In the near future, power will be leased on a "need to use" basis. To purchase a new Sagami motor, or its then equivalent, you will have to have a permit, and turn in the old motor. All plastics will be re-cycled, and metal will require a purchasing license after you obtain the permit. Depending upon how much you personally contribute to the Gross National Product, you may be elligible to obtain a book of ration stamps for transportation for travel to and from work, but not for such worthless things as vacations. The energy to produce the power will prohibit personal autos. While you will yearn for the "good old days" when diesels roamed the land, your kids will be all ga-ga over the Mag-Lev Robotic transporters. If you buy up all the radio control stuff you can afford, you will be able to outfit your present DCC with radio control everything, if you are allowed the watts to run it. If you build a wind charger, and or photocell roof, you can have what you need in the way of eletricity at 12 volts, although autos are going to 24 to 48 400 volts 400 cycles soon. It is illegal to buy an English car Battery and bring it over here to use in your car, because they sell the car over there, but keep their battery. It doesn't wear out like ours does. Our battery companies prevent us from being able to own one of them over here, it would kill our battery business, we are a "Throw-a-way Society" here. I started gathering up all the tools I could remotely possibly might even want , so now I have them. I started boxing up whole sets of trains and bought heavy at sales. I just boxed them up and kept them. Now I got them, all new, but old too. Most aren't made anymore. I have a lot of brass track, before they made nickle silver, so now I have a lot of NS track I'm useing. Stock pile what you really want when you retire, then hang on to it. If you don't buy the Rivarossi Big Boy when it first comes out like I did for $37.50 you will have to pay the $275 price when you are my age. I could afford to buy all the engines I could ever want, if the prices were still 1960's, now, I can't afford them. When you retire, if Social Security is still going on, you will receive 1/4 of what you are making now. 50 is the magic number, companies have to get rid of you because at 51 you run their insurance rates out the roof, and you have suddenly become stupid and they want new blood that is up on all the latest "space invader games" to run their business. The world as you have known it will pass you by, unless you have something like a hobby or the TrainBoard to keep you from going insane with boredom! You can't understand this now, but you will remember this when it comes to you in later years. That will be here before you are ready for it.
Watash, your dead right about time running by way to quick, I am nearly 65, and I havn't a clue where the last 30 years went. Apart from Model Railroading and Computers, I would go mad without these two. That's why it's nice to talk to people on this forum about my experience in this great hobby, at least I can pass on some helpfull tips that has taken a lifetime to acquire. Happy modelling folks.
$37.50???!!!! Gee, for that price, it would drive all of the competition out of the water. But that is not the only chang. In 1970, minimum wage was 1.25 and a new car cost about 2000. If we had the same buying power today, minimum wage would have to be 12.75 or a new car would have to cost 7500!!! (I got these numbers from my dad, who most likeyly got them from somewhere reliable like PBS but now uncitable because he has none of those types of concerns). Stockpile is a great idea, especially if something is cheap. Then again, all it takes is some young upstart fanatic to rock industry(he is usually bought up or forced out in a couple of months though). John, I just got an idea. How hard is it for you to fabricate rivarossi parts? If you have an extensive enough library of complete engines to use as blueprints, you might be able to find a way to massproduce these parts yourself. I am sure many people out here would love a good reliable source
Benny, Your getting close to what i've been working on!!!! I want to be able to have the parts as their needed for the customer. To do this I have to be able to make the part. I've been doing some research on how to get the material and then the work begins. At the moment I can make certain parts that i've already made for myself. Like main rods, connecting rods, etc..... Once I know I can get the materials needed, and get the tools I have set up to do this type thing I can go along way in this. Even as far as remanufacturing a whole loco. And if that doesn't satisfy me i'll go into manufacturing for myself!!!! It takes time, and money..... Thats all I need to get is the time and money and i'll be well on the way..... Happy modeling guys.....
Hang in there John, you are a lot farther along on your potential business than I was at your age. The price gouging had just begun when I married in 1950 when gasoline was 15 cents a gallon and I was Chief Engineer of a Company making $11,500 a year! Now I have the lathes, milling machine, pantograph, various drill presses and saws with all the special tools, but never could raise the money. You must consider your working hours at some rate, then pass that on to the customer, or you will have to have a full time job to live on, or win the Lotto. The engines my dad and I built were more a labor of love and an ego trip, "Pride of Accomplishment" than a living, we both had good jobs. Your advantage is that you are focused right now. Stay focused, and you could make it a living eventually. I wasn't focused, and did not have the support of my wife then to venture into the unknown of the business world. There will come the point at which you just can not do all the necessary work yourself alone. That's what stops most of us. You can't afford the skilled labor to produce the quality of product, and the government involvement will eat up more than what profit, if any, you will have generated up to that point. It is a felxability issue, you can not make tooling for but a few parts. Everyone wants a different engine. You could spend the rest of your life just making tooling, which is expensive. My job was to tool up companies for a product for mass production, so they could hope to make a profit. One injection mold base costs a minimum of $25,000.00 single cavity for an F-7 A unit. The injection MACHINE to run that mold on like a 250 ton Crown, or Lindsey, costs over a quarter of a million dollars used. You have to have a place of business in a business zoned for manufactureing, You have to pay Business taxes and get a business permit. You have to pay social security and FICA taxes plus Medical on each employee, which includes yourself. You have to purchase plastic pellets in bulk, have a cleaner, de-duster, dryer, feeding hopper, and an operator working 24 hours a day just to meet the orders. If you put out for public sale, one good product, some large already established company will copy it on their own machinery, and sell it for less in order to take your sales away from you. They do this because they did not have to work the bugs out, did not have to pay for the designing, not the developement, and they can get their tooling and assembly labor over-seas that you wont have the connections to do. And...that's just ONE part! You going to make a living on ONE part? I was hired by more than one company to just sit and study patents, and figure out the seven improvements that would be required to beat the patent. I have even had patents stolen from me. I'm too old and have been down that road too many years to fight it now. You are still young enough to just maybe make it work, if you can be wise, learn all you can, and keep your methods and sources secret. You see, "Back Then" your competing company would not have even thought of sullying their reputation by trying to steal your idea, or advertizing against you, or cut-rate their price to bankrupt you. Now days it is considered good business. (Motor mouth again, I'm sorry) Bye.
Watash, I just noticed you asking to see a 4 truck shay to see one go to www.shaylocomotive.com take alook and have fun theirs lots of them in their!!!!!!! A very interesting web site. [ 28 April 2001: Message edited by: 7600EM_1 ]
