Price of a Hobby

[minipix]

One of the things I love most about this hobby is looking at random objects around me and thinking "I wonder what I could use that for?" Honestly, it's the creativity that I love, more so than buying brand new locos. But each to their own.

For example, I recently created a set of GWR semaphore signals out of wooden skewers and some offcuts of card, held in place with staples. That may sound roughshod, but they look the part. I created my own signal box too, printing my own textures onto card on my own printer; sure, there are pre-designed kits out there, but you usually have to pay for them, and even then it may not be exactly what you want.

My most important piece of advice is this: set yourself a budget and stick to it. Personally, I've set up a standing order to pay £10 a month into a savings account, and all my model railway expenses come out of that, including things like tools and materials.

[Firefly16]

You have a point minipix. The great thing about this hobby is the wealth of materials from various domestic and other sources that lend themselves to model-making uses. I am currently forming gutters for platform canopies from my supply of c15thou styrene gleaned from ice cream tub lids over the years. Recently I came across a forgotten store of those (unused) flexible plastic straws that used to come with handy sized soft drink cartons - painted silver and toped with cowels, these will make convincing replicas of the flues often seen protruding from the sides of industrial buildings. And a bonus, of course, is that they and other reclaimed plastic products will not enter the environment. Next to nothing in terms of the world's pollution problem, perhaps. Until you think of them in terms of the micro-particles that won't be entering the food chain.

[thrummymalc]

Never thought I would be seeing on a model railway forum, a mention of the best and much missed Blues/Rock band this country (or any other) as ever produced, I am of course talking about FREE....Hornchurch and Free at Last, greetings from a fellow fan .

I too, when I retired 3 years ago got back into the hobby via the Hornby Dcc train set route, still use the Select controller for operating points works fine never had problems with it and they can be picked up s/h for a not silly amount.
This hobby can be a drain on the wallet especially if you go down the Dcc sound chip route....£100 for a ESU chip and then the loco. Spend what you can afford and be content.

[Dad-1]

Hi minipix,

You have the same creative thinking I do. There are so many things that can be created from scrap, or household items.
I'm always looking for that alternative use. I love collecting sand, every beach and most builders merchants have sand of
slightly different grain size and/or colours, you can usually blag a free jamjar full and that can go a long way !!

I have spent a lot, but I could afford to, however my favourite locomotive is a Hornby 06 diesel. Add a decoder, fix in
ballast anywhere you can fit it to up the weight. Clean wheels and well adjusted pick-ups and you can shunt up to 40
wagons. Ahh and wagons can still be made from Dapol kits for a modest outlay, which in my opinion is better than buying
secondhand, because secondhand can so easily be real pains as running gear, Plastic wheels, non-matching couplings, thick
flanges, deep flanges, narrow back to back settings are endemic.

Geoff T.

[BrightonMan]

I am very lucky where I live in that we have a model shop that usually has a good range of second-hand stock at very reasonable prices, and also a permanent antiques/collectors market (one of those where traders rent a space/display case in the building) which has a S/H model railway dealer, again with fair prices. As I am on a very limited budget these two places are a godsend. Ok the stuff they tend to sell would not appeal to some, no super-detail stuff here! But for me it's perfectly adequate as I am quite happy to upgrade/detail older models myself, for me that is one of the joys of railway modelling. Another source of cheap stock are the local model railway exhibitions. Everything in the photo below was picked up at last years Horsham MRC show for the princely sum of £40.

[End2end]

Where / what are the 2 places/shops you mention please Brightonman?
As for last years Horsham MRC, we may have dosey-doed round each other at the exhibition without knowing.
Thanks
End2end

[Bigmet]

I am very lucky where I live in that we have a model shop that usually has a good range of second-hand stock at very reasonable prices, and also a permanent antiques/collectors market (one of those where traders rent a space/display case in the building) which has a S/H model railway dealer, again with fair prices. As I am on a very limited budget these two places are a godsend. Ok the stuff they tend to sell would not appeal to some, no super-detail stuff here! But for me it's perfectly adequate as I am quite happy to upgrade/detail older models myself, for me that is one of the joys of railway modelling. Another source of cheap stock are the local model railway exhibitions...

Likewise. Ferreting around for good s/h is so worthwhile, perhaps it shouldn't be mentioned to avoid masses of people looking for it? And dare I mention that even current product turns up, and can be very economical if you are a confident fixer. My most recent prize a Bachmann Cravens DMU set, in the early 'speed whisker' livery. This is a classy model, but the specimen concerned had been in the hands of Johnny Ninethumbs (for whose various ministrations I shall forever be grateful) and all the excellent detail that could be was knocked off, but present loose in the boxes or inside the vehicle bodies, and it didn't run! That all added up to a good price, and after a couple of hours with the cement and canopy glue it looked like new, and one solder joint had it running perfectly. (The retailer's plan had been to do the work himself, and charge appropriately for the time spent, but then I walked in and he well knows what my interests are.)

