Looking at the OGR forum and reading a post about the PWC space set, with the J loco. People are actually buying this. To some extent this amazes me. Not just that set, but others as well. Like the Acela, some of the MTH tinplate sets. I’m sorry, but I cant begin to imagine spending $1000, or $2000, on a train set. But what really amazes me is there IS a market for this stuff.
Some of the posts here about the new catalogs by Lionel, MTh, etc., and the planned purchases, and preorders, the whole thing blows me away. I guess I have a problem with the fact people actually have disposable income. How does that work? How can anyone actually have extra money to buy toy trains that cost $1000. Mind boggling.
One of my interests since my youth is bicycling. I competed at a pretty high level in bicycle racing when I was younger. I rode an expensive bike, and have bought several fairly expensive bikes in the years since. But you buy one bike, maybe two, to have at the same time. And they last years with minimal maintenance. Seems like people into trains buy many, many, trains, engines, cars in a year.
Well, I’m rambling a bit, but would be interested in your views on the economics of toy trains, and collecting. I am happy with my collection and have been doing fine on a limited budget. Its just that when I look at a Lionel catalog I pretty much say to myself, “nice stuff, but who in the world can afford it”.
What amazes you…that others are different than you are? I can’t imagine owning 2 bikes, since I could only ride one at a time. I agree with you on spending a huge ammount of money on one engine, but in my case, it’s because I would personally feel awful if it went on the fritz. To others, it would just be a “repair challenge” to test their skills. Joe
Could be a number of things. In many cases kids are grown up and on their own, homes are paid off, and they have morgtage/kid money to spend on themselves. Mabey they are executives or liscenced proffesionals and make nice fees or salaries with lucrative year end bonuses. Maybe they budget their annual tax returns for a nice train set. The high end stuff must give people satisfaction. Otherwise they wouldn’t buy it.
Be content with what you have. Don’t worry about what others do and don’t have.
$1000.00 for a toy train is chump change in the world of big spenders. What about the guy who spends 60 million for a yacht that will go 50 mph or the guy that buys a Rembrant for 100 million to hang in his private collection. What must their houses be like? Thats is what makes things so interesting, there are all types in this world. I just bought my first train set to enjoy with my son and that will make memories that are worth more than money can buy.
I’m new here, and new to model trains, but that said I still have to ask; isn’t this whole industry built on disposable income? Looking through the Lionel catalogs etc, $1,000 doesn’t seem like that much money at all especially with things like this:
I could quote the famous line about the gullibility of the general public, attrituted to P.T. Barnum (but, was actually said by his competitor, George Hull), but I won’t.
I can not account (and won’t even try), for the reasons why people purchase what they do, or how they justify what they spend for a particular item.
I’ll leave that to the psychologists, psychoanalysts, and “mind readers” of this world.
I have, on occasion, visualized the mulitude of products being purchased every day, and have often wondered - "Why would anyone buy that ?
But, they do!
Therefore, I have come to the conclusion that it must be a “natural law”, that for every product, there must be a buyer.
Think about it. For every product that has ever been manufactured and appeared for sale, there has always been a buyer. At least, it seems that way!
And I don’t dare ask opinions of others of what they think about my purchases!! They’ll probably have the same perception as pbjwilson, heaven forbid!
Strangely enough, while composing this post, in the backg
I’m not so much amazed by teh stuff olks buy or teh prices they pay --heck, I was ready to plunk down almost $2k on the new Hiawatha – until I got a look at it and realized that I don’t have curves big enough to run it – I am more taken back by how much of it folks buy
I read OGR where folks will buy multiple sets of something and every new engine in sight - yet I see on teh Buy/Sell board where stuff is being hawked as new in box, never run for 40 and 50 below MSRP.
If you want to end up with a $100,000 train collection, you have to start with $250,000.
Charlie Sheen asked Gordon Gecko “How many yachts can you water ski behind” which is a pretty good analogy. You can only run so much stuff anyway. I see row after row after row of stuff sitting on shelves around folks layouts that never gets run and have to ask why?
I don’t begrudge the people who can afford to buy expensive things. I’m just not one of them. I’ve learned to live within my means. I drive a 10 year old Chevy. Everyone at school picking up their kids are in new Mercedes, or Hummers. Whatever. You is what you is!
Same thing goes with toy trains. But I’ll be honest, even if I could afford the big dollar stuff, I’m not interested in it. Thank God for that!
Wow! You guys are now getting in to the deep stuff, but Frank has boiled it down to the simplest form. People in the economics community, which I’m proud to say I don’t understand 10 percent of what they are talking about, call this “diminishing marginal utility”.
Another great point that was made is that yes, it is all disposable income driven. How many cars can you drive at one time? How many hours do you spend in a boat? Economic theory is about the most bizarre subject that I ever studied and it has a lot to do with human behavior and money.
