I am trying to find cost effective ways to help my son with model railroading. He is a young teenager and this year asked for his own trains. I have a large layout, so he was interested in his own started set. Of course he asked for a Santa Fe F-7, which was very hard to find right now. I did find one on eBay, and it was an older model. As a kid, how can I help him afford this hobby? When I was a kid Athearn engines were $23.50 and a new car was $5.00. I realize that was a long time ago, but I could save a few weeks allowance and purchase those things for myself. Today a cheap engine is well over $100 and railcars are anywhere from $30 to $50... for the cheap ones.
I don't mind using eBay, but are there other ways to help my son grow his collection on a kid's budget?
If you have a large layout, isn't there some equipment and accessories like track, etc.,you can "lease" to him?
I think Ebay is OK, I use it, maybe just kind of advise and help him so he eventually learns how to get the decent stuff, and avoid the junk.
Some hobby shops sell used stuff from estate sales, maybe see what's in your area.
Mike.
My You Tube
Lots of cheap quality stuff out there, just got to look. Got a DCC and sound MTH gp-35along with a digitrac zephyr for $200 out the door on e-bay. Also got a Bachmann engine with DCC and sound in steam for $89 from an online vendor.
I would look for local train shows in your area and see what they have to offer. There are always bargains to be had, just have to look....
You can always find bargain but good quality locomotives and rolling stock on eBay. And, if you have a local hobby store (LHS), you can veiw them in person.
To cut costs on rolling stock and generate interest, look for easy-to-assemble kits like Accurail. The detail is good but you can generally assemble one in 30-60 min - i.e. depending on the complexity of the kit. Kits give a sense of accomplishment, teach about the prototype, and help hone ones modeling and hand skills. And doing it with your son is a great way to mentor him in the hobby.
FWIW...
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
NILE,
Are you in the US of A? Any ''Wanted/ Free ads'' ,(not that you want the items free, just that the add is free for you to list what you want), papers in your local area? There may just be some gentleman that is happy to help get started a youngster in the hobby.
Is his interest in HO? SF F7 in blue and yellow or silver and red? Athearn BB in DC (a great runner/puller w/that extra large weight and later on little details that can be added) or another newer brand in DC/DCC w/lots of detail?
I don´t think the tricks of the trade will work any longer. Model engines have become expensive and sophisticated toys, loaded with desirable gimmicks like DCC and sound. Of course, that comes at a price, but one will have to lay out that kind of cash to foster a teenager´s interest theses days. The kids are just not as easy to please (or keep focused), as we were in our youth.
Happy times!
Ulrich (aka The Tin Man)
"You´re never too old for a happy childhood!"
NILE I am trying to find cost effective ways to help my son with model railroading. He is a young teenager and this year asked for his own trains. I have a large layout, so he was interested in his own started set. Of course he asked for a Santa Fe F-7, which was very hard to find right now. I did find one on eBay, and it was an older model. As a kid, how can I help him afford this hobby? When I was a kid Athearn engines were $23.50 and a new car was $5.00. I realize that was a long time ago, but I could save a few weeks allowance and purchase those things for myself. Today a cheap engine is well over $100 and railcars are anywhere from $30 to $50... for the cheap ones. I don't mind using eBay, but are there other ways to help my son grow his collection on a kid's budget?
Kerry
I don't happen to think a kid needs to start with the top end loco and rolling stock. He's more prone to break the MU hoses, firecracker antennas.
Assuming your layout is DCC, I would look at a Athearn or even a Stewart SF F7 and maybe you could help with the cost of a decoder and teach him how to add details and install the decoder.
At the Timonium train show, there are lots of Athearn blue box rolling stock at $10 or less that have kadee couplers installed, some times weathered or with metal wheels. Old Bowser rolling stock kits are priced similar to Accurail.
If he's closer to 13 than 19, there probably aren't paper routes anymore, but there is baby sitting, I here the going rate nationally is $17/hr, and lawn work and snow shovelling.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Hello All,
mbinsewiIf you have a large layout, isn't there some equipment and accessories like track, etc.,you can "lease" to him?
I was thinking the same thing...
You did not mention what scale he is interested in.
Is he wanting to model in a different scale than dad?
When I got back into this hobby a few years back I went to a train show with a set budget- -I didn't set the budget- -"She who must be obeyed" did.
It was less than $50.00 cash. We enjoyed the show and before we left I offered one vendor $35.00 for a starter DC set and a controller.
