How much did you spend for your collection?

Brent:  Do you have a picture of the collage?

Not as much as I spent for the Acme Moat complete with Piranha kit, wireless burglar system, collection of Glocks, and of course my leprosy medicine, and visits to the shrink for a paranoia disorder!  

 

Rich

If a visitor to my layout would ask this question it would be a short visit.   Fortunately I have never had one ask.

 

Art

I thought the Acme Moat came with alligators.  Maybe that was an option .  

It is an investment and fun! ;-)

 

Much less than I would have on a boat. (A real boat)

Absolutely none of your or anyones business. 

Simply put, that is only $74.7 Trillion give-or-take.

Gilly

I probably have less invested in all of my O-gauge trains, both pre- and postwar than what some guys have in one locomotive.

 

I'll not mention which locomotive!  LOL

Gee Bob, I never really stopped to think about it. As has been pointed out, what one spends and what is the actual value, are two different things.

 

I'm not one to worry about theft, since no one in their right mind would bother trying to cart them off, as they are bulky and highly illiquid.

 

For the longest time, I operated under the policy of 4 cars for $100 or less. Up until a few years ago that still worked. Then it slipped to 3 cars. Now it's more like 2 cars.

 

For simplicity sake, let's just say an average price $40 per car, and there are over 500 cars. I had no idea.

 

 

Elliot:  My wife and I used to gauge prices on how many bags of groceries we could bring home for $100.  It worked for awhile, with less and less bags, then they changed to smaller bags, and our whole system of economics went awry.  Bob S.

Boats are generally funded with "sinking funds".  

Less than what my wife has cost

I have traded a lot of antiques to a dealer for a bunch of my collection so don't really know which is a good thing.  I really never have kept track of what I have spent on my various collections over the years. It has always been about enjoying them.

I don't want to think about it. This kind of thing is what keeps newcomers out of the hobby. Bragging about how much one spends does not make anyone want to join this hobby. Instead of one lump sum I like to think of it as an accumulation over time.

I do this hobby on a serious budget, and even then, it has really added up over 20 years.  Most of my purchases are used things, and this works out just fine for me, but there are some things you are forced to buy new from time to time.  Track and switches can be found used at times, but i've bought a lot of new.  My benchwork is 2x4 and OSB, as opposed to the more common 1x4 and ply...it works, and it cost a lot less.  The biggest cost killer, however is simply taking the time to learn each skill that i've needed in the hobby.  All told, I tend to budget about 1/4 of my income to "hobbies" in which my interest vary from time to time.  Trains are big now, at other times it is computer gaming, or getting my 87 mustang to the track.  I think it doesn't really matter what you spend as long as you can afford it and it makes you happy...But there's also nothing wrong with trying to keep a tight budget on things.  I don't buy anything I don't plan on running till the wheels fall off, then figuring out how to put the wheels back on so I can run it some more.  

 

"So you think that money is the root of all evil? . . . Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can’t exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil?"  --  A.R.  

I spend whatever I want.  I served in the Navy, went to College, worked two jobs for 37.5 years, and raised a family.

 

IT IS MY TIME NOW.

I figure I have spent about $100,000- IN CONFEDERATE MONEY.

I don't have a collection, I'm not a collector! A collector makes money selling collections. As I tell people I am an accumulator. After dark when the wife is asleep the trains accumulate. And I don't know  what they are worth dear. honest I don't. 

Geez you only look 25 in your avitar

I can understand why people would be hesitant to answer this question. My first thought was "I would never say what I have spent", but after thinking about it I don't see why not. My trains are not all that valuable, especially to a thief wanting to quickly unload them. I got started with O gauge trains in October of 2012 when my daughter bought a Polar Express set for me. Since then I have spent a little over $20000. I use my real name, I live in southeast Baltimore and I am in the phone book.

As the Taj Mahal song says:

"Ain't nobody's business but my own."

It also says:

"Candy is dandy but liquor is quicker"

Good song. 

