What's your best toy train money making idea, never before tried?

[FJ and G]

I'll start out with mine:

Producing a 2- and 3-level open rack auto car to scale dimensions (072 curves, sorry), along with 1:48 autos in different models. I'd put a nice ad in CTT and the other one.

If I didn't have a day job and knew more about resin casting and had a set of plans and the hound didn't need walking so much and...

[Roger Bielen]

Not buying another train item I didn't need, nor really wanted, because it seemed like a good buy.

[dwiemer]

How about suing Union Pacific for all the unreimbursed advertising and reinvesting the money into new tooling.

OK, I would like to see a National Parks series of boxcars with photo and facts on the individual parks. Then they could market these at the tourism centers. Think of how many kids will get their first train car from granny on tour? It would also share in the beauty of this country and educate some.
Dennis

[jefelectric]

Roger beat me to it, that would be a big money maker for me. [:D][:D][:D] Just not buying so many train items. I can only run 4 engines at one time (unless I double head) and at last count I had 28. Think what I could have saved over the years.

[Anonymous]

Producing a line of Alumium Freight Cars that are O Scale replicas and S Scale replicas of actual aluminum freight cars starting with 1950's cars made out of aluminum. Hoppers and Gondolas are typical Aluminum Bodied freight cars.
There would be a few experimental box cars and some Auto Carriers as well.

Having regional companies stamp parts of these freight cars out of aluminium.

Appling the graphics using paint and Scotchlite Decals.

Andrew F.

[cnw1995]

Let me piggyback on Andrew's post - offer decals as stickers that work like Colorforms - now there's a blast from my past. Peel on and off. Offer more weird traction units - not scale or 2 rail - just something different... like a line car or freight motor

[Dave Farquhar]

List items from your collection on eBay. Set the starting bid at some large multiple of the Greenberg value. Justify it by calling it "provenance." Post a picture of yourself holding the exact item to prove the provenance. See if anyone bites.

But seriously, I just happened to read just today, in a book about taxes and business expenses, that if you make money off your hobby, you can deduct expenses up to that amount. So if someone actually buys one of those items, report the income (you should anyway) and if you plow that money right back into your hobby (which we know you probably will), save the receipts so you won't owe taxes on it.

[Demon09]

Find some way to make a toy train into a sophistocated weapon and rob a bank to support my train addiction [:D]......... Maybe I'll have it somehow launch track sections as prjectiles......

But I kid, of course (don't go calling any authorities to my house)...... haha

[otftch]

How about a powered unit that would go into a tunnel and retrieve a derailed train.It would have to be powered by something other than the track.Maybe a tether.
Ed

[Anonymous]

I would have the person who invented the traction tire seated in a dunk tank and I would charge three balls for a dollar.[:0]

[thor]

QUOTE: Originally posted by 351_DD-1

I would have the person who invented the traction tire seated in a dunk tank and I would charge three balls for a dollar.[:0]

Traction tyres! Triang (in the UK) brought out a small HO diesel switcher with KNURLED metal tyres for extra grip. I had one, the noise it made was amazing and the grip wasnt improved at all.

[Jumijo]

Never before tried? That's a little bit tough. Almost everything's been tried by now, but here goes.

Super elevated curved track. This would allow toy trains to run at faster speeds without flying off the track. Prototypical too!

If I were to try and make money in this hobby, I'd most likely try making hand-painted backdrops or start a model building service. I could assemble, paint, and detail structures for people who either don't want to or aren't good at it.

I could create custom water-slide decals for signage. I've done that plenty of times.

Or I could start mass-producing furnace filter trees.

Or I could charge admission to our layout. $5 for adults, $2.50 for kids (including my own).

Jim

[Anonymous]

Producing a line of sheet-metal locomotives.

[FJ and G]

John, we're looking for ways to make money, not take money [:D]

OK, here's another way to make a fast buck. Use the most underutilized modeling material in model railroads: clay

Supply modeling clay, molds and instructions to make figures and other such items. One could easily mass produce a town's entire population by baking them in the oven. Small modifications could be made by bending arms, legs, heads, once taken out of clay molds.

[cnw1995]

I know! I know! R/C rechargeable battery-powered trains - lose the powerpack forever - no more track wiring.

[Jumijo]

QUOTE: Originally posted by cnw1995

I know! I know! R/C rechargeable battery-powered trains - lose the powerpack forever - no more track wiring.

What would be cool is to have those R/C rechargeable battery-powered trains able to recharge from track power, say a block siding or yard. That way, they'd never have to leave the layout. They could sit there in neutral recharging while other trains run on unpowered mainline tracks.

