Unfortunately, I do not know how much I have spent or what the losses were on items I traded-in through the years.
I simply never tracked that information--or rather, did not track enough information to have all the facts.
Within the last 12 calendar months I have spent spent approximately $3200 on trains, train books, and track to improve the radii of part of my layout. However, that was far from a normal year.
Next year I'm looking at being under $1000, including an item currently on layaway.
John
How much do you spend on this hobby?
I don't have nearly as much into my train layout as I have into my hunting property and cabin. Yet I spend more time with the layout than in the woods.
When I was in high school, I was spending a lot from each pay check on trains. Sadly, I never got to building a layout. Now that I'm quite a bit older and just a few days away from getting married, my spending is significantly less, just getting back into the hobby actually. my fiancee and I have discussed a lot about how to save money and what we'll spend money on. we each have a savings account to spend from how we want. Soon, I'll be trying to find ways to get bench work supplies for cheap. I have a problem buying rolling stock, locomotives, and buildings, but have no layout to run the items in. Coming soon will be tool expenses, a entry level DCC system, track, and materials to bring the layout to life. I wish I could spend a lot more, but we're soon to be newly weds with hopes of having children in the future. There's one locomotive I really want to purchase in November, a Progressive Rail SD39. Hopefully I can find some items for discounted prices at the few shows I'll go to this fall, too.
How much do I spend?
Cant give an exact figure but it has declined over time as my interest has become more focused. I do buy used equipment when I think I can integrate it into my layout. Even trainset junk has its uses. ( for example a well meaning person knowing my interest in the Tropicana Juice Train gave me a life like car with talgo trucks horn hooks and plastic wheels I salvaged the body of the car as a storage unit.) Baically I overspent I my early days and now I recycle.
Joe Staten Island West
jk10Soon, I'll be trying to find ways to get bench work supplies for cheap. I have a problem buying rolling stock, locomotives, and buildings, but have no layout to run the items in. Coming soon will be tool expenses, a entry level DCC system, track, and materials to bring the layout to life.
A old song and dance that many of us sung and dance to awaiting that some day "dream layout" that manages to stay just out of reach due to the family life,school,little league,dance,band cheer leading,gymnastics etc.
A suggestion? Build a ISL for now while you gather the needed supplies for your dream layout so you can use what you have in the mean time.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
BRAKIE jk10 Soon, I'll be trying to find ways to get bench work supplies for cheap. I have a problem buying rolling stock, locomotives, and buildings, but have no layout to run the items in. Coming soon will be tool expenses, a entry level DCC system, track, and materials to bring the layout to life. A old song and dance that many of us sung and dance to awaiting that some day "dream layout" that manages to stay just out of reach due to the family life,school,little league,dance,band cheer leading,gymnastics etc. A suggestion? Build a ISL for now while you gather the needed supplies for your dream layout so you can use what you have in the mean time.
jk10 Soon, I'll be trying to find ways to get bench work supplies for cheap. I have a problem buying rolling stock, locomotives, and buildings, but have no layout to run the items in. Coming soon will be tool expenses, a entry level DCC system, track, and materials to bring the layout to life.
I'm building the dream layout in modules so it can move to the retirement house, and actually get bigger once it gets there. I got tired of tearing down layouts. The retirement house plan is for a rancher, likely on more land than we have now.
So either the basement will be bigger than my current 1000 sq ft room, or I will just build another outbuilding.......
But the ISL is built into the layout....
Sheldon
I was just now offered a job for the fall harvest season. Only 6-8 weeks, I'll have to give some to the house,but the coffee can will be full for the winter.
How much money do I spent...
It depends on my allowance, if my dad doesn't takes it back within the next day or two. Right now I found $16.83 in change on the streets walking the dogs.
Basically I spend about $250-300 trains a year if I'm lucky. One or two engines and rest on freight cars.
