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Post by scl1234 on Jan 28, 2015 4:54:16 GMT -8
The $100 freight/passenger car isn't really a problem...it just forces the buyer to do a little more research so they are one-hundred percent certain that the car they are buying actually ran during the period they want to model.
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Post by riogrande on Jan 28, 2015 6:08:57 GMT -8
Look back in the "good ol' days" when an Athearn Blue Box freight car was $3-5 each. Half the stuff we have now in terms of freight car variety didn't exist in model form then, let alone as detailed as it is now. Nobody back then probably thought we'd have specialized oddball cars like the Vert-a-Paks, Chessie Canstock cars, and cars unique to only one or two railroads, or multiple tooling variations of the same car (look at the recent Atlas NSC newsprint boxcars in different cuft versions) to cover differences. Bottom line, we have more selection in this hobby today than ever, better quality offerings, more variety, and a wider price range, but you can't have and eat all the cake. Limited supply and demand market forces mean some items will only be produced by one company, either at a higher price and detail point, or at a lower price and detail point. You won't get everything produced by 4-5 companies at varying price points like F-units are nowadays. The above is something I have more or less repeated, like a mantra, here and other forums when people complain about the hobby. From about 2000 thru recent years, we've had the best selection of model trains ever in the history of the hobby and generally for the best prices vs. income. So IMO, that time frame is "the good ol' days". Going forward as prices continue to sharply rise, we will continue to have product, but as has been pointed out, not everyone will be able to afford the Porsches or even Lexxus's of the hobby. There is some veracity to Americans feeling entitled to have nice things while much/most of the rest of the world gets by with far less - perspective time. There are toys I would like to have but I have to pace myself and try to live within my means, therefore I will simply have to be happy with less as the high end stuff continues to rise in price faster than my income. cest la vie.
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Post by Great-Northern-Willmar Div on Jan 28, 2015 6:41:40 GMT -8
Just got the reservation pricing for the Intermountain Auto Rack from my local hobby shop EngineHouse Services in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
MSRP is $96.95.
EHS price is $76.00
Expensive? Yes. But it is still in the ball park of the current crop of passenger cars from William K in Milwaukee.
On e-Bay the Walthers Auto rack sells in the range of $10 to $40 or so per car. Plano etched rack side panels are $26 for bi-level and $27 for tri-level cars. If you buy a mid range Walthers car for $10 to $20 and add $27 for etched panels you've got a $37 to $47 car. Somewhere about half of Intermountain. The Walthers car is not as nice, but with the Plano sides its a major upgrade.
Anger Alert!!!!
What I'm about to say may make some see red and others applaud, but......IF YOU PUT THE WORK INTO THE HOBBY, YOU CAN SAVE SOME BUCKS. Not everything has to be take it out of the box and put it on the track. Get out those pin vises, drill bits, hobby knives, glue, CA, soldering tools, pliers, calipers, scratch building supplies and spend a few days or a week building models. Get really crazy and paint it.
Some say they don't have the talent to build, so they HAVE to go RTR. Then don't complain about the price. If you are out of gas sitting in a gas station and the price is $4 a gallon, but a hundred miles away the price is $2 a gallon. What choice to you have? Push your car a hundred miles or pay the price and get rolling again. Same holds true for trains. You may not want to pay the price but you do, or you get by with less or pass completely. Either way, I don't see someone holding a gun to model railroaders heads to pay the higher prices.
Do the high prices of this stuff suck? Sure. But at the same time, we don't need to be chirping like a bunch of cheapskates every time we see a price that we consider too much. These model railroad manufacturers are rolling the dice like a bunch of river boat gamblers on our behalves. They've got increasing costs and still need to make a profit. This mean higher prices. Eventually there will be a tipping point where the majority say no to the asking price. Then the ball is in the manufacturer's court and they have to make some tough decisions about moving forward or changing the product to reduce costs and price and hope the buyers will understand and buy.
No different in the grocery store where the company keeps the price of spaghetti sauce the same, but redesigns the bottle and decreases the amount a couple of ounces. Your are still paying the same price, but getting less. Someday this may apply to model trains. The price stays the same, but the product looses some of its bells and whistles.
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Post by riogrande on Jan 28, 2015 7:03:37 GMT -8
What I'm about to say may make some see red and others applaud, but......IF YOU PUT THE WORK INTO THE HOBBY, YOU CAN SAVE SOME BUCKS. Not everything has to be take it out of the box and put it on the track. Get out those pin vises, drill bits, hobby knives, glue, CA, soldering tools, pliers, calipers, scratch building supplies and spend a few days or a week building models. Get really crazy and paint it. Some say they don't have the talent to build, so they HAVE to go RTR. Then don't complain about the price. <snip> We get it. It isn't rocket science Jim. And no matter what, some people will vent. This topic has run it's course.
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