[End2end]

Great find Bigmet! I have one of those DMU's too. It's a lovely model and in fact I saw the real thing recently at a heritage railway. (I forget which).

Feel free to save the picture.

I thought I'd try charity shops for railway modelling items and even went to the extent of doing some research into where has the most charity shops in the South East. Which is Bexhill, not far from you Brightonman. The only day I could get down there was Sunday (2 weeks ago) so half of them were shut anyway. From the ones I did visit I only saw a couple of wagons in one and to be honest in a bad state. There are also a couple of "curiousty" shops in Bexhill in which I found a couple of old items but too old for me.
Thanks
End2end

[sparkhill]

I think the important thing about the cost of our hobby is to buy within your means, I am not in a position to splash out loads of money on the hobby anymore so I buy as wise as I can, my latest layout is a 10ft x 5ft American Desert layout called Rattlesnake Valley I needed to keep the cost down so turned to eBay, for $260au or roughly 130GBP I was able to buy brand new locos and rolling stock in the form of an 0-4-0 Steam Switcher two Plymouth Diesel Switchers and six freight wagons all made by Model Power, after fitting each loco with Hornby decoders they run very well, all that for the cost of one Hornby or Bachmann steam loco not counting the decoders and I am as happy as I could ever be.

[BrightonMan]

Where / what are the 2 places/shops you mention please Brightonman?

Both in Eastbourne...Train Times in Seaside and The Collectors Market by Eastbourne station (actually in the old goods yard)

I thought I'd try charity shops for railway modelling items

Never had much luck in charity shops. There is actually a very small model railway shop in Bexhill but it never seems to be open when I'm over there.

[Bigglesof266]

Never thought I would be seeing on a model railway forum, a mention of the best and much missed Blues/Rock band this country (or any other) as ever produced, I am of course talking about FREE....Hornchurch and Free at Last, greetings from a fellow fan.

Indisputably. I have every album they made. As individuals, each was exceptional in his own right, but together..wow! It's still my opinion that Paul Rodgers then had, and still has, the best rock voice EVER. Paul Kossoff's vibrato and selective use of note and space. Gilmour is possibly the closest in terms of note selectivity in his writing and playing. Simple as it is, I never tire of playing the intro to "Wishing Well" with lots of Crunch dialed in on a six string into the looper then playing Paul's parts over the top of it. Of course, it really deserves Andy's base on the riff, but I make do. Iconic as the intro riff to Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water", just not as well known.

Spend what you can afford and be content.

Amen.

[footplate1947]

Hello Ian 1955. Reading your post about the cost of the hobby I wonder if things have changed very much at all. I remember back about 1957/8 I was worrying my ||Dad for a train set. After about a year I got one for my birth day. I know at that time it would have cost about £3 / £4 which I would say is about £100 in today's money. A wagon cost about 2 to 5 bob and I only got 1/6 pocket money so had to save up for extras for my treasured train set.
I used to clean out our neighbours building van once a week and got 2bob for that. wow! that was nearly a wagon.
So have things changed that much. .........john

[BrightonMan]

Out of interest I had a look through some back issues of Railway Modeller for old prices last night. Picking a random loco, in 1977 a Hornby Black 5 had an RRP of £15.50. When I left school in 1979 I was earning just over £30 a week, so that loco would have cost me half a weeks wages. Today a Hornby Black 5 has an RRP of £169.99. Being self-employed my earnings vary but are roughly £350 a week. So, going purely on my experience, prices in relation to wages haven't changed that much in 40 odd years, a new loco would still cost me half a weeks wages. Maybe I should get a better paid job

[Free_at_last]

Never thought I would be seeing on a model railway forum, a mention of the best and much missed Blues/Rock band this country (or any other) as ever produced, I am of course talking about FREE....Hornchurch and Free at Last, greetings from a fellow fan.

Indisputably. I have every album they made. As individuals, each was exceptional in his own right, but together..wow! It's still my opinion that Paul Rodgers then had, and still has, the best rock voice EVER. Paul Kossoff's vibrato and selective use of note and space. Gilmour is possibly the closest in terms of note selectivity in his writing and playing. Simple as it is, I never tire of playing the intro to "Wishing Well" with lots of Crunch dialed in on a six string into the looper then playing Paul's parts over the top of it. Of course, it really deserves Andy's base on the riff, but I make do. Iconic as the intro riff to Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water", just not as well known.

Spend what you can afford and be content.

Amen.

The Heartbreaker album inc. Wishing Well does not quite cut it with me, I feel lacks Andy Fraser's input.

[footplate1947]

I Never heard of them. Sorry..........John
Just to add to the prices in the late 50s when I left school and started work in 1962 I was earning £3 a week training in an engineering firm and bought my first motor bike for £30 in 1963 just to show what money was worth about that time.