Who buys all these engines?

For some, building structures and scenery for a layout is a significant part of the hobby, rather than buying pre-built structures and putting them onto a layout.

MELGAR

Its not just O scale/gauge; a friend does that in HO:

And that is just one of three walls!

@PRRMP54 posted:

Its not just O scale/gauge; a friend does that in HO:

And that is just one of three walls!

He's going to have to redo the shelves to pack them in closer.

GRJ, I will tell him your idea. There's even more in boxes under the table!

Just an estimate, but my ratio of locomotives to cars is about 0.25 or 0.20.  Haven't done a count lately.  Most of my cars are passenger cars.

For lots of guys, their hobby is buying new stuff.

The people with the most available credit.

@Paul Kallus posted:

I'd even venture a guesstimate that the O-gauge hobby is 75% engines, 24% rolling stock, and 1% buildings/accessories, by volume of sales.

Anyone else see this in similar vein? Or, how do you the O-gauge hobby in these times? Has it always been like this?

I don't quite agree with the engine to rolling stock ratio you give, but do agree combined they are WAY MORE popular than structures.

Agree with Melgar's statement.

Also you always have room "somewhere" for another loco or car.  As a last resort in a Mini/Warehouse Storage Locker if it won't fit in the following places. 1) On the Layout 2) On the wall or in showcase 3) Under the Layout 4) In the closet 5) In the spare room 6) In the basement 7) In the attic 8) In the garage 9) In the shed out-back  You just put it on the layout when you want to run it.  You expect to swap it out.

On the other hand, most guys if they buy a structure, want it somewhere on the layout.  Most don't swap structures on and off their layout.

Most of my engines are steam locos with tenders.  Do the tenders count as cars or as part of the engine?

Charlie

Some folks are collectors, not operators, so they don't presumably want or need buildings/accessories.  They may account for a particularly high proportion of the three rail O gauge hobby.

I'd  guess rolling stock outsells locos in volume (units) sold by the reverse of your estimate.  80% to 90% units are freight cars and passenger cars.  10-20% are locos.  When you buy a train set, most people's starting place, they get one loco and 3-5 cars, for one example. I'd guess most folks then buy another loco and 3-5 cars.  After that, it's probably quite individual.  But most folks have a lot more non-locomotives is my guess, whatever their approach to the hobby.  Dollar volumes may be different since locos are considerably more expensive than most freight cars.

My wife would look at that wall and say it is all the same engine.  Why do you need so many.  Same thing happens when she looks at my walls with MTH, Weaver and Williams.  They all look the same.  When she looks at the walls with K-Line she really likes all the colors and advertising.  The fact that they are actually all the same three engines and maybe twelve to fourteen different cars does not register with her.  The good news is that she never complains about how much I buy.

I don't want to offend anyone or burst their bubble but I cannot imagine any of us O Gaugers having anything to compare to this gents layout and collection. Yes, it is "N" Scale, but the sheer numbers are mind blowing!

Todd Treaster's Spectacular N-Scale Layout

Per the mention of buildings/structures above, one of the down sides of the "King of Scales", as someone called it, is that the size of our equipment often eliminates the room for buildings and other interesting and enhancing scenes. 3RO is wonderful, but more often than not we see all these beautiful things threading their way though a locomotive and rolling stock museum or apparent used equipment lot. Can be boring.

I plead guilty as charged, BTW. I wish that I had less stuff and more place to see my stuff and scenes that make all this stuff make sense.

I have nobody to blame but myself. Then, the idea of selling things offends, too. I don't buy on impulse, and this stuff I liked when I bought it, and I still like.

I'm doomed.

@RJT posted:

Todd Treaster's Spectacular N-Scale Layout

Well, it's a whole lot easier to collect a lot of stuff and fit it into your house with N-scale!

@Bob posted:

For lots of guys, their hobby is buying new stuff.

I think Bob hit the nail on the head. O has a strong collector base. I probably am way off in the engines to rolling stock ratio. As I peruse the latest Lionel catalog, I am seeing tremendous volumes of rolling stock (both O and O-gauge).

Also, it's amazing how many more structures, and some darn neat ones, are available in HO as compared to O. Interesting side note here, I've see every MTH structure in HO, or at least 95% of them, and they were all made before MTH.

I respect Melgar and others who prefer to build kits, however for O-scale there's not that many available, or where are they for sale? As compared to HO, O-scale kits are hard to find. I saw that Lionel is even making more HO scale kits, and some neat looking ones, too.

I love the Norman Rockwell moment in time and a train layout is just that to me and except there's a train or two in it.  I'm also first to admit, I'm not overly artistic but it is an enjoyable way to spend my time.  I have a polar express set, sante fe set, a LC+ Burlington Northern engine, about 15 cars, and two caboose.  Enough to put movement in my little scene.  So, it's not me buying all those engines.  

Very interesting topic. From what I see, many 3-railers are into the latest and greatest as they come. It's an aspect of the hobby they enjoy which makes it legit. I had to reel myself in as my pockets don't always allow for that. My impulse purchasing days are pretty much over. Also, over the years I have become a little more selective in what railroads I want represented in the collection and on the layout. So parameters helps in that regard. Even with that, If I stopped purchasing equipment right now, I would have enough to switch on and off the layout to keep me busy until I make my last stop at that dream layout in the sky.

