Its funny how you get that itch to Buy… its tough to say no… just got back to work and I am already looking to Buy, Buy, Buy more trains!
My wife just shakes here head now, does not even venture into the basement anymore. She used to ask WHY?! I think I have O gauge trains now that I cannot even run yet. I ran out of wall space in the basement to display them…Its contagious too, a good friend of mine was never into trains, showed a few good Lionel and American Flyer examples running around a work table and now he spends about 500 a month on trains… I try to spend only 100 or less a month but today its Buy, Buy, Buy!!!
For years I was one of those guys that needed to buy, buy, buy!!! At the time I did not even have a layout to run my trains. Four years ago, after doing some remodeling in my house; I set up one of my empty nest bedrooms with a 12 by 8 layout and picked up 35- 6 foot aluminum shelves to display my trains. I brought up all my storage boxes I have been storing my trains in and proceeded to display them on the shelves. To my amazement, after filling the last display shell up with trains I looked down and I was only halfway through my storage boxes. That’s when I decided to stop, stop, stop!!!
J Daddy, I think we have all had this fever from time to time. I have reached the saturation point on my layout too. It’s time to clean house (sell something) or stop buying. I just hate to sell my older modern trains for half or less what I paid but that is the nature of the hobby as it is today. Ray
I stopped buying when I realized that I had bought two of the same item, thinking I did not have it already. Then I did an inventory (yikes!). Then I learned how difficult it is to dispose of items and not lose your shirt…
What cured that for me? GAS, GAS, GAS. Plus, just today, I got laid off from my landscaping job due to the increasing cost of diesel fuel and the declining funds to sustain payroll, according to my boss. Don’t think I’ll be bidding on trains for quite some time, sorry ebay. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not jealous of you folks that can afford to spend hundreds of dollars a month on this hobby (obsession), in fact I honestly enjoy reading about your train-related purchases.
It really is crazy. I buy a lot less than I did years ago when I got into the hobby as an adult, but I still buy too much. The real thing that is limiting me now is storage space. I’m already dumping many of the boxes when I buy new product. I am also buying the cheaper offerings – they are just as much fun as the super expensive ones, IMO.
$500 a MONTH… Ooof. For me in the last: year I went to about 3-4 train shows spending between $20 and $100 per show, usually $40. 2-3 cars on ebay at $20-$40 each. 1 $37 loco. Here and there 5-10 pieces of 027 track at hobby shop. 5 Ertle construction 1:50 JD grader, loader, excavator, bulldozer x2 and backhoe at $11.00 each. About 6 Maisto 1:47 pickups at $3.53 each. I had wanted to buy a K-line Porter for over a year but was short on $$$$. I saw Lionel “CANADA” cylindrical hoppers going for big $$$ on ebay so I sold mine for $82 and was close enough to buy a new K-Line Porter that cost right at $100. I think I own 9 engines and not a single one is worth $100 or more.
Right now I am stuck between 3 different scales. I have a ton of HO, Lots and lots of S gauge from my dad’s collection, and O gauge from my uncles collection… so right now I am looking at making a S gauge layout (really brings back the childhood memories) shelf layout with O gauge on the bottom. But I sure miss the realism of HO…
Maybe I just get my HO fix down at the club. But I have been collecting O-Gauge, and when I finally make room for the layout at home it will be a high-rail O-Gauge. I find it very easy myself to “Not See” that third rail, after that the scenery can be just as nice as in HO, if you are willing to put the effort into, which would be about the same in HO. It is true the less expensive 3-rail locomotives and cars are not as detailed as some HO, but, there again, the inexpensive HO cars leave a lot to be desired in detail also. Granted in O-Gauge the highly detailed scale versions are rather spendy, My Lionel FEF-3s, and my recently purchased Lionel Southern Pacific AC-9 (What a BEAUTY) were all over a Grand each and the Lionel Weyerhaeuser 3 truck Shay was just a Starbucks short of it. But the detail on those are as good as most HO. But the size and sheer mass of the O-Gauge, I find IMPRESSIVE, if not addictive. My Lionel HO Challengers are very nice Locomotives, about 18" long and 2 1/2 pounds, My semi-scale Lionel LionMaster Challengers are about 28" long and about 14 pounds.
I understand why I have heard O referred to as the “KING of SCALES” Those FEF-3s and the AC-9 are works of ART to ME, and I’m sure that when I am able to add the Scale size GS-4, I wont be disappointed with it either.
