# Cost of your layout....



## joed2323 (Oct 17, 2010)

Like the title states, if a person is trying to start from nowhere, as in just getting into the hobby it could be rather expensive to do it right.

Do you guys ever keep track of what you have into your layout as in how much it costed to lay all your track and rd bed.

I guess you could put the contruction of the bench work infront of this, but if a person has alot of scrap wood laying around then this may not cost much at all to build the bench work.

Then you have all your locos and cars to make the layout what it is, i know some have a huge collection of cars they never use, so guess a person could add that up to if need be.

You also have every structure/ scenery added to your layout costs.

Then you have the source of powering your layout either dc or dcc.

Most ppl probably have been collecting for years so the cost doesnt seem alot perhaps.

Nobody ever said hobbies are cheap but wow, its never ending on what a person could spend on a layout if need be. I could easily see were it wouldnt take long to easily go over 1000 bucks easy.

I gotta start from scratch and i can easily see myself dropping 500 bucks on one visit to the hobby shop or online this week


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## Conductorjoe (Dec 1, 2011)

$1,000 ? Well I think I spent about that much in last month or two since I jumped back into the hobby to build another layout. 
And I have also been collecting for years.
However I know others who are into off road racing and spends Thousands $$
Another who spends $1000's on hunting gear.
Just a different Hobby or interest.
When I can I support shops in So Cal and when I cannot get there I purchase online. I try to get bargains when I can, but never ever keep track of how much I spent.
Just now won a Ebay Auction for a Custom Painted Kato Loco. Would have paid $100 for it but got it for $59. No one seemed to want it and it slipped thru.
I have thought about extra Insurance for all I have but I despise insurance companies lol
What is my collection worth? To my daughter, nothing 

To me it is PriceLess .


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## swiggy (Jan 25, 2010)

over 3 years..........................................wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy too much

but enjoyed every second of it:thumbsup:

i would guess 1,000 and going


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Which cost are you talking about? The _real_ cost, or the cost I tell my wife ?!? 

Dohh!


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## NIMT (Jan 6, 2011)

All I'll say is that I've got more invested into my trains and supporting hardware than most have invested in their house! 
It's a very addicting hobby!


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

I really don't spend much at all, I spent more on cigarettes back when I smoked. Replacement value on the other hand, would have me sobbing like a school girl...


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## Southern (Nov 17, 2008)

No i do not keep track of the cost. I do not check the fuel mileage in my boat ether. When I was flying I spent way more one plane rentals than I have ever spent on trains in the same length of time. This can be a cheep hobby if you try to keep it that way.

I never smoked cigs. but like shay said. 2 packs a day x 365 days a year = a lot of trains.


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## MacDaddy55 (Aug 19, 2008)

Hey JoeD, My wife asked me that question a couple of years ago.....and I just rolled my eyes and laughed heartily,as I am now!:laugh::laugh: I'm actually afraid to do it because over time I have invested greatly in this hobby and thought what if I had done something else.....NAH, Forget about it!! But it is alot!!


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## inxy (Dec 10, 2010)

I don't want to know. The wife thinks it is a waste of money. I do not get carried away on spending on the hobby but am not concerned with the cost. I enjoy this hobby.

B


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## raleets (Jan 2, 2011)

I'm like many others......don't care, don't want to know.....I just totally ENJOY the hobby.
I've also been deeply involved in the antique auto hobby for over 25 years. Now, my dear friends, THAT can get expensive!! Chome plating just one bumper can easily be over $500. Need a nicely restored AM only radio? Be ready to part with around $250. The interior upholstery in my '56 Buick was over $4000, and that was 20 years ago!!
Trains? Pretty cheap in comparison. Can't drive 'em like an old car, but they sure make Michigan winters pass along much quicker.
Bob


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## Gansett (Apr 8, 2011)

Conductorjoe said:


> I have thought about extra Insurance for all I have but I despise insurance companies.


I despise insurance companies too and I worked for them for 20 years!!
There comes a point where if you have a loss the company can say your trains aren't covered, that your stuff is over the top for the average person. Or if they ever find you've sold a item, a single item, it's a commercial venture and not covered under a standard homeowners or rental policy.
Which reminds me, I never cancelled the rider for my woodworking tools that I sold almost 2 years ago.
Riders aren't all that expensive. The cost of a DCC setup and several locos adds up pretty fast.


