Just A Thought.

[Mountain Goat]

Now this morning I saw the proposed retail price of some lovely new coaches and they do look nice! But at a proposed £60 each (Or are they each? Is £60 for the rake of three. It is unclear) are they a little too dear for most peoples pockets? Yes, with inflation as it stands that £60 will most likely seem cheap in the not too distant future and they are lovely looking models, but what is the limit to how much the prices in our hobby go up before the hobby collapses as models can no longer be made to the standards desired due to costs of producing them will meet the maximum price that the average modeller can afford to pay?

Are we now reaching a point where less and less modellers are buying and therefore prices are going up and up because production runs are far less than in the past?
The past limited editions were limited to runs of 5000 and then 1000... But these seem today like ordinary production run figures?

The tight squeeze in this hobby comes from another direction in the form of 3D printing, and ok, at the moment as good as 3D printers are (And they can make some lovely models in themselves!) they are not quite there compared to todays ready to run finescale models, but they are certainly up to yesterdays models in what we now deem to be in the lovable Railroad range by Hornby (And I am not knocking that range as if it wasn't for that range, some of us would not know where to turn to buy new models).
But the competition from the 3D side is certainly something to take note.
I have recently ordered two 3D model loco bodies in 7mm scale narrow gauge at a cost of £20 each which will take a little while before they will get to me so I eagerly await. These will be my first 3D examples to come my way so it is rather exciting. The bodies are designed to fit on those little Hornby Railroad 0-4-0's so I really can't go wrong! Cheap and cheerful modelling!
But is this where our hobby is taking us in the future and I don't neccessarily mean 3D?
We do not know, but if prices continue to rise faster than peoples income, then we may well see some dramatic changes in the future. This hobby could be set to change! The question is will the manufacturers out there be ready for change if or when it comes? I can understand what I say can be frightening to the manufacturers, especially the smaller ones, but planning ahead now may put them in a position that if it does come they can survive.
And this is what I want to see. Both the modeller being able to buy what they want, and the manufacturers earning themselves the money they need to survive, and the small kit builders happily churning out their kits as well so we are all happy.
The problem we have at the moment is where a potential newcomer looking at the hobby may see the higher prices of the beautiful models and not be aware that there are budget ways to start off in the hobby and one does not have to spend a lot unless one wants to as it is a shame when some see the prices and decide it is not for them.

[Bandit Mick]

Yes it is a worry MG. As we demand more intricate models then so will the price increase and often beyond the means of many. Cars are the same - more and more technology and ‘toys’ means a higher retail price and often a higher price for spares, servicing etc. As lovely as detailed models are, perhaps there comes a time to consider simpler and cheaper alternatives but hopefully keep the better running qualities. If models continue to rise in price then people may spend their hard earned somewhere else. Add to this the fact that there are many other things to attract young people and model railways still at times elicit sniggers from some, we need to find ways of attracting young blood to the hobby.

[yelrow]

You have not got a prayer in my view of attracting youngsters at these ridiculous prices. Hobby is becoming for wealthy people only. The Railroad range was designed to help , but has not gone ahead as I thought. People are demanding more detail, and this is driving up prices. I, have bought nothing new for 4 years now, and I am sure, I am not alone.

[Mountain Goat]

About a few weeks before Christmas we had a visitor from a lady I know with her two children. She came to ask where she could buy a trainset for her son as he wanted one. I had not realized how quickly prices had gone up and I assumed there should be plenty around the £60 price range and if one is lucky one should get one at £45.
She said the cheapest she found was £80 and some were around £1300 or more. Rather puzzled I spent the next day or two looking on the internet. Do you think I could find any 00 gauge trainset running on "Proper" metal rails for under £60! Not a single one!
I think the cheapest I could find and that was previously used for sale in Hattons was £65. And plenty of adverts in the £1300 to £1700 range of what seems to be enough to run two trains on a trackmat board so one has double track and sidings etc... Way too expensive if you ask me... They are trying it on!!!

But seriously! Where had the budget trainsets gone? The ones designed to help people make a start. I actually struggled to find any trainset in stock anywhere in any make! All labelled as either out of stock, or waiting for new range to come in or they were so pricy it was not worth mentioning them.

The Mum decided to wait for his birthday instead in the hope they could get something then. They were making plans as they have a nice usable attic. No trainset yet as far as I am aware. I might try and help them if the kid is still interested. Need a little controller as I use my little 12vDC one for testing. We shall see.

[bulleidboy]

There is a train set available from Hornby for £79.99 (say £80), it is pretty basic, but does come complete with loco, wagons, track and controller. So a youngster could have something up and running quickly. For very few £'s some Hornby straight track would give something a little bigger than what comes in the box. The problem is that a lot of established railway modellers are looking for more and more detail - and as we know detail costs money.
I think we might find more Limited Editions and limited to 500 coming to the market - retailers will not want shelves full of expensive models.
I think that nowadays unless your dad/uncle is into model railways, and a youngster gets drawn into it at an early age, it will be a hobby for older/retired people.
This is a £1300 set - I have to say, you do get alot for your money - it's a large layout - bigger than many would have the space for. Whether added up the individual items would come to £1300?

https://www.jadlamracingmodels.com/horn ... -2-trains/

[yelrow]

my lady wife looked up Mehano and found some good well priced sets. I have a couple of their locos. They do run well. However, i agree totally with Barry. Taint fashionable, either, for a youngster. They would prefer a Nintendo.

[Steve M]

As soon as MG mentioned the layout for £1300 I knew it would be Jadlam!

Personally, I wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole - particularly after they allegedly cancelled some customer’s pre-orders last year then put the self same items on sale at a much higher price.

Quite possibly the worst of the boxshifters.

[bulleidboy]

I had the same thought Steve - that's why I knew exactly where to look when MG said a set for £1300.