Model Railroading > Model Railroading on a Budget

Due to recent financial transactions (my wife and I decided we want to save for a new house) so I've been put on a Model Railroad budget! The tradgety!

But, amazingly, I'm finding that surviving on a budget isn't as bad as I thought. I was at my LHS the other day and instead of bypassing the deal bin, I stopped to look. And instead of buying one car, I got several Walther's High-Cube boxcars and ended up spending less on two than I would have on one. They were a standard Boxcar Red color, so they fit well.

I've also found a few, real deals, on eBay. I found that now I just need to be content to bid and possibly lose than going for the Buy It Now right away. Got a nice wood chip hopper with Kadee #5s and metal wheelsets for 4 bucks and an Athearn PS boxcar kit for 4 also. Can't complain about that!

So, what are some other secrets to working within a budget?

Chessie-Fan-2

Chessie-Fan-2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So, what are some other secrets to working
> within a budget?
>
> Chessie-Fan-2


I think the biggest secret is to build what you already have instead of buying more stuff. Most modelers have months or even years worth of projects packed away. Building is a low budget activity compared to buying, if you are really on a tight budget build cardboard buildings for a while, a few sheets of good quality cardstock and some razor blades can turn into a whole city of buildings that rival expensive kits in appearance. another good way to model on a budget is to buy some rail and ties then build custom switches, you can churn out a lot of curved switches or nice long mainline switches for little material cost. The thing I wouldn't do is buy a lot new stuff, despite today's limited production mentality things always get better and cheaper over the years,the money you save now will buy a lot more better stuff later(especially if you save for a house,then you'll have a place for a layout!).....dave

"....I think the biggest secret is to build what you already have instead of buying more stuff. Most modelers have months or even years worth of projects packed away.

Amen, brother! During a 10 month layoff, I bought very few "new" items. I completed quite a few older projects; and what really gave me the most enjoyment was to start super-detailing scenery and some of those less-detailed "completed" projects.

Instead of a fleet of boxcars, buy a single Ambroid kit (or other craftsman level kit). Challenge yourself and you might be surprised at what you can do.

Less is truly more!

The old adage of "Time=Money" is REALLY true in modeling. Spend the time to do it from scratch and it usually costs alot less. I spent 2 fulfilling hours yesterday planting weeds in a creek bed. I dyed sisal twine w/green paint, snipped the twine to length, gently unraveled it and planted it in a bed of white glue. Let's see, a whole bottle of glue is a buck, the twine was 3 bucks for the whole ball, and a buck for the paint. So in total, $5 gave me a completely weed choked stream bed and 2 hours of pleasent diversion. You can ALWAYS add cheap details to the landscape!

A budget???

Ive been on a budget forever!

Building a house 2 years
Working 3 jobs to pay for it 7 years

The wife not knowing I designed the house around the basement.........priceless!

Randy
Virginia Southern

vasouthern Wrote:

> The wife not knowing I designed the house around
> the basement.........priceless!

What good is it going to do you when she gets the house in the divorce settlement?

I've been on a tighter budget for a few years, and it's about to get tighter. Some things I do:

- I buy a lot of used equipment or "new old stock" at train shows and the like. If I have to do a little remedial work, so much the better, as the cost savings usually offsets the extra labour to put the piece into service.

- I watch for "bargoons" on stuff in roadnames that haven't moved so well. I model a shortline and will be painting it anyway, so what scheme it's in doesn't matter much.

- "Time=Money"! That's worth repeating. The less dough I have, the more time each model gets, and the more "play value" I get out of what I spend. Recently, I decided to build a GP40, so I got one of the old Atlas/Roco models. I'm now rebuilding it to fix some of the problems - not as easy as the new Atlas (and not as nice a drive), but less money, and I've been enjoying the project.

Always on the cheap, I remain:
B-Dubya

I would look for a local club and get my train therapy that way. A budget, aka eating dirt, drinking spit and sleeping under a newspaper certainly saves money but it gets old after a short while.


Ken, D&J Railroad, Stafford, VA