Now that a new year is about to begin, it might be interesting to see how much we spend “typically” or on “average” in any given year. If your not ashamed of your age, that would be interesting also to note.
I am 65 about to turn 66 in January, and am just returning to this hobby since boyhood. I have space and time now, and hopefully enough money. I spent about $650 in 2004 getting some equipment and DCC system. Now I need to buy lumber etc. to fini***he cement walled room in basement, so I expect this year I will give the local Home Depot about $800 for wall studding, insulation, wiring, lighting, bench work. WOW, have I got my work cut out in 2005 !!! Am I the only one? Heeeeelp!!! I think I will keep tract of expenses on Xcel Spreadsheet hahahahaha.
If you can spend $50-60 per month on MRR you can keep pretty busy and have a LOT of fun. Especially if you could spend $400-500 one-time on “start-up” costs.
You won’t be buying lots of Kato or brass (Probably none.) but you can get some nice modestly priced equipment and do a lot of kit building (and “scratch”) on a “modest” budget. Of course “modest budget” is very relative.
way too much…in November, I spent 800 dollars…bad idea…wife is not too happy…ive been cut down to 300 dollars a month now. Not bad, just makes buying brass harder…
I spend maybe $50-75 a month…averaging out the 1-2 times a year I go to train shows and spend $200 and the rest of the year when I spend $25-50. if I quit smoking I can double that!
Now that a new year is about to begin, it might be interesting to see how much we spend “typically” or on “average” in any given year. If your not ashamed of your age, that would be interesting also to note.
I am 65 about to turn 66 in January, and am just returning to this hobby since boyhood. I have space and time now, and hopefully enough money. I spent about $650 in 2004 getting some equipment and DCC system. Now I need to buy lumber etc. to fini***he cement walled room in basement, so I expect this year I will give the local Home Depot about $800 for wall studding, insulation, wiring, lighting, bench work. WOW, have I got my work cut out in 2005 !!! Am I the only one? Heeeeelp!!! I think I will keep tract of expenses on Xcel Spreadsheet hahahahaha.
grayfox1119[:0]
[/quote
I just turned 54 this past Nov. I’ve been modeling for over 40 years.
I’ve spent around $2000.00 on the railroad this past year.
NOW PLEASE don’t forget,that does include books & magazines
we get,so we can build the layouts.[:)]
well lets see… $150 for DCC, $200 for 40 switch machines, I splurged $250 on a couple genesis 70MACs on my birthday, and probably spent about $200 at train shows this year. So that totals… $800 more or less
That’s a tough one as purchases can range all over the board. A similar question came up a little while ago that asked the average amount spent per month. I checked back and this year, not counting magazine subscriptions or books or railfanning (like riding tourist trains), I’ve averaged about $45/month in model railroading expenses. Only bought one locomotive, and it was on a special sale. So that’s about $540 for the year. I’d expect 2005 expenses to wind up around $500 also.
Firstly let me say that I’m a full time college student so I money gets very very tight. Yet some how I managed to “Donate” over $500 dollars worth of DCC (Digitrax of course) to my club and still purchase two mid-range plastic locomotives (used so about $100). Subscription to MR $36. One Blue-print series box car ($16). DCC decoders $60. Club dues for the year $240. So al tolled that’s $952. I’m sure there are other expenses that I am forgetting about so easily a Grand this year. Watch out when I get out of college and actually have a good job…
I just started my layout this past May. To the best of my recollection, I would guess that I dropped about $1,000 - 1,200 in the last 6 months. That figure would include all the following: structure and rolling stock kits, track, transformers, locomotives, benchwork, reference books, magazines, lighting, trees, adhesives, brushes, paints, tools, storage units, solvents, and supplies - just to name a few. I don’t expect to be approaching anywhere near that sum this year though.
As much as my wife lets me
Last year after selling off my other hobby/interst I started a new layout and hit trains head on I would say I hit the 3500.00 easy. This year who knows but its only 50-100 at a time.
people keep asking me when I am done and I say as soon as you give me a blank check
The nature of my spending in 2005 will be very different than in 2004. In 04 I purchased my DCC system. Purchased and installed some 43 Peco turnouts and purchased all my track and roadbed. So I easly spent over $1k. This year it is all about structures and scenery, so I don’t think I will be spending at anything like the same level.
I would guess it’s about $400 a month.It has a way of growing.Whenever I visit the hobby shop I can easily drop $40 on magazines,paint,detail parts or whatever.As a example,I’m working on converting a IHC Pacific into a NYC K3q.When I figured out the details that I would need,those came to $75,but while looking through the Bowser and PSC catalogs I found details for some of my other engines.That brought it up to about $i30.The same thing happend with MicroMark.What I needed cost about $30 then found stuff I"could use" that brought it to $91 But I made a mistake and sent a MO for $81.They called to tell me about the mistake and let me know that there is free shipping on orders over $100,So I found more stuff that I “needed” which brought it up to $146…Ah yes!, But it was FREE shipping…That happens to me a lot .The hobby should cost me half as much as I spend.I’m 67 and not getting any smarter
I am ashamed at how much I spent on the hobby in 2004. If I told you all the actual amount, many of you would think I am crazy and others would think I was lying. But I am sure my LHS is appreciative of all of the trips to Las Vegas and Atlantic City that I paid through merchandise sales. Also, many of the industry’s manufacturers would love me for the amount of items I procured over the last year. I think I need a 12 step program…