K.I.S.S.

No, this has nothing to do with the band KISS, it stands for "Keep It Simple Stupid" and it seems that the makers of model railroad equipment need a lesson in the concept. What I am referring to is the fact that when I first got into model railroading in the 1970's at the tender age of fourteen I began modeling the Aurora 'Postage Stamp Trains" in N scale. I spent hours looking at my wish book catalog from Aurora and drooling over those new N scale engines. Thankfully my father was a train guy and he knew how much I wanted one of those new little jewels so I got a train set for Christmas in 1970. It costs all of $39.95. I also received a MRC Amp Pack "transformer" to run the trains for another $29.95, and my dad bought me the lumber and helped make the train table for me. I think I had maybe $100 tied up in the whole she-bang. Nowadays though the prices have went through the roof! The last time I went to a hobby shop I nearly had a heart attack at the price tag on a new locomotive. There are not many engines available today without DCC and sound, and those that are still DC only cost almost $100. There are very few companies making kits anymore. Athearn has discontinued their famous Blue Box line of kits in favor of the RTR stuff. It seems that the hobby has gotten away from the simple joy of being able to BUILD something with one's own hands and seeing a train run around a layout with structures BUILT by the modeler. No, today everything is about instant gratification. Take it out of the box and play, don't mess with pieces in a kit or instructions, just BUY IT AND RUN IT. Well, call me old school, but my collection does not include any DCC stuff. All of my structures I have built myself. Most of my rolling stock and locomotives have been Athearn kits which I built, modified, and weathered all myself. I do have a few RTR engines and cars, but simply because I could not find it any other way. My point is this, in this hobby it is getting harder for me to just be able to afford a new engine with the prices up at nearly $100 for DC and double that for DCC. I know that the days of my youth are gone forever, but I still like to K.I.S.S. so I won't be spending my hard earned cash on a new $300 Quantum Sound DCC equipped loco any time soon.

 

I agree too! Started out with the blue box kits in my teens. Changed to N scale in 1984. Today there are very few rolling stock kits and DCC. Don't know if I would be into model railroading today had it not been for Athearn. Still purchase DC only locomotives because it's possiable to build a nice layout for what it would cost to have a DCC system and DCC locos. Now I'm retired and with my rail budget it's either DCC setting on a shelf or a layout with DC locos. Think I would rather have the layout!!!

Joe

 

You know I kind of agree with you George about the building aspect of our hobby. Not many out there are wanting to build kits or scratchbuild anything. It appears that the art of scratch building has been lost in today's "immediate gratification" society we live in (except for |-| Don Wirth, |-| Brad Slone, etc. Keep it up.). Unfortunately, that raises the prices and all of our equipment and structures are going to look the same.

On the other side of the coin, it's nice to have some of today's incredibly accurate and detailed equipment that were only available in (even more expensive) brass in days gone by. And a lot of the times, the brass wasn't all that accurate . It's tough to afford all these new models without hitting the peanut butter and saving the pennies (nickles, dimes and quarters, which I actually do, secrets out).

I can only speak for myself so I will do some of both. I will build as many kits as I can that will work on my layout to save some $$ and I will scratch build the unique structures I need (kits wouldn't please me anyway). AND I will save and plan the best I can to get some of the new models that will help my layout. This is just too much fun.