Hi Brian,
I am 75. I grew up with reasonably well made products (not just trains). Stuff lasted because it was built that way. My father was a mailman and worked two jobs and we lived in a New York City apartment until I was 13 and it was not a well to do area at all. That is how I was able to get federal grants to go to college.
There was better stuff than what we could afford, but the quality of the materials used and the construction of the modest stuff we bought was there and it was understood that THAT was the norm. It is not just my generation that are fed up with today's junk. Young people, middle aged people, and us old people have had it trying to find anything that will not self-destruct in short order even if we are super careful. Check the antique shops. The same stuff is there that was there when I was young. Stuff from my parent's generation and some from mine and there is where it ends. That we want it that way because we want cheap goods is a Wall Street self-promoting meme amplified by the fact that they own our media as well.
Rant over.
John
