RedGrey62 jrf: JFR=JRF My apologies on the initials. Did I meet you at the NTS in Milwaukee as I had a module in the large Free-mo setup? Ricky
jrf: JFR=JRF
JFR=JRF
My apologies on the initials.
Did I meet you at the NTS in Milwaukee as I had a module in the large Free-mo setup?
Ricky
No worries whatsoever!
Unfortunately I did not make it to Milwaukee due to schedule constraints but a large number of my group did make it there and said it was totally amazing. I know I missed out big time.
John F.Perham, MNRailfan Photography | Modeling HO Scale Trains & O Gauge Trains
To answer the OP's origianal question I would say "no", but only if it is kept "simple" without all of the advice that seems to come along with it such as what type of control systems or what types of track should be used or any of a hundred bits of "advice" that everyone seems to have more than enough of.
When someone comes to me and expresses an interest in model railroading my standard response is that they should look into an Atlas train set, or a Bachmann "Spectrum" set if they want steam. It has everything they need to get started, track, powerpack, engine and cars. At this point "all" they really want to see is a train running, they aren't the least bit concerned with fancy control systems or how "prototype" it is, they just want to see trains running.
I will never understand why it is so difficult for a lot of model railroaders to grasp this basic idea and keep it simple, you do the hobby no service by doing this and a lot of people end up walking away because they don't want to get into something they preceive as "complicated". It's a "hobby", they want something to "relax" with and enjoy, not become involved in a major project with endless complications.
Chances are if they become interested they'll have a vast amount of questions about different things at which time you can offer your "expertise" and advice, otherwise, less is more.
Mark
WGAS
My short answer would be Yes! I consider myself a newbie to this model railroading. I'm 58 years old. I had a HO AHM set on a 4x8 back in early 1970's. I just recently decided to get back into this hobbie. I don't have a layout, as of yet. But have started one. Will be 4x12 DCC.
I was shocked as to how much has changed since back then.LOL I know, what hasn't. I have purchesed a few DCC equiped Locos, and few DC equiped, and will try to convert. The Price of things qite frankly shocked me! I have been buying older brass track, to go along with what I had saved from years ago. Trying to go as cheaply as I can.
I bought a Digitrax Zyphyr Extra set, a number of the Walthers structure kits, some new rolling stock, all sorts of odds and ends over the last couple years. Seems I have spent a ton of money, and no where close to running a train yet!. LOL I just can't imagine many youngsters getting into this hobbie themselves, unless kids have more money than I did back then.
I will say I have been into all kinds of hobbies over the years. Everything from Guns, R/C Airplanes, Tractors, Chainsaws, Hunting, Fishing, etc. etc., and there is not a cheap hobbie to be found!!! I guess each individual just has to make the best of the hobbies as they can, with the funds available. But sure is depressing to see a nice looking DCC Steam Loco with sound, and see its $300-500 !!! Something tells me there won't be many, if any steam locos on my transition era railroad.
Just my Newbie 2 cents worth. Gregg,
Most newbie's tend to get hooked on the large layout they see at train shows. What is happening is the owner of said layout forgets to tell them that they got started with just a cheap small Christmas set. I for one when I started to get into the hobby of model railroading I decided to only buy stuff I could stand to brake or rather have my niece or one of the other kids brake. Then that way I would pat them on the head and say that's ok I now have a new wreak to put some where on the layout.
As old hands in this hobby we should remember that we started a lot smaller then what we have now. It was brass track and a really cheap controller on just a loop or figure 8 track. This hobby can be as cheap or as expensive as you want it to be. You do not have to start with a $400.00 DCC system and Nickel Silver track.
As for a ten year old starting with a plywood sheet and two sew horses is just fine. If they like it then start spending money to up grade. You don't start out with a $30,000 dollar hotrod do you? My first car cost me $50.00 to start with but by the time I had a drivable car I had made $55.00 building it. By selling off the stuff I did not need. So I got paid for building the car.
So start simple and build on that.
Johnnny_reb Once a word is spoken it can not be unspoken!
My Train Page My Photobucket Page My YouTube Channel
Hi All,
Here in Australia, I get really peeved that you can buy an intro level slot car set of an apparently satisfactory quality for a kid for say $25-30 in some cases, yet entry level trains of any quality are way too dear to start considering or are even for a slightly dearer price are obviously of a far lesser quality and therefore won't attract the potential young buyer. I look at a number of toys from my professional teaching point of view in the likes of K Mart here and I feel very few if any toys available match the play value that a train and a railway offers.
