I don’t feel bad about spending a little on a freight car. For as much as I’ve bought them for, I’ve sold them for even more. No, this doesn't work for me. If you're doing that, you're not a modeler, you're a hobby shop. I buy stuff to model into a prototype scene, So, I guess, we're both nuts.
That’s a pretty ignorant statement. I’m very much a modeler. It’s my modeling skills that allow me to increase the value of the projects I work on. Some projects I build for my own prototype scenes, some projects I build to test my skills. They may not fit my prototype, so I sell them. I’m happy and the people who buy them are happy too.
I spent about $120.00 for two brass Milwaukee Road "ribside" cabooses(cabeese), from Boxcab on here. But my Z-scale? Oh, boy!!
Don’t mention passengers, I have 120 of them painted flesh that need me to buy a magnifying glass and a tiny paint brush to paint clothes on them. Making the prepainted expense seem more and more attractive every day.
I understand completely. I've had a few locomotives that have suffered from Zinc pest, dog gone Zamac frames. As for your last reference, yes Boy the way Glenn Miller played, Songs that made the hit parade..... Yes we watched that show every week and yes "Those were the days....."
I must recuse myself on the grounds that I have no idea. I did go a little off the deep end (is that even possible?!?) trying to finish the A1G set for the website. The last car I needed was, of all things, the Carnation Milk refrigerator car. I already had all the "hard stuff." It wasn't the most I paid for a car, but at $20 something, it was way more than I should have paid. I distinctly remember almost falling over at the price of the "Class of '72" Kadee Micro-Trains boxcars. Three bucks a car!! When I was saving up for a 79 cent Postage Stamp car at Two Guys, or the $1.50 A1G cars that Doug Gosha mentioned earlier in the thread.
Non-brass stuff? I bought the first release of (N scale) FVM MILW rib side bay window cabooses. Over $30.00 each. Ended up selling them, as my focus changed, at a huge loss. Never again.
Hmm, I realized overnight that my "personal best" (ha!) might have been the NSE Special Run of the REA/New York World's Fair 50th Anniversary express refrigerator car. My grandfather worked for the REA for 58 years, and my earliest memory (fuzzy, but there) is attending the New York World's Fair. So it's a double personal connection. Hmm, does that count as two cars, then?
I grew up here in Minnesota and I remember wanting to go to the 1964-65 New York World's Fair SO BAD! Never got to, though. Freedomland, too. My dad bought the LP recorded there by several famous artists and I still have it. Doug
Here's one I DIDN'T buy. Several years back there was a black CN covered hopper with graphics that resembled a roll of Lifesavers candy (MT ???). During my weekly visit to the LHS I noticed one in the case being sold on consignment. I told the shop owner I HAVE to have that car. I cannot repeat my comments when he told me the price was $300 !!! I found one at the monthly Dupage train show for $30 a couple years later. I think I was more pleased showing him the car and my receipt than actually owning the car !!! Sadly, he closed his shop a year later. He still had that $300 car when he closed.
Since it was on consignment, he may not have much say in the price if the hopper owner insisted on pricing it at $300. Or, it could be the owner's doing if there was no input from the owner of the hopper.
I think the original CN "Rainbow" hopper (with all the color bands) was a Pacific Western Rail Systems special run on an Intermountain car. It was a one of a kind prototype. I also think that Intermountain subsequently offered the paint scheme in additional unprototypical road numbers.
I haven't bought much in several years. Last expensive purchase I recall was the MT, Red Caboose tri-level autoracks, and the Trainworx, Bluford Shops auto parts boxcars. North of $30/ea was a little crazy for my budget, but being young and dumb, I did it anyways!
I just noticed that it looks like Atlas is rerunning the 50' single sheathed outside braced boxcars that Walthers ran in the '90's and had difficulty selling at $10 (mostly because the doors were all warped) and I eventually bought some on clearance for $5. The 'new' cars now have an MSRP of $30. Also Atlas is also rerunning the shortie tank car for 'only' $22. Looks like we are all going to be paying more for rolling stock in the future...
Got to thinking about the good old days. You could get N scale cars around Christmas time at Woolworths for 98 cents. At the hobby shops for a 1-2 dollars. Don
Unfortunately not many things are getting cheaper as time move on. The only thing that remains constant is prices will increase in the future. Yes I remember purchasing Athearn Blue Box freight cars for $1.98, but I also remember minimum wage at that same time was $2.00 an hour. Then Athearn Blue Box models jumped in price to $4.50, but minimum wage stayed the same. Also, you can't compare model railroad items from the 1960's and 1970's to the items produced today. Back then it was one size fits all with every road name under the sun painted on the rolling stock and locomotives. Anyone remember the AHM and Lima Pennsylvania Railroad FP45's? The P-Company never owned such a locomotive. Today the models are prototype specific with a lot of extra separately applied detail parts. When it comes down to quality and price, was it really "The Good Old Days" or just the "Old Days"? In my opinion, we are now living in the golden age of model railroading, but yes we're going to pay for those quality models.
Actually you CAN compare some of the items produced today with items from the 60's and 70's because in some cases they are THE SAME MOLD that they used then. The shorty tank cars that are being re-released for $22 in my previous post were first released in the 70's...same mold.
