After years of accumulating N Scale it has been time to whittle down the collection. In looking at the big picture, I realize I have only been renting my N Scale locos and cars. The rent paid depends on the cars and loco. Micro Trains rent is rather high because I'm only getting about $0.50 on the dollar. Intermountain and Red Caboose cost me less because I get $0.70-0.80 on the dollar. Sometimes I even make a little. Locos are running $0.60-0.70 on the dollar for DC and a little less for DCC. That includes Kato, and Atlas. Deluxe containers do well. Some sold for 4X the price I paid. I have a few MT cars without boxes. They will sell in lots of 4 or 5 for less than $.050 on the dollar I haven't sold any of my passenger equipment yet. Should be interesting. Old Blue and Black label MT are worth about nothing. I will just hold them instead of selling them. Interesting dynamics at work. Pete
Huuuuuhhhhhh???? I no longer look at model railroad collecting as an 'investment' which will pay back with returned principal and interest after a 'holding' period. Perhaps back when we could get Micro-Trains for under $5.00 per car and Atlas/Roco for under $2.00 per car... we could see a vast monetary 'return of & on the investment'. What we should be looking at is the return on the investment in good memories of running these model and enjoying the hobby.
Model trains to me are not much of an investment, more of enjoyment. Now my collection of Bailey/Stanley planes for woodworking, that's different. They do both.
If I were in this hobby to either invest or make money, I'd have quit about a year into it back in 1978. I remember in the late 80's when I couldn't work due to an egregious non-compete clause in the sale of my company (took me a year and a half to get it thrown out by the judge)...model railroading and cycling saved my life and pulled me out of my depression. Five years ago, when I began thinning the herd to comply with my new era/location rules on my layout, I made a LOT of money on brass that I'd horse-traded for years earlier. Pieces that were worth $650 or so in the middle 90's went for $1500 each on 3-day "Buy-It-Nows" on the Bay. I sold hundreds of cars over time at the local train shows for the price that was on the box, with some going for as much as twice what I'd paid for 'em back in the '80's. Some of my custom cabooses, which were made from $15 Golden West Models kits (highly super detailed) went for an easy $400 each. However, when looking at all the time that went into my super detailed models, I didn't make much per hour. But, I have never looked at the hobby as a "job", expecting to make money on any of it. Selling stuff and horse-trading is fun, with some very good trades and sales, but, it's not something I ever expected. I participate in this hobby because it satisfies part of my creative nature, and because I highly enjoy the effort as well as the results. Truthfully, there is nothing material that I "own"...all of it is loaned to me. When I take that last train into the sunset, nothing goes with me. On that note... Cheerio! Bob Gilmore
Wow. Talk about taking what I said wrong. I was not inferring I was in it for an investment or to make money. I was in for the enjoyment of the hobby. I just went overboard "accumulating" N Scale. Time to reduce the inventory. I was merely stating that at the end of the day, it was only a rental. Kind of like a car. You buy it for one price, sell it for less. The difference is the cost of ownership. Just like with my trains. I was telling what stuff was going for lately on E Bay. I wasn't complaining, just stating facts. The investment in trains boat left the dock a long time ago. Time to go back to the dark side.
Overall, I've made money model railroading. However, that was not by design, rather simply by accident. But this past decade the dynamics have completely changed. The collector market has waned severely. Money is much tighter and folks are bargain hunting or buying much less. But none of this has changed that I have enjoyed a lifetime of fun in the hobby.
I'd have to say that,overall,what I have at the moment is worth far more than I actually paid for it.Taking into account,however,that most of what I have is custom painted or completely scratchbuilt.Also,a lot of it is really old,and just worth 3X what I paid for it..I kept every box,too,LOL!!!
I was feeling the same thing a few years ago when I started to thin out my "Accumulation". Sharing with a friend and fellow N-Scaler my disappointment at how little the stuff seems to be worth, he enlightened me with this philosophy. Instead of looking at the locos and cars as a collection or investment, look at it as a "consumable". The point you made about a car is similar. You purchase it, which gives you some satisfaction, you use it, which depreciates it's value. and then it falls into the void and you move on. So if you get squat for something , that's squat that you didn't have before. Now you can spend it on something else to consume. Worked for me. I happily sold a whole bunch of stuff for squat and now am more careful what I spend that squat on. Also brought to my attention about the value of some of this stuff, was that more of us that "Accumulated" in the 80s and hot 90s, 2000s, are thinning out those items. More stuff on the market, less demand. One other note about this "stuff" Many of us are in the same age range and more than a few are reaching our expiration date. This also floods the market with all that stuff we thought was really hot. It always did surprise me, though, that was always something that I was selling that just, out of the blue, brought good bucks. You are correct, lots of interesting dynamics at work !!
I've been DE-accumulating slowly for a few years now. I'll resume when I get access to it. I'll do my best to get as much as I can but many people at trainboard have been very helpful to me and I would take that into account as well.