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## Smokinapankake (Sep 8, 2011)

Every hobby is expensive. How expensive is determined by how involved you decide to get. If you don't do much more than a loop on a table then your investment won't be very large. If you fill your basement with trains and cities and mountains, well, that's a different story entirely. 
I have to think that if all you're willing to do is build a loop on the table then I don't think you can really consider it a hobby, more of an occasional distraction. 
I personally get a little chafed at the thought of spending 40 or 50 bucks on a passenger car. Even 20 on a caboose seems excessive to me. They don't DO anything. Locomotives, on the other hand, are easier for me to swallow a 50 dollar pill. They at least go back and forth with a light in them.....

All that being said, only YOU can decide how much you're willing to spend. The hard fact of the matter is that if you want to get involved, be prepared to spend. It's that way with anything.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

My wife tries to track the cost, but I'm oblivious.


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## Gansett (Apr 8, 2011)

When I'm gone and my wife sells my stuff for what I said I paid somebody is going to get a great deal.:laugh:


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## raleets (Jan 2, 2011)

JackC said:


> When I'm gone and my wife sells my stuff for what I said I paid somebody is going to get a great deal.:laugh:


Jack,
Amen, brother! Since a lot of my train stuff came from eBay, I always tell mama I paid 50% of the truth and NEVER mention shipping unless it was FREE shipping, then I make a big deal out of it! 
Bob


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

I've never hidden the value of my trains. In fact, I've been putting together a portfolio of them so that, should I pass, she'll have no problem getting a good return on them. We are both quite fluent on eBay, so she'll have no problem selling it all down and avoiding the buzzards that flock around model train estates.


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## sstlaure (Oct 12, 2010)

I've probably got close to $4K total into my layout and everything associated with it. This has been spread out over 3 years, so you're really only looking at $100-150/month on average. (Some months more, other months nothing.) 

There are plenty of more expensive hobbies out there and if it is something that makes you happy, there isn't any reason why you shouldn't be allowed to enjoy it. No one needs to understand except yourself.


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

I have done the classic car restoration thing, really enjoy it and I spent about $2000 making this:










Look like this:










and I was no where near finished. The $2000 is just the money out of my own pocket, I had a few of the more expensive things given to me as a gift, like the new interior but that was only another $1500 at the most. The reason it was so cheap to get that far with that car is I did all the work my self and the engine did not need any work. Not all of them are that lucky. I will prolly do this again one day but right now I dont have a garage to tear into a new project.

I also dabble in R/C boats. Talk about expensive!!  I have boats that cost over $1000 and I cant even ride in them!! One of my tugs (the Tito Neri) had a price tag of over $1000 shipped to my door, and I built her as far as I can for now, I need to drop about another $400 in electronics and batteries so I can balast her properly before gluing the decks on for good. This is not the only boat that I have spent this much on!!

Now for my trains. I have been doing trains a few years longer than the boats and I have amassed quite a nice collection. Some I can use in my modern layout, some would be better for a transition era layout, I buy what looks good and things that I like. I model modern day but I was involved with a club that did a little of everything so my stuff usually had a place here or there. The cost of it all... I have no clue, I know what I paid for this engine or that, how much this structure cost and how much that one did but I have never added it all up. I bought a Super Empire builder as my first DCC set and soon found out it was a waste of money as it only comes with a limited function command station. I shelled out a few $$$ more to get a Super Chief set and finally had the DCC abilities I wanted. I still have the first set, I just dont need it right yet. 

All and all I have spent enough money on hobbies to buy a house or two and live nice, I know I will never get any of that money back but I have no regrets what so ever on any of it.

Massey


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## sstlaure (Oct 12, 2010)

You did real good only spending $2K and getting that result Massey.

I've got about $16K and 9 years turning this:










Into this - and I still have about the same amount to sped before she's "done"


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

I had yet to touch the suspension, diff, or paint and detail the engine bay. Like I said it had a ways to go. It was nice that the engine was new and strong, I pulled a 13.6 in the 1320 my first day at the track. She still had a long way to go but what I did took 9 months in the garage and I stripped every bit of old paint off and got everything all smoothed out and did the primer and cut in work myself. A family friend was the car's painter and he was a professional autobody painter. Ironicly a few years later he became my boss when I was a painter too. Things like that helped me keep the costs really low.

Massey


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## Gansett (Apr 8, 2011)

We only did 13.4 in the quarter. But we change directions twice.


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## sstlaure (Oct 12, 2010)

JackC....go fast turn left?


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## old464 (Oct 12, 2011)

I got back into it from when I was a kid. I am 36 now, but my 4 year old loves it. So, I got back into it again, but my layout is in the living room for now. My dad and I used to build some cool things long ago, we had a big basement so we had about 4- 4x8 platforms or so. 

I have limted space until the garage gets taken over! 

