Hi everyone. I was just wondering how was my fellow model railroaders are doing despite the high gas prices. There were several new locos that I planned on buying but since gas has gone crazy I have held off because funds are tight. Well not to tight but still makes me second guess buying only what I need. I can’t eat plastic locos.[:D] Has the gas prices effected how u manage the hobby or stopped u from buying that loco or freight car u wanted? In my case I have decided this was the perfect time to remodel some older athearn units I had with some new add on details and new paint with my air brush. I already had some DCC decoders so there was no cost there. The cost of this was not that great about 20 to 30 bucks a loco vs. 130 to 260 dollars for new loco depending on what u get. Please let me know!
Fuel price has gone up here too, I’m very lucky I have a company vehicle with full private use. The Mrs drives a Toyota 4wd Surf diesel, the diesel has risen too but not near petrol.
Most of my purchases are in US dollars anyway and I have to convert to Kiwi cash, So and average loco for me is $300-400 NZ .
Ken.
The gallon-gulping Blazer is about to be traded in on an economy car. The old 60’s era Athearn engines are being replaced by new power-efficient Protos. I’m saving energy in HO and 1-to-1.
Actually I think high gas prices will motivate more model railroading, instead of taking trips out of town for things like railfanning. Building kits is a stay-at-home thing, and thanks to the piles of unbuilt kits I have I won’t have to spend that much to have lots to keep me busy this fall.
(note: famous last words)
It’s not hurting me any. I’m now retired, so even though my income has reduced somewhat, my take home income, when all is said and done, is the same or even higher than when I was working. When working, I was driving a minimun of 44 miles a day. Now, I may only drive 4 miles or day or none at all. If I really wanted to, I could go a month between fill ups.
Dale Latham
Most people drive an average of 12,000 miles a year. That would mean that before the spike in prices, it cost you $1380 a year for gas. This assumes a price of $2.30/al, and your car got 20 mpg average. Now, with gas at $3.35/gal, it will cost you $2010. That is a difference of $630 LESS for you to spend. If you are on a tight budget already, it can SERIOUSLY affect your MRR purchases. Remember, it isn’t just gasolene that is effected by the price of oil/barrel. Almost everything we purchase is affected. Plastic products all use petroleum in their processes, turcking costs, heating costs at all stores and factories that make everything from peanut butter to toilet paper. So if you think that your budget is only being affected by gasolene, you are sadly mistaken. AND, your real estate taxes are about to take a big hit also because the heating bill at all your schools is going to go through the roof this year, which means the school budgets will be out of sight!!! Better do some belt tightening guys, unless you are independently wealthy.
For me it really makes little difference right now. I have a 3 mile RT drive to work. Where it will hit me is this winter. NG prices are going to really jump due to the damage to the off shore rigs and not enough NG stored. I guess I will be burning a lot more wood this season(live in Minnesota). And I am not going to trade in my ‘gas gulping’ SUV - - It is worth every penny in the winter! Vehicle fuel costs are a small part of the ‘total car ownership’ cost. It hurts to shell out over $40 every time I fill up the tank, but that is maybe every two weeks if I do not do a lot of out of area driving. As Jetrock mentioned, maybe staying home will save gas and spur more model building! The last point is that the plastic in models is petroleum based - but so little it really does not matter. Where we might see an increased cost of our models is increased shipping costs to deliver the stuff!
Jim Bernier
Jim, I see you live in a cold winter climate area also, I live in central Mass in the high hills about 50 miles due west of Boston. As such, with all these hills and typically about 74 inches of snow, we have a Ford Explorer, get about 16 city 21 highway at best. We sold one car now that we are retired, it was rear-wheel drive and absolutely a pig in snow. We have about 4 tons of pellets and 5 cords of wood ready for the winter. This should be more than enough, and hopefully I will use nowhere near 800 gallons of heating oil, hopefull no more tan 250 gallons.
I don’t think the auto gas prices are going to hurt quite as much as the natural gas prices will. The industry predictions today are saying that prices may increase as much as 71% this year in the Midwest. (Yes, I believe there’s where I be.) Thankfully, I’m locked into a fixed price for the next year or two. That doesn’t help those poorer folks around me who aren’t.
Tom
I don’t worry about gas prices.
I’m so glad that I listened to my mentor back in 1993 when he said to me: “Tony, I know you like your big block hot rods, but for your family…buy 4 cylinder cars! You won’t regret it! Gas is going to hit the roof in the future!” Now that was great foresight from a wise man.
Today, even with my nice running 4 cyl. Tacoma and my wife’s 4 cyl. Camry, I’m still cutting back on my trips to the LHS to twice a month instead of one or twice a week. Instead of going to just buy couplers one day and freight cars another day I’ll wait til my “wanted list” builds up.
For those people that pay $70 to $110 to fill up and don’t bat an eyelash about it…I salute you! I’d be crying!!!
I cry when I get back in the car, lol. I’m kinda lucky, my wife got a new job a few months ago that is only 2 miles from the house. She was driving about 80 miles back and forth every day so even with the prices going up we are still saving money. She drives my truck to work now and i drive her 4 cyl Alero to work. My Trans Am though has been sitting for awhile, 462 cubic inch motors just gulp high test, lol.
What year Trans Am?
I had a 79 that I had bored out to 405 c.i., a hopped up tranny, and a Rochester 700 cfm Carburetor. Put out over 300 horses.
(However the gas gauge and the speedometer both moved at high speed!)
Mine is a 78, it has a bored 30 over 455 with a Edelbrock Performer RPM 850 cfm carb. Here is a pic of her…
Here is the motor before I put it in the car.
What a beauty of a monster! With that setup you’d have no problem blowing away Mustangs.Makes me wish I would have kept mine! Burt Reynolds would be proud!
Take care of it! These cars are now jewels!
Most Mustangs, its ran as low as 11.95 in the 1/4 on a nice cool day, with my wife driving it.[:(] She never lets up on me about that, lol.
Kim says I have plenty of gas
I live in Wyoming. My solution for high gas prices. Get a horse.
I have curtailed driving alot and am seriusly considering bicycle. 90% of my driving is conducted in a 3 Mile Radius of my home. Given that gas prices exceeded my ability to budget for it. Im just going to stop buying it. I figure If I can go a month between fill ups (FOr that remainint 10% of the driving I do) I can free up $225 a month. Eneugh for some of the street prices on the older BLI releases I might add.
James
James,
Wyoming should be already starting to get colder. How’s the bike going to work for you in winter? Or, is that where the horse comes in?
Tom
I don’t think that rising gas prices hurt the hobby that much in the 70’s and early 80’s. Of course driving long distance to shows is in hold for now which is a bummer. On the other hand, as pointed out above, this is a good time to do some detailing of existing models, getting those kits together, research etc etc.