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Sadly thats why Ive been struggling to buy more stuff for my O Scale layout. My grandpa remembers the days when a Lionel Train set would only be in prices well below $100 and he said once modeling railroad companies started to add in more realistic features to their stuff, the hobby started to go from a hobby were nearly every kid on the block was building a model railroad in their basement to today where only like 1 person on block is building a model railroad. My grandpa thinks that if model railroad companies are going to continue to go down the path where just buying 1 engine that cost more than what you would pay for a car payment, then they are digging their own graves for this hobby unless they decided to go back and lower some of the prices so stuff can be a bit more affordable, because thats model railroad was so successful back then because everyone could afford to buy stuff at decent prices. While yes he understands the amount of hours it takes to make this high detail models today, he still thinks to pay something that cost more than $500 dollars for just a engine is what going to be cause of slow death in modeling railroading if they don't start lowering the prices soon. Heck he said to buy a engine today at a price of $700 now would had gotten him over a ton of of train sets back in the day if he had that type of money.One look at this, and you can see why MRing is a rich-man's hobby:
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How much "V-scale" can you purchase for $1,250? Er, just about everything, I'd say...
So, from my perspective, while the Model Railroad business model may be under threat, it's not because of Train simulators.
Uh, of course, with all respect due to the many members of our erudite community that utterly enjoy the pursuit of both virtual trainzing and model railroading...My take is model railroads is for the uber-riche while the rest of us are given "toys" to play with...
Uh, of course, with all respect due to the many members of our erudite community that utterly enjoy the pursuit of both virtual trainzing and model railroading...
In that I have made the same point, I will balance it with this: men (especially) will sink fortunes into their hobbies. After all, what separates the men from the boys? The cost of their toys. At least that's what my wife told me...![]()