Jeff while you make valid points I think the OP did not exclude what you mention. You are correct in that the tone of this thread has taken on more of "has the economy affected your accumulation?". I did start a thread some time ago: "Cheap Easy and Quick" http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?t=96928
I think what this thread mostly points out is that this hobby is expensive. And with the trend toward RTR, just keeps getting more and more expensive. I am definitely looking for ways to cut down costs and not using ready made molds, packaged trees, etc...seems to be the best way. But even cutting down costs, it still adds up.
I had forgotten that thread, but its a good one. Maybe its time for a 2009 version! I am having fun getting my layout in shape. It does seem that the more I work on it, the less I feel the need to accumulate. I wonder if accumulating when you are not building is sort of like eating comfort food?
Probably. I have stopped accumulating but will need to buy track and stuff here soon. I also preordered an Athearn F45 the other day. The plan is only one more engine either an challenger or a big boy by the time I am done. But first the track.
Jeff, I checked out the thread (which is indeed a good one, btw!) and unlike many of the competition threads this one doesn't appear to have an expiration date. So, much like those "unused minutes" from the AT&T commercials, you can still update to this thread!
I just bought two of Randgust's ore car kits as a way to keep busy doing something. I'll have some pretty unique rolling stock when I am done.
Dude, It's conversation..... You basically assume to understand my entire outlook on the hobby from a single topic..... Get real
Fortunately I don't eat my trains.... I actually agree with you Jeff. Accumulating is sometimes function of [OCD] Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Often when a person is feeling down they will gravitate to things which make them feel happy. Many overweight persons are unhappy with their appearance and binge on comfort foods... only leading to more weight gain. I can attest to the fact that I will be more apt to [over] purchase model railroad items when I feel stressed or unhappy about something going on in my life. So... if I work on the layout instead of wontonly buying locomotive and rolling stock... I would actually cure myself of the OCD. Sometimes its not just a normal thing to buy stuff for your hobby when it becomes an obsessive behavior. See... now I'm feeling sad again... lets see what on sale in the Walthers May Flyer....
Grandpa Joe, Maybe TB needs to employ a staff shrink.......thanks for the answer! I vaguely recognized that syndrome but wasn't really sure of the basis. Marty, As some other poster noted, you did account for other activities and the conversation question is certainly worthy. It was mostly the accumulation of answers and my own observations of other thread titles here and on other boards that lead me to believe we are railroad buyers more than railroad modelers these days. I still think that most discussion boards have become increasingly product centered over the years, but it could just be me. As I noted, I am sure guilty of overbuying and am working through the same issues as everyone else. I was trying to convey that there is no need for a woe is me attitude, but not that you specifically said that in your post. There is lots to do in this great hobby.
it has been measured. Whenever you place something in a shopping card, real or virtual you get a serotonin, (natural feel good juice), fix in a particular region of the brain associated with mood. The way I was able to break my accumulation habbit was to think of the stuff as "little pieces of plastic". I am serious. That thought process removed the desire for it.
Or think: 'Wow, great coaches! I want them!!! But, uhm, what will I problably do with them? I have no good engine. There is not a good engine on the market. Should I buy a cheap yet not so very DCC and not so good engine? I do not have the layout for these coaches, only some Plywood Central modules. I will problably put the coaches back in their boxes and put them on the storage shelves. Well, OK, I don't need them.....' It has worked for me. I cancelled the order. I also did not order engines that work fine for my layout. Why didn't I buy them? Because they will not come many times off those shelves. But I am weak and ordered two steam engines. :tb-wacky::tb-biggrin:
Again, this is one of many topics on this board. I won't go into a psycho analysis of people that like to attack and label. It's one thing to present that "duh, this hobby, or any topic worth discussing is more complex than 1 thread". We should all realize that, but it's nice to mention it once in a while. To get snooty or to decide, that perhaps a persons interest in collecting cool things,is not good enough for the true hobbyist, or suggest that it might relate to a "disorder".... Again, it's a discussion board about a hobby interest we share. I don't see it as a place to try to figure each other out. There is no abstact outside reader that may judge this boards content. We are the ones that judge it and worry about it's content. Take a clue from Thumpers Dad "If you can't say something nice..." That comes not from a relectance to stand up for something, but from an understanding that, you haven't really ot a darn clue about who your reacting to. If you want a clarification, ask for it. If you want to make a snap judgement, buy a clue, next time your considering buying a train
Guys, how can we turn an innocent question and some innocent answers into a problem? And why is it a problem the way some people build their layouts. Not everybody has unlimited time or skills to do so. If they buy rtr locos and pre-built structures who's business it anyway? I have seen layouts built numerous ways from hand built to professionally built and you know what the owner enjoys them just as much as any other and i enjoy seeing them. Come on, model railroading is fun no matter how you do it. Besides the ecomomy may be bad for some but not for everybody. Dave
It's certainly affected me. After many years, my program was terminated last Fall, leaving me unemployed/retired. I haven't decided which. So I'm not buying--but I have years of accumulated excess, which I'm going through now. I'm planning on how to move sections of my layout halfway across the country. That's keeping me quite busy.