I found out having a great train imagination and stories is way better than buying trains. No problems about repainting equipment.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
AC I love your posts and respect your opinion, so this is no way a criticism for bringing up the topic.
We are not a homogenous group with respect to income. Most doctors and lawyers probably don't have room to spend 1% on the hobby. As I have found out in Jeffrey's Trackside Diner others are struggling. It's not just money struggles, it health, marital, job, children, parents. Some of them have way more inventory than I would ever want. I make no judgement about that. If they can put food on the table and clothe their kids then, whatever makes them happy. Some people have second homes, a boat a camper and it's all on loan. At least no one I've met is still paying off their rolling stock.
Nor do we have the same hobbies. We give them different priorities. I would never spend on a locomotive, what I would spend on a rifle scope. in reality, I would use a loco more hours a year than the scope. The time I spend hunting or shooting is more valuable to me.
There is also a transition in interests for some of us. As a kid I was into coin collecting, then Scuba Diving and hunting, model railroading, then high fidelity, then hunting, then motorcycling now rather late in life I am back into MR.
It happened at a time when I was dealing with cleaning out my mom's house and fighting off the grim reaper. For the moment the reaper is at bay, but I don't want to accumulate a lot of stuff my kids have no interest in inheriting or even selling.
I am fortunate that I could spend a lot more, have a custom built layout and all new rolling stock. It would be better than anything I have the skills, foresight or perserverance or time to build. In this case, "You didn't build that" would actually be true and the reason why I wouldn't go that route. My railroad would be a collectible, something I bought rather than something I made.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
I'm hardly spending anything at this point. The benchwork is done. I have all the track I need. I'm putting on some foam, plaster cloth and top scenery, but I have all of this stuff in stock. I'm looking more at scratchbuilding, so I'll need a few dollars worth of materials, but there's a lot of satisfaction-per-dollar in that.
My LHS closed last year, so I can no longer visit for ideas. I think it's hurt my modeling. There are other shops around, but none I just go by casually when I'm out getting beer and wine.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
In short, I've not spent any time working out the ratios of money spent and money earned with my hobby. Long ago, as a teenager, I'd spend every penny. As an adult, I could go weeks without spending much. I'm at a point in my life where I can spend a greater portion of my income on my hobby than before. It will not last forever as I have moving plans and school in the future, but I'm quite content with the collection of locos and rolling stock I have. Large collection compared to others and miniscule over others. For the most part, all the trains were purchased after I established a theme for my collection. I'm not yet investing much in scenery, benchwork supplies, track, and such as the layout is not happening anytime soon. Structure kits I'll slowly acquire as I feel I have enough locos and rolling stock. I guess if I truly needed to sell, I'd make some okay money, but I'm hoping not to have to sell anytime soon.
Alvie
Never calculated it, but since I still have the first Athearn kit I bought in 1970 and the car still runs...Essentially, when you spread the cost out over 46 years it's not too bad.I have about 800 or so freight cars, by the way. Used to have almost 1400.
Disclaimer: This post may contain humor, sarcasm, and/or flatulence.
Michael Mornard
Bringing the North Woods to South Dakota!
ATLANTIC CENTRALSo either the basement will be bigger than my current 1000 sq ft room, or I will just build another outbuilding.......
Must be nice to be able to do that but,that would be the very last thing I would do in the Buckeye State because of taxes and all of the hoops and loops you gotta jump through just to build a simple tool shed-if your neighbors doesn't complain,raise a fuss and then threaten to sue in the process..
Of course that's for rich folks to fuss about, us poor folk use a spare bed room or basement.
BRAKIE ATLANTIC CENTRAL So either the basement will be bigger than my current 1000 sq ft room, or I will just build another outbuilding....... Must be nice to be able to do that but,that would be the very last thing I would do in the Buckeye State because of taxes and all of the hoops and loops you gotta jump through just to build a simple tool shed-if your neighbors doesn't complain,raise a fuss and then threaten to sue in the process.. Of course that's for rich folks to fuss about, us poor folk use a spare bed room or basement.
