I am curious how other modelers feel about the rising cost of model equipment. Certainly the models have improved greatly and with DCC and sound chips added to the cost, it makes locomotives even more. What spurred this for me was a review I just read about the new Mikado 2-8-2 by Trix. The review was great and I was even remotely interested until I saw the list price of this jewel, $595!!! Now realistically who can afford to shell out $600 bucks for a new engine? I know I sure can’t. I got into this hobby when your choices were fewer but cheaper. A good Athearn engine would cost $35. I good steam about $50. Cars were $3-5. Now RTR cars are over $25.00. I know inflation plays a factor and again the quality is better but where do we draw the line on cost? Does this high price exclude those who can’t afford it from the hobby? What if you were starting out? I am not complaining so much about the cost as I am about the inability to purchase at these high prices. I won’t even get into the limited runs which drive the cost even higher.
I think there is a price point for just about everyone in MR. I know that the standard Life Like and Bachmann product gets a lot or scorn on these boards, but that is what the majority of my ‘N’ scale equipment is and it works just fine. I did not want to invest more heavily when I was first starting out; because I wanted to make sure I was going to stay with the hobby before making a large investment.
Now, even though I am pretty well hooked for life, I still by Bachmann and Life Like product. Sure, every once and a while I will treat myself with a Kato locomotive or passenger consist. But the bulk of my equipment remains the lower cost stuff.
Now that I have my structures and rolling stock pretty well built up to where I want it, the hobby is really pretty cheap. Now I buy primarily scenicing stuff, and you can buy a TON of that for $50.
For those who would never be satisfied with the stuff I buy… no problem. Your money, you can buy what you want. My point is that people CAN get in to MR without spending a fortune.
[:)]
Detailed brass engines cost in thousands. As Roadtrp pointed out the hobby cost what your price point is. Beyond a certain point it begins to compete with other priorties. Most of us appreciate, lust, admire stuff (Ferrari) after a certain point and then go back to the stuff (Ford, Chevy, Toyota) we can work with and build a railroad. The affordable stuff is still pretty good. I don’t feel priced out yet.
It also depends on how much "stuff " you need. I prefer a few higher end locos to
a lot of cheaper ones. I don’t need a fleet of locomotives, so I have purchased a
“Mike” by Athearn, BLI NYC Hudson, and a Rivarossi Allegheny. Others are mostly
Proto 2000 deisels that I have found on sale.
As for rolling stock, I buy blue box when I can. And RTR only when I need something
I can’t find in a kit or when I find them on sale.
I also find that it doesn’t hurt as bad to buy things a little at a time, instead of everything
at once. I figure that I’m in it for the long haul and there will be time to accumulate the
things I need(want). Dave
I’m low income, selective & shop for the discount. Not being DCC I can’t get tempted by all those new bells, sounds & whistles.
P1k, absolutely and limited Spectrum too. The higher product end is beyond my budget.
For newbies,. Athearn blue box has a great reputation.
The points made so far are valid and I will change my tune a little and agree that you can still get into the hobby at the lower end of the price scale. Brass has always been expensive and owning one or two of those items is within reach of some. I guess my point in this was that it seems like more and more products are getting closer to that high end of cost. It used to be that only brass was more expensive and the plastic and cast equipment was reasonable to own. The other side of this coin is the limited run issue. Even if you wanted to save your pennies for that great new model, if you don’t buy when it is offered, you are out of luck in many cases because of the limited run issue. So I guess you save your pennies and hope another model of equal desire comes along when those pennies have accumulated. I guess the shock of the Trix price was more that my railroad budget could afford and I overreacted in making this post but I still feel that like most hobbies now days, cost is an ever increasing factor in the pursuit of our dreams. Thanks for the input!
