I'm not trying to say trains haven't always been expensive but as I stated in my first post the prices have quadrupled in the past 10 years, it's getting ridiculous.
I have here a catalog from 1967 for HO scale trains, a cheap diesel in 1967 cost $7.50 which equates to 53 2014 dollars, I have to say that's not even half of $125. Since this is the tinplate forum I did a little calculation for a cheap tinplate set from 1923 $5.75, which is $101 2014, now, $101 sounds a lot better than $470 in my opinion. Obviously I don't know everyone's financial background but I have to say comparing the prices with adjusted inflation still leaves hundreds of dollars unaccounted for on a full trainset, and if you look at what came in a set in 1923 vs. now it's amazing how much less you get for 3x the price!
Also, I think you might be going back to the "all kids just sit around and play videogames stereotype", we don't all sit around playing xbox (which no game that I'm aware of costs remotely close to $100) and texting, just like not all old men sit on their porch yelling at kids to stop playing on their lawn 
