How do you budget for Train Purchases?

Chip:  I don't really have a budget for trains.  For the past two years, I have spent most of my S.S. money on trains and train related things.  I have reached the point of exploding closets, with every corner of my basement stacked with train-stuff.  Also, I finally have reached the point of "I NEED NO MORE!"  Hopefully, I can begin to save some money now, and begin, in earnest, the train room, the benchwork, the track laying, and the final result, the actual running of my overly large collection.

Wow Bob, talk about toy train bliss!

That is going to be one heck of a train room!

By the way, is not that what General Custer said?

"I NEED NO MORE!" 

Then he discovered Lionel LionCheif Plus and did a Lee Willis and purchased every single one!

I don't really do budgeting for trains. If I want something, I look at my checking account and my due bills and decide if I can afford it. I'll stretch a point if there's a killer deal on something I really want, but all bills are paid at the end of the month. No credit card balances, lines of credit, etc. I've slowed down on buying stuff because I have too much already. I have a small layout and I run trains at the toy train museum, but I have more than I can use. I have four tables at a show this coming weekend. Wanna buy some toy trains?

I don't budget either. If I see something I want I usually buy it.

Sure what do you want to sell?

I don't really budget either but try to spend no more than $1,000 a year on train stuff.  It might be less than that if I am successful in selling some items or repairing things for people.  I really enjoy repairing items, working on a ZW now, awaiting parts.  So $1,000 to $1,500 engines are out for me for sure.  I have a small layout and am happy with it, keep 3 engines on it at a time. I too have sort of run out of room to put more stuff.  

I buy what I want.  If I like it, I buy it.

Being retired and living on SS & investments I watch my spending very closely.  My free spending days for trains is over so if there's something I really want I sell something to pay for it.  At my stage in life travel to exotic destinations is king.

Chip,

That's a hard question to answer. Each and everyone of us have developed our own way over the years. I have completed all of my prewar Std Gauge boxed sets. My trainroom is now empty. I'm attempting to finish making repairs to the few engines on my workbench. I caught myself looking for the few pieces I need to make up a few Std Gauge sets for display purposes.

My answer would have to be. Work out a budget and keep your spending under your fixed limit.

God Bless,

"Pappy"

Chipset, I applaud your rules but they seem to be missing an annual limit.  Conceivably, you could find many many items that fit your rules and buy them all.  But that could end up being 1000's of dollars above what you can really spend.

I think you need a final item on your list that says no more than xxxx dollars spent per calendar year in total.

Without that final piece, its not a budget at all.

Vince....I have this neat little printing press....Ah...whoops, I mean I am pressed for money to spend on trains so I have to buy only what I really like...

Alan

As for me, I don't have a budget but I try to buy as little as possible.  As for more rolling stock, I try to force myself to only increase my rolling stock count by what I am willing to scratch build.

There are some many tempting items on ebay and the buy/sell forum that I have to resist!

I buy what I want. If I like it,I buy it. If it's a great deal,that's even better.

Seriously,I have cut back on new purchases as Lionel and MTH haven't released any new pattern steam locomotives the last two years.Everything's been reruns in Legacy or PS3. I have been buying Lionel Postwar Celebration series rolling stock to run when it's a bargain. I've also taken advantage of some good deals on Williams Postwar Classic F-3's to run instead of my originals with the brittle stripes and decals. I've picked up a lot of Lionel Prewar at prices I thought I'd never see again. Lots of bargains out there if you look,especially the auction houses.

Ricky 

chipset - I have a two-stage method that works extremely well.

1) I plan out carefully how much I can afford each year, taking my income, our planned expenses, etc., into account.  I use that plan to set a monthly budget.

2) I then pretty ignore it and buy anything I really want.

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That really is it; I know myself so I plan on a big budget. But some details to compare to your details:

- I pre-order stuff I really have to have, so I usually have a year or so warning on those expenses, things like Lionel's four-car smooth-side passenger sets (now pushed out to next year), and a couple of locos in the MTH and Lionel catalogs, etc., and the 3rd Rail Train of Tomorrow, etc.