ATLANTIC CENTRAL So either the basement will be bigger than my current 1000 sq ft room, or I will just build another outbuilding.......
Well Larry, rich and poor are relative. But here in Maryland the ability to build an outbuilding on your property is controlled by local zoning laws, not by state wide controls.
Outbuildings don't affect property taxes much here, and if it is within the zoning laws, neighbors have no standing to say/do anything.
My current layout is in the second floor of my detached garage. The garage is 32x40 with a 20x40 upstairs within the 12/12 gable roof. I needed the garage anyway 20 years ago when I built it, making it big enough for the layout as well cost next to nothing extra.
I'm not rich, just comfortable........that's why I don't worry about what my trains are worth.......
ATLANTIC CENTRAL Well Larry, rich and poor are relative. But here in Maryland the ability to build an outbuilding on your property is controlled by local zoning laws, not by state wide controls. Outbuildings don't affect property taxes much here, and if it is within the zoning laws, neighbors have no standing to say/do anything. My current layout is in the second floor of my detached garage. The garage is 32x40 with a 20x40 upstairs within the 12/12 gable roof. I needed the garage anyway 20 years ago when I built it, making it big enough for the layout as well cost next to nothing extra. I'm not rich, just comfortable........that's why I don't worry about what my trains are worth....... Sheldon
"Rich and poor are relative"
Truer words were never spoken. To highlight just how true that is, a few years back I listened to a radio article about people and how they felt they were doing standard of living-wise. The for the article, a sample of people were interviewed at different income levels. From memory there were people inteviewed in who were in different income tiers, I don't remember how they were broken down but suffice it to say, the were across the board from low to very high such as anual incomes of: 30k, 50k, 75k, 100k 150k, 250k, etc. and above etc.
The most interesting point was that no matter what income level people were at, even those in the higher income categories felt like they just making enough to get by or at best, were just comfortable. So indeed, it's all relative. I'd hazard that many of us have standards of living where we feel we are just getting by or are comfortable when a high percentage of the world would consider us rich or very well off. It just goes to show, that the richer we get, the less we feel rich. I imagine people from many other places in the world would feel very rich if they had a house with a detached garage with that much space. Moral of the story, "comfortable" in the US is wealthy to many people in the world.
I had no layout space to speak of for over 15 years while I was struggling to pay a very high level of child support and later that plus college expenses while, for fairly long periods having to live on a reduced income, as many in the US have been from national news reports. Even now, with a two-income household and college costs for one kid and trying to help a second one, the high cost of living here has made it a challenge to have even the 10x18' space I have now. What I wouldn't give to be "comfortable" and have a 20x40' layout space, but I still hope that in the future I might be able to get there. I could say I am "comfortable" and certainly there are many in the world who would, at my lower standard of US living, consider me rich relative to them.
It wouldn't hurt for us to use discretion and be a little more patient with our less fortunate fellow modelers and remember that standard of living is, in reality, VERY relative. Philosophically speaking, model railroading may be considered by many as a luxury when viewed against the back drop of the world we live in.
Bottom line is, lets count our blessings and try to be a bit more sensitive when speaking in terms of quantities. When we list how much space we have or how many trains, or how much brass etc., it has a tendency of slotting us into a category in peoples minds and people naturally compare themselves against each other, as we as humans tend to do. I notice this happening often on these forums, and I can imagine some readers shaking their heads at how nice it would be to have hundreds of expensive brass engines or nice big basements or garages full of trains. We can't stop people from talking about stuff like that of course, but hopefully people will realize that sometimes when they enumerate all their toys or how much they can afford to spend on those toys, what effect it can have on others and think twice.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Seems to me I started this thread with a clear statement about how I feel this hobby is a luxury that I would never allow to intrude on my responsiblities.