Because I "bundled" and had cash he accepted. Then I went to another vendor and offered him the remaining $15.00 for a "vintage" Tyco crane and tender set. I explained to him that I was just getting back into the hobby and that my parents had gotten me the same set when I was younger.
He noticed the starter set and controller under my arm and agreed to $15.00 rather than the $25.00 asking price.
If you can find a train show in your area I recommend you "advance" your son the cash and see what he can find on his own.
Definitely supervise and offer advice but let him make the ultimate decisions, even if it means getting what he wants for more money.
This will not only allow him to participate in this great hobby, but it will also give him some life lessons on barganing and value.
Hope this helps.
"Uhh...I didn’t know it was 'impossible' I just made it work...sorry"
I am in a similar situation, and I get my best deals at train shows. Most of my engines were around $30-40, and my cars were $5 each. Those are athearn BB and P2K engines, and athearn and similar cars. A big box of track for $15, a set of 20 flex tracks for $20, MRC power pack for $10. Just shop around, especially at smaller train shows.
Harrison
Homeschooler living In upstate NY a.k.a Northern NY.
Modeling the D&H in 1978.
Route of the famous "Montreal Limited"
My YouTube
Scale Trains also has "Kit Classics" box cars. They are very much like Athearn BB box cars, as far as detail, and assembly.
https://www.scaletrains.com/product-category/ho-evans-usre-5100-rbl-8-double-plug-door-boxcar/
Start with some kits, like the Accurail stuff. Lower price, and it gives him the hook into the building aspect of the hobby. Then let his kits join the fleet on your own railroad; so he can operate them there. If your looking at starting him on a layout with full locomotives, DCC control and track your looking at a heavy price tag to pay. Yes, you can get a Bachmann starter set for a fairly reasonable price; but you have to remember those don't have much engagement beyond looping on the floor in circles. Smaller kits and scenery projects will be more interesting and cheaper than jumping straight into large layout building.Let the model building divert into his interests too. It doesn't have to be trains. If he is a fan of science fiction maybe get him some Star Wars, Star Trek or even Halo and Mass Effect kits that are out there now. Any interest in history or old wars can be met with a massive market of WWII figures and planes. Maybe he likes RPG games and some D&D figures might be the perfect place to learn airbrushing and brush painting skills. If he likes the assembly of kits, get him something large but still simple to assemble like a larger Lego kit (I spent my own Christmas morning building Lego's Disney Train they released this year for example). Metal Earth has a ton of static models of various subjects that are simple to build, yet require patience to complete.
Get him some books on the prototype stuff too if he has any interest there. Yes we are a digital generation, but that reading profeciency still works on the written page. I actually just ordered Jim Boyd's Steam Locomotive off Amazon because it had such an impact on me as a kid since my High School library had a copy in their collection and I wanted a copy of the book to call my own all these years later.
Trust me, I love to look at Rapido and ScaleTrain's best high end locomotives and they are what I want to have in this hobby someday. But I am not at a point in my life where I can justify plopping down that much cash for a single locomotive; they are much more comfortably priced for retirees or post-college high paying career type folks who can look at a full DCC sound and light equiped locomotive at $300 and call it a reasonable price. However he can start on those Accurail/Old Blue Box and other kits today for just $10-$15... and someday when he is out of school and well in his career I'd almost wager his first high end locomotive on his own layout will be pulling that set of kits he learned to build himself all those years earlier.
First of all, I hope you and your son enjoy the hobby and have many fine hours of hobbying together. Very happy for you that he has interest in the hobby.
As for affordable hobbying. HO railroading is one of the easiest hobbies to enjoy affordably.
As folks have already said, train shows are a great way to find plenty of good condition (even NOS kits) for very low prices. Also, depending on your kid, they can be very fun experiences to share with your children.
For new kits I second the notion of Accurail and Scale Trains Kit Classics (can be hard to find sometimes).
Check your local shops, most major metropolitans have at least one shop that specializes or at least keeps a big stock of used trains. Here in Chicago area I can think of 3 or 4 different shops where you can buy rolling stock (often NOS kits) all day for less than $15 and often even less than that.
Look up the HOSwap group and I've heard there are a couple similar groups on Facebook as well.
Also there's probably a Trainworld ad on the side of this page right now. They always have quite a few locos in the $40-50 range, and almost always some DCC even. Be sure to check both the sale and regular sections and sort by price.
I've built up a large collection of trains that I am quite happy with and with a few exceptions I rarely spend more than $10 a car and $30 a loco.