I feel what is needed is an approach with say the older Athearn Bluebox line type locos with perhaps driven by a "Mabuchi" like motor and very basic, undetailed but decorative rolling stock and satisfactory geometry track that can be added to and keep the price competitive.The Motor could then be updated should the newbie progress further in the hobby.
From exhibitions I have been part of, I feel that the latent interest is there in this hobby far wider than most of us realise perhaps. Rather than limited run stuff which is driving the prices higher that most of us are seeing, and keeping people out of the hobby, perhaps we could direct what would sell from our experiences. We probably need to change tack a little on the value of the hobby instead of emphasizing the cost when we talk to others at shows. I have a number of BB locos that I have remotored that I bought fairly cheaply more than 25 years ago and yes I still run them alongside my Lifelike beauties...
Anyway your thoughts might help here
Regards from Australia
Trevor www.xdford.digitalzones.com for your interest!
The hobby of model railroading is, and never has been, a bargain. Depending on your demands on fidelity, detail and features, the price of locos can easily top $ 600, the price of a passenger car $ 80 and the price of a freight car $ 40. Construction material, structures and scenery material are also not cheap at all. The price of a well detailed 4 by 8 can easily run up to $ 5,000 and more.
That´s expensive, but which hobby isn´t? Most hobbies require a sizable initial cash outlay, but model railroading allows you to start small and grow big, just like your skills and pocket book allow you to. Something like the WGH 4 by 8 layout will run up to $ 500 to begin with, which is a lot, but by no means unreasonable.
And there is still scratchbuilding ...
Personally, I agree that overall, you can get into the hobby for a reasonable amount of money and it is not becoming any more expensive than in the past...
I think the issue is more that everything else in life is becoming more expensive - therefore, having spare money for hobbies in general is more difficult to come by. Prices for everything from milk and gas to underwear have gone up - and I don't know about most of you, but my paycheck certaintly hasn't gone up by the same percentage... Eventually, most of us have to choose between a hobby and the necessities for your family - no brainer there...
Also, part of my situation is priorities - we choose to have my wife stay at home to raise our daughter - so, we have to make it on one income. But, raising our daughter with our family values and not someone elses (which are pretty screwed up these days) is more important than money and things... so, my layout will wait.
Pennsy nut Also, part of my situation is priorities - we choose to have my wife stay at home to raise our daughter - so, we have to make it on one income. But, raising our daughter with our family values and not someone elses (which are pretty screwed up these days) is more important than money and things... so, my layout will wait.
Truer words have never been written!
We did the same and our son turned into our pride and joy. A good family life is so precious these days!
wonder how much one of these cost?
And we say model railroading is expensive....
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/
tgindy said it best, I believe. We tend to want it all too soon, I know I do... and unless you're very well heeled it just ain't gonna happen. This hobby takes years and years to master and, personally, I don't know anyone that has mastered it all. The modular club I'm in does several shows a year and we hear the 'how much does this cost' question all the time. Members try their best to get across that the hobby is a lifetime thing and spread out over decades, advancing little by little, it can easily be done. The single biggest complaint we hear from would be modelers is lack of space.
Jarrell
tgindy Model railroading is a lifetime hobby. "Instant-gratification" in model railroading spans most of your lifetime to come, and; it is never all-at-once as our media-rich culture might suggest to us daily. Thus, it takes time to accumulate the layout from start to finish (or is it never quite finished). If you take the long-term visioning -- the material costs of your model railroading hobby is spread out over many years -- and our instant-gratification occurs everyday instead of just once. Do what you can as you can.
Model railroading is a lifetime hobby. "Instant-gratification" in model railroading spans most of your lifetime to come, and; it is never all-at-once as our media-rich culture might suggest to us daily.
Thus, it takes time to accumulate the layout from start to finish (or is it never quite finished). If you take the long-term visioning -- the material costs of your model railroading hobby is spread out over many years -- and our instant-gratification occurs everyday instead of just once. Do what you can as you can.
Lets look back in time and see how things was.
