Couplers

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Berkman
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Re: Couplers

Post by Berkman »

It is true that a dollar is worth less and less, but we'd be in a much worse economic situation is inflation was negative or 0.

These products are so niche and low volume, and the time required to make them is so high, that the prices are very "fair" just still a large barrier to entry for a new comer.

Even the "SCOTTY 2-6-0" from another thread- sure very few castings and free drawings, but how much will the boiler cost,and fittings, etc etc all added up.
It's not the various suppliers fault, it's just the lay of the land. I remember LE pacific boilers being in the 3-4K range back in the 90s or so.
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Bill Shields
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Re: Couplers

Post by Bill Shields »

$4000 is a very inexpensive boiler these days. Even a very small copper boiler is going to cost that much since the scale of the labor goes up as the scale of the boiler goes down...building a small boiler is often more work than building a larger one.
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
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Harold_V
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Re: Couplers

Post by Harold_V »

Marty_Knox wrote: Tue Mar 29, 2022 5:30 pm The problem is not how much couplers cost. The real problem is that a dollar is worth less and less.
Bingo!

To get an idea of the value of the dollar these days, just check the price of gold.

Yeah, I understand that we are no longer on a gold standard---but the thing that's important is the fact that an ounce of gold still weighs 480 grains (one troy ounce). It has never changed. It has weighed that amount as long as they've used the troy system of measurement for precious metals. Until 1933, gold was priced @ $20.67/ounce, then the government devalued the dollar, raising the price to $35.00.
I can still remember when first class postage was 3¢, and a penny post card bought you the card as well as the postage. I can still remember when diesel was 18¢/gallon, and that a new car could be procured for $1,500. I paid $18,750 for my first house, a new one in a new sub-division. Anyone here eat box cereal? I recall the days when it was 35¢---and a pack of Wrigley's Spearmint gum was 3¢ at Safeway.

How I yearn for the "good old days" when the dollar was still worth 30¢.

H
Wise people talk because they have something to say. Fools talk because they have to say something.
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Dick_Morris
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Re: Couplers

Post by Dick_Morris »

I can also remember when minimum wage for one of my first jobs went up to $1.25, but my employer only paid me $.50 and hour for the first couple of months because I was "in training." I also remember when I got married got our first B&W TV, probably 17". I believe it cost just shy of $100. So the high costs today are a bit of a mixed bag.
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Bill Shields
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Re: Couplers

Post by Bill Shields »

and at that we were getting 2x what we were worth...
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
Pontiacguy1
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Re: Couplers

Post by Pontiacguy1 »

It's like a friend of mine told me once: "you gotta pay to play." Almost anything that you enjoy doing, especially a machine and mechanically heavy hobby like this one, is going to cost a lot to participate in. Yeah, I hate the fact that a pair of couplers costs $91 now, and a pair of trucks is over $500, but at least they are still available, and I can get whatever I need or can afford. The hobby really would be short-circuited if there was no availability of trucks and couplers. I know how much our costs have gone up, I'm sure our hobby suppliers are seeing the exact same thing, or even worse.
jcbrock
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Re: Couplers

Post by jcbrock »

FLtenwheeler wrote: Tue Mar 29, 2022 6:04 pm I have purchased all the expensive parts for my locomotive.
I thought I had but then Anthony Duarte started coming out with things I have to have. For example, I was going to 'make do' with a Superscale economy injector I'd bought 20 years ago, but then the 2.5" monitor injectors come out and one is just perfect for the fireman's side...

I applaud our manufacturers for trying to hold the line as long as they have. It is a worry raising the barrier to new folks entering the hobby, but those who want to play will find a way. Maybe more building and less buying, maybe a resurgence of the smaller scales?
John Brock
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cbrew
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Re: Couplers

Post by cbrew »

does not matter what the hobby it, they all cost many, try restoring a classic car.
If it is not live steam. its not worth it.
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Chris Hollands
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Re: Couplers

Post by Chris Hollands »

Look at the other side of the coin machine tools 25-30 years ago the average person could never afford a new or fairly new lathe or mill or the tooling but now you can pretty well buy what you require at a cheap price compared to years ago - so there is good and bad .

