The economy, model trains, and you.

Welllllllllllllllll.......

This is my 5th and most likely last layout...considering health issues. After the accident last year...and the settlement from it...I got to pretty much build that dream layout I've had in my head for years !! That being said...the previous 4 layouts where a PITA $$$ wise ! A little here...a little there. Some help from some great friends here on TB and I got some trains running.

The 'Train Budget' THE Wife and I agreed on has pretty much dried up. Actually I am over budget...yikes.

THE Wife has her own website and I do the page updates for her. But that is HER money. At the end of the month she kicks in some $$$ for the trains (as payment for helping her)...but then again...the trains are hers too I am once again feeling the crunch. What do I still want vs what do I still need ? A few more locomotives are a must. Converting a ton of CRapido couplers to MT's is a must. Rolling stock...pretty fair. I only have so much room in THE Lucky Penny Yard for cars. ;-)

Either way...its gonna be slow going from here on out...again *sigh*

 

I've been on a tight budget for a while now. But, if its something I want bad enough , I can save up for it. I model the steam era in eastern U.S. , and there are only a few locos that fit my sceme , so a lot of stuff is ruled out. And as George says, there is only so much room in the yard.....LOL......Mike

 

What I haven't bought over the past several years:
Big Boy
GG1 - at least two
More CP Coal Gondolas
A fleet of NS locos and corresponding coal gondolas
DCC system
The Con Cor "Aero Train" and "M1000" - I really wanted one painted in CP Red

DE-Accumulation to Runners
In my DE-Accumulation process I'm avoiding eBay and other venues. I'm trying hard to find someone who wants what I have to run it. The last thing I want to do is sell it to someone who will flip it on eBay for a quick dollar.

 

You know me...I RUN everything and anything...I have no shelf queens or evilbay foder...lol. Let me know what you are 'DE-Accumulating' I may be interested

 

You have mail.

 

My spending has not come to a screeching halt, but it has slowed way down! I really hate all this pre-order stuff, but then it does give me time to save the money. I have gone to a cash-only policy for as much as possible. If I don't have the cash, I don't get it!

 

Unfortunately... the economy has put a huge dent in my buying budget. Losing about 20% of take home income over the past two years will do that to most of us. Still I have been able to save up for certain items... I just can't commit to pre-order too much stuff since I can't be sure if I'll be in stable financial state when the items are actually released. As it is... I've had to carry a balance on CC over the past two years to fulfill my obligation to on-line shops I had been pre-ordering items from. That is something I was NOT EVER PLANNING to do again since my 1990's financial shortcomings. So basically... I'm buying much less... not pre-ordering much. I haven't joined a club since my previous club folded in late 2008,,, not because of the economy... but because there are none really close to me that do N scale. I have three LHS within 30 miles... one only 5 miles away. Most of them seem to be doing okay... though... sadly I think Tex-n-rails looks the least healthy. I would buy stuff from them... but unfortunately they are the furthest from me and they have not been open to walk-in buyers on a consistant basis. What has really been odd about the economy versus the hobby is that product costs have continued to increase despite the fact that many modelers are strapped for cash AND creidt.

 

Well (or did George already us that)! I've already sounded off here. I'd love to go political but I don't feel it would be appropriate here. There are real problems out there. Just a review!

It seems there are those who think that certain populace of American's are rich and can afford any price put out there. We are? Not so, is the reality. 47% of us are on different types of government sponsored programs or we are retired and dependent on SSI or SSD. Yes, we contribute to tax rolls with each purchase we make. Sadly, a higher number of retirement programs, whether we like to admit it or not... got washed out. The times they are indeed difficult.

When there is nothing in the wallet to pull out, it isn't going to matter how much you try to talk someone down in price. I won't be buying it... anyway...but thanks for the fun.

