hopper wrote:Only one thing I can't see about this whole thing. Thats spending 1500-2000 for a locomotive that's dressed to the 9's in detail,with all the bells & whistlers and has that ugly teether wire,or whatever you call it,between the tender & locomotive. You would think with all that high tech,they would figure out a way to get rid of that thing. Easter
Lionel has had the infrared tether for years, & MTH now has it on their recent new engines.
Hey PAUL did you ever think this thread would have so much interest?
laz57
pbjwilson wrote: Joe Hohmann wrote: lionroar88 wrote: pbjwilson wrote:The other thought is I just have a problem with some folks makin too much money. ...I'm not even going to touch this one... wowzers...I'm curious, when I hear this, what salary, savings account balance, etc. they think is "too much". JoeWhen you HAVE a savings account, thats too much. If you can pay all your bills every month without putting some on a credit card, thats too much. If you dont need to refinance your house and take money out of it every 2 years, thats too much. If your credit score approaches 600, thats too much. Should I go on?
Joe Hohmann wrote: lionroar88 wrote: pbjwilson wrote:The other thought is I just have a problem with some folks makin too much money. ...I'm not even going to touch this one... wowzers...I'm curious, when I hear this, what salary, savings account balance, etc. they think is "too much". Joe
lionroar88 wrote: pbjwilson wrote:The other thought is I just have a problem with some folks makin too much money. ...I'm not even going to touch this one... wowzers...
pbjwilson wrote:The other thought is I just have a problem with some folks makin too much money. ...
The other thought is I just have a problem with some folks makin too much money. ...
I'm not even going to touch this one... wowzers...
I'm curious, when I hear this, what salary, savings account balance, etc. they think is "too much". Joe
When you HAVE a savings account, thats too much. If you can pay all your bills every month without putting some on a credit card, thats too much. If you dont need to refinance your house and take money out of it every 2 years, thats too much. If your credit score approaches 600, thats too much. Should I go on?
The argument that the rise in inflation over the past 50 years justifies current prices is not persuasive for this reason. When Lionel was selling trains in the United States for less than $100 back in 1950, their labor costs were on the order of a couple of dollars an hour. Now, half a century later, they are still paying only a couple of dollars an hour (or less) to workers in Asia, with not much higher factory overhead, and yet their products cost ten times as much.
Paying a living wage to American workers in 1950 is one thing, paying low wages now to Asian workers in order to gouge American hobbyists is quite another.
To all,
At first I was not too sure what to make of this thread. As I started reading all the responses, it is obvious there is a lot of differing opinions on the topic. Here are some of my observations. One is on the $253,000 standard gauge set. I am not too sure which is sadder, that it cost that much now or that it was never played with when it was new.
Here is what I did in the past and what I am doing now. I started off with O-27 MPC. It was all I knew about and all I could afford. After I acquired a small collection, I started writing about them, which enable me to buy more and slightly better stuff. Then Lionel stopped making O-27 cars. I had a good job at the time and I could afford some items of standard gauge tinplate, which I bought. I have one completely original set, and some restored pieces. I also bought some Lionel Classics and some MTH as well. As far as O gauge was concerned, collecting all of even one type car was getting impossible due to uncataloged sets that were specialty items, so I switched to certain railroads that Lionel focused on the low priced side of the aisle, such as the Alaska railroad equipment. Even that has gone away with the loss of the good job and the expenses of my son's illness. Now I may get one or two items a year, and I troll eBay looking for bargains. Sometimes I find them, such as a 1989 Lionel Classics Christmas car for $20. I have several O-27 engines and four standard gauge, so I have plenty of motive power. I have more than enough rolling stock. I enjoy being on this forum and talking trains with people all over the country (and world). Would I like to buy more than what I have? Sure. Do I envy those who have more? No, but I enjoy watching them run their trains. I am glad there are people who can and do buy the $1000-$2000 engines because those engines would not have been made without those type of customers. Even if I had the money, time and space, I doubt if I would buy anything that extravagant. If I did tho, I would definitely run it.
I hope everyone has a good day.
Keep on training,
Mike C. from Indiana
cnw1995 wrote:Paul, I don't think it's any better in Wisconsin - at least up near the border by me. Let's keep going all the way up to the UP - that ought to cure us.
Ya hey dar. Go on up to the UP. Be a UPer. Ya hey, I like dat idea dar. Catch us a mess a perch, some walleye, maybe even a Northern. Go to the supper club on friday nights. Friday nights all you can eat fish fry, ya hey.
Doug Murphy 'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers...' Henry V.
I agree, I don't understand buying remakes of old tinplate. I guess people don't want to run the original ones; they just sit on the shelves or worse...in boxes! I LOVE collecting trains and placing them on shelves for everyone to see, but I don't hesitate when someone wants to see a train run. I run them all. Ward Kimball ran every train he owned!! Even the first 'train' Lionel ever made!! That is cool.
They also must buy the remakes for the technology that is in them. The TMCC, the Protosound, and the smoke that was never in the old ones. I can understand that reason .
LS1Heli wrote: What about 3 months ago on eBay a 402E box ONLY and master carton selling for $5,800+! You can buy a car for that!Then you would need to spend an addtional $3,500 to get the engine in similar condition.Highest Lionel price ever- broken 2 months ago at Stout Auctions.Mint Lionel Standard Gauge State Set boxed: TWO HUNDRED FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS. Hows that for "people actually buy this stuff?"
