I watched the uncut version of "Blazing Saddles" again this weekend, and I swear if I were to watch that movie a thousand times I'd still wet my paints laughin' at it!
Just to have an excuse to plug the movie ('cuz I'm still chucklin' over it), back in 1874, would a railroad hand-cart be worth $400 like Slim Pickens' character was yellin' about at the start of the picture?
I hit an inflation calculator on the web, which told me what cost $400 in 1880 would cost $8816.36 in 2008. The question, then, is what would such a handcar cost today, if they were still in production?
Maybe someone has access to the cost of a handcar back when they were in general use. Even if it's not in the late 1800's, the price can be figured back.
I don't know what year "Blazing Saddles" was based in - I just figure 1880 was as good a start as anything.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
One of the classic M-O-W hand cars, like this ?
http://www.minercompany.com/Sheffield%20hand%20car.jpg
Or a baggage cart or wagon of some kind, like this:
http://www.petticoatjunction.net/images/mailwagonbig.jpg
Or a hand truck, like this:
http://images.jiunlimited.com/thw/thw12/PH/5344_2005030011/9/26471448.thj.jpg?000801_0192_0001_t__s
This is the kind that the soon-to-be-new sheriff of Rock Ridge was sinking into the quicksand in. Slim Pickens' saved the handcart but couldn't care less about the guys that were on it!
Oh, OK, thanks.
Yes, I could believe $400 back then, although $8,000 today (roughly 20 times as much) might be on the high side. While the wood would be cheap enough in either time frame, the cast and/ or machined metal parts would have been proportionately way more expensive back then, as mass production of industrial products wasn't all that common. Even to the extent that it was, cutting the gears and machining the bearing surfaces - as well as pouring the wheel castings and fabricating the drive wheel with eccentric cranks (like the bicycle chain drive wheel with pedals) and push rods, etc. - would have been highly specialized industrial arts back in the day, and priced accordingly. Just to rough it out a little:
Wheels - 4 ea. @ $500 today = $2,000 = $25 each back then.
Axles and wheel bearings - 2 ea. @ $500 today = $1,000 = $25 each back then.
Drive wheel with eccentric cranks and pushrods - 1 set @ $1,000 today = $1,000 = $50 back then.
Deck - 1 ea. @ $1,000 today = $1,000 = $50 back then.
Stand with handles - 1 ea. @ $1,000 today = $1,000 = $50 back then.
_____________________________________
Subtotal: $6,000 today = $300 back then.
Misc. & unaccounted for: $2,000 today = $100 back then.
Ok, that's not perfect for sure, but I'll bet it's within an "order of magnitude" (factor of 10) of being close in other words, back then it wasn't as low as $40 ($800 today), nor was it as high as $4,000 ($80,000 today). Considering that the movie was a Hollywood comedy by Mel Brooks, I doubt if they researched it much. Probably either just took a guess at it, or maybe somebody knew a historian out that way who had access to the records or a catalog or publication, etc. from back then.
- Paul North.
Paul_D_North_Jrthe cast and/ or machined metal parts would have been proportionately way more expensive back then
With that as your basic frame of reference I think the rest of your calculation's would be bang on.
AgentKid
So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.
"A Train is a Place Going Somewhere" CP Rail Public Timetable
"O. S. Irricana"
. . . __ . ______
Well, someone could always build one of their own, and then tell us how much it cost ! See "How to Build a Railway Handcar" at:
http://www.ehow.com/how_2111555_build-railway-handcar.html
Larry / tree68 - thanks for the inflation/ cost escalation math (I overlooked doing that earlier).
agentkid - thanks for the support. From the above link, I see that I forgot about the brakes, whcih would add a few dollars and take up some of the unaccounted-for amount. So yeah, it's close enough, I think.
- PDN.
Let's try this again. I was having a (expletive deleted)(additional-additional-additional) afternoon and the twenty minutes or so I had to look at the forum this afternoon was greatly appreciated. However I made my point poorly, if not at all. It's not that I don't appreciate your support of my support, so here we go.
