Well now that things are some what settled, I am beginning to get my modeling underway once again. However I am still having a problem with financing. (Why do these things have to be so darned expensive)
Anyhow I have decided, that with the exception of finishing my brass Empire Builder consist That i am not going to buy any more new model train items. Its just cost to much. I still am going to focus on modeling the Great Northern Railway during the year 1969. However I will probably model the summer as all my scenery supplies are set up for that season.
My question though, am I the only person having problems with continuing to afford the hobby? When you could purchase at the hobby shop locomotives for $40.00 and freight cars for $7.50, I could afford my hearts desires. Now I am in a situation where if I buy something from a hobby shop, when they reorder its a new item that costs three times the piece of inventory it replaced, or in a few cases, they are just leaving the model train business, and depending on me to buy their unsold inventory.
This leaves me fustrated and saddened because I can no longer afford to participate in my favorite hobby, at least from the standpoint new equipment is concerned. Since this simply can’t be the case, I have decided to try a second hand approach. There are tons of second hand trains availabale out there. Why not put them to good use? So to that end I have engaged in a polocy that I call, Nickles and Dimes and Thriftshop Finds. To kick off this new program, I stopped in a second hand shop thats just down the street from where I work. Sure eneugh there was a a small supply of HO scale trains available, The lot had three locomotives in various states of repair, (Two in much better shape than the third) about 10 freight cars, and a good mish mash of track. including two new boxes of 5 pieces of Flex Track. What did I get this treasure trove of model train goodness for? $25.00. Pricing the items out individually from some of
James, you’re not the only one who’s operating a railroad on a shoestring budget. I’m a cheapskate by nature and have amassed an interesting collection of trash, uh, that is, uh, modeling supplies, over the years. I have cardstock of various sizes and shape, little pieces of stripwood, model scraps, plastic containers from those little vending machine toys, and on and on and on. You never know when there might be some creative application of these totally free supplies. In fact, I derive no small amount of pleasure from finding opportunities to put my little stash to good use. I like to think of it as taking all the little lemons and making lemonade.
I know what you mean. Be glad your not in G or O. Those are redicolous. My mom collects some Lionel stuff and she pays about 80 bucks a car, 80 bucks in HO or N could get some decent cars.
James I’m with you…I’m disabled and on a very small budjet …I am working in N scale and use 2nd hand stuff almost 100%…Like a real short line I take 2nd hand engines and rolling stock patch it up and put it into service…Its almost a second hobby seeing how ‘cheaply’ I can do something…Cox 47
No matter what stick with the hobby. There will be an emptiness if you don’t. It’s all good. I applaud your attitude. Just don’t get down and keep having fun.[:D]
James are you are not the only one as said before. I am with you 100%, and I asked the question a few days ago what people thought Ebay would do for the second hand market. I am hoping almost as much as you are that the second hand market will take off. by rough ideas, I would think that you would get 75% increase in the model railroad market share. You will still have the new buyers, but also new buyers sell off stuff to expand, and us second handers come for the pickings. I would think that is why some of us are in the hobby to begin with. We can do this hobby with little investment beyond time.
And who is to say that if the second hand market takes off that a secondary third market presents itself if it has not already in some cases.
And on and on it goes.
James do you think I am heading down the right road on this idea.
Well, fellas, I think the handwriting is on the wall, if you go by MR’s overview of product prices for new items displayed/announced at the recent NMRA convention (under “Products and Hobby News”). Only 3 locomotives, out of the 23 listed, came in with a MSRP under $100. Most were in excess (many well in excess) of $200. I also noticed quite a few structure kits being priced in the hundreds as well. Hobbyists better start hitting the lottery!
Heck, I’ve been scoping out the 2nd hand stores, swap meets, and garage sales all my life. I would be doing that even if I had a ton of money. It is part of the fun finding those treasures. Just because someone has a lot to spend doesn’t mean they should just throw it away. I find it interesting that everyone hasn’t always been doing this, especially those on tight budgets.
the master craftsman will build from the cheapest of materials.
The rule is scrounge. Some hobbyshops gear something like the conventional retail store.
But the hobby is just far from that. If theres a model you want and no one makes it, you make it.
Or kitbash or whatever. Someone made a virginian 2-8-8-8-4 triplex using Mantua drives, very nifty.
I’d love to do that. The brass versions out there go over 1000 bucks all the time and a need help version went for over 700 bucks on ebay, it needed repairs, but not much and it would be a full engine.