For those with deep pockets you can always buy me N Scale: An Athearn UP Challenger, Athearn UP Big Boy, Intermountain SP Cab Forward and if Kato or ConCor ever comes out with a series of UP and AT&SF Northerns aka FEF's, then feel free too donate. Oh, I could use some Atlas Code #55 switches Lt. & Rt. handed along with multiple pieces of brown flex track. I think we can set it up to be a charitable tax deduction. I'm non-profit. Grin!

Dreaming of course!

I used to belive that goodness returns. Naw, I don't think so. Getting skeptical in my old age. Coincidences have happened but I've never seen a good deed go un-punished.

 

I was all set to start building. Had my money all rat holed away and had a good idea for the track plan and how I was going to build it. Then I switched jobs, cars, medical, jobs again, more medical then my rat hole was empty. So, I have put all my stuff back on the shelf for another day. This may change in November, when another job change may happen. I had to save my pennies, nickles and dimes to get my last loco. It took a while to save the $100.00. Reminds me of being a kid and saving all year to get a model plane.

BUzz.

 

Hey Rick...

I got a ton of old used ballasted C80 Atlas flex and box full of somewhat working #4 and #6 turnouts. You can have those...

I could send ya some 'switches' but I need those to mount on the fascia to operate the 'turnouts' on the layout....hehehehehe !!

:wink:

 

I still believe in what goes around comes around - however - my favorite quote:
"People make their own luck." Author: me
I look at all of the wonderful things folks have done for me over the past 5 years and I know good always returns to the doer of good.

 

Grey One, I don't know bud. Karma is supposed to do the same thing. You couldn't prove it by me. Ahh, it's ok I've got what's I need and the wants can take a back seat...perhaps permanently. It's a wait and see proposition.

George, LOL


I appecriate the thought...BUT!!!!!
Yep, but me thinks they have a good home right where they are.
If they start to take up the space you need for your collection...then think pay ahead.:closedmouth::closedmouth::closedmouth:
Another one of those alledged gifting plans that sometimes turns on the giver. LOL

The rule I work by is: To do it for free and do it for fun. No strings attached.

I'ma good and having fun with what I have. I'ma not sure where I would store anything else. Sigh!

 

I really don't think any of this is bad. In my case, I purchased way too much back when product was plentiful and so were the dollars to purchase. I bought things that were cool, that I thought would never be produced and "had to have one" like the Atlas shay which runs great but will probably live in storage since there is no reason to own one. I have over the past three years down sized a lot and it has given me freedom to enjoy just a few things and use them rather than "hoard" them. In the process I also changed scales but built only a smaller, simpler, more focused layout which has provide more fun and satisfaction. Now if I purchase something, it's either one or maybe two but not several and often it replaces a lower value item with better quality.
I really find I can be happy with a half dozen locomotives and probably fifty cars, a couple dozen turnouts and moderate space rather than building a monster layout which will never be completed and is a money pit. My income has not changed during this economic slow down but has increased yearly. I guess for me it's better to have less and enjoy it more. I don't want my family to have to figure out what to do with Dad's/grandpa's trains when I die as they already know who has chosen what to keep/sell/trade etc. as it will be worthless when I have gone to be with my Savior, Jesus Christ in heaven.

I think some one else already said it before: less is often more.

Barry

 

And 75 years ago .....

...model railroaders usual way to get model railroad equipment was to spend time money and effort to build it themselves. Whether it was track, turnouts, freight/passenger cars, locos, you name it -- chances are there was no commercial model for it. You wanted a C&O Pacific, you built it. You wanted a Pennsy style interlocking tower, you built it. Oh yeah, there was pre-made brass track, which needed to be scrubbed clean every 2 hours. And kits: two crude soft casting of trucks, some wheel sets, and a pile of wood and brass wire to be made into your NYC heavyweight baggage-express car.
The Depression was ending, modelers wanted to play with trains, but what obstacles they had to overcome.
And I bet a lot of them said "Man, wouldn't it be nice if we could just BUY a Nickel Plate Berk or a Osgood Bradley coach or a 50' auto box with REAL painting and ACTUAL ADDED -- not printed on -- details? I'd buy one in a second!! You think we'll EVER see the day when there are tons and tons of excellent, good-running, fine-crafted model railroad equipment? If so, WHAT A FANTASTIC TIME MODELERS IN THE FUTURE WILL HAVE."

