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Post by david1 on Aug 12, 2024 4:27:13 GMT
Two guys who have been friends for some decades were over my apartment for a reunion of sort. We haven't seen each other in quite awhile. Thinking of them still being into trains and finding out both have left the hobby was disappointing. So we had lunch and ran some of my trains.
They were telling me how they are disappointed at the hobby in general. Prices are beyond what they can afford and it seems they are not the target market anymore. I told them that my thoughts are close to there's.
But then I told them they could still be into trains and not spend a ton of money.
I told them about the secondary market and Menards. I showed them what I have bought on the secondary market and some of the cars and engines I bought from Menards. They were wowed by what I bought and what Menards is making.
They told me they just may get back into trains after being away from it for the past 6-7 years.
Apparently they didn't look around alot when not into the hobby. They thought they would have to spend thousands to get back into the hobby. I would say that is a wrong assumption!!
If this is what some are thinking then LIONEL, MTH and others should be rethinking what they are doing.
I'm just glad two long lost friends are back in the hobby!!!!!
Dave
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mopac
Junior Member
Posts: 99
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Post by mopac on Aug 12, 2024 5:10:10 GMT
If this is what some are thinking then LIONEL, MTH and others should be rethinking what they are doing. Dave Menard is the nation's third-largest home improvement chain behind Home Depot and Lowe's. Its stores sell lumber and home improvement products such as hardware, tools and paint. Menard is also involved in residential real estate development, with several large subdivisions under construction and development in Indiana and Illinois. Menards's annual revenue is $10.0B. Zippia's data science team found the following key financial metrics about Menards after extensive research and analysis. Menards has 45,000 employees, and the revenue per employee ratio is $222,222. Menards peak revenue was $10.0B in 2023.
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Post by steveoncattailcreek on Aug 12, 2024 5:34:55 GMT
Congrat's on showing your friends the way back into the hobby, Dave! I have never ceased to be amazed at the widely divergent aspects of the hobby that have occupied -- dare I say obsessed? -- segments of those of us within the hobby, and how little or how much that can cost. I daresay some have spent more on a single high-end locomotive than I have *in total* for my modest fleet of mostly PW, mostly Marx rolling stock, and my two home layouts (which have each undergone *many* transformations!). Of late, I've been happily burrowing into animations, both pre-built and home-brew, and scratch building, and have even found a much larger canvas to play with, by working with the RFC train garden on several projects. The bottom line is that, as long as you're willing to be open minded and clever in how you approach the hobby, model railroading has many different tracks you can follow!  |
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Post by david1 on Aug 12, 2024 6:15:03 GMT
Congrat's on showing your friends the way back into the hobby, Dave! The bottom line is that, as long as you're willing to be open minded and clever in how you approach the hobby, model railroading has many different tracks you can follow! I am amazed how many ways that you can enjoy this hobby. For those that have unlimited funds the hobby is your oyster. If like my friends and myself who don't have unlimited funds there are many ways to enjoy this hobby. Myself I like scale size trains but not beholden to it. If the car or engine looks right its on my layout. I also like fantasy schemes and although some friends cannot believe I would have them. The whole point of this hobby is to have fun and however you do it is the right way. And since 1970 when I bought my first train engine from Lionel (A U36B) in SF (I think) non scale locomotive of which I didn't know or care at the time but it was great That I got it and paid $37.50 for it. $305.00 today. I thought it was the best scale locomotive ever!! So after all these years I still like O gauge trains and having more fun than I should. Dave
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Post by rtraincollector on Aug 12, 2024 6:40:59 GMT
If it wasn't so expensive and pain in the neck to ship stuff, I probably would sell a lot of mine, not because of lost of interest, but because of age and no one to leave it to. I would keep some as enjoy having them, Only things I buy now would be pieces for parts or something really interesting to me. The last big purchase I made probably over a month ago as it was the only way I was going to be able to complete a set of passenger cars so now I have an extra Orange prewar combo and observation cars. (429 & 430 )
My purchases have been secondary market probably for over 10 years. You have those who money doesn't matter they have to have the newest bells and whistles. ( they have deep pockets also. ) Me I have legacy light for my TMCC & Legacy engines and I'm also very content running things in conventional.
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Post by josef on Aug 12, 2024 10:13:53 GMT
I also have a friend who was into model trains. He had his layout in his garage, but HO. He sold the house and his layout. Now after 3 years he wants to get back into it but looking to get into O because of poor eyesight. Were as, I told him I was interested into switching to HO. He asked what I would take for everything I had in O he might be interested. So I gave him a price for everything I had. He said he would think it over and talk to the wife.
We'll see.
