I haven't seen the Bachmann 'girls' in a couple of years. The used to be a fixture at the Greenberg shows in this area. They were first row on the left as one entered. Back in the day they were known as the 'Bachmann Babes'.
Me neither. I rarely buy rolling stock anymore, enjoying what I have. Even my cars dating from the '70s make me smile, rolling along with their loads of memories. If I buy a car these days, it's a souvenir car of a road local to a family vacation destination and I enjoy these very much.
Good point. I'm going to trying scratch building and improving cheap cars while I can. Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
Don't confuse the higher price on better details. Atlas' Trainman line is the same old, same old. Case in point, the Atlas 90 ton hopper. I think the first ones I bought were about $2.00-$2.49 MSRP each. That was back the 1980's. In the 1990's I think they sold for $4.95-6.95 depending on in which year. Today same car only now with Accumate couplers (which are no improvement) is $19.95 MSRP. That is a bout a 335% increase. By contrast, in the 1980's a bulk pack of MT truck/couplers, sufficient to do 10 cars, were only $29.99. Today that same bulk pack, sufficient to do 10 cars, is $43.80. This is the discounted price from a prominent online E-tailer. (Same one I used to buy the MT's from at $29.99 before.) I used the discounted price because I knew the discounted price I paid back when I first used MT's but I did not know what the MSRP was back then. (I am tempted to say $39.99 but not sure.) So the MT trucks/couplers increased 146% while the Atlas 90 ton hopper increased about 325%. So what do we attribute the difference? Can't be extra detail as there is none (The Accumate coupler is a throwaway just like the Rapido before it.) Assembly? The MT couplers require more assembly time. Can't be raw materials or design as the design hasn't changed for either one. How about labor cost? The MT is made in the US while the Atlas car is now made in China (to take advantage of cheaper labor.) The Atlas car is painted and pad printed but this adds only minimal cost as evidenced by the difference in decorated vs undecorated versions. I think the reason is that, because of the China situation, production time is more limited today so production runs are smaller and the old supply and demand equation results in higher prices. This is pure speculation on my part as I am not privy to any insider 'proprietary' information. And I will be glad to hear from anyone who does have such information. All I know is that today's prices there are very few people who are enticed to enter the hobby.
Think of your legacy cars as 'inventory.' They are unique in that they have a car number that, in all probability, has not been rerun since. Would anyone who wants better detail on their cars want cars with the same car numbers? That's sort of hypocritical, don't you think?
I blame higher car prices on the "want more details" crowd. And quite honestly, I'm getting tired of opening a new box of rolling stock and spending 5 minutes trying to figure out where to pick it up from without breaking anything.
I am honestly fine with the prices today. I just ran through new car prices at a couple of my favorite online spots. There are cars from $7.00 to over $25. No one is forced to buy anything. These are choices we make. If you want to but a train set for someone coming into the hobby you can get a train, track and power for $70. Not bad. I have my order in for some higher priced freight cars. I'm okay with the prices, because I feel I'll get the value I need to out of them. Don't like the prices: don't buy it. If you think you could make the same items for less: do it. I am seeing lots of grumbling, but I don't see anyone stepping up to offer a different option. These companies are in business to make money. And don't give me the BS about "If they dropped the price 30%, they'd sell twice as many." If you think that's true, lay out the cash and put your own freight car on the market. With all the money you'll be making I'm sure you could have a couple locos on the market by years end too!
I offered an option earlier... I will buy 'used' before I pay what amounts to extortion $$$$$$ for a new one.
It would be better for the model railroad industry overall if more modelers would be enticed to join in. The prices are a significant deterrent though... $20 to $30 for rolling stock is rough for most budgets. I doubt we can go back to the $8 to $12 rolling stock number unless we return to a very basic... non detailed inferior quality model. Then... the screaming will be that the products are cheap and unreliable. I know there are lots of 'modelers' who can make lemonade out of lemons... but... it would be a turn off for new-comers if the products were as bad as much of the 1960' N scale was back then.
Bachmann is the most basic... non detailed inferior quality models there are and they're still over $30. Jason
You can get Atlas trainman for less than $10 when they hit the online retailers. If you want something with metal walkways, metal wheels or body mounted couplers, you will pay more.s
For some reason ,people think that N scale rolling stock depreciates as it ages. That bit about letting the "factory air" out by opening the jewel case was worth a chuckle at the time but that was all it was worth. Depreciation may be true for auto's and appliances to take into account for wear and tear and their usefulness going forward. But does rolling stock really depreciate where its future usefulness is impacted? I say no. I can see where locomotives can depreciate because of wear and tear but there really is nothing that wears out that lowers the cars value. Some may say that the wheels and trucks wear but they can be replaced easily and rather cheaply. But the basic car doesn't wear out and if the company is producing the same car today as it did twenty or thirty years ago then why should the car be less than current price? By the way, as some have stated here already, this secondary market for used equipment will have a negative impact on any new product being introduced.
Right, my point is that just because a model isn't highly detailed, that doesn't automatically mean it will be more affordable. If there's been one problem with high price, high quality models, it's that other manufacturer are taking advantage of the pricing by jacking up their prices on lessor models. Jason
It's HO for me and I've been in model trains about sixty years. The models have improved in detail over the years but the Athearn Blue Box and MDC/ Roundhouse kits were excellent. A boxcar kit cost $1.59 now a supposed ready to run boxcar costs $25