Fail-yah too Communicate... I think some people are taking Rossford Yard's comments as some "R-T-R vs Modeler" thing, and it can't be further from that. Basically what he is saying is if the economy is affecting you, take whatever you have (be it R-T-R, shake-the-box kits, craftsman kits, parts for kitbashing, supplies for scratchbuilding, scenery supplies, track, cork, wire, whatever) and whatever skills you have and do as much with it as you can WITHOUT buying any more stuff. Point being, you won't focus so much on the buying aspect. Obviously if you're not affected by the economy, that doesn't really matter that much anyway. Think of it kinda like the Apollo 13 challenge put before the engineers in Houston..."gentlemen, you have all these (and ONLY these) parts to work with, and we need to build a CO2 filter out of it." :thumbs_up:
Its pretty easy to think of trains as little pieces of plastic after I have either run them off the table by accident, or bashed them with a hammer in frustration...... I by no means attacked or labeled anyone on this thread, least of all kmcsjr. My basic premise is a very positive one. I'm sorry if you took it that way. I agree that any conversation starter is a good one on a discussion board and that it just goes where it goes. No one can control thoughts and someone ends up contributing some scientific knowledge about the human mind, so be it. That said, I do still marvel at the human nature we all have that makes products the center of most of our discussions on this an other boards. I simply wonder if it was that way long ago. Just an observation. No need to run me over like a runaway freight train......
Gentlemen, let's cool this thread down a bit. The thread is based on a simple question: has the economy affected your model railroading hobby? Sure it has, one way or the other. I haven't seen anything that I would opine is a personal attack. In these tough times, let's just enjoy the hobby, and our exchanges here, and not sweat the small stuff. OK?
SPOT ON, JEFF!!! Yes, you are quite ont eh correct - this has become more of an accumulating hobby! And we DO have a Modeling Hobby as well. Marty, I ahve no idea why you're being so apprehensive to his discusison except perhaps [and this is a leap] youbuy most all of your stuff and you don't build it because the learning curve is a long one and you really don't have that kind of time to commit to a hobby. And this is entirely acceptable. But it's the same as if I was a Diesel Engineer and then trying to get membership on the Steam Engineer Roster because I AM afterall an engineer too. Now here's how things are: i finally determined I could splurge and picked up 5 2x2s to do a little work on the stoarge shelves. All in a day's work!!
I don't think anybody here was intending to attack anyone, so let's not get our noses out of joint. It's interesting to see how people are continuing their model railroading activities in a down economy, but it's not real entertaining to watch people get defensive. As far as RTR, I personally would like to see more things available as kits, since I like to customize things my own way. One way I have dealt with this in a RTR world is to buy swap-meet fresh junkers and then fix them up my own way. My dollar goes further through the junker bin, anyway. I really feel for all those who are out of work. I had four months unemployed in 2001 (and then was only sort-of employed for a few years) and then was laid off and unemployed for an additional two months in 2005. Both times I was unemployed I scrambled like crazy to get something else together quick, and it wasn't easy then. I am sure it's even more difficult now. Adam
Thanks for all positive comments my direction. I am really in the same boat as everyone else. While self employed, I have had a lot of clients go under and stiff me, and even the solvent ones are slower than molasses when paying. So, it does affect my buying, but not as much as the fact that I have most of what I need in the way of rolling stock, etc. I will still get the modern Atlas tankers and gons coming out later this year because the old MDC tankers just don't look modern and I do like good looking rolling stock to make my trains look right. I will just buy some in the initial order and pick up some from the almost certain reruns to spread it out. I have read where hobbies like MR actually do prosper in lean times. As I think I wrote in one post, even a few bucks of track, paint, or whatever is as cheap as movies, gas, popcorn. Doing something at home is always the cheapest way to entertain yourself, and model railroading is great entertainment. As to the RTR, I apply some of the same "what does the alternative cost?" thinking and can often justify the cost of the RTR buildings, locos, and rolling stock, as well as pre-printed backdrops and a lot of other stuff. Although money is worth money, even watching costs, time is worth money, too. Avoiding frustration is worth money, too. The best example I can think of from my experience is that I will NEVER buy an MT coupler kit. I don't care what they cost, I just want to pop those babies on there.