Maybe I just get my HO fix down at the club. But I have been collecting O-Gauge, and when I finally make room for the layout at home it will be a high-rail O-Gauge. I find it very easy myself to “Not See” that third rail, after that the scenery can be just as nice as in HO, if you are willing to put the effort into, which would be about the same in HO. It is true the less expensive 3-rail locomotives and cars are not as detailed as some HO, but, there again, the inexpensive HO cars leave a lot to be desired in detail also. Granted in O-Gauge the highly detailed scale versions are rather spendy, My Lionel FEF-3s, and my recently purchased Lionel Southern Pacific AC-9 (What a BEAUTY) were all over a Grand each and the Lionel Weyerhaeuser 3 truck Shay was just a Starbucks short of it. But the detail on those are as good as most HO. But the size and sheer mass of the O-Gauge, I find IMPRESSIVE, if not addictive. My Lionel HO Challengers are very nice Locomotives, about 18" long and 2 1/2 pounds, My semi-scale Lionel LionMaster Challengers are about 28" long and about 14 pounds.
I understand why I have heard O referred to as the “KING of SCALES” Those FEF-3s and the AC-9 are works of ART to ME, and I’m sure that when I am able to add the Scale size GS-4, I wont be disappointed with it either.
I, too, had AF as a kid. While “O” is my “main” gauge, I wanted to reacquire the equipment I originally had and then sold when I joined the military at age 18. Fortunately, a couple of pics of my layout (a simple oval with a connecting track inbetween) survived. Through train shows and Ebay I was able to buy the engine and cars I once had. As far as the buy, buy, buy phenomenum goes, it seems to never end. I went way beyond my childhood stock, adding additional engines, switches, and accessories. And all of the engines required replacement parts. Still fretting with reverse loop issues.
My current AF layout is a modified dogbone on a raised platform above the back end of the “O” one… I have spent most of my train time the past 4 months working on it. Due to reach issues, I need to finish the AF layout first. Since I have tried to squeeze every last square inch of real estate on both layouts, the AF one will, I hope, appear to be located on top of a flat mountain.
I would like to hear how your layouts are progressing. Sounds like we have similar layout ideas.
I have stalled at the moment, still restoring allot of my dad’s old trains, seems I have been through a years worth of rebuilding and restoring over 300 engines, many freight and pass cars, still have about 6 large boxes to sort through… seems I have spent too much time doing this and not working on the layout… these pics are 1 year old buy I will try to post more updated ones…
Nice comparison, and yes the new Lionel premium O gauge is absolutely beautiful, almost need to join an O gauge club and build the HO layout at home! As for O vrs. S, I really like the S because its what my Dad had up and running on a layout when I was a kid, but the availability is just not there (most S is more expensive than O and has much less detail). Recently I have aquired quite a few Lionel premium scale cars and now I am stuck again…what third rail?
Yep, been there and done that, I have built over 8 major layouts featuring NP, GN, SP, NYC and the Pierre Marquette (obviously not on the same layout) aquired many brass loco’s and scale cars, even scratch built a few myself! Went on a few trips, photo shot areas…etc… Just seems after my Dad passed I longed for those golden days… and when my Mom finally gave the collection to me, I just could not let it sit in boxes and rust away, I first put them on shelves resolving to build my next HO layout, then I decided to get them running again, now I really would like to do an S Hi rail layout with scale type scenery… problem is the lack of S scale items is testing my resolve… O gauge guys have it made…so much detail, TMC, sound, and for cheaper price than S!
I Like the idea of the public layout… hmm maybe a switching module in HO? No!.. now focus, focus, focus!
The trouble for me in your suggestion to join an O-Gauge club and build the HO layout at home is that, I don’t know of any O-Gauge clubs in the Portland, OR area, and that I could never even come close at home to what our HO club has. I am a Member of the Columbia Gorge Model Railroad club here in Portland, and it is a Very Impressive layout. Just our Layout room, not the whole clubhouse is 4200 square feet (approx 60x70) it is a Museum quality layout that we are at a very nice level of completion (25 years on this layout, at this location) with all the staging, working yards, branch line (Oregon Trunk Line) Logging Division and Mainline, we have THREE ACTUAL MILES OF TRACK. When the layout is fully staffed, such as during our November open house shows, it takes 37 people to operate the layout. I once went down on a Saturday by myself, and running a Passenger train at realistic speeds, no station stops or waiting for other trains, I timed it and it took 18 minutes to run one complete run over just the mainline trackage.
It’s easy to get addicted. Once you get a few pieces you really like, you say to yourself, “this is what life is all about” and it sends you off on a buying binge for more There is nothing wrong with this. It’s what makes collecting fun and challenging. You just don’t want to over extend yourself and put financial stress into your life. It happens often and when it does, just bite your tounge and back off until the finances straighten out. In the meantime, treat yourself to some nickle and dime items to tide over your addiction.