And yes a lot of things have gone overseas - there is no point in complaining about loosing industries it is our own fault that is why places like harbour freight exist because the average person looks at the Chinese item and the US/CDN item and goes that Chinese item is cheap I buy that - I'm not buying the US stuff it to expensive .
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cbrew
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Re: Couplers

Post by cbrew »

Chris Hollands wrote: Wed Mar 30, 2022 11:21 am person looks at the Chinese item and the US/CDN item and goes that Chinese item is cheap I buy that - I'm not buying the US stuff it to expensive .
this is a double edge sword,
I have stepped up to buy US and have often been disappointed cause the quality does not live up to the cost.
I remember buying USA made end mills. the grind they had would skate off mild steel, the china cheap cut the steel like it was butter.

at least i have a lower expectation with the cheap china stuff.
buy 5 5 dollar end mills vs 1 25 dollar end mill,,, well, i am sure you see my point.
If it is not live steam. its not worth it.
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Greg_Lewis
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Re: Couplers

Post by Greg_Lewis »

I have thought from time to time about the cost of the hobby, and I find it to be fairly cheap when calculated by the cost per hour of enjoyment, and when compared to some other hobbies. My wife is a bookkeeper extradorinaire and knows exactly what we've spent down to the penny, so it's easy to find out what I've spent on trains.

For me the fun is making things, and the cost of that is quite low. For example, the side rods for my engine came from a bar of steel I found at a scrapyard for less than a buck, and I spent a week turning that into the side rods. I made a pattern for my drivers and had them cast in iron. In today's money those castings would cost me $50 each; $300 total. So I spent perhaps 20 hours on the pattern and another 30 hours machining the castings. So 50 hours of fun for $300 works out to $6 per hour. Not bad, I think.

Now to be fair, the cost of my lathe and mill and all the related tooling should be factored into that. Over 30 years I've spent perhaps $4000 on the lathe and tooling, and let's just say the same for the mill. So that works out to $266 per year.

Club dues are $75 per year. It costs me about $170 for the diesel fuel to go to a meet. We're there for about 2 1/2 days. Take out the time we're sleeping and we get about 28 hours of fun. So that works out to $8.75 per hour (my wife goes too so that's only $4.38 per person). You don't get that at Disneyland!

Since the beginning of January I've been out in my shop perhaps an average of 10 hours per week and the total spent in those three months has been $25 and change, so that's only 20 cents per hour. The total I spent in all hobby related stuff last year was $1197, and the year before was $983. And that's more than it really was as my wife puts some shop stuff that's really for the house into that category. If I spent ten hours a week on the hobby, that works out to less than $2.30 per hour.

I don't know how much it costs to play golf or to buy a bass boat, and I'm sure there are hobbies that cost next to nothing, but for me the enjoyment and satisfaction I get, and the fact that I end up with something to show for the time spent (and ends up being worth more than what I spent to make it), is quite cheap and well worth it.
Greg Lewis, Prop.
Eyeball Engineering — Home of the dull toolbit.
Our motto: "That looks about right."
Celebrating 35 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.
Asteamhead
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Re: Couplers

Post by Asteamhead »

Hello Greg,
Thank you for your precise documentation :!: of the cost of our hobby!
Believe me, it's the same story here in Europe, too. My personal calculation goes similar to your's: In case my shop work would be worth much less than about 5 Euro per hour, I'll look for available parts to be produced elsewhere. This becomes true in many cases for laser- or water-cut parts, if possible :idea: . And it's mostly true for standard or highly special parts as trucks, couplers and so on! And for injectors I go for Excentric Engineer anyway :)
When I was asked by visitors or friends, if my hobby showed to be extremely costly, my standard answer was: "It's not more costly over the years than for example skiing" :) Me, I have much more fun by constructing and making parts than I had with skiing or playing gulf, yet :D
Now, when costs of nickel (stainless steel), bronze and other raw materials are sky-rocketing :x , we are to spare a beer or beef now and then in favour to continue doing our hobby.
Country singer Tom T. Hall had it, when he once sang "When gas was 30 cents a gallon ..."

Let`s go on and finish our projects, shouldn't we?
Best regards
Asteamhead
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A T 95 spring hangers made of raw material. Needed Time for making of stainless steel less than 2 hours apiece. No CNC, just using a very old mill.
A T 95 spring hangers made of raw material. Needed Time for making of stainless steel less than 2 hours apiece. No CNC, just using a very old mill.
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