A super train sets that would catch a beginner's eye.
http://hoseeker.org/pennline/pennlinecatalog1959pg2.jpg
Basic starter sets.
http://hoseeker.org/AthearnBrochuresAds/Brochure%201961%20pg3.jpg
http://hoseeker.org/AthearnBrochuresAds/Brochure%201962%20pg3.jpg
We look back and say that was cheap but,let's not forget back then there was mortgages,car payments,stay at home wives and associated family needs.
Even with thousands of high paying Union and office jobs there was still the need to budget in hobby funds-as needed for all and again there was usually one bread winner.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
How much do you pay for your Cable TV service? It's close to a hundred bucks a month for many of us, and at the end of the month all we've got to show for it is another bill for the next month.
I prefer to think of things like this as an hourly cost for entertainment. I'm working on a DPM kit that cost me $20. Lights, paint, glue and some other stuff for the interior probably cost about $5. Conservatively, I've spent about 10 hours painting and detailing this building. Cost? Do the math, or let me do it for you. (I intentionally chose easy numbers.) $2.50 an hour. And, after that, I get to enjoy that building on my layout for many years.
Compare that to going out to see a Harold and Kumar movie. It's going to cost you maybe $9, and for that you get an hour and a half of what some may call entertainment. That's $6 an hour, and when it's over all you've got to look forward to is sticky shoes and a drive home.
We ski during the winter. A lift ticket is over $70 a day, and for that you get to ski for 8 hours. You also get to pay $8 for what is essentially a McDonald's quarter-pounder. Skis, poles, helmet, parka, ski pants, gloves, long underwear, helmet liner, boots and socks are all extra. You're looking at close to 2 kilobucks just for equipment.
Yes, there are a few big-ticket items in model railroading, particularly at the beginning. And yes, prices have gone up a lot recently, after being artificially low for years due to our own China Syndrome. But, now that the big investment is behind me, the incremental cost for the enjoyment I get from this hobby is very small indeed.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Pennsy nut Also, part of my situation is priorities - we choose to have my wife stay at home to raise our daughter - so, we have to make it on one income. But, raising our daughter with our family values and not someone elses (which are pretty screwed up these days) is more important than money and things...
Also, part of my situation is priorities - we choose to have my wife stay at home to raise our daughter - so, we have to make it on one income. But, raising our daughter with our family values and not someone elses (which are pretty screwed up these days) is more important than money and things...
As parents who did the same thing and were rewarded with a bright, self-assured young woman with her own priorities in order, I think you made the right call. (But now that she's in college, I do get to fill up the rest of the family room with trains...)
Here again, the "simple" answer is the best answer to the question "how much does it cost to get started in this" and it should logically be "the cost of a good quality train set" which is exactly what it is.
Again, everybody "over explains" everything. If every one that ask the question how much does it cost to get into this hobby was met with full explanations of what the end result was going to cost probably nobody would have any hobbies.
Collecting stamps can be a reasonably "inexpensive" hobby, but if you are ask that question and answer it with "well mint condition plate blocks of 100 year old stamps can run you as much as $10,000 a piece you'd scare the crap out of most people.
The same for boating, guy wants a fishing boat and asks "how much to get started" and you start telling him about the price of a new "glitter boat" with all of the accessories and he'll walk away.
This is pretty much the same answer for almost any hobby. Gee, I'm interested in "old cars", well a nice "Duesenburg" well cost you in excess of a million plus..................thank you very much and good bye!!
So again I say, keep it "simple" and let people find their own level "without" the benefit of all of your "vast knowledge" and experience. When they want to know they'll ask, and if they don't, then they have already found their happiness level.
Back in the late 60's / early 70's when someone would come into my train store and want to get started in Model RR I ended up suggesting they go to Wal-Mart or something similar and get a train set, then when they wanted to expand they should come and see me. Most of them ended up coming to me to "expand" their empires, but they had to start somewhere and it had to be "simple". Simple is relatively "cheap" and most of all it's "simple", let them find their own level of "complexity".
BATMAN I am up around $7000.00 on trains since getting back into it in 2007. That is about $1750.00 a year. I use to fly R/C airplanes and would spend much more than that on transportation to and from the club airfield alone. I think trains is a lower cost hobby than most. Brent
I am up around $7000.00 on trains since getting back into it in 2007. That is about $1750.00 a year. I use to fly R/C airplanes and would spend much more than that on transportation to and from the club airfield alone. I think trains is a lower cost hobby than most.