Living in two stations and visiting my grandparent's, later my uncle's farm, I personally have developed a real appreciation for old metal work. And it was explained to me many times that the metal fittings and parts were the hardest things to make in any given old time object. You could always find some sort of a carpenter, and blacksmith's could do metal work up to a point, but there were things you just couldn't replicate in rural Alberta for any amount of money. My uncle was one of these self taught carpenter types who really enjoyed rehabilitating old pieces of equipment or furniture.
I saw many things in the stations that had new wood pieces replacing the old broken parts, and to this day, when I see some old piece lying around an old neighbourhood my mind always clicks in to how could that be fixed, and how would it look with the old metal pieces cleaned and polished or painted, and the wood pieces with a new coat of paint. I've ridden the Alberta Prairie Railway at Stettler, mentioned in the May TRAINS, several times and I think if I were independently wealthy and had limitless time, I would love to live out there and fix one thing after another all day long.
This discussion brings me to an interesting point, I think I like the historical equipment part of the hobby more than I like the historical operation aspects of it, but I like both a lot.
AgentKid [snip] I saw many things in the stations that had new wood pieces replacing the old broken parts, and to this day, when I see some old piece lying around an old neighbourhood my mind always clicks in to how could that be fixed, and how would it look with the old metal pieces cleaned and polished or painted, and the wood pieces with a new coat of paint. . . . I think if I were independently wealthy and had limitless time, I would love to live out there and fix one thing after another all day long. [snip] AgentKid
If we ever have an opportunity to get together, I believe you and I would get along just fine. I'll keep you in mind for if and when I win one of the lotteries or similar.
tree68 I don't know what year "Blazing Saddles" was based in - I just figure 1880 was as good a start as anything.
Governor William J. Le Petomane: Thank you, Hedy, thank you
Hedley Lamarr: It's not "Hedy," it's "Hedley"... Hedley Lamarr.
Governor William J. Le Petomane: What the hell are you worried about? This is 1874 . You'll be able to sue *her*.
ChuckCobleighThis is 1874
Yeah - it was in the original post, too. Brain cramp. Still, it does give us a rough comparison, price-wise.
ChuckCobleightree68 I don't know what year "Blazing Saddles" was based in - I just figure 1880 was as good a start as anything. Governor William J. Le Petomane: Thank you, Hedy, thank you Hedley Lamarr: It's not "Hedy," it's "Hedley"... Hedley Lamarr. Governor William J. Le Petomane: What the hell are you worried about? This is 1874 . You'll be able to sue *her*.
O.T but interesting the real Hedy Lamarr (who was still alive when the movie was released) actually did threaten legal action and received some money from the producers...
"I Often Dream of Trains"-From the Album of the Same Name by Robyn Hitchcock
I lusted for one of these baggage carts a while back to put in front of my house when I replaced my weed patch flower bed with concrete.http://www.petticoatjunction.net/images/mailwagonbig.jpg
It's good to know I'm not the only Blazing Saddles fan here; I still occasionally like to walk into work and holler, "What in the wide, wide world of sports is a-goin on here? I hired you boys to get a little track laid not jump around..." well, that's where I stop to avoid violating any company policies. Usual respones range from "Gabby says the Sheriff's near!" to a chorus of the Camptown Ladies.
Another favorite older movie: The Great Locomotive Chase, which, by the way, has Slim Pickens as the engineer of the Texas, IIRC. Man, they don't make movies like those anymore...
- James
Don't want to be a downer, but do you remember Dom DeLuise playing the director of a 1930s-type musical? This was toward the end of Blazing Saddles, when the Blazing Saddles cast burst through their studio set into DeLuise's campy domain. The musical number he was trying to direct before he was so rudely interrputed was called "The French Mistake" and of that I will say no more. DeLuise died just a couple of days ago and he will be missed.
"It's a time of great decision. Should we stay or up and quit? There's no escaping this conclusion: Our town is turning into..." [you'll remember the rest of that catchey little hymn they sang in church].
WIARhttp://www.minercompany.com/Sheffield%20hand%20car.jpg This is the kind that the soon-to-be-new sheriff of Rock Ridge was sinking into the quicksand in. Slim Pickens' saved the handcart but couldn't care less about the guys that were on it!
"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."-Albert Einstein
http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/
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