Model Railway Hobby Costs

[D1042 Western Princess]

I have yet to meet a model railroader who stops buying locos and rolling stock after he/she has acquired what is 'needed'. This behaviour assumes a level of rationality and personal control which I believe is beyond most of us.

Webbo

A long time ago I started a thread trying to determine just how many people go on buying locos and stock long after they have more than they need to run their layouts or can comfortably fit on their layouts (basically the point you are making),  but it just turned into lists of what people owned (not the point I was trying to get at) so the thread was abandoned.

[paulprice]

I've just had a brainwave, and they say I'm an idiot.........if we all adopt a modeller from here, we can all buy each other something useful and train related for Birthdays and Christmas and then the problem will be sorted.

That way when the evil Domestic Overlords comment of the purchase of trains, we can say it not for me its for NOBBO its his birthday.........YES I AM A GENIUS, now in the next five minutes I reckon I can fix the worlds economic crisis.......

  Brilliant - you are a genius ....   

  Just one tiny fly in the ointment, so far as I can see.

4000+ members...let's say 2000 sign up to this plan and all think " I know, 'Member X', he's into Outer Mongolian Victorian narrow gauge railways so I'll get him a kit of one of their 'Genghis Khan' 6-2-6 express goods engines"  and member X has a 4'x1' shunting plank layout!

Oh well, it's the thought what counts they say; back to the drawing board! 

HA I have already thought of that we force people into admitting their mistakes in modelling inferior railways and insist everyone models LMS, after all we all know its the only proper company......

[njee20]

I have yet to meet a model railroader who stops buying locos and rolling stock after he/she has acquired what is 'needed'. This behaviour assumes a level of rationality and personal control which I believe is beyond most of us.

Obviously, we're all guilty of that, but you could and still enjoy the hobby (almost) as much, in a way you couldn't with (for example) cycling, which was my point.

[railsquid]

Yes, relatives are not a reliable source. Of my four adult children only my eldest girl can be relied on to choose something I want (despite giving out a wish list) and I suspect that's because she is into dolls houses and understands that you want things that fit what you are modelling. The other three seldom get me a present I really want, one tries and usually gets me something like a steam-train ride or similar, one gives cash (always useful) the other usually gets something for SWMBO and calls it a joint present (cant quite see how that's supposed to work).

Mrs. Railsquid, who luckily suffers from a rare form of cognitive impairment which means she is unable to distinguish more than a dozen trains in her field of vision (at least that's my theory, once they reached double digits she kind of gave up), has kindly placed herself in charge of road vehicle acquisition.

[MalcolmInN]

I've just had a brainwave, and they say I'm an idiot.........if we all adopt a modeller from here,

That way when the evil Domestic Overlords comment of the purchase of trains,

  Brilliant - you are a genius ....   

A Machiavellian one even  

There must be something wrong with me (quiet in the back row there )
I got 2 x 4F, a J39, an assortment of wagons and 4 coaches at the beginning of the year, non since; more than adequate for my ex-LMS/LNER ovals and shunting yard.
So I need help !
What's a fella to do when the Domestic Overlady wants you to go buy one or two of those " Nice GWR locos "

[MikeDunn]

we can say it not for me its for NOBBO its his birthday

It's Nobby, not Nobbo, and he can buy his own  trains !!! 

I have no doubt he'd love 4500+ of us sending him stuff, but ... !!!

[railsquid]

we can say it not for me its for NOBBO its his birthday

It's Nobby, not Nobbo, and he can buy his own  trains !!! 

I have no doubt he'd love 4500+ of us sending him stuff, but ... !!!

We could send him a kit containing 4500 parts. Each part wrapped individually.

[Newportnobby]

we can say it not for me its for NOBBO its his birthday

It's Nobby, not Nobbo, and he can buy his own  trains !!! 

I have no doubt he'd love 4500+ of us sending him stuff, but ... !!!

Any donations gratefully accepted (providing they are found suitable for location/era)

[Graham Walters]

I have three vices, a car, Whisky and model railways.

The car is a Ferrari Dino, a family heirloom, which passes to the youngest son for some strange reason, I can't afford to run it, I can't sell it, and insuring it even for a couple of weeks when that big orange ball may make an appearance is too expensive on a Postmans wages. So its cost are low, a bit of a wash and wax two three times a year, and I give it a run around the farmyard on my birthday.

Whisky I drink, and I don't mean the cheap stuff from the offie, I much prefer a single malt the older the better, I get given bottles for birthdays and the like, I also have a son who travels a lot, and has too much money to spend, so he often brings me home a bottle.

