model railroading enthusiasts are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Oh my. Is this number all about total costs of the stuff IN the room, or just the room?

Because my "in a couple bonuses" project is to build a space for the ultimate NCR layout. Based on a recent $30k bathroom project, I KNOW that ain't gonna be cheap!

[C855B]

Just like everything else, $100K ain't what it used to be. That Atlas ore jennie I bought in 1969 for $1.75 MSRP now goes for 10X that. Have I spent over $100,000? In today's money, over the course of 50 years, you betcha.

This article is clickbait, especially given the mention of popular celebrities afflicted with the hobby.

So... meh. 

[jereising]

It was a good article, what used to be called "Sunday Supplement" material.  And given where it appeared, no surprise that big money was headlined.

And @Mark W absolutely no offense taken.  I've got pandemic brain at this point and have turned almost virulently negative on the subject of the press.

I'm surprised the author didn't mention Warren Buffet while she was at it - rumor has it he has a substantial Lionel layout in the third floor attic of his Omaha home.

I suspect of the three celebs mentioned we'd be most comfortable with Mr. Stewart.  In the MR articles I've seen he sounds a lot like us

[porkypine52]

Every so often I get the question:  How much money do you have in your trains?  I don't know, I don't care, and I'm HAPPY with my trains.  They help retain my sanity from day to day.  I can go to the basement, tell the world to go take a hike and RELAX.  This is my Hobby, MY stress reliever.  Never been much of a drinking man, TV is a joke, Facebook is for people with nothing else to do but gripe, YOUTUBE has some good stuff, but I would rather be working on my railroad.  And if you don't like it, the door is right over there, don't let it hit you in the a** on the way out.  So as long as I don't waste housing, utility, or other Household obligated money.  It's none of anybody else's business how much and what I spend on my Hobby.

PS:  I have been a card carrying member of the National Model Railroading Association for over 40+ years now.  Some of the BEST money spent.  Good people, good fellowship, have seen and learned a bunch thru the NMRA.


DIESELS?!?!?! We don't need NO stinkin' Diesels!!!
The INDIANA RAILWAY.......Still 100% Steam Powered in 2020

A person who never made a mistake, never tried anything NEW   Albert Einstein

[Jbub]

Other hobbies people participate in.

Boating,

New boat and trailer could cost that. Old boat and trailer could cost that with the money black hole they are.

RV camping

Average travel trailer is around 20k-50k right now, mega 5th wheel trailer around 80k. Plus all the crap one puts in there for camping. If you get a new motor home over 100k for sure.  If you buy used it quite a bit less expensive but still eats up discretionary income.

Shooting sport

Have you seen some people gun collection? Definitely able to hit the 100k threshold without considering ammo usage.

Aviation (the biggest black hole of them all)

Sure, you can get a used Cessna 172 from 1956 for 20k but more likely you'll find people flying a 70's era 172 going for 3 times that. Also the plane is the cheapest part of flying, average four seater holds 40-50 gallons of avgas at 4-6 dollars a gallon and a fuel burn rate of 10 gallons per hour. That's not including, insurance, hangar or ramp rental fees, maintenance... yeah 100k for a train room seems reasonable compared to other sporting hobbies.

[Mark W]

Every so often I get the question:  How much money do you have in your trains?  I don't know, I don't care, and I'm HAPPY with my trains.

Well, yes, but also no.   

As your daily escape, yes, who cares, trains are fun.
As your lifetime collection/investment, put some dollar signs together for the sake of your insurance!


I think this is one of lessor, if not the least, known benefits of going modular.  Purchased and accumulated equipment value is fairly easy to identify and calculate.  But most people forget about the layout itself!  I have each module insured as a 'work of art', and boy do declarations add up quickly!  If something were to happen and I lost everything, I'd be getting well into 6 figures.  Of course this coverage is a bit pricey itself, but well worth the piece of mind, especially for a traveling layout!

[pedro]

Other hobbies people participate in.

Boating,
RV camping
Shooting sport
Aviation (the biggest black hole of them all)

I see your “Aviation“ and raise you “Horses.” And my wife only has ONE.

I once asked my primary N scale dealer to print me out a report of all of my purchases for insurance purposes, since I knew he used quickbooks as his point of sale software. At that time it was about 10 years of sales. Seeing it in black and white was a shock. I guarantee you all that you’ve spent way, way more than you realize.

