Have high gas prices affected your participation in the hobby?

[GP-9_Man11786]

This season I was looking forward to making many improvments to my garden railway. However I soo found that all the money I was making at my summer job was going staight into my gas tank leaving nothing for my railway. It's up to $2.67 where I live. How many other people are in this same boat?

[Train 284]

Ya gas is about 3 bucks here, for the highest grade its 3.09, for the lowest is about 2.90 something! it hasent stopped me though, probably cause i dont drive!

[cacole]

The high gasoline prices have curbed my trips to the only hobby shop around here that carries G-scale trains, in Tucson, Arizona, which is 70 miles one way. Unless I need to make the trip to shop at more than just the hobby shop, I wait.

[tmcc man]

I am still thanking the Big Man upstairs that i still cannot drive. I will not be able to drive till i am 18.

[Capt Bob Johnson]

Nope! Causes more time to stay home and play with my trains!

[RhB_HJ]

Yes and no,


Less railfanning, but more work on projects.

Now, you guys are complaining about $2.00 gas, North of the Border we currently pay $3 to 3.10 for Regular (all figures US$!). To level the playing field our government really should apply a 50% export tax on oil and gas. [;)][}:)][:)][;)]

Of course we also hear interviews with guys who just bought a Hummer (in Downtown Toronto, no less) and complain about the price of gas.

And then there's the Europeans, they managed to build more efficient cars with smaller engines, precisely because the 1973 oil shock made them wake up in a hurry.
Looks like it's time for NA, too. [;)][:)][;)]

[tangerine-jack]

I'm with Capt Bob, more time at home to play trains! What I can't get at my LHS (3 miles away) I mail order anyway.......................



[oX)]

[Anonymous]

Yes, I am having to expend valuable teacher pay on gas that would go for trains. Its a sheer show down.

Read my take on it at by blog...

http://captthreadsters.blogspot.com/2005/08/economic-fuel-prices-may-fuel-collapse.html

I do not wi***o pollute this forum with talk of petrolium economics.

[ttrigg]

NOPE! Made a large purchase last spring, got enough to do the total plan and some that "she who must be obeyed" (wife) had approved of in its concept. I may need a switch or two in the next couple of months but track, I've got 500 feet of "flex" track and the matching ties yet to open. When "she who must be obeyed" speaks, I listen and do exactly as she says!!!!!!! Besides the GRR is just as much her idea as it was mine. Actually she has spent more time "driving" her train around the loop than I have.[;)]

[Anonymous]

We are now paying a few cents under $7 a gallon, please don't moan to much about your prices, your petrol is dirt cheap.
Cheers,
Kim
[tup]

It looks as though we could be paying a few cents over $7 a gallon by the end of this week. An interesting idea is being e-mailed around in this country, the message is don't buy petrol/diesel from Esso or BP. They help with the control of petrol prices in the UK so don't buy from them and make them overstocked. Same idea as if nobody bought a new car for a month.................

[tangerine-jack]

Interesting, Kim. We have a thing going around encouraging people to buy from Esso and BP, ostensibly because they use no Middle East oil, hence a purchace from them doesn't sponsor terrorism.

I was working for Exxon during the time of the Valdez spill and all the boycotting that followed. Did it hurt Exxon? H#@LL NO! Exxon has the patent on gasoline, safety glass, asphalt and a thousand other products and services everybody uses every day. That year they still managed to squeak by financialy with a $27 billion profit.

In any case, I buy BP, it seems to run better in my Triumph![;)]LOL!





[oX)]

[GP-9_Man11786]

QUOTE: Originally posted by kimbrit

We are now paying a few cents under $7 a gallon, please don't moan to much about your prices, your petrol is dirt cheap.
Cheers,
Kim
[tup]

That is a LOT of money. But then again how do UK wages compare to US wages. On average I was taking home $150 a week this summer. Out of that it would cost me $35 to fill up. That's nearly 1/3 of my pay spent on gas. Believe me, we have plenty to moan about. Thyank God I drive a Camry which gets 30 MPG on the highway.