Visit the Chicago Valley Railroad for Chicago Trainspotting and Budget Model Railroading.
Find room to give the kid his own layout. That's how I got into model railroading many years ago. Lionel, 0-27, 4 by 8 homosote trainboard. There was a time that we have three loops of track, three tranformers, and three sybliings all running Lionel together. Let the kid do his own track plan, in fact let him redo his trackplan, much of the fun in model railroading is doing your own track plan. Once the track plan stablizes, he can move onto structures. Now a days HO is the low cost way to go. Find some trainshows and go to them with the kid. Plenty of used rolling stock available for really decent prices. You might even find some stuff youo like.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
Another source for used equipment is Facebook, they have a section that is for model railroaders.
Whenever one of my girls showed an interest in a hobby that could lead to one-on-one time with dear old dad, I just paid for everything.
.
Time spent building things with your children is priceless. They have their entire lives to learn the ways of real world. I say foot the bills and have fun with your son while he still wants to spend time with you.
Not once have I had the thought "I wish I would have spent less time and money on my girls when they were still children."
-Kevin
Living the dream.
SeeYou190 Whenever one of my girls showed an interest in a hobby that could lead to one-on-one time with dear old dad, I just paid for everything. . Time spent building things with your children is priceless. They have their entire lives to learn the ways of real world. I say foot the bills and have fun with your son while he still wants to spend time with you. . Not once have I had the thought "I wish I would have spent less time and money on my girls when they were still children." . -Kevin .
hes 24 now & way involved in the hobby.he has learned alot thru it
When shopping at my local model train store last month, I had an interesting conversation with the manager. I told him I was building a couple of small HO projects to expose the grandkids to the hobby when they came over for Christmas dinner. I said that while I expected my grandkids to be excited (which they were), I wasn't optomistic that kids in general would find model railroading attractive enough to overcome their addiction to smartphones, tablets and other electronic media.
He told me that just the opposite is now the case at their store and that they are seeing a resurgance of kids who are eager to enter the hobby. His theory is that the pre-teen and early teen kids who have grown up with the electronic stuff have become jaded but are facinated with trains because they are tangible physical objects that they can control. He also noted that their familiarity with electronics is another plus because there is no barrier for them tackling the complexities of DCC.
I hope he's right.
Tim
Late to the model railroad party but playing catch-up.....
I have a 1956 American Flyer catalog.A GP-7 cost $25 in 1956.In 2019 dollars that would be $236.40Reference.com:"The average yearly American salary was $4,450. The average cost of a new house in 1956 was $11,700, and the average monthly rent was $88.00. In terms of commodities, the average cost of a gallon of automobile gas was 22 cents. A new car cost approximately $2,050. The price of ground coffee per pound was about 85 cents."My grandfather bought a Cadillac Fleetwood brand new in 1961 for $5,000.
Disclaimer: This post may contain humor, sarcasm, and/or flatulence.
Michael Mornard
Bringing the North Woods to South Dakota!
CapnCrunch His theory is that the pre-teen and early teen kids who have grown up with the electronic stuff have become jaded but are facinated with trains because they are tangible physical objects that they can control. He also noted that their familiarity with electronics is another plus because there is no barrier for them tackling the complexities of DCC. I hope he's right. Tim
Bayfield Transfer RailwayI have a 1956 American Flyer catalog. A GP-7 cost $25 in 1956. In 2019 dollars that would be $236.40
The $25 in 1956 bought you a rather crude model with a jerky drive, but the $236.40 buy you a highly detailed, DCC and sound equipped engine with a drive that´s as smooth as silk.
Today´s youth won´t be happy with what we had to be content with back in our days. They are much more tech savvy as we were and need to have that challenge to develop an intetrest in the hobby. Cheap won´t do.
As you might know, Milwaukee's Trainfest is a huge annual train show BUT has always pretty much shunned the swap meet side of the hobby, so it is lots of layouts, manufacturers, and vendors, but the vendors sell new stuff almost exclusively.
Interestingly one of the high-end manufacturers mentioned to me that Trainfest goes to great lengths to feature activities and opportunities for young people (toddlers to teenage) yet Trainfest has almost no used stuff that a young person could buy and afford if they wanted to get started in the hobby. What struck me is that even this manufacturer understood that their current pricing just is not going to match up well with entry level or exploratory or "he might enjoy it for a year" type of train customers (regardless of age by the way). At least this manufacturer understood that long range he and his firm need and benefit from swap meet trains that create new customers and new demand.
