October 28th, 2009

I'm looking over some pricing for model railroad items and I'm not liking what I see. I have heard it over and over again someone stating "I will gladly pay for" whatever that someone thinks is significant plus for them to enjoy the hobby. For the record, I'm not willing. I don't have the money to put up an additional structure for housing my layout, nor would I if I could. Personally, that borders on the ridiculous. I do not begrudge the people who can and do undertake such projects, I just don't believe their disposable income should speak for the majority of hobbyists. I do not purchase things I cannot afford. No part of the Allegheny Eastern is purchased on time or credit. No money, no model railroad purchases. I am of the opinion that quite a few other model railroaders would agree with me.

I may be totally wrong. Maybe there is so much money to be made that manufacturers can cater to the few that require DCC control and sound and exacting detail that replicates K4 #1453 as it appeared at 30th Street at 9:05AM on June 17th, 1939. Why sell a $10 kit when you can charge $49.95 for an "exact" copy of a PRR scale test car. Since the car is barely bigger than a passenger truck there must be something really wonderful about it. Will it work on my exact replica of a PRR scale track? Can I charge my N scale customers exact rates? Will that cover the $50 cost of the test car?

I just read that a long time supplier of PRR steam kits, Bowser Mfg has recently thrown in the towel. Maybe we don't need to sell a fair to middlin' model of a T1 that can be modified by the purchaser to resemble any one of the 50 4-4-4-4 duplexes that the Pennsy owned or just this one...

The article that announced this debacle made many comments on the fact that the author had advised Bowser on how to "improve" their kits. I may be mistaken, but I thought that was the hobbyist contribution. Bowser provides the raw material in the general shape of a Pennsylvania locomotive. I add the value. Maybe I'm looking at it wrong. I should just forget the Bowser offering ($75-$100) altogether and just purchase the BLI version at $350. That's for the economical "BlueLine" unlettered, DCC and sound version....

Of course, I won't be able to model this particular T-1 without carving up a $400 model, but isn't that what the hobby is all about...Taking two $400 models and bashing them into one model of dubious value...

Maybe I'll just buy the Lego version...

You can get a better picture of all that HO scale Pennsy modelers have lost by visiting Bowser HERE

Granted, the Bowser T1 is an old Penn Line shell from the last century. Many of the Bowser kits were of the same vintage, originally produced by Varney, Arbour, and Hobbytown. Yes there is newer "better" stuff on the market. Maybe Bowser could have retooled and passed the cost on by raising the price. Maybe they could have shipped it all to China and still increased the price. Works for BLI. Maybe that's not Bowser's business model. Maybe they operate in the black and don't borrow money to buy new tooling. Maybe they should not have to do any of these things. Maybe this is a hobby and we should get a grip on ourselves.

So now we have no alternative to vendors like BLI that charge full ticket price for the privilege. Like Athearn and others, Bowser will probably stick with "ready to run" items.  There are few if any "shake the box" kits left on the market. There's more money in the RTR stuff. Hire some kid in China to assemble the thing for $1 a day and sell it for $50.  I wonder how much the item the kid assembles cost? Are we paying $50 to have a $10 kit assembled? Couldn't Athearn have sold that kit direct to the hobbyist? Yes the current RTR product has more detail than previous generations; couldn't they be included in a new generation of kits? I guess the accountants said no.

I know Athearn and Roundhouse no longer exist as independent companies, perhaps that's the biggest reason all this is happening. Perhaps somebody somewhere who has no interest whatsoever in railroads is making decisions that affect our hobby.  No Irv Athearn's or Gordon Varney's or C.H. Menteer's to call the shots and stake their name and reputation on their product. Trains are just another product to go with RC boats and RC planes and a horde of other items that outfits like Horizon Hobby buys and sells at hundreds of million of dollars per year.

There are those of us who, aside from being frugal, actually enjoy carving off cast on details and fitting our own separate ladders and hand grabs and whatever. It is our hobby. We take old Athearn PA's and reshape the brow above the windshield until it looks like the real thing. We rewire our Geeps so that the headlights reverse because we can and we like doing it. We are not collectors, we are model railroaders.

What got me started on this "rant" was the price for a kit for Alto tower. If you're going to model Altoona, PA, this kit would be mighty handy. At least it would if it weren't over $60 for the N scale version. There isn't $60 worth of wood in the HO scale version, which incidentally costs about the same. Why is it worth $60? Maybe I'm paying for the time the laser took to cut the wood. Apparently it takes just as long for a laser to cut the wood for an N scale kit as an HO kit. The laws of physics must change when the laser is turned on.  Maybe I'm just paying for the whole laser with every kit.  I think I'll cut my own wood, thank you very much. I may spring for a new Xacto blade with the money I save. Either way it'll cost a lot less than $60. I can spend the rest of the money on more second hand locomotives or a new battery for my automobile.

I know, if I don't like it, don't have to buy it. My point exactly. I'm not buying it. That's fine with me. What peeves me is the shrinking source of low cost alternatives. Seems as how someone could make a decent amount of money filling this need. It won't be Bill Gates or Warren Buffet kind of money, but it might buy a decent car, or even sustain a model railroad hobby. Don't be too surprised if you find the Allegheny Eastern logo on a line of affordable model railroad supplies someday.

Well I think that's about it for now...Thanks for listening.