Now,One doesn’t need a $150.00 engine and $30.00 cars to enjoy the hobby.Few good Athearns,catch some P2K locomotives at deep discount,some Blue Box cars,Atlas track and your good to go.One doesn’t really need DCC to run his trains a good old MRC power pack will do that rather nicely.[:D]
Now my rules for buying is simple.Buy at the best price,buy use and if I don’t need it I don’t buy it…
Now,Of all my locomotives my favorite still remains a Athearn SW1500…Now looking at my high end locomotives whats wrong with that picture? So,for me the question is do I need 107 locomotives? Simply put no I do not.If I had to start over I would buy no more then the 18 locomotives I need for my C&HV roster.What was I thinking when I started to buy all those locomotives??[B)][8][:(!]
This has always been an “expensive” hobby. When I started buying models in the late 1980s, you basically had four grades of models: Tyco crud, Athearn/Roundhouse mid-level, craftsman kits, and brass. The highest level of authenticity and reliability I could reach was the Athearn/Roundhouse stuff. Even then, it was a struggle to be able to afford an occasional $20 F-unit or more than one or two $5 freight cars. Being able to afford one Mantua Pacific was a major accomplishment for me!
Times have changed. Not only do more people make more (believe it or not), but there are many more choices in products for the hobby. We still have the above four categories, and we now also have many more midrange choices. Inexpensive eraftsman kits (F&C), midrange quality steam (Bachmann & IHC), and many more midrange manufacturers (Red Caboose, Intermountain) that rival or surpass the quality of brass. And while the high-end stuff has continued to rise in price ($1500 for a brass steamer?!?), mid-high range quality items have moved in on their territory ($300 plastic engines). We also have more choices in our buying habits (mail order and the internet) which help us stretch out hobby budget (did you know that we can currently buy $90 MSRP P2K diesels from Trainworld for $30?). $50 street price DCC starter sets are right around the corner, too.
In reality, the days of a $1200 car and $20,000 house are long gone. Everything’s more expensive. And have you taken a good look at what every other hobby costs these days? How about $18 for a CD, $24 for a DVD, $80 for a Play Station game? Most people I know who entertain themselves this way have collections of these items with numbers that rival our large freight car collection (2000 CDs isn’t uncommon).
Yes, there are stupidly high prices on lots of model railroad equipment these days, but that doesn’t mean you have to pay them to get what you want. Look at your example of the Trix USRA light 2-8-2. Being my favorite type of steam engine, I
I’ll agree with Brakie to a certain extent. At least for the moment it is still possible to get fully started in the hobby without expending more than several thousand dollars to get a modest-sized layout up and running (a “nice” 5x10 layout fully scenicked and with a conservative roster of rolling stock probably runs in the neighborhood of $4,000-$5,000 currently - I’ve just finishing up such a new layout [by no means my first] in the last year and can speak from experience).
However, it seems to me that in recent years a number of the manufacturers have realized that there is a faction within the hobby (arguably Baby Boomers in their 40’s and early 50’s) willing to pay any price for a product that fits their momentary desires and they are responding to this crowd. It is becoming typical to see any newly introduced plastic steam priced at $250 - $500 and there are certainly examples well above this figure. Diesel, especially with sound, is approaching the $200 mark. Yes, you can buy certain examples for less but that percentage is steadily declining. Limited runs are allowing this concept to be quite profitable for the manufacturers and it is likely they will continue to raise prices and reduce production runs until they find the ceiling the traffic will bear.
Athearn (and to a lesser extent MDC) was the the great controlling influence in industry pricing for decades. Other manufacturers knew that if they raised their prices considerably most hobbyist would fall back on an Athearn product. Now that Athearn’s influence is in decline and they seem likely to progressively limit (or eliminate) blue box production of cars and locomotives in favor of RTR while raising their prices along with everybody else, the hobby is likely to largely price itself out of range of the major portion of modelers within the next decade.
Definitely, the idea of impulse buying, so long a basic premise among hobbyists, has already passed from the scene. As someone expressed up-stream, the market’
The question was, " Is the cost of model railroading out of reach for most?" and without doing a lot of ‘qualifying’, I would have to say, “Yes.”
No, it has not ‘always’ been an expensive hobby, but it certainly has become one. If I was not already in the hobby, I would not start at today’s prices. My opinion only. Your mileage may vary.
