# Look what 25 bucks got you in 1972



## Cousin Eddie (Jan 4, 2019)

Look whats happened to our hobby! In 1972 you could get a layout in a box for less than a good box car now! Crazy!


----------



## Riggzie (Dec 24, 2019)

WOW!!!!!!!!!! 
1y before i was born!!! LOL
and im old!!!


----------



## Andreash (Dec 30, 2018)

I was curious to what $25 (back in 1972) would be worth today. Using a website (inflation calculator), $25 is the equivalent of $150.26. I doubt that train set could be sold at $150 today (more likely double or triple today). Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I still remember as a kid looking at the Sears Christmas wish book at the train sets, and debating which one I would have wanted.


----------



## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Look at what it would have cost in 1925 if made back then.
Might have been a $1.00. Or less.


----------



## bl665 (Oct 3, 2019)

Thats pretty amazing ! The cost of a set of cars is pricey !! Even for N scale. I just spent $20 on a small flat car lol


----------



## Spence (Oct 15, 2015)

How2ever our wages have increased since 1972!!!!!


----------



## Cousin Eddie (Jan 4, 2019)

Riggzie said:


> WOW!!!!!!!!!!
> 1y before i was born!!! LOL
> and im old!!!


 That is the year I was born.


----------



## Cousin Eddie (Jan 4, 2019)

Big Ed said:


> Look at what it would have cost in 1925 if made back then.
> Might have been a $1.00. Or less. <img src="http://www.modeltrainforum.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Big Grin" class="inlineimg" />


 well n gauge trains came out in 1962 but I can’t find any prices on them but here are some O and S stuff that’s kinda interesting oh and you could buy a house kit from sears in 1963 for 2200 bucks!! How bout a 4x8 layout for less than 8 bucks!


----------



## QueenoftheGN (Dec 10, 2019)

Cousin Eddie said:


> well n gauge trains came out in 1962 but I can’t find any prices on them but here are some O and S stuff that’s kinda interesting oh and you could buy a house kit from sears in 1963 for 2200 bucks!! How bout a 4x8 layout for less than 8 bucks!



well if these where the prices now the hobby would be much bigger.....


----------



## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

*You're OLD???*



Riggzie said:


> WOW!!!!!!!!!!
> 1y before i was born!!! LOL
> and im old!!!


Riggzie;

You are not "old" kid!

I was born in 1948. Harry Truman was still president. World War two had ended only three years before. The Korean war, let alone Vietnam, hadn't even been thought off yet. Chuck Yeager had just broken the sound barrier. Sputnik, the first satellite to orbit in space, wouldn't be launched for ten years. No man had gone into space. The moon landing wasn't even a dream yet. And you say you're "old" HA! :laugh: Maybe QueenoftheGN will look up what a complete train set cost in 1948! 

Traction Fan :smilie_daumenpos:


----------



## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Cousin Eddie said:


> well n gauge trains came out in 1962 but I can’t find any prices on them but here are some O and S stuff that’s kinda interesting oh and you could buy a house kit from sears in 1963 for 2200 bucks!!


2200 dollars? That's expensive even for today!....


----------



## QueenoftheGN (Dec 10, 2019)

9.25......... wow........


----------



## QueenoftheGN (Dec 10, 2019)

Old_Hobo said:


> Cousin Eddie said:
> 
> 
> > well n gauge trains came out in 1962 but I can’t find any prices on them but here are some O and S stuff that’s kinda interesting oh and you could buy a house kit from sears in 1963 for 2200 bucks!!
> ...


 Move this to have a giggle!


----------



## Cousin Eddie (Jan 4, 2019)

Old_Hobo said:


> Cousin Eddie said:
> 
> 
> > well n gauge trains came out in 1962 but I can’t find any prices on them but here are some O and S stuff that’s kinda interesting oh and you could buy a house kit from sears in 1963 for 2200 bucks!!
> ...


 it’s a real three bedroom house lol not for a train layout!


----------



## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Well, the title above the picture said 1963 Sears Catalogue Trains, so.....


----------



## Cousin Eddie (Jan 4, 2019)

Old_Hobo said:


> Well, the title above the picture said 1963 Sears Catalogue Trains, so.....


 Yeah not sure why real house building kits are in the train section lol. Well it was the sixties lol that could explain it!