I got about 1,000 in this year. 

buildings, 2 engines and cars, superstreets track. I still have old lionel 0-27. another KW, a full southern cresent limited had cheap! 

platforms innitialy are cheap until you get real complicated and crazy, but lumber is not bad right now. 

for temporary layouts I use paper mountains, fake water and use rocks from the outside hammered apart. you can save a bundle. use real earth, I use goldenrod weeds painted for trees. masonite I used for roads for my grid streets. stuff is cheap at lowes. 

You can build bridges by buying 1/4" plywood and ripping it on the table saw into tiny strips. super cheap bridges this way. get a glue gun. 

chris, it is a fun winter project. Ill leave it all up until late spring or something. who knows if my wife will let me have it up (living room)!


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## 93firebird (Dec 25, 2011)

Well it hasn't cost me my marriage yet, so I just keep chugging along a little at a time.


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## pookybear (Feb 3, 2011)

I think I surpassed the GDP of The Republic of Congo on my hobby. 

Pookybear


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## raleets (Jan 2, 2011)

Guys,
If you have any golfing friends you might want to ask them what it costs for their "average outing" on the coarse.
Hunters? Can be whopping! Fishing? Depends on how big and how fast your boat must be.
Restoring an old car? Don't even get me started!
Trains? Who cares, 'cause we're all having a grand time!
Bob


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## tooter (Feb 26, 2010)

I'm totally hooked on 1 1/2 inch scale "crack cocaine"... 











...$4K in steel rail and plastic ties. 
Since I pay all the bills and 
my wife doesn't need to work, 
she doesn't mind at all.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Nice house you got there by the switch, Greg.

Does a man come out with a lantern when you run by? 

Or is that a whistle house? :thumbsup:


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## jzrouterman (Nov 27, 2010)

The cost of my layout is basically comprised of different past layouts simply because a lot of what's on it came from other past layouts. So the actual cost of what I spent on THIS PARTICULAR layout is one thing, but then when what came from past layouts is added in, it comes to one big whopping amount! 

On one hand if one looks at it, they would probably have a stroke:laugh: But when I think of all the happiness it has brought to my and my wife's lives, I can't in any way put a price on it. Would I do it all again? IN A HEARTBEAT!!!!:

Routerman


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## norgale (Apr 4, 2011)

JackC said:


> When I'm gone and my wife sells my stuff for what I said I paid somebody is going to get a great deal.:laugh:


YYYEEEEOOOOWWWWW! Put me on that list Jack. Ha!


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## norgale (Apr 4, 2011)

Massey said:


> I have done the classic car restoration thing, really enjoy it and I spent about $2000 making this:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That's a very nice looking Mustang Massey and a very cute little redhead too.
Pete


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## musicwerks (Jan 4, 2012)

USD 1200 for my 4 x 8 layout track work + scenery 
(woodland scenic costs a bomb, almost the bulk of the cost+ all that wastage from trial and error -arrghh)

USD 1500 for locos and all...

USA
-4 Rivarossi GG-01s + Anthearn coaches (old 1973 ones, jewel of my collection, IMHO)
-1 EMD Santa Fe E6 
-1 UP Rivarossi E9
-1 Tyco E9 (SF city)
-3 Santa Fe F7 (life like and Bachman)
- Misc Steam shunters 0-6-0, 2 units of 0-2-0
-3 Alco century (tyco and mantua, Spirit of 76s, Virginia)
-1 DD40AX (Bachmann...that burnt up...pending replacement unit)..sob...cry
-Fairfield and Morse Virginian (Bachmann) + 10 VGN coal cars

UK
-Flying Scotsman + coaches
-Pannier + 2 small freight cars
-Princess Elizabeth + coaches
-Battle of Britain (Winston Churchill)
-Connie (2units, vintage Tri-ang)

Reference books
-USD-100

Okay, I don't run all these trains together, many are just for display and occasional runs. The staple engines are the Virginian Fairfield and Alcos...trying to simulate coal country Virginia. And the small steamers for my daughter (Hey, she is 3yrs old and she can assemble Bachmann EZ tracks now)

I am upgrading my tracks to 22" now for Scotsman, British steamers and the GG-01s. I have only been back recently to trains after years of 1/35 AFVs...the layout is less than 2 yrs old.

Still paying through my nose, don't tell my wife...

Cheers
Kiong


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

Thanks Pete! That is my best friend. I nicknamed her Red... I am the only one that is allowed to call her that, she wont even let her husband call her Red. We have known each other since 8th grade and that was well over 25 years ago. Been through alot together, I love her with all my heart. The car is one of those I wish-I-still-had-its, but at the time I needed a daily driver not a summer only show car.

Massey


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## Gansett (Apr 8, 2011)

Glad you cleared that up Massey, because I was about to say the red head was gonna cost you a lot more in the long term than the car....:laugh:


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