Brent
I tinkered with R/C airplanes as well a few years ago and I was about $1500 into a plane plus a lot of hours building and I only few it a few times out of fear of it becoming scrap wood. I did enjoy the building of plane but the expense of gear and the travel out to the field was not for the weak wallet and my other passion, sailing- as a former boat owner, I can still hear the sucking sound to my bank account. My wife was surprised when I wanted to try HO trains.. I said if my trains crashes, I just put it back on the track and off I go. Is MRR spendy, it can be but go into it with a budget. Do we need to buy 100 cars of rolling stock, a dozen engines and an entire town the very first visit to the hobby shop-NO... do you need every new engine that comes out ? No.. Will a $15 box car bring you as much enjoyment as $35 one, probably will once it is weathered and mixed in with other cars. Do you need big expensive DCC system, for most of us we can get by with a Zephyer or similar system or even a basic DC system. And the argument that the hobby is getting expensive- prices rise but it is mostly relative. There was a good tread on here a few months ago about the cost of MRR stuff in the 50's to today and when adjusted for inflation it was almost the same with the quality and detail being alot better today and I suspect the folks who grip the loudest about the price of stuff hardly buy anything any more as they have aquired a nice layout over the years and are at the point that they now enjoy the fruits of their years of work. I also see threads about people talking about their 20 year old engine or their 30 year old rolling stock... if you spent $200 on a new engine today and it is still running strong 10 years from now (which I am sure it will be) that is about $1.70 a month, that is a drop in the bucket compaired to other vices- smoking, hitting Starbucks, going to a movie.. and I know my train set brings me a lot fun than a cup of Starbucks. Now I will step off my box.
Ah threads on the hobby and its costs. The same argument that the hobby is getting increasingly expensive is a valid one and has been discussed as nauseum many times over the course of its existence and no this has never been a "cheap" hobby. But compared to some, it's far from extravagant if you ask me. When people told me they thought the hobby to be expensive, I'd refer them to Athearn B/B models as they in my opinion always offered a good value for the money particularly for those just starting out. I'm glad to see beginners options are still available, and if you ask me head an shoulders better then what has been done before. One can still get into this hobby and not spend a fortune if one does not want too, if you plan ahead, budget and yes be willing to make some compromises. For one, as much as I'd like a BLI N&W Auxiliary tender, I'm seriously leaning towards using a Spectrum model as it can be had for significantly less money and not significantly less quality.
Our hobby also needn't be to expensive, a short freight train can be just as satisfying to run as a long one. I to find cars with nice even if molded on details to be plenty of fun to run. This hobby is not for the instant gratification crowd for sure, but that's part of the appeal for me I love spending a night adding details to my locomotives of passenger cars and happy that I can do this myself, but I've certainly enjoyed opening up the box for a real fine model that comes from the factory really nicely done. And expensive? Sure it's not cheap but neither is a night on the town, I spent $30 one night on drinks and dinner at a local bar while out with my friends, the money aspect had been quite inconsequential to the fact that I had a fun night with a good group of people and I view model railroading often in the same aspect I'm enjoying the time I spend in the hobby and the money aspect is not the first thing I think about. I do wish some things were cheaper sure, but just because one may have more money to throw at something does not mean they'll get more out of it.
Alvie
With all the $$$ amounts tossed around here, this thread is getting too hot for me - my wife may look over my shoulder and see the real cost of our hobby!
Again,
$44.99
How is this hobby too expensive for beginners? Everything you need is right there. There's even cheaper kits online. This Bachmann engine is highly reliable to boot.
I think you guys are all looking at the expensive stuff which gets pushed harder becuase there's a much bigger profit margin on it.
Don - Specializing in layout DC->DCC conversions
Modeling C&O transition era and steel industries There's Nothing Like Big Steam!
I feel that a critical point being missed in this discussion is that after seeing pictures of the $50k layouts on-line and in the magazines, many would-be hobbyists today don't find any satisfaction in starting out with a simple, low-end, hobby shop train set. Too many of the high-end goodies are constantly being hawked out there these days that entice newbies to immediately try to go off the deep end...and find that they can't afford it
At the same time, those would-be hobbyists in the age group between teens and thirty-something are likely to be heavily influenced by today's societal outlook of, "I want it yesterday", something that is contrary to the nature of this hobby. Nevertheless, this sort of mentality tends to predispose many newbies toward not even wanting to go the normal entry-level, cheap train set, route at all. Rather, they'll be looking at equipment and materials more toward the middle and high end price range and for building a complete layout, while choking on the numbers they find.