- I know and allow for a lot of stuff I want and don't pre-order, e.g., after sitting on the fence for quite some time, this morning I ordered, at a decent discount, the Premier S-1.  thought about it a long time though, but I knew eventually i would.   Sort gotta have the monster.

- I set no limits as you have, such as "Limit purchase cost of 4-car passenger car sets to no more than $200, for 60' or 72' cars only."  I judget each situation by its merits.  I can imagine spending a lot on just one car if the right car (e.g.,$800+ for the Atlas N-scale vacuum cleaner car if ever offered in O-gauge,) and would not spend even $200 on a seven-car passenger set if it wasn't something I really wanted (which frankly, I doubt any seven-car set at that price ever would be.)

- I do have many "rules" like you do, based on what I like: with me I like mostly steamers I buy and while I don't buy many diesels, but I don't have a no-diesel rule because every so often

- I don't buy cheap stuff, because, I have found out, it is . . . 

- I buy any and every turbine, steam, gas, whatever.  I do have a rule, if its a turbine and I don't have it, I buy it. 

I never had a budget so to speak of. But over the past number of years I have had dry spells of no train purchases. Not that I didn't have the funds to buy them I just got to the point of knowing I had more then enough. But at times I see something that I didn't have. Like a few engines that brought back a memory or two when growing up. The Lionel and MTH South Buffalo Railway switchers, the scale auto racks and now the scale 86'ft boxcars. So needless to say I guess in a way I have a budget waiting for something new and  different to come along.....Paul

Martin...you were not supposed to notice that!

I don't know why you would set a max $ for a specific item. Buying one engine for $800. is less expensive than five at $200. each. As a rule, your "toys" should not cause hardship for other family members, in terms of "going without", or worry about finances.

Chip,

   No exact budget here either, lately every time I get some money together to spend on the Christmans train layout, one of the transmissions goes out of our vehicles, and I have to push back a purchase that I want. 

PCRR/Dave

Most of the really expensive trains such as big steamers or scale E7's for example just dont look good on my room sized layout.

Over the years, the numbers I posted seems to be the sweet spot for the engines I like.

Yes, not setting a ceiling can be dangerous...this year was the first time I exceeded my soft cap.

This retiree doesn't have the disposable income to simply buy anything I want, but I do manage to enjoy the hobby in my own way.

I stick a bit of leftover money in an envelope labeled "Train Fund" at the end of every week.  I'm pretty frugal in my spending habits, so it adds up.  I can always go to a train show (we have two a year around this area) knowing that there won't be anything there I can't afford if I really want it.

I bought two locomotives last year, and I've already got my eye on the next one.  And I have a couple of Atlas passenger cars on order.  So, although I manage to get what I want, I never spend more money than we can easily afford.  In fact, my hobby spending doesn't impact the household budget at all.

It's all a matter of being responsible, saving intelligently and planning ahead.

Budget?  We don't need no stinkin' budgets!

This is going to be my New Year's resolution.

I live on SS and a small pension and still work a part time job. My only hobby is trains and I don't travel. So what money I do have I buy what I like and lately it has been F units. 

My budget is if I have some extra I'll buy, if not I won't. 

Words to live by...............

I always pay cash for train purchases.  If I don't have the cash I don't buy it.  When I order something by mail, the money is already set aside in the bank to pay the credit card in full.

I have a favorite train store.  Whenever someone asks me what I want for Christmas or my birthday, I always ask for a gift certificate.  Those $25 gift certificates add up after awhile.  Sometimes I have enough to buy a new engine.

Another train funding trick I have found is to take all the small change in my wallet, $1 and $5 bills, and put them in a box in my train room at the end of each week.  I usually have a rather amazing sum after a few months with which to buy trains.  This money plus gift certificates has funded many engine purchases.  

