As a young dad I made a basic 00 gague track with a few locos with rolling stock for my son. I can't remember how much it cost to buy all the gear. Now I'm in my sixties I nipped into a model shop to have a look and reminisce about all things model trains.....and I was amazed at the prices! £15-20 for a virtual TSW loco seems a bit of a steal compared to the hundred(s) or so for a model loco. All due respect to all the model train enthusiasts out there. It's not a cheap hobby anymore.
It is quite appalling. Back in the early 80’s you could pop into Beatties and pick up a British outline Lima loco for less than £20. Hornby or Palitoy maybe slightly more. A Mark One or similar passenger coach around £4. So a typical 5 coach train could be placed for around £35 to £40. That same train these days likely to run to over £200. One of my biggest regrets is some years ago selling all my OO items for a song on EBay as non runners for a pittance.