During the depression of the 1930’s my family in Baltimore did very well. My grandfather and his brothers were promoters of concerts and dances. They charged patrons a nickle or dime to attend a concert or dance. Needless to say they took the disposable income from the many. The train companies are doing the same thing. They are putting out a product hoping to take some of your disposable income. Needless to say, they are doing a great job with me. [:D], but I still don’t have the big ticket items because I want to use my money on other non essential products and services, like a computer, TV, garage door opener, snow blower, hockey tickets, boat, travel, movies, etc.
Paul,
I stopped in the LHS a few weeks ago and was speaking with the owner. We were talking about the different people who have come in over the years and he said, ‘You know I don’t think I’ve ever had a Lawyer stop in.’ I told him he was probably right because they tend to let it be known what their profession is. He has had Doctors, Executives, blue collar workers, retired folk, and all sorts walk through his door. He said it had given him a deeper understanding on how toy trains seems to give nearly everyone a common ground to speak on. You can be standing there talking with just about anyone and your income level doesn’t matter.
As for me, I’ve been off and on collecting for over 20 years (I’ll be 36 in March). I don’t have a large collection, but what I do have I really like, and I’m not done buying. I don’t intend to have all my walls lined with shelves upon shelves of stuff I never run. But I would like to have enough stuff that I can switch things out when I want.
I’ll probably never own a Big Boy or an Allegheny (which I would love), but I doubt I will ever have a layout large enough to warrant such a purchase, and to just buy it to sit on a shelf to me is sacreligious! But I do hope to be able to purchase the two C&O Pacifics that in the current Lionel catalog. My wish list hit $9,000+ for the first time in over 20 years… will I get it all? Heck no! Well not if I want to remain married to my wonderful wife! LOL!
As for disposable income… I had no concept of what that was till I got divorced, moved away from Pittsburgh, and got re-married. My ex was a financial black hole that I will be recovering from for at least another 5 years. I had to make a lot of sacrifices to get to where I am now, but am very glad I did what I did… as Frankie says, “I did it MY way.”
Well,I can’t afford a 1000 3rd rail engine right now,but I sure would buy one just to satisfy my curiosity.Would the 3rd rail engine be so superior to my Lionel scale Atlantic?As for the Acela,nice ambitious set but I could get a decent car for 2 grand!Plus my wife would have her say and I don’t think she would go for it!You have to realize that to some people dropping a grand on an engine is no big deal .A very enviable position to be in I’m sure!
Hockey tickets??? Do they still play hockey? I thought you were in the heart of football country. I did not think that the Blue Jackets inspired people to so easily part with their disposable income [;)]
It is amazing to me how they spend their money. As an example, a couple of years ago we moved to an area that has a good reputation for their school districts. We were willing to spend the extra real estate taxes (that is how schools are funded in Illinois) in order for our son to go to a better district. However, many of our neighbors, who pay the same amount of taxes, have decided that they are going to send their kids to a private school. Since we moved because of schools, I can understand someone’s desire to give their kids the best education possible. However, how many of you are willing to pay $21k for kindergarten? Is the quality of education going to be that much better? I guess if you can pay 20+k to send your child to kindergarten, is it a big deal to spend $2k on a toy train set?
What amazes me most is that people actually buy jugs and bottles of drinking water. This leads me to consider going to a mountaintop and bottling a fresh breeze.
So early in the morning for philosophy. Much of American life seems to revolve around satisfying wants and needs. Food, shelter, etc. are needs. Toy trains in every respect are wants. In addition, there is one’s self-perception in this hobby - and how that perception competes with other places in your life to spend money on wants - like a vacation or other hobbies. As much as I don’t like to admit it, I have a collector’s mentality - even though I see myself as a ‘runner’. I’ve limited myself a bit - I’m always interested in the next trolley. And I spend more enjoyable time seeking and ‘drooling’ rather than buying. Heck, I think most posts on this forum are about acquiring new (or not-so-new but new-to-you) stuff. That said, I’m amazed and awed at the money expended by those above me in the economic strada for certain toy trains or O scale models. I’ll be curious to see what happens when the deep-pocketed boomers die off - even more consolidation in the hobby is inevitable… but I digress. [;)]
I wouldn’t want half the stuff some people on these forums choose to buy, and I imagine most of them wouldn’t buy the stuff that interests me.
I don’t worry or care about what others like/want/need/buy in the world of toy trrains. The only person I have to please with my toy train interests is me.
The Key here is to stay within your budget & not to use any credit cards at all! It makes no difference if you make $10,000 or $250,000 & just be content with what you can afford & not worry about the Trains that you can never buy at all. IMHO- With all of the competition & used trains on the market now prices are not too bad unless you have to have something that will cost you a fortune to acquire. & This can be a pitfall for some folks also. Take Care.
