price rises - how long can this be sustainable

[Roy L S]

I agree. Your comments certainly resonate with me. My purchases are more carefully planned these days, I still do buy the odd impulse purchase but usually where the price attracts me. I have more than sufficient numbers of very recent locos and stock, anything I do plan to buy these days is because it fits with my modelling era/area and is nice to have.

I do not begrudge the Chinese workers a proper living wage but since that increase is only one small part of the cost of the model (at the factory gate) I have always failed to see how it alone equates to the inflation smashing rises we have seen. I suspect it is far more complex and starts at the Parent company Kader Industries...

Roy

[austinbob]

I agree. Your comments certainly resonate with me. My purchases are more carefully planned these days, I still do buy the odd impulse purchase but usually where the price attracts me. I have more than sufficient numbers of very recent locos and stock, anything I do plan to buy these days is because it fits with my modelling era/area and is nice to have.

I do not begrudge the Chinese workers a proper living wage but since that increase is only one small part of the cost of the model (at the factory gate) I have always failed to see how it alone equates to the inflation smashing rises we have seen. I suspect it is far more complex and starts at the Parent company Kader Industries...

Roy

Over the last 6 months or so I have been buying more 2nd hand stock on ebay from the likes of Rails of Sheffield. There have been a number of nearly new items at good prices and I have not yet had a duff purchase. Rails also offer a limited period warranty on ebay items and they have all been tested (unlike new locos) before sale.
Also there are bargains and special offers to be had from many of the retailers - often highlighted on this forum. Take my recent purchase of a 5MT for £69.50
If prices keep increasing then I will continue to purchase bargains and 2nd hand good value items rather than paying the ever increasing prices for new stock.

[trkilliman]

Another thread refers to announced Farish sets being seemingly cancelled. Hattons are sending out emails pretty much to this effect.

Not gloating at all, but could this be rationalisation due to a drop "overall" in sales since the price hikes?  I wonder.

[elmo]

I have cancelled two pre-orders due mainly to cost. IF and I mean IF Farish and Dapol can make locos that actually work then cost would be less of a consideration but I have sent too many locos back and had too many failures (either total or minor functions e.g. lights etc) after only a couple of years and relatively minor use.
I am not prepared to pay for the low quality crap that is being manufactured.
Modern locos - look nice but don't go.

Elmo (less n gauge and more live steam sm32 these days)

[austinbob]

I have cancelled two pre-orders due mainly to cost. IF and I mean IF Farish and Dapol can make locos that actually work then cost would be less of a consideration but I have sent too many locos back and had too many failures (either total or minor functions e.g. lights etc) after only a couple of years and relatively minor use.
I am not prepared to pay for the low quality crap that is being manufactured.
Modern locos - look nice but don't go.

Elmo (less n gauge and more live steam sm32 these days)

I'm afraid I have to agree about the frequent poor quality especially with the elevated prices.
I would have hoped increased prices would have come hand in hand with better quality.
One reason I've started buying 2nd hand but tested stock.

[port perran]

I too think VERY carefully about buying new locos and stock now.
The price has now risen too high and for me has gone past the boundary of what is realistic.  Luckily I have a good fleet of locomotives already. There are several on the horizon which I would like but I will be VERY picky in what I buy.
Are we taking detail too seriously  and paying the price ?
I don't need absolute detail (for one thing I can't see it!). I'm happy with the rugged simplicity and the reliability of Union Mills locomotives (at VERY affordable prices).  Made in the Isle of Man by the way.
I'm also happy with Peco wagons by and large. OK they lack the detail (and in many cases the authenticity) but they are priced sensibly.
How about GF and Dapol following the Hornby (00) Railroad route offering less detailed locos and stock at lower prices ?

[Irish Padre]

One answer can be going Japanese as I've done. High quality locos under £50- and carriages with tail lights for under £15. Not everyone's cup of tea (or sake) I know but it's worked for me. And it's all designed to be packed away and taken out again easily in those wonderful bookcase style boxes.....

[austinbob]

One answer can be going Japanese as I've done. High quality locos under £50- and carriages with tail lights for under £15. Not everyone's cup of tea (or sake) I know but it's worked for me. And it's all designed to be packed away and taken out again easily in those wonderful bookcase style boxes.....