----------



## Godawgz360 (Feb 13, 2020)

These prices need to come back. According to the parts list on the Scarm plan I’m working on, I need 92 pieces of Unitrack. The turnouts and crossovers alone will probably run me between $300-350. Sigh....


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## GNfan (Jun 3, 2016)

In 1975 (my freshman year), $282 was a semester's worth of tuition at Washington State University.


----------



## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

In 1974, my tuition at Southern Alberta Institute of Technology was $80.00, plus $250.00 for books, supplies, drafting equipment, etc....


----------



## QueenoftheGN (Dec 10, 2019)

GNfan said:


> In 1975 (my freshman year), $282 was a semester's worth of tuition at Washington State University. <img src="http://www.modeltrainforum.com/images/smilies/smile.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Smile" class="inlineimg" />


. 

I wish. I now have to pay 12500$ to go to college. Not counting books!


----------



## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

QueenoftheGN said:


> .
> 
> I wish. I now have to pay 12500$ to go to college. Not counting books!


You have a few years before college?
It will be more by then, maybe double 

But your estimate seems low, but that depends on where you are planning on going.

What will you major in? 
Trains?


----------



## Cousin Eddie (Jan 4, 2019)

Godawgz360 said:


> These prices need to come back. According to the parts list on the Scarm plan I’m working on, I need 92 pieces of Unitrack. The turnouts and crossovers alone will probably run me between $300-350. Sigh....
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


 If those prices came back we would all have to rent the closed Kmart stores to fit out layouts in lol


----------



## QueenoftheGN (Dec 10, 2019)

Big Ed said:


> QueenoftheGN said:
> 
> 
> > .
> ...


. 


Yah. I looked at the lowest price 
And the major will be sailor I want to be a captain (after all andromeda is a famous figurehead for sailing ships!)


----------



## Old_Hobo (Feb 20, 2014)

Joining the navy would teach you to be a sailor.....and it wouldn't cost you anything....in fact, you get paid.....


----------



## QueenoftheGN (Dec 10, 2019)

Merchant marine sounds better tho......


----------



## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Or the Coast Guard, I have a nephew in the Coast Guard.
Can you swim?


----------



## QueenoftheGN (Dec 10, 2019)

I can swim but I don’t look good doing it lol


----------



## Patrick1544 (Apr 27, 2013)

Wow. I remember well.


----------



## VTtrainguy (Jan 18, 2019)

it’s a real three bedroom house lol not for a train layout!
Friend of mine lives in one of those. Current appraised tax value: $220K! Cute little place with 1/4 acre lot.
In 1972 I was 25 years old and had just made 2nd Class Petty Officer in the Navy. Was too busy working on my Commercial Pilot License to fool around with trains. Barracks Master at Arms wouldn't have approved anyway. Had a hissy fit when I put up an aeronautical chart on the wall in my room.
Was paid $180/Mo + room and board. Same rate today makes about $2500/Mo living on base. We were considered technicians, not combat troops; the young 'uns today tell me that in the war on terror, everyone's a warfighter.


----------



## VTtrainguy (Jan 18, 2019)

Yah. I looked at the lowest price And the major will be sailor I want to be a captain (after all andromeda is a famous figurehead for sailing ships!

Ahoy, Shipmate!
Better do your homework. Enlisting in the Navy will never get you in the Captain's chair. Nor will college, unless it's a Merchant Marine or military academy (Navy or Coast Guard). And you don't get into those unless you have pretty much focussed single mindedly on that goal all the way through high school. The competition is fierce.
Good Luck!


----------



## QueenoftheGN (Dec 10, 2019)

VTtrainguy said:


> Yah. I looked at the lowest price And the major will be sailor I want to be a captain (after all andromeda is a famous figurehead for sailing ships!
> 
> Ahoy, Shipmate!
> Better do your homework. Enlisting in the Navy will never get you in the Captain's chair. Nor will college, unless it's a Merchant Marine or military academy (Navy or Coast Guard). And you don't get into those unless you have pretty much focussed single mindedly on that goal all the way through high school. The competition is fierce.
> Good Luck!


I am leaning more towards merchant marine cause it feels like a better choice (plus maybe I will get the chance to fight off some Somali pirates!)


----------

