume of line drawings compiled in the 1920s by the Sacramento Shops.

Suffice to say this was my most expense hobby purchase to date. Has anyone had a similar experience when purchasing rare or unusual research material?

[Anonymous]

Much too broad a question for a realistic answer. Who knows what's out there, what they want, how bad they want it? Your acquisition is more like an historical item rather than what most people would think of when you say "publication". Publication infers that something is published and available to the public.

I recently bought a hardcover book on the Climax steam engines, cost me around $72.00. I have several in a series of color guides to Canadian railway equipment, all cost around $80.00 each. I don't know how much I would pay for something else until I would have a need or desire for it.

Bob Boudreau

[selector]

Most university textbooks run between $60 and $130. The reason they do is that they are not printed in large numbers, and often are produced speculatively. If they do well, they are reprinted, but in academia, they need to be updated every two years-or-so. That tends to make a given edition rare over time.

The subject book is not produced in the tens of thousands because it has limited appeal. So, each individual copy will have to bear the cost of the production, and that means big dollars.

[orsonroy]

It definitely varies from item to item. I've got a few of the "in color" Morning Sun books, but I never pay full price for them. Conversely, I've paid well over $100 for certain books that were "must haves". Items like photos depend greatly, and are all over the road ($1 to $30).

I think the single most expensive item I have is a numberboard off NKP Berkshire 742. I paid $350 for it!

[selector]

I take it you are talking about the real MCCoy? As in, THE number board?

Keewwwl.

Just for edification, Ray, what is it really worth to you? From this vantage point, what would you now pay?

[West Coast S]

Let me expand on my orginal post by posing a question:

If you sought accurate models not available RTR from a not often modeled period from a railroad that built its own equiptment to its own specifications would you dedicate the time and money to aquire the necessary documentation or would you lower your modeling standards and accept compromises that distract from the finished model?

Only the indvidule can decide on what is correct for them and to which ends they acheive it.