Model railways as a pension fund - really?!

[gc4946]

will lead to a flood of optimistically priced loft junk...

That's exactly what I thought. The flood has already begun judging by some of the eBay and Facebook prices.

I do wonder how the market will react when the pandemic is over and people go back to their offices, will there be another flood of second hand model railway bits?

I'm actually hoping there will be as I can't afford to buy new any more.

It's likely larger scale models (OO, HO and O) will be offloaded quicker due to them taking up more storage space

[gc4946]

You have to factor in peoples' life stages, demographics and age profiles of modellers, I can't see model railways as a means to fund one's retirement.
This hobby is meant to be enjoyed!

[Mr Sprue]

I think a good sizeable collection consisting of rare, limited editions etc could when sold be a reasonable 'top up' adding to a state or private pension, bearing in mind under the current tax laws if you sell more than 12,000 in a year of your collection you will then be liable for Capital gains tax.

Over the years I have acquired some rare pieces in my collection but no way would it provide me a retirement income. However it has to said that the models I purchased from new their value has pretty much more than doubled over a ten year period.




 

[longbow]

If your models have doubled in value over a decade then you have made a respectable return of 7% pa, which was probably not much affected by fluctuations in more conventional assets.

I've seen many worse investment propositions than that. 

[Bealman]

I view this thread with interest, but also some amusement.

I find it difficult to believe there is a "collectors market for N gauge model locomotives".

And if there was, they'd have to be boxed and in reasonably good condition.

I dunno about other modellers, but I buy stuff to run it 

[Mr Sprue]

If your models have doubled in value over a decade then you have made a respectable return of 7% pa, which was probably not much affected by fluctuations in more conventional assets.

I've seen many worse investment propositions than that.

That was some of the new models that have doubled, there are others that have more than trebled e.g I bought a few of these for £22.00 each!



   

[longbow]

Maybe bank your profits before the Revolution Pullmans hit the market.

[Mr Sprue]

Maybe bank your profits before the Revolution Pullmans hit the market.

Good point although these are Ltd editions with certificate. I'll probably list them when ebay have their next final insert fee offer.

[ntpntpntp]

I find it difficult to believe there is a "collectors market for N gauge model locomotives".

Oh yes, definitely is.  Probably more for the limited production "fine art" and hand-built artisan models which can cost £1000s, rather than the run-of-the-mill stuff.   I would imagine some folk would put CJM and similar in the "collectable" category just for their rarity and the skill involved in producing them. I treasure my CJMs.   I also have a passing interest in collecting mint examples of early N models, just for my "history of N" display shelf

[njee20]

CJM are always an interesting one though, as they don't hold their value. New prices were £500+, whilst second hand they always seem to be more like £300-400, and less now they're virtually all duplicated by RTR models.

I find wagons/coaches are the best 'investment'. They can have a very short term, and high, ROI. I must confess I adopt a very laissez faire attitude to buying for that reason. It's very rare that you can't recoup the cost of an item in pretty short order. I bought 10 NSE mk2s for £23 each for Kernow in September 2019. They're going for £50+ each now.

[railsquid]

You're all thinking too small - the real money is in packages of financial instruments leveraging trends in the N scale market. I myself have some positions  based around a short-selling strategy on Poole Farish Pullman coach futures.

[Bealman]

 

However, on the serious OP, I don't buy models as an investment.... I buy em because I'm a railway modeller!

Bit hard to be one if you don't have model engines and rolling stock!

[railsquid]

Nothing stopping you building a diorama where no trains happen to be running 

Anyway the real smart money is in Non-Fungible Tokens, which (as far as I can tell) is sort of 17th century Dutch tulip bulb mania but with blockchain, but anyway there's a cool-ish cartoon image of the inside of a Tokyo train which I own as a model about halfway down the linked page, so it's kind of relevant. I think. 

[njee20]

Not sure "smart-money" and "NFTs" belong on the same planet, let alone same sentence!

[Mr Sprue]

However, on the serious OP, I don't buy models as an investment.... I buy em because I'm a railway modeller!

Bit hard to be one if you don't have model engines and rolling stock!

Certain models have become very rare George, for me to place one into in my collection they have to be mint and that includes the box etc. However I didn't create a collection to build a pension pot, I invested my money wisely into the Royal London! 

I do on the odd occasion when I find time, run my Southern stock on a two metre end to end combining of a three rail into two with turnouts. I plan to hopefully one day build a Network Rail TMD full of the yellow stuff!  But where my time is busily involved in other parts of the hobby that's not going to happen just yet! 

On top of all that then there's my two year old grandson who's created a big liking for Thomas on youtube, so no doubt I'll be building a OO layout for him and my son to play with in a year or so's time, before I get to build anything for myself.