[MK]

I guarantee you all that you’ve spent way, way more than you realize.

Oh this is so true!

[CRL]

BOAT...

Break
Out
Another
Thousand

BOAT.

[jdcolombo]

Oh my. Is this number all about total costs of the stuff IN the room, or just the room?

Because my "in a couple bonuses" project is to build a space for the ultimate NCR layout. Based on a recent $30k bathroom project, I KNOW that ain't gonna be cheap!

The article has language about "outfitting" a train room.  I took it to mean over $100K for the room and "stuff" in the room (benchwork, track, scenery, rolling stock, engines, control system, etc.) not necessarily just the cost of actually building the room.

John C.

[Maletrain]

To put this in some realistic perspective, I am still buying model train stuff at about the same rate, but I am not going out to eat at all, due to COVID-19.  My credit card bill has dropped by something like 70%, and I am still paying monthly for stuff like that YMCA gym membership that we are not about to restart using right now.  So, if somebody wants to talk about an expensive "hobby", I suspect that "eating out" is where most people in the U.S. "unnecessarily" sink a lot of their income.  Fortunately, I have a wife that cooks extremely good meals, and we really just ate out to give her a break, before we became COVID hermits. (And I am doubly fortunate that she also likes model trains.)

[djconway]

Boat -- A hole in the water surrounded by wood or fiberglass into which men dump money.

[Jbub]

To put this in some realistic perspective, I am still buying model train stuff at about the same rate, but I am not going out to eat at all, due to COVID-19.  My credit card bill has dropped by something like 70%, and I am still paying monthly for stuff like that YMCA gym membership that we are not about to restart using right now.  So, if somebody wants to talk about an expensive "hobby", I suspect that "eating out" is where most people in the U.S. "unnecessarily" sink a lot of their income.  Fortunately, I have a wife that cooks extremely good meals, and we really just ate out to give her a break, before we became COVID hermits. (And I am doubly fortunate that she also likes model trains.)

I worked with a guy that was in his late 40's, single, never married who had a lot of classic cars and a couple houses. He said the most expensive thing he owned was his belly.

[Chris333]

Guess the cost of all my trains depends on what I bill myself for the time.

[Rossford Yard]

To put this in some realistic perspective, I am still buying model train stuff at about the same rate, but I am not going out to eat at all, due to COVID-19.  My credit card bill has dropped by something like 70%, and I am still paying monthly for stuff like that YMCA gym membership that we are not about to restart using right now.  So, if somebody wants to talk about an expensive "hobby", I suspect that "eating out" is where most people in the U.S. "unnecessarily" sink a lot of their income.  Fortunately, I have a wife that cooks extremely good meals, and we really just ate out to give her a break, before we became COVID hermits. (And I am doubly fortunate that she also likes model trains.)

I'm with you, and my credit card bill has also dropped.  The three main items on my monthly bill were restaurants and trains, with hockey tickets (paid monthly right now) filling out the "discretionary" part of my budget.

To stay on topic, I did convert an 8 x 17 unfinished attic to my train room back in 2016.  All numbers approximate and from memory:

$160 peel and stick floor tiles installed myself.
$1700 to insulate room with spray foam (and I supposedly got a deal from one of my wife's clients)  It was needed to keep cool from the adjacent no AC attic.
$50 for an insulated door jam (again to insulate from Attic
$1450 for wall board, to cut in AC vents from existing system, build cabinets and storage shelfs above tracks (actually used pre made cabinets from earlier layout as base.
$50 in paint cabinets below and for the sky blue back drop (painted right on smooth wall), and paint stencil for clouds
$250 for LED tape lights, a few puck lights
Say $90 for stuff I forgot since then

Grand total $3750 or $27.55 per sq foot.  Or, as I like to think about it, about 25 DCC N scale diesel locos I couldn't buy.

2 of my 3 previous three layouts were housed in finished game rooms, so wall painting and/or fiberboard sky backdrops the biggest cost.  However, probably cost that same $26 SF to clean the room up when I moved.....

1 layout, I moved from game room to garage in my post divorce town house.  Had to have SOO build a storage/lights superstructure above it, don't know what that cost off hand.  Add in $500 portable AC units (cheaper now), $350 in Fluorescent light fixtures, probably a dozen at $25-30 .  Also, a pain to remove when I sold.

Yes, building a layout room out of an unfinished basement might even be more expensive, with carpet, full AC, etc. etc. etc.