Re: [CBQ] Dave Beck's HO Scale S3 4-6-2 model.

["Nolen Null via groups.io" <NNull=aol.com@groups.io>]

Bill,

I spent 16 years working in a hobby shop myself.  And while true that the price of brass is relative, all things being considered, inflation, cost of living, cost of manufacturing, etc,  have kept the prices close to the same.  And yes, the features and quality of locomotives is much improved.  My own opinion is that the development of plastic/die cast steam locomotives (I helped with that too, for another 16 years working for Life Like/Proto) has dramatically effected the brass locomotive market.  I think the thing that impressed me the most, and still does, was Bill Schoop's ability to casually kit bash 2 expensive brass locomotives into something new and different and was close to what it would look like.  And on a regular basis!

Nolen Null

Re: Dave Beck's HO Scale S3 4-6-2 model. 

-----Original Message-----
From: William Barber <clipperw@gmail.com>
To: CBQ@groups.io
Sent: Fri, Jul 31, 2020 10:53 am
Subject: Re: [CBQ] Dave Beck's HO Scale S3 4-6-2 model.

Nolan,

You have to keep things in prospective. When I worked in the local hobby shop in the late 1950s, we had PFM United USRA 2-8-2s, 4-6-2s and NKP 2-8-4s that sold for $49.95. At that time, I was making 85 or 90 cents an hour! Even after graduating from college in 1966, my starting salary at Electro-Motive Division of GM was $625.00 per month. You could buy a decent new automobile for $2000 - 3000. My wife an I purchased our first home in 1968 for $28500.00. It was a brand new 3 bedroom, 2 bath house in the Chicago suburbs. Wages and prices usually go hand in hand. The big change is technology. As someone else noted, those $50 PFM models looked nice, ran ok, but had no electronics, flywheels or even lights. They were strictly DC open frame motors and didn’t even come with couplers, just a mounting pad. Today’s models maybe brass or other materials that have been developed, have DCC control, sound, sometimes smoke , all kinds of controllable lights, highly detailed, road specific and run beautifully. So, while today’s HO models cost from $150 - 600 or more, the modeler gets a lot more right out of the box. Proportionally, today’s models probably don’t really cost much more, but you do get a lot more and kit bashing isn’t as necessary.

Bill Barber

Gravois Mills, MO

Re: Dave Beck's HO Scale S3 4-6-2 model. 
From: Richard Townsend
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2020 21:36:35 PDT 

Not absolutely as expensive but at the time they certainly were expensive. I remember reading the articles in amazement at how casually he hacked up expensive brass engines.

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