Joe 

I'm somewhat fortunate in that I only buy what fits my master plan for my layout and I made it narrow enough that I don't want everything.  Only certain road names and usually only diesels. 

That being said, I do have a bad weakness for a red hot bargain.  Couple cases in point I recently bought more Atlas track than I will need because it was too good of a bargain to pass up.  Why?  Good question, I am still trying to figure it out too.

I bought a train full of Atlas 86ft flat cars and articulated auto carriers for the same reason.  Love the cars and had a deal I couldn't resist, but they are so long that I haven't taken them out of their boxes yet.  And I may not?

Last I agreed with my wife that I would curtail engine and car purchases until I got my scenery much further along.  If anything comes up in the meantime that is a "have to have" it will severely test that.  I do remind myself though that searching for wanted items is a lot of fun in it's own right.

Art 

Life is short.  Couldn't have said it better, John!  

David

Right now, looking at what I can live without and selling off. Good topic, I need to be putting together a listing for the For Sale forum.

Gilly

I keep several $100 bills in a zippered "secret compartment" (out-of-sight=out-of-mind) in my wallet at all times (except right after we have been in the company of our favorite seminarians) ostensibly for the unexpected model RR find/discovery/impulse. Beyond that, I do not buy locomotives anymore and even asked my wife to stop being so kind and generous with gifts of engines to me. We (note the pronoun, there) have enough (I can't bring myself to tell you how many that is.)

The only other things I buy are all the Scenic Express and Dennis Brennen materials used in crafting for my Layout Refinements projects and clients.

FrankM.

P.S. Indulging myself with credit-cards is out of the question, in this regard.

Dave:  How many transmissions do your vehicles have?   

I try to budget for train items but sometimes there is something that I just want so bad I buy it. Usually I try to check up on the item first before buying, like reading a post or two on here or another forum as to how good or bad something is.

Lee Fritz

I put aside money for the train slush fund, which occasionally gets hit for other unexpected events..like the cost overruns re-plastering the pool 

Truth be told... A large majority of folks here are in the same boat.

If the importers closed their doors tomorrow, we'd all be quite content focusing our energies on layout-building rather than acquiring "more stuff".  Wouldn't miss a beat.

Come to think of it... building a layout is the best way to govern out-of-control buying habits, 'cause it gives us a tangible perspective of when we've bought too much.  Without the layout it's too easy to buy stuff planning to use on a dream layout some day, and most of it just sits on display shelves or in storage.  Been there... done that... and as luck would have it, my interests changed.  

David

Like a baby!

If, I see what I want, if, I can afford it and if, it closely resembles an actual prototype item, then I buy it!

Most items produced by a certain manufacturer are SPOT ON, or very close to prototypical!!!!

AND, I must admit, if, the item is a 'FANTASY' goodie and I like it and it's within pocket range, then I buy it.
Ralph

I have started going to the lightly use rolling stock.Some times you can find great deals.if you have the money get what you want.As for myself I not gonna pay $50.00 to $75.00 dollars just for 1 boxcar.Naw I have found some nice rolling stock that works good.I also have had to back off on locomotives to.I am not gonna go cold turkey.Its just I have not seen any loco--UH Well that mth SCL SD45 and caboose.Hey thats because what I saw and heard growing up.

Same here. If it's not car repairs it's doctor bills or groceries! But when a train show runs, if I have at least $40 in my pocket I go and have fun.

I confer with the CFO of my railroad, my wife, and she will let me know if we can appropriate the needed funds. If not, she will then give me the option of selling off some stuff to acquire the wanted funds.  I have gotten rid of a bunch of "overstock".

Art, that is how my purchases this year started.

All I wanted was a Lionel LIRR C-420 which i purchased from a fellow forum member after a several year search, and the new LIRR MU set from MTH.

Not bad...but then I found a Sealed  MIB un-opened complete Williams Texas Special AB set with all three passenger cars for only $250 and my red hot bargain binge began!