Do you guys ever tally up total cost of your layout?

[Joe G]

As a kid growing up in Brooklyn I used to look foward to the Christmas season and those trips into Manhattan to view the Lionel layout at Macys and the A.C. Gilbert (American Flyer) showroom in the Madison Park area. I marvelled at the dual handle Lionel controllers, the PRR GG1 and the American Flyer P.A. equipped streamliners. My father, who could not afford to buy Lionel or American Flyer bought me a Marx Santa Fe set, which he carried home on the subway. This set, which I set up every holiday season, satisfied my thirst for playing with trains, for years.

As I got older and was able to travel independently, I discovered HO "model railroading" in some of the more serious Manhattan hobby shops like Polks and the MRR shops on West 45th St.

As time marched on, commitments to Uncle Sam, work, love, kids, work, more kids precluded any further pursuit of model railroading.

Fast foward to today. I am still drooling over controllers (DCC) and locomotives. The ever elusive GG1 still eludes me, though I have reserved and paid for one at my LHS, it is now MTH that has denied me the satisfaction of ownership.

This long winded diatribe can be attributted to the latest Athearn Genesis announcement of the GP38-2. As a fan of both PRR and SP, I watched the Athearn preview and drooled over the DCC equipped SP units, much as I drooled ove Lionel as a kid.

My wife is a gem and would never complain about my hobby expenditures (golf, trains) within reason, especially since I just bought her new living room furniture. BUT, the MTH GG1 set me back $400 and a pair of SP GP38-2s will be close to $600, thats a grand for three locomotives. At these prices there better be some little people at the controls operating those babies.

 

[Pete V]

Kills me what the local RC guys do. $500.00, and on its maiden flight, it gets eaten by a tree!!

***********
My Nephew is essentially a hacker for B of A and troubleshoots ALL of their ATM system which if it goes down costs them bazillions of dollars. They really pay him a lot of money. He had an RC Sikorsky helicopter which runs on nitro methane. He crashed it enough times and got sick of replacing parts that he took flying lessons and bought a real one..

And we wonder why kids aren't very interested in trains.

 

[NP2626]

R/C is no more expensive than model trains, both use up the available fun money in equal proportion. Here in Minnesota, fishing is the biggest sport/hobby, enjoyed by the most people and getting fishermen to admit how much they spend on their hobby is impossible! Let's see, boat, motor, trailer, gear, fuel, overnight accommodations, etc... It's a tiddy sum!

I'm a sailor, also, let's see: slip fees, equipment, sails, bottom paint... now were talking some real money!

However, you guys that spend $1,400.00 on Ebay have a problem! Seek help!

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Model railroading is my hobby and I don't keep a running total of how much I spend on it. If I have money left over after taking care of the essentials it goes to the hobby. If I had to make a guess it would be somewhere between four and five thousand dollars since I started working on this layout twelve years ago. There have been some major changes but the original benchwork and top are still there for the most part. . Just what's on top has changed a number of times.

 

[Iron Horseman]

Do you guys ever keep track of what you have into your layout as in how much it costed to lay all your track and rd bed.
...all your locos and cars to make the layout ... also have every structure/ scenery added to your layout costs....Then you have the source of powering your layout either dc or dcc.

For every one who is not tracking their collection, don't forget the practicality of knowing in case a theif should show up, a fire burn things down, a tornado scatter things about, or a flood muck things up. My insurance agent has a very detailed list of what I have, what I paid, and most importantly what it is currently worth.

 

[tomstockton]

Iron Horseman,

Insuring one's "collection" -- that is an excellent point which I hadn't considered!

and most importantly what it is currently worth

Okay, now I'm throwing out a question for everyone:

How does one figure what it a "collection" is currently worth?

As I've been a model railroader for 30+ years, much of my "collection" consists of items which are no longer in production. All of my engines are DC, and at a quick guess I would say that only a couple are DCC-ready. Almost all of my rolling stock is of Athearn "Blue Box", MDC Roundhouse, Accurail, Bowser, AHM, et al quality (which I'm very happy with) -- but very few with the detail (and price) that come with more modern offerings. And I have more than a few buildings in kit form that are no longer in production.

Which then leads to the question:

How would I "honestly and accurately" calculate that figure?

I realize that what I have is only worth what someone would be willing to pay for it. But short of selling off my "collection", is there a guideline to determine that value?

I look forward to reading any and all replies.

Regards to all,
Tom Stockton

 

[Dave S]

Heh that reminds me of this posted in the other thread:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HO-SLOT-CAR...503825?pt=Model_RR_Trains&hash=item256c0bd191

 

[NYW&B]

Iron Horseman,

Insuring one's "collection" -- that is an excellent point which I hadn't considered!


Okay, now I'm throwing out a question for everyone:

How does one figure what it a "collection" is currently worth?


Which then leads to the question:

How would I "honestly and accurately" calculate that figure?

I realize that what I have is only worth what someone would be willing to pay for it. But short of selling off my "collection", is there a guideline to determine that value?

I look forward to reading any and all replies.

Regards to all,
Tom Stockton

Tom, in all honesty our "collections", except perhaps in the case of brass, are truly worth no more on the open market than maybe 10-20% of what we paid, at best (supposed values based on sites such as eBay are rapidly becoming a joke). Insured replacement value, however, can be quite another matter. Insurance companies will offer any kind of plan if the monthly payment is large enough. On the other hand, when we pass on our survivors typically will be fortunate to get a return of even 10% on what we've invested and often it will actually amount to zero, with all the items ending up in the trash. Unlike true collectibles, model trains don't really have any lasting value to those outside the hobby and our own numbers are vanishingly small.

As to knowing what we've spent, I think that most of us could indeed offer a good ballpark figure of what we've spent over the years if really pressed. I know that I could, but after a lifetime at this hobby I'd hate to publicly tally it!

NYW&B

 

[Pete V]

When I ran the Fire Department for Santa Fe County, we got "Agreed Value" insurance. Simply inquire about it. It does mean that you will get what you are willing to pay for.

 

[ChevelleSSguy]

I have saved all my model railroad purchase reciepts since the 1980s but I dont tally them up. I dont even know what I still save the really old ones.

 

[czoom]

Yep if you go overboard, it can be very expensive.

 

[Espeefan]

I keep track of the books and the brass. That's where the biggest part of the money is, and someone needs to know what the stuff is worth if I kick the bucket. Other than that, I don't want to know.