[cacole]

People seem to forget that the prices paid in other countries are mostly taxes that pay for their excellent rail and other public transit systems, which we don't have in the U.S. If we had taxes on gasoline equivalent to what is charged in Germany or France, our gasoline would be close to $10 per gallon; maybe more.

I remember gassing up in France in 1977 and the prices on the pumps was marked as "X4," meaning that whatever showed as the price you had to multiply by 4 to figure out how much you actually owed. As near as I recall, the price was something like $3 per liter, or close to $12 per gallon.

[Tom The Brat]

Well... I might not go out to Cozad's next month...

[AtlasGP9]

The railroad is pretty darned important-- more so than a lot of trips- my response to high gas prices has been to be a lot more careful about ganging trips together. So a trip to the hobby shop may get linked with a trip to the dump and a berry picking session because they all involve driving to the other side of town. We are also lucky enough to live near lots of shopping so that we just include daily necessities and groceries in our daily walk. Or sometimes a second walk. good for our health too.
So I'm not complaining-- just driving smarter.


Hugh

[ttrigg]

cacole;

To give you and others an idea of how much taxes other contries pay in the gasoline bill, check this out. Before I retired from the Army, I was stationed in Germany. We were authorized to purchase "coupon" books for so many 100 liters of gas, in a tax exempt status. It worked out that I was paying about thirteen cents a liter for gas with a coupon. If I paid cash for it cost me almost $1.25 per liter, and that was when the Dollar was worth 4.25 Duetchmark (1972). In 1974 the exchange rate droped to 1.50DM to the $1. I think the exchange rate is even worse now. Do the math, gas was about fifty cents a gallon tax exempt, $4.60 per gallon after tax, and that was 30 years ago, how much more has it gone up since then. But, YES, you could get anywhere in Europe that you wanted to go in a most timely mannar using their Bus, Streetcars, U-bahn (subway), or Trains. And if the schedule said your were to arrive at 19:45 hours, you could rest assured the train (or whatever) would pull in and stop somewhere between 19:44:30 and 19:45:30. That is plus or minus 30 seconds from scheduled time. That is an EXTREAMLY effient mass transit system.

[vsmith]

Train wise, I already got enough "stuff" to last me a while, in the meantime gas here is shooting close to or over $3/gallon. I starting to use the Metrorail to come to work takes a little longer time wise but $3 round trip a day fares -vs- $6 gas round trip car commuting. doesnt take to much think'un to figure that one out.

Wife is really starting to push on restoring our old Honda N600 Sedan thats been languishing in the backyard since I found it a couple years ago. If we can get that restored, i'll use it for the commuter.

[Anonymous]

It would be nice to think that our high taxes in the UK on petrol would help fund the public transport, unfortunately not. Governments over the years have sold everything off - supposedly to keep taxes down! - and now everything is in private hands and profit based. It took several rail accidents and many deaths to force them to put the rail track system back into the public (semi) domain after years of neglect. I don't know about our wages being any better, the national minimum wage is £5 per hour but our cost of living is way over the rest of Europe on everything from food to new cars. House prices here are very high, we bought late in life on a short mortgage and we pay £850 per month. How do I afford this RR??
Cheers,
Kim
[tup]

[Anonymous]

I plan to discover all the "Less expensive" short cuts...maybe start building some rolling stock and other things that I might normally buy...

Now, remember, oil company economists have said that the higher oil prices will not effect the world economy. (yeah right!!!)

I'm sure the various divisions of LGB will be feeling it this quarter...

[Capt Bob Johnson]

Ah, the psycological trick is to buy enough big oil shares that your dividend checks cover your fuel expenses, then you won't care about the prices.

Yesterday my wife was pulling into the station to fuel up and price on sign said $2.75,by time car ahead of her finished and she pulled up to pump sign had changed to $2.89; and the lady in store was hollering out to man changing sign to make it $3.09. Pump prices were dancing as fast as big sign prices!