The above is not to suggest that the hobby hasn't increased in cost in recent years, for it certainly has. In many instances prices have doubled and tripled over the past 15 years, far outstripping inflation and making it difficult for even many established hobbyists to stay with model railroading.
CNJ831
I think, in perspective, model railroading was a costly venture since a long time... if you stick to what you can buy. If I took the walthers catalog out and pinpointed everything I need to build a layout, I would probably walk out of the hobby seeing the bill.
But it's true prices are skyrocketing recently. Middle range prices are rarer. Many limited editions for collector, but less main stream thing to build up an empire at a decent price. Two choice, crap or jewel, choose you league seems to tell me my LHS. I went there yesterday... no cars under 20$, most of them around 30$ and the good ones at 50$... it just doesn't follow the annual increase of my wallet.
At this point, I decided to invest according to what is important to me... and to shop before buying into impulse. It's been years since I bought a locomotive at retail price from an actual store. In my area, LHS are worthless shop with no service, arrogant staff and over priced item. They don't desserve to be in business and I do my utmost best to see them go bankrupt before my knee (OK, it's a violent statement, but I'm sure it's a common sight all around America).
if something is a staple of what I try to model, I'll invest in it. By exemple, engines and caboose are the kind of thing you can hardly compromise. For freight cars, I think it is a good way to tweak things a little bit. Except if you're a rivet-counter, you can manage to satisfy yourself with less glamour rolling stock. If you like to build thing, the way out is to do what our ancesters did when they came here: do it yourself.
I'm actually in the process to upgrade and kitbash a large fleet of Bachmann cars a friend of mine gave me me 2 years ago. At the time, I almost threw them to garbage but now, I'm glad to have kept them. Lots of work... But it cost me only the price of Kadee coupler and metal wheel. The other parts come from the junk box. I'm aware of the limitation of these models, but I'm even more aware that my wallet can't support my ambition if I don't sweat a little bit for them. Yesterday I was scrolling through Doctorwayne photo gallery and found out a lot of cheap trainset car he upgraded without nobody noticing.
Anyway, modelism is a hobby about building things yourself, not paying some guy to do it in your place at a factory. But it's just my uninformed opinion! ;-)
Matt
Proudly modelling the Quebec Railway Light & Power Co since 1997.
http://www.hedley-junction.blogspot.com
http://www.harlem-station.blogspot.com
My suggestion for anyone who wants to try MRR as I have said a few times in post here to noobies, get the Atlas Trainman set. For about $100 you get a great train that can be upgraded to DCC down the road and few nice cars and some track and a power pack. That is how I started and have upgraded my trainman to DCC and still use the power pack to power my turn outs and a few building lights. And if you find MRR is not your cup of tea, you are only out a $100.
Retail prices are too high ... that's why I don't pay them.
I made the switch from HO to N a little over a year ago, so I was essentially starting over. I designed a sectional layout to be built on hollow-core doors, with the layout fully functional at all times. The track is down on the first door, giving me an oval, a two-track yard and a meat packing plant with four tracks. Plenty of switching and an oval for letting the trains run when I want. So ... enough to keep me happy for now, and plenty to build on for the future.
And it all cost a little more than $400.
$70 -- door, foam, banquet table legs, hardboard fascia
$175 -- 10 turnouts, flex track, ground throws, roadbed
$35 -- Atlas GP7 (second-hand)
$125 -- 15 Micro-Trains freight cars (second-hand)
I'm currently using my brother's DCC system, but I wouldn't have to; the GP7 doesn't have a decoder installed (but it's still the sweetest-running engine I've ever seen). The point is, I saved about $200 by going with a second-hand engine and cars.
I've also bought tons of stuff I'm not using right now, like a BLI E-7 with sound decoder (that's why I have the DCC), a few more engines, about 50 more freight cars and 15 passenger cars. But those items are beside the point, for the moment.