There have been times in my life when I had to limit my activities in the hobby to a small space and small budget. I did not envy others, I got busy and changed my situation.
I did not take this conversation in this direction, but I will not apologize for what I have or sit by for the us/them comments either.
"To whom much is given, much is expected". I feel I am a good steward of the blessings I have received. I have looked after and provided for folks with troubled lives, devoted myself to family, and worked hard. Again, I make no apologies for what I do for myself.
As is often the case, people of "good conscience" may disagree. Having been to a number of other countries on extended visits and being married to a "foreigner" has given me some addition perspective than my prior, American-only miopic one I used to share with the majority of those here in the land of the free. I could also quote a verse or two to make some points as well, but I think I'll just leave my comments as is and get back to talking trains, which is generally why I visit this and a few other forums, and leave the philosophical stuff to other, non train forums where they exist for debating such.
I think RioGrande's point is a good one.
That's also why, as much as I do like some higher end toys, I clearly state that overall I really do not have that much of a fleet as compared to others.
Then there is the realization that for retirement, I may need to eventualy sell some of the higher end toys because I might need that money. I somewhat hope to get to the point where I can start making money on this hobby--occasionally buying stuff I know is very underpriced and making a profit on flipping it--but that's not the easiest thing to do, and one needs discretionary non-committed income in cash to do it.
One of my friends got into buying collections and profiting off them. He had, unfortunately depending on one's viewpoint, a knack for befriending old codger model railroaders not that long prior to their death, such that the widows or even the wills specified that he would be the one to buy the collections. He'd pay cash and then sell the stuff for a modest profit, quickly.
More than I should.
More than is Wise.
(isn't that our default setting?)
Admittedly, I don't spend much time comparing myself to others, it is my introverted lone wolf nature. The point of this thread was to defend the idea that practicing this hobby at any size, level, expenditure, skill level you are comfortable with is OK if it is within your means.
As opposed to a number of philosophical "suggestions" about less is more, buy only the best, don't leave behind a mess, etc.
So I would rather have 10 $100 locos than one $1000 loco - it is amazing how that gets twisted around.
I think I'm done here,
ATLANTIC CENTRAL Admittedly, I don't spend much time comparing myself to others, it is my introverted lone wolf nature. The point of this thread was to defend the idea that practicing this hobby at any size, level, expenditure, skill level you are comfortable with is OK if it is within your means. As opposed to a number of philosophical "suggestions" about less is more, buy only the best, don't leave behind a mess, etc. So I would rather have 10 $100 locos than one $1000 loco - it is amazing how that gets twisted around. I think I'm done here, Sheldon
I think most understood the point. I think its interesting to survey the forum to see how much of a priority model trains are in their total budget. That's how I took your point. It really has nothing to do with income or where you are in life.
As far as space, its great that some have a large space with which to fill up with layout. Many don't, but wish they had more. I actually have more than I need, and don't use it for a layout. The excess is empty.
My interest lie in a one or two locomotive short line, freelanced, which allows any type of loco or rolling stock in any paint scheme to be purchased. Bargains are the norm. I also realize that my tastes are relatively modest in terms of money and space needed compared to others, so it seems. It might be frustrating if my tastes were above my means.
Its not about total income or money spent. For me, having tastes within my means seems to keep me happy.
- Douglas
DoughlessI also realize that my tastes are relatively modest in terms of money and space needed compared to others, so it seems. It might be frustrating if my tastes were above my means.
As is mine that's why I have far more older locomotives then the cream of today's stable but,I do have some up to date cars and one Genesis locomotive.As I often said I'm just as happy running my old BB GP7 as I'm my Genesis GP9.
Maybe I'm not right in the head but,I never wanted a Godzilla size basement filling layout.I always preferred a small 12' or less ISL since my simple hobby enjoyment is switching cars in a prototypical manner emulating the work I did as a brakeman by allowing time for my brakeman to unlock and line a switch and open a derail or when built opening a gate..