What about 3 months ago on eBay a 402E box ONLY and master carton selling for $5,800+! You can buy a car for that!
Then you would need to spend an addtional $3,500 to get the engine in similar condition.
Highest Lionel price ever- broken 2 months ago at Stout Auctions.
Mint Lionel Standard Gauge State Set boxed: TWO HUNDRED FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS.
Hows that for "people actually buy this stuff?"
I see those as rare collectibles that might not come up for aution again, or not for a long while. I can understand the buyer who shells out that kind of money on a rarity. I dont get Lionel selling remakes of sets for a $1000. Nothing new, just a remake. Now a set that is original selling for thousands, that I get. Same with MTH tinplate. Why spend your money on a new bright and shiny tinplate set when the originals can be had for the same amount, in slightly less perfect condition. Thats one thought.
The other thought is I just have a problem with some folks makin too much money. I'm surrounded by wealth in my neck of the woods. I just dont like seeing it anymore. Too much waste. Too many service trucks buzzing around. Too many high rollers flaunting their stuff.
Wisconsin, Here I come!
LS1Heli wrote: Hows that for "people actually buy this stuff?"
You're really working two sides of two different coins to support your arguement, as the $250,000 Pre-War set has little if anything to do with Paul's original point regarding the new stuff in the catalogs.
1688torpedo wrote: Hello All! Bruce- How about a 1688 for your 1960 Corvair? That would be a fair deal. Take Care.
Sounds fair to me, Kieth! Since I'm only getting an engine then so are you! I'll pay the shipping on my new 1688. I'll also get an estimate on how much it's gonna cost you to have a 250 lb. Corvair engine shipped
Bruce Webster
I'm a little of both. Realy don't care much for boxes. If they come with my piece then that is a bonus.
That Alaska Box sure is NICE though.
Every aspect of O guage is FUN!!!
Here's an interesting auction - $360.00 for a post war b-o-x for a 6464 Alaska box car.
Auction for Post War $360.00 Box
I almost understand this better than buying modern trains by the (brown) truckload for layouts yet to be built etc.
Obviously this is a collector, and I get the idea of finding a hard to find piece to complete a collection. I wouldn't do it, but I think folks are are real pure collectors are quite a different breed from the train hobbyist who builds a layout and runs trains.
Keith,
You mean that a Corvair is not worth that much even today?
However I have not seen a 1688 locomotive so maybe I am missing something.
Lee F.
After looking up the Greenberg price for the 1688 OUCH!!
brwebster wrote: laz 57 wrote: KEITH, Or you could buy a CORVAIR.laz57I was going to ask someone to send me an updated price ( taking inflation into consideration ) on a 1960 Corvair. That way I'd know what to charge Kieth. Then I realized that even after 47 years they're still depreciating. Back on the shelf it goes!Bruce Webster
laz 57 wrote: KEITH, Or you could buy a CORVAIR.laz57
KEITH,
Or you could buy a CORVAIR.
I was going to ask someone to send me an updated price ( taking inflation into consideration ) on a 1960 Corvair. That way I'd know what to charge Kieth. Then I realized that even after 47 years they're still depreciating. Back on the shelf it goes!
Got to get a blue book price, don't want you to get jipped?
This is a bit off subject but just to let you know there are people who will spend money for almost anything and any amount of money, take Christie's Auction House in New York & the Star Trek auction, half a million dollars for a model (the stage prop, about 6 feet wide by 3 feet tall)of the Enterprize from Star Trek The Next Generation, $260,000 for the Klingon Bird of Prey model.
We are all entitled to our opinions, and as John so aptly put it, it's like a bunch of guys sitting around a table shooting the bull.
Everyone enjoys the hobby in their own way. Some collect, some run, some do both . . . It's all good. We all share the common bond of toy trains. But what makes each of us unique is how we enjoy them. More power to the big spenders. I'm a little fish, but I'm happy with what I have.
Jim
Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale
LS1Heli wrote: But what I can't understand is why ever other post on this form is "why do people buy this stuff" meaning $1,000 engines or "why did that guy spend $900 on a mint 682 Turbine".
But what I can't understand is why ever other post on this form is "why do people buy this stuff" meaning $1,000 engines or "why did that guy spend $900 on a mint 682 Turbine".
I visit both forums each day (2 years now), and I have noticed on this forum there ARE a lot of these posts...much more than on the other forum. I write some of it off to "envy"...some of it to "my way is the right way".
I make do on a modest retirement income, and like most of you, have to decide how to allocate it. Some of the things I shun may be things you purchase without a second thought...dining out for $75+., casinos, "good" wine, expensive vacations, sporting event tickets, new cars, and so on. However, 99.9% of you would be agast at the fact that I've spent a fair ammount of money over the past 8 years buying stereo (3-D) slides that various people took of their family in the 1950's.
Let's face it...90% of the general population probabably thinks we are ALL nuts for spending ANY money on "toy" trains. Joe
Time to sell off 25 engines for one of these! Wait a minute........ I don't have 25 engines, dang it!
Jon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTNz6NftP34
So many roads, so little time.
Had a friend recently buy a Porsche Boxster S for 62M but insists on buying postwar Lionel and installing sound boards because he doesn't want to buy MTH or Lionel for 500+. Go figure......
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.
Get the Classic Toy Trains newsletter delivered to your inbox twice a month