$400 to $500 can get you a nice start in the hobby. A subsequent allowance of $40-$50 a month (or even half that) can keep you growing nicely. You may not be able to afford every fancy new thing that comes along, but that's life. I'm driving an 8-year-old van and living in an 80-year-old house, and I'm plenty happy with both. You don't need the "best" to be happy.
Next month, I expect to spend about $250 to get the track down on a second door. I already have the additional engine and cars I'll need; they cost about $150. So for a little more than $800 (over two years), I'll have a portable 2.5 foot x 13-foot, 4-inch layout with an oval, a yard with two A/D tracks and four classification tracks, and a half dozen industries to switch. That's pretty good bang for the buck.
Of course, I haven't started on structures and scenery yet. But I'll approach that in the same manner -- in affordable stages.
blownout cylinder I guess it must still be a radical concept that if you want something bad enough you will save for it... I know of two kids who have spent their winter doing snow shoveling so they could get model train parts and things....
I guess it must still be a radical concept that if you want something bad enough you will save for it...
I know of two kids who have spent their winter doing snow shoveling so they could get model train parts and things....
Thats what I'm doing.
I'm not necessarily concerned by the prices of train sets because it's possible to get good ones for bargain prices. I'm more concerned about layout supplies like track and scenery, along with locos and rolling stock.
The Lone Geep
Lone Geep
\
I don't think it's getting too expensive for beginners.
A train set can be had for 50 bucks and many in the 100-200 dollar range.
http://www.trainsetsonly.com/page/TSO/CTGY/Bachmann
People tend to reference what they have and how beginners can afford it.
Most started with basic sets and went from there. Today's kids would tend to do the same, although there's a direct competition with xbox and other games.
Springfield PA
Eric97123 There was a good tread on here a few months ago about the cost of MRR stuff in the 50's to today and when adjusted for inflation it was almost the same with the quality and detail being alot better today .
There was a good tread on here a few months ago about the cost of MRR stuff in the 50's to today and when adjusted for inflation it was almost the same with the quality and detail being alot better today .
That's likely true, to a certain extent. But two things have changed. First of all, there's probably a lot more high-end stuff available now, and less entry-level stuff. But more importantly, I read the other day that the average family spends about 70% more on housing and 70% more on health insurance than they did 20 years ago (in constant dollars). At the same time, the buying power of average wages (in constant dollars) has pretty much flatlined. Simply put, average folks have fewer discretionary dollars to play with.
There's no question this is a pricey hobby, and it seems to me that the cost of equipment has risen dramatically with recent technology advances like DCC and sound. I've spent a total of about $30 on the hobby this year, and don't anticipate any additional outlays in the foreseeable future. Posters to this thread (and others) mention $200 locos and $25 pieces of rolling stock like they're discussing an extra pair of socks. Truth is, that's more than I'm willing to pay for anything by a factor of three. Even at that, as I look over my relatively modest-sized fleet of engines and cars and do a little math in my head, I become somewhat embarrassed at how much money I have invested in trains, even though I've never spent more than $50 for a locomotive (with one exception, but it was still under $100) and about five bucks per car for rolling stock. When guys talk about maintaining their roster of 35 sound-equipped SD-40's, or whatever, as a supplement to the rest of their locomotive fleet, I'm flabbergasted at the amount of capital that's been expended.
So even saying somebody could get started in the hobby for a few hundred dollars means the hobby is out of reach for many. Were I smart, it would have been so for me long ago. Luckily, I've never been accused of being overly smart, so I have all I realistically need to keep me going for quite some time. Were I starting into the hobby now, I'm not so sure I could maintain it.
Jim
"I am lapidary but not eristic when I use big words." - William F. Buckley
I haven't been sleeping. I'm afraid I'll dream I'm in a coma and then wake up unconscious. -Stephen Wright
I think there is a confusion somewhere in the arguments...
A beginner CAN start with a $50 set, and see if this is the hobby to pursuit.
Or they can go all in, and buy the hard core stuff that will make it expensive.....
What I think makes up the confusion is that some people think that this is a hobby that they can buy their way to. Not so in my opinion!
It is a hobby that can be as cheap or as expensive as you choose it to be. And don´t mistake cheap for looking cheap! Layouts built on a budget can look like a million dollars if done "right" or vice versa.....
I made a quick calculation (I have most expenses in a file on my PC), and my latest switching layout (10´x1.5´) that I started last year has cost me a "whopping" 2000 dollars including everything except the rolling stock and locos.