I definitely put a lot more energy into setting my stage (layout) up to be a nice backdrop for the wonderful equipment that I own. My eyes do not allow me to run trains without having the surrounding area compliment them. This discussion has reared its head many times, but I too wish there were more building kits and structures available just as we see in the smaller scales. Based on the availability of such, I guess the market for them takes a backburner to locomotives and rolling stock, which when you think about it makes sense. I'm sure the same is true for other scales as well, but those scales have a much better balance IMHO. You not only can pick  up a very detailed locomotive and boxcar but also a very nice building or kit that compliments the style, era, etc. of that equipment. Though it probably will never happen, the only reason I would ever consider switching to HO or N scales would be for the more available buildings, structures, and accessories.

When it's all said and done, those who collect the latest and greatest, I'm sure are one of the main reasons the 3-rail market is going as strong as it is. Those of us interested in more than just the trains can be optimistic for the future in that regard, or continue building it ourselves.

Dave

It stands to reason that without the collectors our hobby would be even more expensive than it is now; more of something that is made the less the cost, or so the rationale goes.

I don’t know who all those people are that buy all those engines, but I’m glad they do !  I breathe a sigh of relief when I can make it through a sales flyer, like from Mr Muffins, for example and NOT have something “grab me”.

Rich in WV

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Well, it's a whole lot easier to collect a lot of stuff and fit it into your house with N-scale!

I never got rid of my N scale stuff because it all fits in one (medium size) box.

Since N is 1/160 vs 1/48 scale it is 1/3.33 as big.  So takes up 1/37 the volume.

Hmmm...is that why my house is slowly sinking?

Tom

Don’t worry about any of this stuff, guys!  Just keep buying the trains you like and enjoy. If we keep doing that the hobby will take care of itself. We buy because we love this O gauge hobby. Nobody ever got a prize or won an award for having less trains.  It’s so much easier and fun to give in to the happiness.

All of us know deep in our hearts that we are more happy when we buy trains and play with them than not. Don’t worry about space, just rotate different trains on and off the layout. If you don’t have a layout, prepare for the day you do and build up your future layout infrastructure!

Its not an addiction, its a dedication!

They say the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem.  Hmmmmm..maybe next year!  LOL

Yep, I suffer from the same problems. well over 200 locomotives and 500 pieces of rolling stock.

And can't wait for the next shipment to arrive.

I agree, I also would like to see more animated building accessories.

Interesting topic, Paul.  My roster pales in comparison with a lot of folks here.  I have 28 engines and 145 cars, which comes to 16% of the items are engines.  Yes, I have plenty, but every so often I buy another.  I like building structure kits and layout scenery and yes, I now have more structures than I have room for on a layout in a 11' x 11' room.  Maybe I'm the oddball here. 

@RJT posted:

I don't want to offend anyone or burst their bubble but I cannot imagine any of us O Gaugers having anything to compare to this gents layout and collection. Yes, it is "N" Scale, but the sheer numbers are mind blowing!

Todd Treaster's Spectacular N-Scale Layout

Rick, that gent's layout and vast array of rolling stock is amazing even considering he models in N-scale.  A much younger co-worker has a large collection of N-scale, but it is dwarfed by Todd's.

As someone whose career was in engineering, locomotives are my greatest interest in railroading.

When I resumed the O gauge hobby 27 years ago, I began by collecting locomotives of many railroads. Eventually, I became interested in five railroads and, since then, for reasons of cost and space, I've mostly limited my locomotive and rolling stock purchases to those five. But that has led to buying models of most locomotive types (steam, diesel and electric) owned by those railroads and offered by the O gauge manufacturers. One or two sets of passenger cars and five or ten freight cars for each of the railroads are sufficient to make up trains for the locomotives, so that's what I have. As a result, my ratio of locomotives to rolling stock is quite a bit larger than 1:1... So, in answer to the OP's question, I may be the guy who buys all these engines.

MELGAR

There's enough interest in engines to keep the manufacturers making them.

The fun part for me is to create reproduction engines cheaply.

• Canadian Pacific 2373 A shell #1: $ 10.00
• Canadian Pacific 2373 A shell #2: $ 90.00
• LTI Santa Fe (freight) F3 A-A diesels: $ 180.00 ($ 350.00, half the marked price).

Total cost for a reproduction 2373 AA: $ 280.00.  I use the engines to pull my 10 car Canadian Pacific streamlined consist.

Interesting topic.  Never gave much though as to what I had as far as percentages.  Here is my breakdown;

-Accessories:   9%.  I have bought a lot of cars and some buildings that are not in my database.

-Track:  5%  Mostly switches and specialty track in database.  Other (straight) track not added.

-Train Cars:  73%.  Includes freight, passenger, and MoW.

-Engines:  13%.  (Diesel: 6%, Steam: 6%, Electric: 1%).

Guess I could buy a few more engines, but I have too many to run now.