There is no “law” of model railroading that says you must have the newest, biggest, most expensive items to enjoy the hobby! Take a look at the Trainworld site - they have perfectly decent Life Like Proto 1000 F-7’s for $19.95. Good and heavy, good motors, less fine detailing than Proto 2000, but will work just fine. They are a lot better than the original Athean F-7’s, which have been around for more than 50 years. You can operate without an Athearn Genesis f-7! They also have their RDC-2 and -3’s for the same price, and other similar bargains.
Geese, they’re offering the Rivarossi two truck Heisler for $79.95 currently - when I got back into the hobby 20 years ago the earlier versions were around $75.00, so this can be a bargain. Shop around and it does not have to be expensive. You DO NOT require sound or DCC equipped motive power to operate a model railroad!
Have fun! [:)]
Bob Boudreau
Folks, don’t forget the main reason why the Trix is so much more expensive… It is made in Austria, not China.
Paul A. Cutler III
Weather Or No Go New Haven
Good point Paul. I would really like to see a comparison between two identical items, one made in the U.S. and one made in China. Giving the manufacturer the same profit margin (or even the same $ amount), what would be the difference to the consumer? How about this idea. Atlas comes out with another line of track. USA Track. Code 83 made in the USA. Red White and Blue packaging. Labor would be more expensive, but shipping would be less. Because it is made in the US would delivery be faster?Would enough people go for it that it would become a viable line to carry? Would enough modelers pay the extra knowing that some American workers were gainfully employed? Would be interesting!
I think that no matter your income level, there’s always a cost/performance level that exceeds your ability to acquire. It’s a personal choice to be unhappy with the cost/performance level you can afford. Value is subjective.
Me, I’m happy at the Life-Like, IndustrialRail level of N-scale railroading. I doubt if I’ve spent $500 so far on my little 2’x4’ layout and I’ve got almost everything necessary for it, save for the time and energy to assemble/apply everything and finish it. [:)]
As far as cost of DCC goes, the new Bachmann EZ-Command can be had for $60 on-line. Decoders are available for < $20 without trying very hard. My next two steps after finishing the layout will be converting my rolling stock to MT bodymount couplers and DCC.
Well said. Congratulations on learning one of the great secrets in life, being happy with what you’ve got.
Ed
Wow! I’ve got maybe $900 in my 3-1/2 x 7-1/2 ‘N’ layout. If you have $4-5 K invested you must be going after much higher quality than I’m willing to pay for.
[:)]
The hobby is definitely expensive at times. I buy the things I need in dribs and drabs. I dont have the most expensive equipment but in time I hope to upgrade to better things.
WAY YO EXPENSIVE FOR ME. I never get to buy anything because of the cost. I need to buy track for my entire layout. It will cost me $170+, thats an insane amount!!! It sould gost $30-50 for that amount of track, not over $170!
I, too, agree that the prices of locomotives, and RTR rolling stock is too much. So, I usually buy Bachmann, or Athearn Blue Box. There is nothing wrong with the models. Sure, some might have a little less detailing, or less plastic. Overall though, there is usually no problem with them.
[8]TrainFreak409[8]
This thread is so interesting I have to jump in with my opinion.
You can get into model railroading rather cheaply compared to the late forties and early fifties. And in todays dollars you can get better quality today.
You spend money on track and locos. And alot of locos are cheap right now. You build everything else. Anyone scratch build anymore? You can purchase old MRs for 50 cents a copy and get plans. Other model railroad types are willing to help if you only ask.
The more you do yourself the cheaper it becomes. The satisfaction of seeing a creation that you have finished in operation on your own layout is beyond words.
There is a large overlap now with regards to brass versus plastic prices.
I guess what I am saying is if you want in and have your own model railroad you can do it creatively without it costing an arm an a leg. One step at a time. And today you have more resources than ever before to accompli***his. The fact that you are reading this indicates you have access to the resources out there.
PS - Took me 50 years to finally own a Mantua 4-6-2 Pacific for many different and varied reasons that took precedence. You can do it if you want - just do it. And have fun. 