Each time I buy a model railroading item, I either write a check or pay for it with my debit card, after which I record the transaction in my check book. Just for the heck of it, I added up all of my model railroading purchases from October 1st 2005 to October 1st of this year, and was shocked to discover that I’ve spent almost $2,000.00!.. I couldn’t believe it at first, but then realized that I’ve bought several locos at about $100.00 each and probably no less than fourty or fifty pieces of rolling stock for anywhere from $5.00 to $25.00 each depending on what it was and how badly I wanted it. Oh well. All I can say in my defense is that you only go around once in this old life, so you might as well enjoy it. Besides, I was always told money rots if you leave it laying around in some old musty bank vault… [:D]
Tracklayer,
add this one up my family gos to Walthers we arent that arjust at Walthers along we drop about $2,500 or so a year its lower now a days because I dont need as much anymore. Add up all the reciets rom when I started I am sure we could have bought a nice house in Hollywood. My last trip to walthers was $300.00 before that it was $200.00 In march it was $600.00 and that was just this year.
I don’t have an exact figure since my spending on model trains is eratic. I really need to record all my expenses, the railroad is still in the red though, no shipments have been made to date.
I might throw down $1,200 one month on track and turnouts, then go a month and only spend $50.00. Overall I’d say I have spent over $2,500 this year on the layout, the upswing and initial stages have been the most expensive. I have purchased the following since May of this year, lumber and hardware for benchwork, track, turnouts, wiring, DCC system, tunnel portals, scenery materials, and a few pieces of rolling stock.
Needed a new place for new layout and change from O scale to HO. Bought 12x12 shed, installed insulation, electrical service and outlets, exterior paneling to interior walls, lighting, and vinyl flooring. Placed skirting around exterior from floor level to ground to keep cold air and critters out. Built table with l-girder 1x4’s, joists each 16 inches, 3/4 inch plywood top, 2" foam insulation board. Caulked and painted all sides of everything to minimize expansion/contraction and used bolts and screws (no nails).
1’x2’ extension for hump yard installed with shelf brackets and topped as above. BTW, table is only 5’x9’. Built work table and installed wall shelves. Bought portable 3 drawer storage cabinet and book case. Bought 11 loco’s, 2 w/sound, six decoders, 15 rolling stock, NCE Power Cab, MRC Prodigy Express and PA Handheld, extension plates, wiring, tools, test equipment, disposable items, and a lot of Kato Unitrack/NCE Switch Kats, electric fan, electric heater, vacuum, air brush, etc.
Since May to date, estimate $7,500… Next twelve months forcast at less than $500. Thanks for reminding me.
This question comes up every once in a while and I usually respond with something like the following:
I probably average about $2,000 per year or around $40.00 per week (I was a math teacher back in the 1970’s, so I know the math is more or less correct). Now when you think about it, there are a lot worse things that I could spend $40.00 per week on. I know a college graduate who has spent much more than that on alcohol and drugs, most recently, cocaine. Not only has it ruined his marriage and made his son disrespect him, but he has lost good jobs and now at the age of 56, he’s in a job that pays a little above minimum wage.
Let me say to you younger folks (I’m 58), that the money you spend on this hobby is worth a lot more than you could ever imagine. Yes, the toys are fun and we all like fun. However, there is a side benefit that many won’t realize. I was married to my FIRST wife for 20 years beginning in 1969 and heard her say over and over that I was “smothering” her. You see, I wanted to do everything with her. I even dragged the poor woman to stamp shows, where us crazy stamp collectors bought those sticky little pieces of paper that belong on envelopes. Could you imagine how boring that must have been for my FIRST wife? She could care less about filling up my stamp collecting book.
Now, fast forward to my SECOND marriage which began in 1993. Soon after we married, I discovered model railroading. I went to hobby shops, train shows and had a great time ALONE, leaving her to do her thing while I did my thing. I can honestly say that if I had discovered model railroading a long, long time ago, I’d probably still be married to my first wife and I can tell you that DIVORCE costs a fortune both in money and emotional impact.
So, enjoy your hobby! Remember that your wife will always know where you are if you’re in the “train room”.&n
If i had to guess i’d say about $1,200 to $1,500 a year…it’s slowed down a bit since most of the expensive stuff is done so far…the best part is, my wife usually picks up the tap…it’s her way of keeping me at home and out of the beer joints… chuck
Far more than I ever imagined! About $2000 the first year and I figure I will have about $600 this year. But unless I find more room or more ways to expand with existing room, I figure that will level off.
Peter
I’m insanely jealous of anybody who can sink the kind of bucks into their trains as some of you guys. I’m still buiding my latest layout (constructed mostly from scrap lumber scavanged from home builder site scrap piles) and have put maybe, MAYBE, 100 bucks into the hobby this calendar year. I’ll need to put in double that much again for roadbed & track and I can’t presently say where that cash will come from.
I noramly spend a bout a $100 or 2 most years, but with building a new layout, I’m geussing probley $500 in the last year.Most of it at Ebay and swap meets.
Ended up with some things that I thought would work, then found out they wouldn’t. I have managed to sell or swap some of those, so I figure I’ll end up alright in the end.
Thats just on HO stuff, but I also collect toy battery trains and train colletables. So there’s another $100 or so at yard sales and flea markets.
I can’t hide any thing I buy. I don’t drive anymore, so the CFO is always there to kept track. Helps keep me in line.
inch
Okay Chuck. I see how you are. You reply to my post about how much money goes into the hobby each year but not my e-mail asking about the caboose antenna last week… Some brother railroader you are - and it was a Southern Pacific caboose too… That’s okay. Be that way.
$500 a year for me… I do try to maximize the buck though, purchasing stuff only if I see good deals.
Case in point: The NYC J1e 4-6-4 Hudson locomotive in HO with DCC and sound from Broadway Limited. Almost all the vendors on the web and local hobby shops were selling it for $230. That would have wiped out almost half my annual budget… Until I saw Trainland has it for $129. Jumped on it so fast I would have left an Olympic athlete in his tracks. [:D]
Please don’t let me make you think that I have a money tree in my back yard mononguy63. I really have to save and conserve to be able to buy what I do… I’m sure a lot of the other members do too.
That question is a bit tricky. You see, you can’t really count the $465 spent last month on the custom oak display case cause that’s furniture. And any costs for Thomas engines, rolling stock or decoders doesn’t really count cause that’s for the kids. And stuff bought for repair or maintenance only counts half…
Still, a review of the olde credit card indicates a little over too much last month. But it probally does average a couple hundred a month.
What price can happiness take? Well, I am happy generally, but trains add greatly to it. I am just under two years in the hobby, and have spent something like CDN$6000. That figure includes all the tools and materials that I had never previously needed due to other priorities in my adult life to that point. For example, never had the need for a power hand saw, a table saw, saw horses, soldering stuff, etc. I killed my older Costco 12v cordless drill a few weeks back, so I am $80 lighter for a replacement…14.4 v this time. Locomotives must be in the range of $2000 by now.
Happily, I am at the point where I can have fun with the layout and take my time over the winter detailling and refining. So, my expenses should drop right down to next to nothing for many months. There is no room to grow, and I have my kits to put together to place here and there. I only need time and patience.
chuck