I pointed out to him that Milwaukee is awash in swap meets so that the interest generated by Trainfest can be readily satisifed if "previously enjoyed" trains are the way to go. There is some sort of swap meet in Milwaukee just about every weekend, and never fewer than two a month. The monthly swap meet at the NMRA Divisional meets (the sponsor of Trainfest) is not only free to attend, but nothing is charged for the tables. So we do what we can to stoke the fires that have been lit by Trainfest.
He was surprised that Milwaukee has so much swap meet opportunity. And that does not even include that huge monthly swap meet over the state line in Wheaton IL.
I know many modelers who have purged their collections of their pre-DCC trains, many of them nicely detailed and good runners, top of the line stuff when it was new. Similarly there are bargains to had for prefab track of the sort a beginner might benefit from using, and nice DC power supplies as well. I have seen Athearn including F7s selling for under $20. Not Genesis mind you - the older stuff, but geared not rubber band drive and maybe even the super power F7 that they offered for a time. All very affordable and again speaking as a swap meet veteran, I don't know if the quality of swap meet stuff has ever been higher UNLESS the beginner wants the most up to date technology.
Even then I am now seeing "first generation" (non sound) DCC powered engines as well as DCC systems being sold at swap meets, and at reasonable prices, as those who converted early to DCC are now into a "sound or nothing" mindset and also want the most modern features in DCC systems. So even someone determined to get DCC from the start can get deals IF they are prepared to go to swap meets and really have their eyes open.
Another place to try: contact the local NMRA Division. They tend to become repository for the stuff owned by modelers who either have had to give up the hobby due to health or moving to a nursing home, or have gone to the great reward. At last year's Madison (WI) train show (a show which does feature swap meet level trains for sale) I saw a lot of stuff being sold very cheaply by the NMRA Div that runs that show.
Working the show office at Trainfest this year, and again being a pretty avid swap meet type of guy, I see plenty of teens at these shows usually in packs with friends. They are old enough to be there without parents.
Dave Nelson
I just tried to look at the NMRA WISE division upcoming meets and events, and it says the page isn't working.
Tinplate Toddler Bayfield Transfer Railway I have a 1956 American Flyer catalog. A GP-7 cost $25 in 1956. In 2019 dollars that would be $236.40 The $25 in 1956 bought you a rather crude model with a jerky drive, but the $236.40 buy you a highly detailed, DCC and sound equipped engine with a drive that´s as smooth as silk.
Bayfield Transfer Railway I have a 1956 American Flyer catalog. A GP-7 cost $25 in 1956. In 2019 dollars that would be $236.40
mbinsewi I just tried to look at the NMRA WISE division upcoming meets and events, and it says the page isn't working. Mike.
I know - try instead clicking on the newsletter and checking out the most recent Owl Car newsletter. It gives schedules and activities - including our upcoming bus trip to the Madison show in February
dknelson that huge monthly swap meet over the state line in Wheaton IL.
that huge monthly swap meet over the state line in Wheaton IL.
That train show at the DuPage County Fairgrounds is one of the reason I'm here.
Before I was married and had my own family, my sister and my young nephew lived with me until they could get on their own. My nephew loved trains. So for Christmas when he was six years old, I got him a Lionel O scale starter train set. We started to build a small O scale layout in a spare bedroom I had. I would take him to that train show as a little kid. You would not believe how many vendors practically gave us stuff after getting to know the story of why we were there.
My sister got married and now has two more sons interested in trains, as does my son. Great family hobby.
Ed
Semi newbie HO scale modeler coming from the O scale world
mrrdad dknelson that huge monthly swap meet over the state line in Wheaton IL. That train show at the DuPage County Fairgrounds is one of the reason I'm here. Before I was married and had my own family, my sister and my young nephew lived with me until they could get on their own. My nephew loved trains. So for Christmas when he was six years old, I got him a Lionel O scale starter train set. We started to build a small O scale layout in a spare bedroom I had. I would take him to that train show as a little kid. You would not believe how many vendors practically gave us stuff after getting to know the story of why we were there. My sister got married and now has two more sons interested in trains, as does my son. Great family hobby. Ed
Fantastic show, and probably the best monthly show in the country.
I started playing bass for my church and I've missed the last year of shows, but hopefully we'll have a sub soon and I'll be able to go back. Definitely worth the early admission fee. I generally arrive, spend all my $ and am walking out with a bag full of deals about the time it opens for general admission.