[Spule 4]

First off, for most of those serious to the model RR hobby, while increased costs are a bit of a pain, they are not a make or break, like any other expensive/rich man's hobby. There are a ton of Hotrods here for the show in Nashville this weekend. I am sure the large spikes in gas and tire costs are a factor for them, but they are still here. So a increase in track or rolling stock prices are a per centage in the total cost of a decent layout or collection which will run in the thousands.

Second, for the certain maker of large scale trains in Europe, replacement parts are available, from Germany, but not from "ofA" or anyone Stateside at this time for whatever fact or fiction reasons, excluding some bits from former suppliers with retail sales now.

Annother factor for thought is look at the collectable Lionel, Flyer, etc. I can get parts for my old tinplate Lionel still, some NOS, some repops from China.... If the market exists?

 

[Spule 4]

Again, while that one maker is gone in the form of a company, the product is still with us, and is slowly coming back online. Geesh, after all, the colonel is dead, but here we are, still enjoying his chicken????

Maybe that new company will take a different approach, say like the original one did in the 1970s and 1980s with one or two new models a year, instead of dozens in the 1990s and 2000s, so maybe the middle class checkbook modellers will be able to keep up....