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Model trains cost an arm and a leg

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Posted by wrench567 on Thursday, May 19, 2022 10:11 PM

   It's all a matter of perception. Prices have to be raised in order to survive. When you see the price of a box of 6 premade hamburger patties at $20 then that $30 freight car looks reasonable. Just imagine the costs of developing a new model. The company can be out hundreds of thousands of dollars in design, mold making, setup, crew training in assembly, and so on. Let alone shipping costs from around the world. I never understood Bowser. Parts made in the US, shipped to China and assembled, shipped back to the US. Crazy.

    Pete.

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Posted by NittanyLion on Thursday, May 19, 2022 9:48 PM

southernpacificgs4
Will model trains in the future only for the "rich people"?

When wasn't that the case?

One of the earliest ads with a price is in the March 1934 issue. An outfit is selling what we would call sectional track. A three foot straight section, two rail O, on plywood roadbed is $1 a piece.

The average American made 43 cents an hour. 

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Posted by gmpullman on Thursday, May 19, 2022 9:42 PM

Steven Otte
 No matter how many threads there already are on the topic of how expensive the hobby is, people always want to start a new one, so here's what we're going to do.

 

https://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/245773.aspx

 

 

Cheers, Ed

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Posted by John-NYBW on Thursday, May 19, 2022 8:34 PM

Well we just had a lunar eclipse and the "this hobby is so expensive" threads come along just about as often. I saved both the 50th anniversary edition of the Walthers catalog as well as the 75th edition. This allowed me to compare prices of items to what they were a generation earlier. For the most part, the cost of like items had kept pace with inflation. Some a little more, some less. There's no comparing locos because a high end DCC loco from today is so much more sophisticated than a basic DC loco from 25 years earlier. More than a decade has passed from that 75th anniversary issue but I would wager the same comparison would be true today. 

The good news is any of us is free to spend as much or as little as we choose. It's still possible to enjoy the hobby without buying high end items. Accurail freight cars are still relatively cheap and you can still buy basic DC locos at a reasonable cost. If you can't find affordable passenger cars there's always ebay. I've built a fairly large fleet through the second hand market and haven't had to spend an arm and a leg to do so. 

 

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Posted by NYVTRR on Thursday, May 19, 2022 8:29 PM

I notice that some of the young model railroaders on youtube buy up a lot of inexpensive used locos and rolling stock.  They buy the items that a lot of people would consider as junk, fix them up and get them running like new.  In my opinion thats how young people get involved and will keep the hobby going.

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Posted by Attuvian1 on Thursday, May 19, 2022 8:23 PM

Well, there are some valid points here.  But I don't entirely buy into this projection, if for only these two reasons:

 
1) I'm amazed how some young folks can generate money.  And not always by means of their parents or plastic.
2) I'm just as amazed at how much they are willing to spend for what they want.
 
I suspect that their greater urgency for instant gratification (as compared to most of us at their age), is suffcient to offset the problem.
 
[Added]  Whatever issues there may be in acquiring motive power and rolling stock, there may be an even greater one.  Pretty quickly a 4x8 on a slab of plywood with sectional track won't cut it for those wanting to move ahead.  I'm almost more concerned with the ability to work with their hands.  To run an analogy with the fairer sex, I'd wager that far fewer young women these days can cook (from scratch) or sew than in previous generations. 
 
John
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Posted by PC101 on Thursday, May 19, 2022 8:03 PM

Young people will buy into the hobby. They will spend more money per detailed piece of rolling stock and engines and I'd think collect less pieces then us ''old'' guys growing up on Athearn BB and MDC/Roundhouse.       

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Posted by BATMAN on Thursday, May 19, 2022 7:49 PM

saronaterry

Can't figure out how to insert the eating popcorn GIF. Sigh.

Terry

 

Brent

"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."

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Posted by jjdamnit on Thursday, May 19, 2022 7:37 PM

Hello All,

The expression, "Not seeing the forest for the trees!" comes to mind. 

If you have the motivation to enjoy this great hobby you will find a way, despite the perceived expense...

Faith in the future generations of model railroaders

Yes, this hobby can be expensive but I find my biggest cost is in tools.

Had I not invested in a quality soldering station, proper solder, appropriate flux, foam cradle, and solder removal tools, the following would have not been as successful...

Well, that was easy...relatively...

The ability to DIY has always been at the heart of this hobby.

Nowadays you can choose your path...

R&R- -Rehab and Refurbish- -at your time and expense, with the associated downtime.

Or...

RTR- -and absorb the cost of Ready-To-Run for the sake of convenience.

It's an age-old question that doesn't have a clear answer, only a personal choice.

Hope this helps.

"Uhh...I didn’t know it was 'impossible' I just made it work...sorry"

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Posted by saronaterry on Thursday, May 19, 2022 7:36 PM

Can't figure out how to insert the eating popcorn GIF. Sigh.

Terry

Terry in NW Wisconsin

Queenbogey715 is my Youtube channel

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Posted by rrebell on Thursday, May 19, 2022 7:32 PM

You just need to learn to shop. Walthers new NW2 DCC and sound is listed for around $210 but others want more than retail, paid $145 for mine. All my stuff is high detail and paid less than $15 per car, sometimes much less, if I remember right I paid $12 each for MTH  2 bay hoppers instead of $35 and these were brand new in original shipping container, also these were in ,my home road logo. These were very recent purchaces.

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Posted by southernpacificgs4 on Thursday, May 19, 2022 6:58 PM

davidmurray

  Young/new people are being priced out.

David you hit also the nail on the head

People who want to start with the hobby will startle of those price

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Posted by davidmurray on Thursday, May 19, 2022 6:48 PM

I feel much the same.  Most of my freight cars are Athern "blue box" kits.  Much cheaper in terms of hours to be worked to buy one than any new car on the market today.

The new cars are more detailed, but the detasils break easily.  Young/new people are being priced out.

 

 

David Murray from Oshawa, Ontario Canada
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    October 2007
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Model trains cost an arm and a leg
Posted by southernpacificgs4 on Thursday, May 19, 2022 6:37 PM

I saw with some months of delay the October 2021 new product announcement from Walthers and I was surprised by the price of a particular passenger car.

The Pullman-Standard Bi-Level commuter cars.

For a standard car the price is 89.98 dollars and for a lighted cars it is 99.98 dollars.

If you want to have a decent train with minimum 5 cars this will cost you 499.90 dollars in the lighted version and this without a locomotive.

What was the price of these cars when Walthers released them for the first time?

I guess that these price will kill the model train hobby for a lot of people.

We as model train enthusiast has also contributed to this evolution by asking more and more details on our models with the consequence of higher prices of the models. And as a result of this urge of more realism with details hanging beneath the cars are that those cars are limited to run on a minimum radius of 24 inches.

Did we as model train enthusiast shoot ourselves in the foot, 10 or 20 years ago by asking (no we demanded) more and more details?

I think that model manufactures are crossing a red line by asking those  prices?

Will model trains in the future only for the "rich people"?

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