And here we are. Considering guys back then spent lots of time and money building from scratch a loco and a few cars over their lifetime, maybe we should consider if our griping we bought too much stuff deserves any merit.

 

And here I was. Contemplating the wisdom of buying a local hobby shop with a partner. With all I see here, and noticing prices going up faster than wages. Now may not be a good time to do so. At this point in our economy, and all the turmoil in politics I think I will wait.
It seems to me that hobbyists are pinching pennies. Manufacturers are raising prices. Inflation is getting worse. And money is getting more and more sparse. Its a sad deal for all of us. Maybe soon things will turn around? That depends, but my philosophy wont fit the topic of this forum..

 

My train budget has decreased a bit with the downturn of the economy as well, it's effected my purchasing of some of the newer stuff.

But what's surprisingly effected it the most is the layout itself! Since the golden spike was driven a couple of years ago, it has unexpectedly forced me to narrow my focus more than I thought it would. The main thing where it's helped narrow my want list down is settling on a specific era, local and industry type. I still leave a little leeway as I have a nice CNW/APL stack train that I will not be able to part with. So it runs as a staged through train, along with the three CNW Dash 9 raccoons!

Before it was built, I had an idea of what I wanted but not anything deffinent, so I was buying things that I thought would work and things that I thought I would need. Sometimes I found myself buying more than I needed so as to make sure I had what I needed in case those items became unavailable when I needed them.

As the layout progressed things became clearer. For example, I have a plastic pellet distributor which I envisioned to have lots of traffic, so hence I thought I needed a fair amount of hoppers. After getting the car forwarding system set up and figuring train lengths and running several dry runs, I found that I needed only 8-12 cars to give me enough to have at the industry and in the yard, not the 20+ that I had.

A note while on the car forwarding system. Since it's based on car types, not car numbers this has allowed me to only need one number of each instead of getting, say all 6-12 numbers! The same can be said for the Locomotives. I can now see a somewhat finite number being needed for operations. My only drawback is I like variety. I do not like seeing the same set of gondolas going to the same industry or the same set of locomotives being used on the same local on every ops session.

So what I started doing is to sell off what I don't need, like some of those 20+ hoppers. In this case, I've sold off a bunch of them to be able to upgrade the older fleet of MP, Bachmann, Atlas 5250 cuft hoppers for a smaller fleet of the better looking Atlas 5701 & 5800 cuft hoppers.

What is really gonna hurt is all the DCC chips that I still need. ugh!

 

Until what Boxcab? The time you decide to rip up all of the old C80 track and Peco turnouts and relay it all with C55?:cute:

 

Pretty sure, if indeed there is "Luck"? My favorite, "If it weren't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all".

I do think common sense and edumacated guesses work better'n "Luck". Perhaps a way to make one's luck.

Goodness, Karma, Kindness RETURNS? Writing it all off as superstition.

I have seen a hostile situation as in, "What goes around, comes around" boomerang. And I didn't have to inact any revenge...whatsoever. It happened all by itself...Yes! Some insight? The man who wouldn't listen to good sound business advice and concerns for his health, is now out of buisness...no help from me. You could say he created his own bad luck, by being his own worst enemy. A good friend and I hated having to stand by and watch it happen.

Back to the layout: Well, I have to get the gandy dancers out and busy laying track. I need to get a hidden staging yard up and running. Wish me "Luck"...ahh...no don't do that. You know how me and luck work out. LOL

Hoping it stays warm enough the next couple of days to get some layout projects done.

Perhaps there is a heads up and warning to each of us here.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program. No, I ain't buying anything new, allegedly NIB (You'd have a hard time convincing me), slightly used or old...period. Ok, maybe some track for replacement. But that's ALL.