Like many people though - I need British steam and early diesel. I'd be more than pleased if the Japanese manufacturers entered this market.

[Irish Padre]

Yes, I know what you mean - my dream layout would be either 1930s Southern or 1950s LMR. But I can't have a permanent or even storable layout board. Japanese practice means my entire layout packs away into plastic boxes each time - and I can rely on the locos to work. It's not for everyone but for me it's the trade off between running Kato stock or running nothing at all! The main thing is that whatever we run, 

[Mito]

In my motley collection of locos I have one new one.I can't afford new of anything now. But because of the new model price hikes second hand prices are rising, so where do I go? 

[Kris]

I think that we are already seeing the results of the price rises in the comparative lack of new models being announced.
Looking back a few years we would expect manufactures to tell us their new models pipe dreams, and we'd see several new loco's coaches and wagons, now we get one loco and maybe a wagon or a coach along with a few new decorations to existing models. Some of this will be down to an ever diminishing number of unmodelled items but I suspect that a lot of it has to do with the manufactures not wanting to have to much new product diluting the sales of existing models.

I'm expecting prices to rise further, however not by the large amounts that we have already seen.

Will this mean that we see fewer large mainline layouts, possibly, the cost of stocking these has always been high but now it's astronomical. If I look at the fiddle yard for my layout (6 roads) and tot up the cost, it's well into 4 figures (based on RRP a 10 coach express + loco is £430 ish). Looking at all the stock that I have it rises significantly (very scary, best not tell the other half).

[deibid]

My view on this..unfortunately this hobby is in its last years. It will die as soon as this last generation of modelers die. It may sound pessimistic or sad... it is both, more realistic than pesimistic. I am 43, when my father started on the hobby  I was 6, back in that day it was expensive but my father could afford it among many other things like raising a 3 children family by his own.
Now I struggle to build a tiny layout all with second hand stock from ebay and cheap chinese supplies. Back in Spain I wouldn´t even dream of doing this... it has taken a good job in the UK , clearly above the average level, for me to TRY and do something...using all second hand and the stock I preserved from the 70s. New stock is still a dream for me... no point in going there, with an above average salary I CANT afford it. That should be telling you something.
To worsen things... I received a new locomotive as a birthday present... made in china...quite pricey... WHAT A LEMON!! I had to return it immediately.
That´s why I can´t be optimistic about this hobby´s future. If someone like me can´t afford it then it´s dead... in the sense that the ones that should be the main focus of the market just can´t afford it.

[Newportnobby]

I'm expecting prices to rise further, however not by the large amounts that we have already seen.

I wouldn't bank on that, Kris. To the best of my knowledge we still have 2 years to run on the Chinese government's insistence that wages rise by 20% per year. Rather than just apply this increase to the labour proportion of the overall cost, the manufacturers have used it to inflict inflation busting price increases on us.

[trkilliman]

As I have grown older and experienced more, I have become increasingly cynical. As Dorset Mike indicated the food industry often combine a price rise with a reduction in the size/weight of the product. Two price rises. The rises from Bachmann have been quite eye watering, with a rise accompanied by expect more of the same next year. I hope that the price rises have been down to purely the reasons given, and they have not used the situation to load in some extra profit. Recent posts on this thread have indicated that several, possibly many people have cut back on their purchases. Port Perran said prices have reached a level whereby he is now very selective about any purchases. There is a limit to what people "across the board" will pay, so eventually year on year price rises will surely lead to a drop in sales. A possible own goal IF they have built in some extra profit on the back of increased production costs? 

[guest311]

One answer can be going Japanese as I've done. High quality locos under £50- and carriages with tail lights for under £15. Not everyone's cup of tea (or sake) I know but it's worked for me. And it's all designed to be packed away and taken out again easily in those wonderful bookcase style boxes.....

Like many people though - I need British steam and early diesel. I'd be more than pleased if the Japanese manufacturers entered this market.

now there is a thought 

perhaps when sales fall, and of course profits too, companies will look to Japan to manufacture, rather than China.
Bachmann / Farish are of course tied to their Chinese manufacture because of their parent company, but perhaps there might be hope for others to look east and save the hobby.