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Post by firewood on Aug 12, 2024 15:16:07 GMT
Great save, Dave! I’ve also been preaching the saturated secondary market to anyone who looks at new pricing and shakes their head. It’s still a good bang for the buck if you stay choosy but are willing to compromise.
Dave
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Post by superwarp1 on Aug 12, 2024 15:20:35 GMT
If you stay in O gauge the only way to survive is the secondary market, IMO and even that's getting crazy price wise.
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Post by runamuckchuck on Aug 12, 2024 20:30:32 GMT
If it wasn't so expensive and pain in the neck to ship stuff, I probably would sell a lot of mine, not because of lost of interest, but because of age and no one to leave it to. I would keep some as enjoy having them, Only things I buy now would be pieces for parts or something really interesting to me. The last big purchase I made probably over a month ago as it was the only way I was going to be able to complete a set of passenger cars so now I have an extra Orange prewar combo and observation cars. (429 & 430 )
My purchases have been secondary market probably for over 10 years. You have those who money doesn't matter they have to have the newest bells and whistles. ( they have deep pockets also. ) Me I have legacy light for my TMCC & Legacy engines and I'm also very content running things in conventional. Some auction houses such as Cabin Fever depending upon your location will send a truck to pick up your stuff for a fee.
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Post by atsda on Aug 12, 2024 21:29:58 GMT
Dave, great that you brought friends back into the hobby. Alfred
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Post by Adam on Aug 12, 2024 22:40:18 GMT
Good work Dave!
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Post by rtraincollector on Aug 13, 2024 4:20:17 GMT
If it wasn't so expensive and pain in the neck to ship stuff, I probably would sell a lot of mine, not because of lost of interest, but because of age and no one to leave it to. I would keep some as enjoy having them, Only things I buy now would be pieces for parts or something really interesting to me. The last big purchase I made probably over a month ago as it was the only way I was going to be able to complete a set of passenger cars so now I have an extra Orange prewar combo and observation cars. (429 & 430 )
My purchases have been secondary market probably for over 10 years. You have those who money doesn't matter they have to have the newest bells and whistles. ( they have deep pockets also. ) Me I have legacy light for my TMCC & Legacy engines and I'm also very content running things in conventional. Some auction houses such as Cabin Fever depending upon your location will send a truck to pick up your stuff for a fee. And by the time there done you get about $0.10 on the dollar for what they are worth. As it is you get $0.35 of value selling to them. I sent 2 of them a list and that was about what they offered.
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Post by josef on Aug 13, 2024 11:59:53 GMT
If it wasn't so expensive and pain in the neck to ship stuff, I probably would sell a lot of mine, not because of lost of interest, but because of age and no one to leave it to. I would keep some as enjoy having them, Only things I buy now would be pieces for parts or something really interesting to me. The last big purchase I made probably over a month ago as it was the only way I was going to be able to complete a set of passenger cars so now I have an extra Orange prewar combo and observation cars. (429 & 430 )
My purchases have been secondary market probably for over 10 years. You have those who money doesn't matter they have to have the newest bells and whistles. ( they have deep pockets also. ) Me I have legacy light for my TMCC & Legacy engines and I'm also very content running things in conventional. Some auction houses such as Cabin Fever depending upon your location will send a truck to pick up your stuff for a fee. Your correct on this. 6 weeks ago I went through contacting on selling one everything. I thought about several sites auctioning myself but shipping and packaging would be not only a long process, but costly. Yes, they would pick-up everything for a costly fee. So the few that were interested, I made them an offer below what I was offered, (knowing that fully if I sold to one of the auction houses they would raise price above what they offered me, and yes, I would have a fee for having two of them come pick everything up). Only time will tell if those I made the offers to still want them. The other option I have seriously considered is donating and writing off the full value on my income tax. I don't want to get out of model railroading, just the constant price hikes, generic items with just different decals and coloring added. There is so much more available in HO and yes even N scale.
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Post by madockawando on Aug 15, 2024 18:49:50 GMT
Some auction houses such as Cabin Fever depending upon your location will send a truck to pick up your stuff for a fee. Your correct on this. 6 weeks ago I went through contacting on selling one everything. I thought about several sites auctioning myself but shipping and packaging would be not only a long process, but costly. Yes, they would pick-up everything for a costly fee. So the few that were interested, I made them an offer below what I was offered, (knowing that fully if I sold to one of the auction houses they would raise price above what they offered me, and yes, I would have a fee for having two of them come pick everything up). Only time will tell if those I made the offers to still want them. The other option I have seriously considered is donating and writing off the full value on my income tax. I don't want to get out of model railroading, just the constant price hikes, generic items with just different decals and coloring added. There is so much more available in HO and yes even N scale.
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