Not enough to finance my wife's move to Aruba after I die when she sells my trains and other stuff I have amassed over the years.  LOL  Who gets the last laugh now?  HUH   LOL  LOL   LOL

 

Rick

Spiral Tunnels, it is the hair.  I was in an accident years ago and had my scalp badly burned.  It is not a vanity thing.

You must buy your trains down south.  

We're all just one too many mornings, and a thousand miles behind.  Go ask Alice, when she's ten feet tall.  (quoting songs since we've taken a different direction)

If you got the money, honey, I got the time....

Well, off we go, but back on track, to keep this acceptable:

 

"He was goin' down that grade makin' 90 miles an hour
When his whistle broke into a scream
He was found in the wreck with his hand on the throttle
Scalded to death by the steam"

A - the originator of this thread has not posted HIS expenditures. Hmm.

 

B - I see the word "investment" used above. Sure. Like "investing" in that new car.

     An investment is something that has a reasonable chance of increasing in value.

     ("If I had kept my 1964 Cobra Charger Super Sport XFT, it would be worth 

      $100,000!" If.) These things are only accidentally an investment.

 

C - Doesn't matter how much I have spent - it passed "too much" a while back. Must    divest.

 

 

    

     

I have a tally sheet, but I'm not telling (and I really wouldn't know without some work). On the other hand I gave up cable tv several years ago.  If cable TV is $100 a month, its $1,200 a year and $12,000 in ten years.  And what do you get for it? Not much. I would be very surprised if I get to that figure with my trains, but I can always sell my trains.  Can you sell your cable TV memories?

Don't care, it's a hobby.  I do however use Yard Office to keep track of purchases in the unlikely event I have to prove something to the insurance company.  How much have you spent going out to eat?  Drinking or going to the casino? If you enjoy it, can afford it then cost is not a main issue.  I spend disposable income.  

 

 

I also keep track of my inventory (trains/cars/track/etc) in an excel file that can easily be viewed by type/catagory/brand/dates etc.  For me, there is nothing more effective to talk me out of buying something than looking at the totals. 

 

When I got back into this hobby almost 20 yrs ago first in HO & N then migrated to O, I thought it would be less expensive than golf.  Boy, was I naive.

My Arttista figures cost more than any single engine I've bought. Total $$$? Probably about the lower 20% of all forum members.

I'm on the very low end, small layout & biggest curves are O-36.  2 Lionel Starter set locos & 1 used MTH Proto 2 Railking steam 2-8-0 & K-Line Trolley , assorted brands rolling stock & Fastrack but it's good enough for me. I'm happy if I can just get healthy enough to get back working on it after 3 knee surgeries for torn meniscus each time & rotator cuff surgery in last 5 years.

Bob,

Without the exact totals. Those who want to make educated guess can do so. My children moved the bulk of my collection into one of the newer storage facilities. Everything is comfortable in it's own temperature/humidity controlled room. I had no idea that I own 37 boxed sets of prewar Lionel tinplate std & o-gauge. One more reason to tell everyone be aware of everything, just don't guesstimate.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

I actually did post my expenditures with the original post.  Then, after of very eloquent and intelligent responses, I edited my expenditures out, and edited the post with a suggestion not to list your expenses.  It was not a good idea, given the amount of desperadoes roaming the internet.  

I have a tally in my head, but no exact figures. I do know that the addition on the garage to put the layout in was about $30,000, a bit more than my trains. But I hardly think there are too many desparados out there to worry about. My JD zero turn is probably in greater jeopardy than my trains.

I actually did this also. I couldn't believe that in a year (1200.00) I was paying more for cable than what my expensive flat screen cost, especially when netflix is only 8.99 a month. So now I use the free internet to watch TV.
  But I never thought of that as an excuse to the wife!!! what a co-incidence That last brass steam engine was exactly 1200.00 and that was with the tax,,, no less. Yes dear. 

It's not how much you spend that counts, it's how much you enjoy what you have that matters. I hope you get healthy soon.

I spent a lot more on WW II r-enacting than I ever have on toy trains but we had a blast doing it. Of course, we were Germans and that was politically incorrect but that added to the fun. We had a jeep that was "captured" which we used to recon the ara with.