Jim

[laz 57]

I have said this before....
Make a train just like the ones they are expeimenting with in Japan and China and Germany, a electromagnetic version of the ACELA.
It would run on reverse polarity, no transformers no track.
laz57

[Anonymous]

I'd love to share my ideas with you guys, but, if I did, about two years from now I would see them for sale in one of these rags as has happened in the past with R/C(aircraft) stuff and get all depressed because Id know that the guy selling it got the idea from me because I was talking about it on a forum and now he is going to be a millionaire from it. The worst part is he is not a hobbyist, but rather, a bidness man who just knows how to wangle things so people like me reach into thier pockets and give him money. To him it is about selling, product lines, advertisement, margins, Taiwan, Korea, China, and stuff like that. I would be interested to know how many Train store/ Hobbyshop owners actually participate in a hobby and consume what they sell.
My 2 cents.

blabree11

[Anonymous]

More O Scale Scenery for Trackside.

O Scale leaves for coniferous trees made by microengraving the structure of leaves on steel plates to mold the leaves out of thin sheets of plastic.

O Scale 100' tall bare coniferous trees made from plastic.
The closest approximation is to take apart large plastic plants that somwhat resemble trees.

O Scale Soybean plants.

Andrew Falconer

[Anonymous]

At the risk of sounding like a huge nerd I have been thinking about a way to get more young collectors involved (who are just as obessive as many in here) asmart idea for some importer could be licencing a series of "Star Wars" cars from George Lucas. There would definitly be an influx of younger (20's and 30's) modelers. There are collectors of Starwars that will buy anything related to it.

If I were realy doing this I would start with a black "Empire" themed car and a brown and white "Rebel Alliance". Could be fun. It is a porven brand that is popular with many toy collectors so it may be an easy transition for them to make.

[Brutus]

There were trains in the Clone Wars Star Wars cartoons - a big fight scene occurs around some sort of futuristic train station - I think it's in the 2nd dvd. You don't really get to see the trains, though.

I think that rechargeable locomotive run on regular track with RC control is a great idea, and also being able to charge from track, either a siding or a yard.

I though of an idea of having magnetic pieces for locomotives that would dress them up for different holidays. See, you could sell a base locomotive and then have add-on sets for Halloween, Christmas, Easter, Arbor Day, etc. This would include side pieces for the cab with colorful "decals", eg "Christmas Express", as well as add on pieces like elves, holly, etc. For halloween, you could have spiders, snakes, candy, bats, vampires, etc.

[Anonymous]

Clone Wars Volume 2 has Anti-Gravity Commuter Trains.

The Anti-Gravity Train that floats could be simulated by using angled mirrors on and around the trucks. The visual effects craftsmen and artists used that angled mirror technique for the anti-gravity Landspeeders on Tatooine.

Andrew F.

[DCmontana]

Custom painted trains, rolling stock, engines, even sets. If you want the Milwaukee Road, you just order said car, etc. in that livery. Any road you want. It would cost more, but many would pay just to get whatever thay want in the RR they want.

[Jumijo]

QUOTE: Originally posted by DCmontana

Custom painted trains, rolling stock, engines, even sets. If you want the Milwaukee Road, you just order said car, etc. in that livery. Any road you want. It would cost more, but many would pay just to get whatever thay want in the RR they want.

Williams does that now. Not every livery is always in stock, but most are.

[palallin]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jaabat

QUOTE: Originally posted by DCmontana

Custom painted trains, rolling stock, engines, even sets. If you want the Milwaukee Road, you just order said car, etc. in that livery. Any road you want. It would cost more, but many would pay just to get whatever thay want in the RR they want.

Williams does that now. Not every livery is always in stock, but most are.

Hardly. Williams porduces only a tiny fraction of the possible roadnames. In fact, the dearth of roadnames available is why the scale side of the hobby has historically so heavily invested in the decal manufacturers. Unfortunately, it's rare to get even an undecorated model in 3 rail, much less a roadname more obscure than Pennsy, NYC, or Santa Fe.

[Anonymous]

Hobby Shops with Stereo-Lithography Equipment for plastic and metal parts that are hard to make by hand and hard to find in paper catalogs.

Andrew F.

[Anonymous]

CNC milled windows for prototypical passenger car sides. There was such variety in window placement this seems the best way to cover all bases in a relativly inexpensive way.

[traindaddy1]

How about a graduated trestle set that has a breaking system on the downgrade so the train will run down at the same speed as it went up. (Sorry, if this is available, I have not seen it) Thanks for asking.

[riverrailfan]

Offer undecorated engines and roling stock but offer a line of different paints and decals with different road names and numbers including short line. With the decals there would be instrutions for placement locations of the decals.The decals will also include precut vinyl mask for striping. For years when I raced 1/24 scale slotcars, you had to use liquid mask on the inside of the lexan bodies to have clear windows. This worked but sometime gave bad results or was difficult to remove. Slotcar manufacuters started suppling vinyl mask with there bodies to cover the windows for painting. The vinyl mask could also be used for lettering to.
My dissapointment in this hobby is the use of the same road names which is understandable due to cost.

[dbaker48]

QUOTE: OK, I would like to see a National Parks series of boxcars with photo and facts on the individual parks. Then they could market these at the tourism centers. Think of how many kids will get their first train car from granny on tour? It would also share in the beauty of this country and educate some.
Dennis

I think this a great idea! Most people would not know how many cars would be in the train. And possibly confuse it with some of the Cadillac model names.