Back in the days when I was working as a contractor I came across lots of trains when i was refinishing basements. I would ask my customers what they were doing with these old boxes of Trains? Sometimes they would just give them to me or sometimes I would build something extra for them in trade. I accumulated a fair amount of Lionel's that way and when i retired I started a layout. The years before retirement I would just set them up for the Kids at Christmas. So almost all of my collection was free or at a very low cost, after I started my layout I did buy a few engines and I got into restoring Lionel Tinplate. Being that I like to build stuff all of my buildings are scratch built from Polystyrene or Precision Board, I always thought the kits and buildings were too expensive plus I really enjoy creating my own from photos or designs of my own. The only non scratch built building is a Plasticville Switch Tower I painted.

i've got 6 engines and only 9 cars

maybe next time i make a large train purchase i should focus on rolling stock

i could wait on a lionchief 675 or j class if it ever comes UNLESS the j has an irresistable fantasy scheme although that peppermint railroad berkshire is tempting but 600 bucks is way to much in the eyes of my godparents especially since i just got a train that was about 500 last christmas.

Cody, you are becoming like us older folks, engine heavy rosters.  I recall having bought 2 HO engines and maybe 8 cars when I was in high school and college.  Most of us started small like you, unless like Gene Maag above who came upon a large number from a friend, neighbor, or relative.

I think there is something about motive power that grabs most of us more than rolling stock.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Well, it's a whole lot easier to collect a lot of stuff and fit it into your house with N-scale!

Yep, just walk in the house with that new bigboy in your back pocket.

Prompted me to look at my own inventory spreadsheet. Ratio of rolling stock (194) to engines (18) is roughly 11:1 in quantity with the amount expended on engines roughly 65% of what I've paid for rolling stock. That stat is a little deceptive because 90% of engines have been purchased new whereas more than 60% of rolling stock is used. Interestingly relative to total cost, and having had a mid-size layout now dismantled, the amount spent on track, buildings, people, vehicles, landscaping et al was roughly the same amount as spent on rolling stock.

I have to laugh at the replies. SO TRUE.

Does a 10 car passenger set count as 1 or 10?  By my reckoning if 5 are in a box it counts as 1.  I do have a few cars that do not have boxes (bought used), I suppose I should count them.  ABA sets also count as  only 1.

With that I am 1:3 engines to rolling stock / passenger cars. 50ish engines.  Though I was done with engines until Mr Muffins decided to put out an Atlas SD45 PS3 in the SP red nose and grey paint job. Don't know why, I always though those were pretty sharp. Good thing MTH has lash-ups, who needs freight cars? Of course now I may need to buy 3 freight cars to maintain the 1:3 ratio.

The CEO came into the train room to inquire "what's up" then asked "why do I have so many passenger cars?"  My reply "they come in sets of 5" did not result in a follow up question - whew. Good thing they come in 5 packs - see they count as 1 !!!      jeff

Jeff, Good points on passenger car and ABA sets.  I counted my 4-car passenger car set as one since it came in one box, but the 7-car set as 7 because they were custom cars commissioned by a club over a number of years.  I counted ABA sets as one even when they came in more than one box.  Maybe I'm not consistent, but so it is.

@ScoutingDad posted:

I have to laugh at the replies. SO TRUE.

The CEO came into the train room to inquire "what's up" then asked "why do I have so many passenger cars?"  My reply "they come in sets of 5" did not result in a follow up question - whew. Good thing they come in 5 packs - see they count as 1 !!!      jeff

She was totally bamboozled by your answer!

In keeping with Jeff's wife's question, yesterday, I retrieved for my wife Seventeen 12" x 12" boxes of Little Golden books out of the low closet under the basement stairs that also holds my engine and passenger car empty boxes.  There were more loose books in there too.  She has been collecting them with the idea that she will give one set of duplicates to each daughter for grandchildren and keep one set here.  She counted 7 duplicates of one book.  There are hundreds of these books.  Both daughters are in their 30s and no grandchildren yet.  I have never commented, "Why do you have so many" of anything here.  I did inform her that I'm not putting any boxes of books back in the closet because after that tussle, I don't think we would ever be able to get them out again. Whew!!!  There's stacks of books everywhere, but I'm taking the day off today. 

My point is, Back to the OPs question, "Who buys all these....whatevers" Yes, Jeff, I have to laugh as well!! 

"Who buys all these....whatevers"

Hoarders........

@mwb posted:

Hoarders........

To some, collectors to others.  One man's junk is another man's treasure.

Restricting the data to what's on the layout, I have 11 diesel lashups, 14 steamers, 87 freight cars, 35 passenger/express cars, and 10 non-revenue cars. I have several pre-war sets, some 1950s freight cars, and some PRR stuff not included in these numbers as they are for around the Christmas tree only. A few B-units and passenger cars in drawers are not included either. My purchases are generally stuff I missed when it came out.

I love all of the special runs. I don’t know who’s buying the stuff but I am glad they are. That means they will continue doing them and every now and then they will do a special run of something I can get really excited about. This hobby must be in fantastic shape based on the sheer volume of special runs and activity on YouTube and other social media.