Guess I'll just harvest those soybeans in the South forty & squeeze them into oil for biodiesel!

Might think a bit on how to reroute several stops into one trip, but otherwise won't affect me!

[Tom The Brat]

I'm just trying to figure out how to aviod driving from one end of town to the other 3 times each day[|(]

[Gavin Sowry]

As of lunch time today, the cheapest gas here in N.Z. is equal to $US8.80 / US gallon. It is starting to hurt. Last weekend, I only attended 1 day of a 2 day model meet some 50 miles away. I'm having second thoughts about chasing a Steam run next weekend. May have to stay real local, like model layout in the garage, or garden line if it doesn't rain, and the steam train...I'll just literally climb up on my back fence. My sympathies to all those rail modellers in the Gulf States by the way.

[ttrigg]

A few weeks ago I would have driven right past my local Michaels, down the road about 20 miles farther to another Michaels (6 times larger.) Now if the Michaels (4 blocks away) does not have it, so be it. But since my Doctors office is 2 blocks beyond the big Micheals, and I had an appointment the the Doc, Yes I stopped by the big Michaels, also hit Value Craft to drool with anticipation of my planning to try to convince "she who must be obeyed" that we need the Aristo-Craft D&RGW Micado. Its $500 price tag is WAY above my authorized purchase limit without her per-approval.

Yesterday I finally was able to get her approval on an "Egg Liner", but ONLY after I completed certain other tasks around the house. Should have everything done on her list by the time we go to Andersons Nursery for some vegitation for Rosebudfalls GRR, (inside the store thay have a decent amount of LGB and others. AND a massive GRR display, (the main reason I like going "plant shopping" with her. To me a plant means that awful 4-letter word WORK!

[bman36]

Hey there,
We climbed to $1.18 Canadian a litre today. Last fall it was .80 cents. My plans were to attend the Midwest Large Scale show Aristo is having next spring. If this keeps up it will pretty much kill those plans for sure. Enough is enough for sure. [tdn] Later eh...Brian.

[Capt Bob Johnson]

We can moan and complain about gas prices, but it's warm weather still; what happens in a month or so and the cold weather comes? Just wait til people see the prices on fuels for heating!

Let all those NIMBYs who have blocked refinery construction in this country for so long now take great pride in thier work! I just hope they lose thier fingers and toes to frostbite before I do!

[Anonymous]

Floating Capt,

I have always believed that newer more productive and better environmental refineries could be constructed designed by modern engineers to standards better than those older ones that had to be retrofitted for modern environmental and production needs.

The time has came...15 new refineries through out the South...Texas to Virgina to Florida....and West , California, New Mexico and Arizona.

[Anonymous]

I will just have more time to run my trains and get more things done around the house.
, at $3.19 a gallon , when my pick up insurance runs out at the end of October
i'm taking it off the road. on a fixed income it's starting to hurt . their will not be to many new train things here this year any more. ben[censored]

[Anonymous]

Here in Ohio it reached $3.29 cents a gallon today! I heard it may double, just in case I filled bothe my trucks $ 73.00 in one and $106.00 in the other also topped the wifes off for another $40.00!
My two trucks ought to keep me away from the pump for 3 weeks[;)] Local stations here (privately owned/franchise) have been told no gas for 3 weeks possibly, my take is that corprate owned stations are first served.


Today was not a good day.[V]

[Capt Bob Johnson]

Back in the 70's the siphon theives were out in force. I learned not to get a locking gas cap as so many people did. The local gas station made a fortune replacing gas tanks cause if people locked them the theives just poked a hole or two in the tanks with an icepick to drain them. Locks are only for honest people!

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: We are now paying a few cents under $7 a gallon, please don't moan to much about your prices, your petrol is dirt cheap.
Cheers,
Kim

Listen to them Kim.[:o)]
Where I live it costs $7.71 a gallon.