[Mike Toney]

Agreed, there is no, whats called "margin" in trains anymore. At one time the local shop that deals in the smaller scales could offer 20% discount every day. These days there isnt that much mark up or margin in the product. Once and a great while there will be and they pass along the savings. Take a good economics class in high school or college. Maybe with the right attitude you might get some help from one of the live steam companies when you have to write a research paper. Its very eye opening into the "real" costs of doing business. I have one of the old videos, VHS tape none the less, from Roundhouse. To see the amount of "hand assembly" that is done by the employes, and these are not teens or others at minimum wage, machining, painting, assembly, test, then retest under load each and every locomotive does one start to appreciate the asking price. Granted the horrible exchange rate was a good reason to complain, but not the base asking price. Even the rest of us got spoiled by the early cheaper prices from Accucraft and any other Chinese brand in any scale. But thier economy took off and the cost of trains from there also went up. Just look at what the Ruby cost when first introduced and what it might cost if they make another run this year. Everything costs more, from the raw materials, thier labor and other "overhead" costs like electricity, natural gas ect. This intern is passed on to the dealer in the form of higher costs, which once thier profit is factored in(which is very modest), you get the final or "street price" that you see in the magazine ads and online stores like Jason's or Silver State Trains ect. Folks sell trains as a passion, not to get rich. Many are retirees or work a day job like Jason does. If you do not believe this, just look at all the hobby shops that have failed to survive, and I am not talking about little ma and pa ones. Watts Train Shop, St Aubin's trains(2 locations) and Ridge Road Station among others. Many more vanished as the owners retired or passed on. My first live steam came from Rio Pecos in Florida. Most of the live steam builders are cottage industries or retirees keeping busy for a few more years because they love the hobby and want to see it grow and survive. The high cost of live steam, be it real or perceived on a personal level, is all the more reason to excel in your school work, nurture you ablites which appear to be both in engineering and drawing/art. So that once you enter the work force, you can have the income to buy yourself the trains you desire today. They will still be there, even ones that just got put on a shelf and never steamed. Now is the time to make sure you have the best chance to have the lifestyle to own them in the future. And I think you realize this, more than you let on. Now lets all go raise some steam and remember those we have lost this year, its been a rough week. Mike

 

[Mike Toney]

Same thing happened to the brass HO scale market, first mostly made in Japan, but rising labor costs combined with a devalued doller vs the Japanese yen made models unaffordable within just a few short years. Production was moved to South Korea, for the most part, and prices flattened out or dropped slightly, but so did the quality for a few years as the Koreans learned a new trade and how to make a quality model. Then labor costs rose there, just as they had in Japan and models got expenisve, but at thru those year, modelers demanded models be painted, detailed for a specific road name with even more detail. Add into the equation the plastic/diecast market also came of age with detailing rivialing the brass models at a lower cost. So what once was runs in the 500-1000 pieces, became runs of 5-25 of each road name. What once was a 200-300 doller brass diesel for example, is now near $1000 each and so fragile with all the detail, they are more of a display piece IMHO. I think Roundhouse has done it the best, maintainted consistant quality, even improving on many models over many production runs, yet kept the cost reasonable on the common models such as Lady Anne and Billy ect. Accucraft comes in second, they are fighting fast rising labor costs and inflation in China, be it natural or goverment assisted. We get used to getting things on the cheap, like the Ruby for around $300 when first released. I be they would be $600-$700 if and when they are ever produced again. Had Merlin had proper management from around the time the Mayflowers hit the market going foward, they might be still with us today like Roundhouse is. When Ian opened Pearse Loco works, if you look at the first models, they basicly took over where Merlin left off. The Accucraft UK models are much the same, like Edrig, Caradoc, just imagine the Merlin fixed outside valve motion on them and you see the family resemblance. I kind of wish they would revert back to outside valve gear, but I digress. Mike

 

[Mike Toney]

I doubt the merger had anything at all to do with the cost increase. More due to the lapse of time from announcement to production and the constant change in costs of material and labor, sometimes it cannot be absorbed into the price of the model. Good looking engine though, cant wait to see videos of it running on others layouts. Mike