Not too much according to me and too much according to my wife! Generally I try to keep it under 200 dollars a year, but the past few years I failed miserably. Our beloved Athearn, Intermountain, and Bowser all decided to release engines in DM&E\IC&E and since this is what I model, well, there went the budget! Also, I love the DM&IR, and MTH just had to go and release that Yellowstone. AAAAAAA!!!! After much pleading and begging from my better half I bought one.
At least I have all the engines and rolling stock I need, and I have committed to buying no more for at least three years. We'll see how that works out
I don't think this thread was started with ill will as its intention, so let us keep it that way.
I got back into the hobby because of my 6yr old and the 3yr old right behind him.
Money is relative to what you do for a living, what you take home at the end of the day and how much of it you need to live at what you deem comfortable.
I've been lucky, I started a new job the end of October last year and by August this year I've made 80-85% of what I made last year already. It's a good job with more to come as I get the time and raises in.
That aside I spent a lot intially, Zephy, DT402R, PR3 adds up by itself real quick even hutning for deals. Everything was picked up by best pricing online, local hobby shop, ebay and train shows. Locomotives and rolling stock have been the same way with an emphasis on sales, clearance and train show pickups.
I have two luxury items, one is a Genesis 4-8-4(which I finally got to run without cutting out, thanks Athearn.....) and I did order a Scaletrains Big Blow on preorder. Genesis was on sale and I used an additional coupon for another 10% off. The Big Blow was purely I wanted it, I can't lie there Just been paying a little but to the local hobby shop as I get paid. Should be payed off this week actually before the are delivered. Woot! Woot!
So I probably did spend more than I shold have since getting back into the hobby considering I have no layout and a glorified 45 inch test track
On the other hand, I am currently limiting myself to finding a good P1K Erie Builts in UP since I scored a $40 deal for a Tsunami sound car for them(yes it was new) or any other deals that are truly too good to pass up. The rest of the time is devoted to equipping our small fleet with decoders(10 pack D13RSJs NCE) and adding LED lighting at the same time. I've gone bulk on both of these and micro connectors off ebay as well as the LEDs, so that should occupy some free time and balance out the new vs older stuff to keep the boy entertained as well.
I have been having my 6 yr old help me with just about everything except soldering so far(I'm out of practice as it is). So I can teach them proper tools, wiring and techniques. Then we get to go play with it, which is always the favorite part for both(all) of us.
So it's a flip, I splurged on a few things and I did buy more than I honestly needed, but now I can sit back and work on projects. $20-25 goes a long way on ebay for LEDs, connectors, shrink wrap and older P2k makes for some reliable locomotives after a good cleaning and obligatory axle gears in most cases. Figure I'm doing LED lighting and decoders for about $17 an engine plus my time. I can live with that.
It is hard to stay on a budget being a life long UP fan and stock holder. I love the Northerns, Challengers, Big Blows, turbines, double diesels, etc......
How much?
Usually, less than I could have spent. Never more. That assured domestic tranquility, resulting in a 55+ year (and still counting) marriage.
What do I buy now? Raw materials. I already own all the rolling stock I need to operate my 'last in this lifetime' layout. Since I've never embraced the electronic approach I build my electricals (including a few power packs) out of parts. The account that I use for hobby purchases (among other things) has been running a comfortable surplus every month, and I seldom have to adjust my budget priorities.
OTOH, I didn't drop close to $3,000 on a six-car DMU train that I would have liked to have. Right now I'm running a foobie of yard-sale rejects and gearing up to assemble some craftsman kits I bought in the '60s. When finished, I'll have the same train - for about 5% of the cost.
Model railroading is only as expensive as you allow it to be.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Commit to print what I spend on this hobby??? where Miss Daisey might find it???
herrinchoker
If my trains need a tune-up, I'll spend about an hour on it, but other than that, I'd say only when my trains need maintenance do I take a close look.