That is the same amount of money that one of my RC planes costs.... Or a set of race pistons and rods for the 440....
Both of those can have a very short lifespan......... I really think this is a cheap hobby compared to many others!
Swedish Custom painter and model maker. My Website:
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Well, I've had enough of this, I can't afford this hobby any longer so I've decided to just "sell out"!!! Everything I have at 40% off and most is new or like new!!!!! Better hurry fellas.............
OOPS!!! Just saw where the price of gasoline went up again, I'll have to raise my prices, make that 30% off, better get busy before I have to raise my prices again!!
Heck! Just send me your $100 bills and I'll send you "something"..............
Mark ;-]
WGAS!!!! (It's only money anyhow so you won't have it long.)
Hi all,
I get this question a lot. I am from Latvia and I believe there are maybe a dozen model train modelers except me, so people are all kinds of surprised when they see my layout.
I have put in excess of 10.000 USD in my 3.3'x6.6' and some of it is plain waste, since I just did not know what I was doing, even that has been a great deal of learning. Moreover - the layout is going scrap as we speak and not so much of it is going to be used on the new layout. I have also done radio controlled sailing at world championship level, for an example, and you could not get away with that bucks there. I have also done quite a lot of local level RC 1/10 4WD electric cars to know it took 10.000 USD to do a decent season. I do world championship level sailing in micro class, that is a 18' boat. It is supposed to be democratic, but a good season will take me 20.000 USD or more. From that perspective, model trains are not all that expensive.
But then people compare this to jogging or basic computer games or "how many times can I go to local pizza&pasta for that?" type of things.
Back to the original question. I normally answer it takes as much as you are willing to spend. I believe, why it costs a significant dollar for me is, because I have the dollar (some) and I spend all my time to earn it. If I had the time, I would love to build everything from scratch, design, program and solder my own electronics etc. As I have to spend the time elsewhere (do I? ), I go and buy plastic kits, ready electronics and take other shortcuts.
The one thing people often do not think about and that does balance the equation to some extend is the need for proper tools if you are building a lot of quality stuff yourself. Even for finishing the kits to a good standard, you need quite a workshop. The tools are small, but they are many and expensive.
But then again, model trains is a hobby of hobbies. You get this huge mix of all other modeling, mechanics, woodwork, crafts, electronics - everything. So maybe this should be expected to be more expensive than just one of those disciplines.
Cheers,
Edmunds in Latvia http://www.edmundsworld.net HO Transition Era modular layout being built with Faller Car System, DCCar, German Style Signalling, Computer Control and Automation
Forty Niner I will never understand why it is so difficult for a lot of model railroaders to grasp this basic idea and keep it simple, you do the hobby no service by doing this and a lot of people end up walking away because they don't want to get into something they preceive as "complicated". It's a "hobby", they want something to "relax" with and enjoy, not become involved in a major project with endless complications.
Mark, I have to agree. I have become immune to this to some extent by now, but that is me being persistent with anything I do. And I do want more complex train operation by now. There are quite a few cases even on this forum of well meaning people, where newbies are almost ridiculed for failing to stick to a prototype as such, specific prototype equipment, operating pattern of an industry/railroad or era. I honestly believe, the beginners should not be pushed into any of that at all. The problem surfaces most at track planning stage. All the givens and druthers thing by definition is how to get people out of the hobby, if you ask me. By making people to list these things you make them imagine things that will send their budget skyrocketing and their brain restarting into power/cash saving mode. I do not question they are important for someone who wants to make the next step from a train set being put together on the floor every second weekend for a couple of hours or so to the proper bench work, dedicated room and all that, but for the beginner - it is just to get most out of the hobby.
Risking to make this post too long for anyone to bother reading, let me give you a comparison with the business I am running to stress the point.
We sell ERP software. Complicated stuff. Problems by definition. One of the key concepts of the industry is enough face-time with a potential customer. The product is so complex, it sometimes takes 40 hours of face to face sales time to close a deal. Thus, trying to send direct mail, explaining the benefits of your software is ruining your own market place. Same with cold calling and all other methods that give you a short span of interaction. For all, but the largest systems, try and buy works, though. I believe model trains are like ERP systems in that sense. Trains need a lot of face time to win people over for good. And try and buy. Just let them get a train! Any train! :)