You present some sound logical arguments and there is alot of second hand model train material on E-bay. My problem with E-bay is that alot of the items that are available on a second hand basis from e-bay are from people who by all rights shouldn’t be within a mile of a model train. I continually see items up for sale with disclaimers like, “I do not know much about trains, I am selling for so and so’s estate.” or “Found this in the garage, taking up space.” And the ones that really make me cringe are the ones that try to BS their way past you and try to hype up their item into something its not. I have seen many auctions where the Bachmann “Lustra Chrome” F-9A Santa Fe engine was described as being “Very Rare”
I can’t criticise to harshly though as there are sellers who obviously are hobbiests that are trying to sell their unwanted items and from these people I have had a large number of dealings. However in most instances I ended up paying close to MSRP for what I was wanting. after you facto
James! I am hearng a brand new man! Your perspective and attitude seem to have come 180 deg, and you sound determined, no longer dejected. What a pleasant change, for you and for me. As you can see, you are among friends who share your new approach to the hobby.
It happens that two of my grown daughters (one for sure, the other is tentative) are going to be returning home for an extended period, so that means wife and I must part with the Tundra and our two year-old travel trailer. I retired at the same time as the trailer purchase, and we very much enjoy camping, so this decision was a tough, but necessary, one. We can’t afford, on my fixed income, to be towing a depreciating item in a gas guzzler and driving the girls to job interviews 20 km away, so out they both go. That’s life.
I hope you can find a great deal of happiness with your new purchases.
I love finding nickle and dime stuff. In fact, tonight I have been working on a structure that cost me exactly ten cents at a garage sale. (I even saved on garage sale shopping. I don’t drive to garage sales. I schedule my Saturday morning walks to hit the garage sales that in walking distance.) Several years ago, I found a log cabin toy for ten cents. Roof, windows etc missing, actually only the shell. Not every well proportioned for my scale, made of a kind of tough rubbery flexible plastic. Good I guess for kids who are going to throw toys at each other and bite them. But it did look vaguely like a log building. Went in my somewhere bin. I model the factitious East Texas courthouse square town of Johnston in a forest industries region- lumbering, creosote wood treating, pulpwood cutting, etc. The high school team is called the Johnston Lumberjacks. I figured I needed an eating place in town, and to keep up the loggin theme, it seemed appropriate to have a restaurant that plays up the theme, the LUMBERJACK COOKHOUSE. Appeals to tourists, etc. and to local high school pride, etc. Restaurant is of course a log building. The texture and geometry of my log cabin toy seema little too regular to be an authentic looking log building, but this is not supposed to be an authentic log building. It is a MAKE BELIEVE IMITATION log cookhouse from some romanticized idea of logging. The windows on the building were way too high and the building a little overly tall. I cut off the bottom 4 scale feet of the building and that made it about right. (I will use the bottom 4 feet and the base, turn it upside down and it will be a loading platform for an implement dealer!) The upper walls did not hold their shape so I glued some wood braces inside. Worse, the flexible plastic building was slightly skewed-- twisted along its longitudinal axis.
I went down a long dark road that was very unpleasent and do not wish it upon anybody. I barely survived it. However thanks to my super loving girlfreind, and my steller parents, I managed to make it through my ordeal. As far as my problems go. Im still at the bottom of the hole. But at least there is bright happy sunshine shinning in to it and now the place doesn’t seem so bad and I can see a way out. Going to take a while to get things back in shape. But I now have hope, where I had none before.
I’m all for this approach. I think the essence of modelling is using the simplest, most common materials. I’ve bought a few locomotives and a couple of cars, but mostly I’m using my collection from 40 years ago. These are still good enough models for me, particularly since I’ve found that my real focus is more on the scenery and structures than on the trains themselves.
Right now, for example, I’m building a tall wood fence with posters and billboards on it. What started out as “just another retaining wall” around an incline has become a focal point of the layout. The fence is built from coffee stirrers “liberated” from work. The posters are zero-cost downloads of thumbnails from the Web, printed on decal paper. I used cheap wood stain and India Ink to color the fence. The decal paper will be the biggest part of the cost for this scene.
I have an MOW train, an old True-Scale from my teenage years in the early '60’s. I’ve swapped a few wheelsets, but mostly I’ve been working on weathering these old things. With a little work, I’ve got a real eye-catcher, not because it’s a “quality” model, but instead because it’s weathered and beat-up. Similarly, I’ve added to my fleet of passenger cars with eBay purchases, and then I put lights in the cars and Kadees on the ends. To me, seeing something that I’ve put a lot of work into cruising on my main line is far more satisfying than watching a high-dollar train.