Well I am in the same boat. I got Atlas 90 ton hoppers that I bought for less than $2.00. They now sell for about $18.00. There is a lot of old equipment out there and while the quality of the tooling may be less than todays standards there remains a sizeable market which I expect to grow as the cost of the new stuff keeps rising. I have pretty much ruled out Ebay as a method of culling the herd. Seems to me the local one day train show at the fire hall or church basement is a much better alternative. Table price is cheaper than the big shows and the buyer doesn't have to figure in shipping costs. But you got to do your homework and pick the right show. Picking a Sunday show during football season when the local pro team is playing is probably not a good choice. If I did have to resort to Ebay I would not sell individual cars. Most times you can ship multiple cars for the same price as one individual car. I have equipped all my cars with MT trucks/couplers but I did save all the Rapido and Accumate trucks/couplers. Cars equipped with MT's will have to priced $5.00 more as that is what a bulk pack would cost. The alternative would be to replace the MT's with the original couplers and sell the Mt's separately.
Fortunately for me, I still haven't gotten past the accumulation stage. I've only been into N scale for 20+ years and only buy what I like or is a great deal. Sure, I have WAY more cars than I will ever be able to use, but they really don't take up much space (unlike kids) and I don't want to have to choose which ones I care less for than the others (like my kids, I love them all equally...some more equally than others). Maybe eventually I will get into 'post-accumulating' mode, but it hasn't started yet...
I do not feel I am "renting" my N scale equipment. Primarily because most of the things I buy are to make into something. A lot I haven't gotten around to building or customizing, but that is my intent. When I have built something I bought into something that I really like, my enjoyment goes beyond simply "having" something. Even if I decide it no longer fits my layout objective and sell it off, I have had the fun of building or kitbashing it. I keep photos of a lot of it after I have turned loose of the actual models. They are still "children" of mine though they have moved away.
Kenneth that is a very interesting way of looking at your N Scale. I, like many, bought quite a bit of n Scale with the intention of building something. When I open the doors to my shelves of N Scale, I see so many un-started projects sitting there. Personally, I have come to the realization that these projects will not be started, ever. I will probably never modify cars, buildings or anything else in N Scale because most of my modeling is now in On30. I find it a more rewarding size to model. Ability for greater detail, etc. Don't get me wrong, I still like N Scale and have plenty of stock to prove it. I just won't be modeling. (I will be doing weathering and painting of cars in N Scale. Mostly to prefect my skills. Then they go on E Bay. Some are on their now) Most of my activities in N Scale will revolve around operating trains, and I will enjoy it. While I'm operating, if someone wants to buy cars or my train, no reasonable offers will be refused. Ha Ha
Just be glad you're not one of the schmucks who invested heavily in the "toy-grade" Bachman stuff. That's all I see pop up on Craigslist here, often for exceedingly optimistic prices on behalf of the buyer.
Hmmm... well... I wouldn't use 'that' word. I would just call those persons the 'unfortunately uninformed'. But... there have been many of us 'old timer' which could be considered 'uninformed'... or just wishfully hopeful that a model would be good and sought after. Back then [early 1980's] ... I bought a few Bachmann, PMI [Mehano] and other less than adequate N scale models which turned out to be unusable. Back then... we thought perhaps there would be better models or 'fixes' for these models... which never happened. Those were the DARK AGES of N scale model railroading and we are fortunate to have suffered and made it into the 21st century despite those 'misfit model trains'. Back then it wasn't an investment... it was a hope for better stuff. Support the manufacturers and hope they will improve the models and get N scale going. Unfortunately... we may have been rewarding ineptitude... and sent a message that we would buy any garbage they put out. The people now-a-days buying these models are either 'collectors' of early 'vintage' N scale... just buying for the investment in the past... expecting it to be more valuable with time. Unfortunately... these models were not ONLY bad... but they were also produced by the thousands. Those models remain in the closets of mid-aged and golden aged adults which dropped out of the hobby decades ago... or family members which are trying to capitalize on unknown money spent by that modeler. I'm sure that the family of a deceased modeler would take any money generated from the sale of the collection... and not look at it as a bad 'investment'. Sometimes the language used to sell these pieces... 'rare'... 'vintage'... 'collectable'... etc... are just ways to get the uninformed to buy and pay as much as possible by generating interest. If you know what you're buying... you ignore and chuckle at the thought of the attempt of sell some of this poor quality stuff.
"Unfortunately uninformed." (Or perhaps 'misinformed'?) I like it, as it is the truth. I don't think of the early 1980's as 'dark ages'. By then, with N-Trak and Kadee/M-T, things were breaking loose at an ever increasing pace. Better items were already on the scene, with more coming all the time.
OH... VERY TRUE... but... I was one of those "Unfortunately 'misinformed'" back then and was buying some of the 1960'-1970' era Junk-class models. I was fortunate to have picked up a few Minitrix F7-ishes and ConCor/Kato PA units otherwise... I might be doing some other hobby right now. Things really got better towards the late 1980's and all current N scalers should be thankful of that.
