With Mik’s passing I was prompted to finish up a list of my equipment and approximate prices it was worth. Also links to Trainz and Silver State trains as people to contact about buying my stuff if I died before I get rid of it all. Buddy of mine dealt with Trainz when he got out of the hobby and thought they treated him okay. Mark Johnson at Silver State I have met and is a nice guy and buys collections.
Gary,
I concur; if I were in the market for a new train hobby-and priced LS gear for the first time today-I’d faint then look elsewhere. I’m grateful I was able to get in before it got over my head-that and the advent of kids 3-5 
Like most hobbies it can get into your pocket!
Unfortunately it’s probably going to get worse before it gets better. Despite political assurances that the “Great Recession” is over, the economy is still crap, so there are fewer and fewer people with enough income to afford any hobby, much less one that was never cheap to begin with. Also as the various manufacturers and dealers die off, there is less of the competition that would normally help to keep prices down.
When the hobby magazines go all-digital, there will no longer be magazines on the stands in stores to attract newcomers to the hobby.
Fred,
I got to thinking about your post above while I was stumbling in the barn…these boxes are really in the way!
(http://www.fotolode.com/images/m7farms/Misc/boxes.jpg)
Ray, funny you mention the rags…
A friend brought them over last week. Seems his father was a modeler/craftsman/collector and since his passing-my friend has been shuffling these around. He was ready to toss in the landfill, till his wife insisted he call me to see if I had any interest.
(http://www.fotolode.com/images/m7farms/Misc/1939.jpg)
that is 1939-the oldest I’ve found so far. I’ve only had the time to go through 3 boxes thus far, and there are Many Years worth of MR and other RR publications I’ve never seen. I’m trying to catalog what all is there and from there determine what to do with them-I doubt I’ll be able to keep and enjoy due to the sheer size of the collection.
(they smell like the old Playboy mags my Grandad kept hid amidst his LP’s)
cale
The value in those old magazines, is in the reading of them…oh how I enjoy reading and learning from the great model railroaders from the past. We may have modern technology, helping us today, but things from the past can most often help us enjoy better, the future…
Our small heritage railway booking hall has a table in it solely for railway magazines: the big railways and model ones. We often get a pile of old magazines from a family member of some railroad fan who has died. They are offered free, but a small token donation for our funds is requested. I have to say that the older magazines and books do not gather any dust: they are soon snapped up.
Knowing my interest in aviation, a friend offered me hundreds of aviation magazines that had been tossed out as rubbish. The magazines were part of a series that ran for many years documenting various aircraft prototypes, air forces, air battles, etc. They were issued at around $8.95 an issue and were catalogued in the annual binders. There was thousands of dollars in shop issue price. All were in mint condition.
I asked around my workplace but even though many workers were employed on a volunteer basis with historic aircraft rebuilding societies there were no takers. I thought the issues would be good research material or just good reading. Alas, no interest was shown. They all went to landfill.
While on the subject of high prices for Large Scale trains. When they get over $2,500 you can’t privately sell them overseas from the USA without having to fill out and supply an AES/ITN export number on the customs form. As far as I’m told only a company can apply for such a number.
The DHS imposing their controlling ways on model train collections, the individual and the free market…
The ‘weapon of mass destruction’ in question.
Andrew