My move two years ago gave me a nice, finished room for a decent size layout, 12x16 L shape-6'deep; not quite as big as I would have liked but it wasn't my damp dark basement with low ceiling. It also gave me a separate area for unseen storage of mostly scenery making supplies for when I get to that stage AND a work room/studio. What I LOST was my local hobby shop! Twice a year they had a "sidewalk" sale where he pulled out mostly used items at a great price. I built up a collection of rolling stock and scenic items. Even without those sales, there was always something pre-owned that was marked down and that is how I bought most of my buildings after first starting out with holiday porcelain buildings from thrift shops at about 5 bucks each (those are only used on the Christmas layout now). That is also where I purchased much of my Fastrack and switches (used). I trusted the owner, Tony, and knew that everything had been tested and I bought a few engines from him too. I have also done well with Ebay where I bought track in bulk as well as more MTH stores and just this week a MTH Premier F3 at a VERY good price. I do not have a high-end collection, started with a few ready to run sets at the beginning but just gave a few away and mainly have MTH PS-3s now and a z4000 to run them conventionally (also used from Tony's shop). I also have the remote for it but have not programmed anything yet and hope that I can do that successfully this summer as I finish up my wiring. I do NOT have scale nor will I, so saving quite a bit of money that way. Other than a Premier steam loco, I think that I am finished with the spending and need to get on with the scenery.
New train room before the move-in. I guess that you could say that the most expensive part of the hobby for me was buying a new house for it and the subsequent move! Mikki