Model railways are my biggest vice, as I said being a postman it has to have a budget, and it's all bought through a credit card, if I go on a spree, I can't go on another one until the first is paid off. SWMBO has her own card, and uses that in much the same way.

Holidays are paid for 50/50, travel agents are we have found OK about splitting costs across two cards.

I think given the detail we now get on models compared to the seventies and earlier, they are extremely good value for money, you can get a DCC 67 class pannier by Dapol for well under £100 from Hattons, and the new manor with DCC is a shade over £120, the same goes for rolling stock.

Where I do think we get ripped off a little is on the accessory side of things, like Ratio fencing costing over £4, when it's a bit of not very well injection moulded plastic that a machine spits out by the thousands.  Some of the things like the platform accessories by PECO are just unjustifiably expensive for what they are.

[D1042 Western Princess]

I've just had a brainwave, and they say I'm an idiot.........if we all adopt a modeller from here, we can all buy each other something useful and train related for Birthdays and Christmas and then the problem will be sorted.

That way when the evil Domestic Overlords comment of the purchase of trains, we can say it not for me its for NOBBO its his birthday.........YES I AM A GENIUS, now in the next five minutes I reckon I can fix the worlds economic crisis.......

  Brilliant - you are a genius ....   

  Just one tiny fly in the ointment, so far as I can see.

4000+ members...let's say 2000 sign up to this plan and all think " I know, 'Member X', he's into Outer Mongolian Victorian narrow gauge railways so I'll get him a kit of one of their 'Genghis Khan' 6-2-6 express goods engines"  and member X has a 4'x1' shunting plank layout!

Oh well, it's the thought what counts they say; back to the drawing board! 

HA I have already thought of that we force people into admitting their mistakes in modelling inferior railways and insist everyone models LMS, after all we all know its the only proper company......

The LMS.....   wasn't that a minor company which ran trains to Glasgow from London some time back in the 1930s?? 

Actually, my granddad was a goods guard at Coventry before moving to the goods yard at Kenilworth to be closer to home after my grandmother was taken seriously ill.

But I still model Western Region - because it's simply the best!

[paulprice]

I've just had a brainwave, and they say I'm an idiot.........if we all adopt a modeller from here, we can all buy each other something useful and train related for Birthdays and Christmas and then the problem will be sorted.

That way when the evil Domestic Overlords comment of the purchase of trains, we can say it not for me its for NOBBO its his birthday.........YES I AM A GENIUS, now in the next five minutes I reckon I can fix the worlds economic crisis.......

  Brilliant - you are a genius ....   

  Just one tiny fly in the ointment, so far as I can see.

4000+ members...let's say 2000 sign up to this plan and all think " I know, 'Member X', he's into Outer Mongolian Victorian narrow gauge railways so I'll get him a kit of one of their 'Genghis Khan' 6-2-6 express goods engines"  and member X has a 4'x1' shunting plank layout!

Oh well, it's the thought what counts they say; back to the drawing board! 

HA I have already thought of that we force people into admitting their mistakes in modelling inferior railways and insist everyone models LMS, after all we all know its the only proper company......

The LMS.....   wasn't that a minor company which ran trains to Glasgow from London some time back in the 1930s?? 

Actually, my granddad was a goods guard at Coventry before moving to the goods yard at Kenilworth to be closer to home after my grandmother was taken seriously ill.

But I still model Western Region - because it's simply the best!

You pool deluded fool  (don't tell anyone but my stock includes 6 or so castles amongst other things, but I blame the concussion)

[D1042 Western Princess]

You pool deluded fool  (don't tell anyone but my stock includes 6 or so castles amongst other things, but I blame the concussion)

Don't worry - I won't say a word about you being an LMS fan but running GWR locomotives...........    

[steve836]

You pool deluded fool  (don't tell anyone but my stock includes 6 or so castles amongst other things, but I blame the concussion)

Don't worry - I won't say a word about you being an LMS fan but running GWR locomotives...........    

LMS & LNER are great but don't touch anything else! You should get enough on fleabay from that Western rubbish to buy some decent locos!!

[MikeDunn]

LMS & LNER are great but don't touch anything else! You should get enough on fleabay from that Western rubbish to buy some decent locos!!

Can we limit LMS to Princess Elizabeth only    Otherwise I fully agree 

[D1042 Western Princess]

LMS & LNER are great but don't touch anything else! You should get enough on fleabay from that Western rubbish to buy some decent locos!!

Can we limit LMS to Princess Elizabeth only    Otherwise I fully agree 

Would that be the same "Princess Elizabeth" Class which was designed by William Stanier, a man who learned his trade in SWINDON?