I’m also working on a scratch-built building for my coal-and-oil business, Motley Fuels. It’s a couple of sheets of Evergreen siding, and maybe some roofing if I can find something I like. I bought some doors and windows at a show earlier in the year, but the rest is just glue, leftover sheet styrene and cheap acrylic paint. Yes, this takes a lot more time than buying a kit and putting it together. On the other hand, if you put a few dollars away every week but it takes many weeks to assemble on
I’m a supporter of second-hand trains. Gotta love train shows and eBay. I’ve picked up some good stuff from both that would have cost at least double at a train store brand new off the shelf. I’m a teen, and can’t/shouldn’t put everything I make into model railroading. I need to save for college, and make sure my car is always in working condition. Now, yes, I’ll order new items when I can, or if that’s all that I can find, but I’m always looking for a cheaper way to acquire something. [;)]
However, I have also picked up a few good thrift items from train stores. My best find would be a Bachmann Spectrum HO K4 for $10. [^]
In my post yesterday, I mentioned the Lumberjack Cookhouse I am “junkbashing” from a ten-cent garage sale log cabin toy. I went and shot a picture of it this morning to show off. A project in the DIME category.
The figures for the interior are in the Nickle-AND-dime category. They set me back about 15 cents apiece, some twenty years ago or so, I forget for sure.
Twenty years ago, I invested in special ordering some Plastruct figures that sounded inexpensive. About ten for $2. When they came I was disappointed. Looked like they were molded in the translucent pink rubbery stuff that artificial fishing worms are made of, and I couldn’t see putting them on the layout in the light of day. But COULDN’T THROW THEM AWAY EITHER! Read Model Railroader this month about minimally-visible interiors where you need something so structure doesn’t look empty, but it doesn’t have to be “good”. I knew the interior of Lumberjack Cookhouse would not be very visible. Once I primed the Plastruct figures with flat white, they began to look vaguely human instead of shrimplike. Not much choice or definition of figure positions but I can just cut off the bottoms of the ones that are supposed to be sitting in booths.
Did I mention cutting off the bottom four scale feet of the
This is the kind of thread that I enjoy reading as a model train shop owner, believe it or not, because it really puts into perspective a problem that some folks can see clearly in this hobby and some can’t.
First I want to say to CNJ831, who made a comment about “price gouging” in this hobby in another thread the other day, that I know he was primarily speaking of those who set the MSRPs and not individual shop owners. My response was mostly tongue-in-cheek, but I am reminded and must get used to the idea that my sarcasm doesn’t transmit well in this format.
In the rush to make this a ready-to-run/roll/pre-built “no hassle” hobby, the art of making a great model railroad is being lost. Someone else mentioned that whether you spend 10 dollars a week or a 100 dollars a week, you CAN participate in this hobby. You just have to be more creative. Creative…remember that word?
It’s not all that good for my business to tell people how they can enjoy the hobby without spending a bunch of money. But it wasn’t so many years ago that I was saving enough money to buy an Athearn blue-box locomotive, (even though I was being pushed to buy a Proto 2000) and I don’t want to ever get so jaded about the prices in this hobby that I lose the view from the other side of the counter.
Folks when I acquired this store in 1997 I rarely heard someone refer to this as a rich man’s hobby. I hear it all the time now. It’s scary.
But I’ll say it again and again, you can enjoy this hobby to some degree no matter how much you can afford to spend. You don’t need 1000 dollar DCC systems and 250 dollar locomotives. You don’t need 90 dollar pre-built structures and 30 dollar freight cars.
All of you guys are correct, you can work within this hobby with used stuff. For selfish reasons I hope you can still make it down to your LTS once in awhile if you have one in your area and buy a couple of things.
I am glad that you find topics like this insightful. My situation is being compounded not only by higher prices. But in my region of the country. I may buy the $7.50 car kit that has sat on the shelf for ages. then nothing gets reordered. Shortline Hobbies in Douglas WY has done this very thing. I have bought almost every single HO scale item they have. And they are not going to reorder because in their view model railroading is a dead hobby and not worth their time to bother with. At Who’s Hobby House in Rapid City SD. I have nearly exausted their supply of kits. When they reorder Its with RTR items that cost nearly three times the price. I have found that I am now forced to E-bay and Mail order to get what I want. But we all know the disadvantages of these sources and I have elaborated on them before.
