3Valve said:
I think it's great the Marklin seemed to have turned the corner and LGB looks to be very much back on the up. But it is just becomming too costly.
The beauty of LGB was that it got folks into large scale and out into the garden for a reasonable financial outlay, I no longer think that this is the case and that's a shame. How do we attract new folks and youngsters into the hobby if they/their parents simply can't afford it.
I think the above point of view is presuming that LGB was less expensive years ago. It wasn't.
I can only speak as an American, but for a while in the late 1990's with the Garden Railway boom , the mail order and brick-and-mortar stores had some great deals on LGB, but this had more to do with the economy, people had not lost their homes to foreclosure yet (they still had back yards), and G scale was a new hobby that was growing so fast that the Mom & Pop mail order shop's could afford to purchase in bulk from LGB and others and that really cut their unit costs---it had less to do with LGB's marketing plan and LGB positioning itself as a "inexpensive toy". The Mom & Pop shops passed the savings onto the customers. However, times have changed...and most of those stores have gone under. Let's not blame Marklin for the foreclosures, bank busts, low wage jobs, etc.
Twenty years ago there was no Internet shopping; you had to buy LGB from a brick and mortar house
or a "mail order" place if you were really smart. I had no idea LGB was even sold in Mail Order 20 years ago, so you had to REALLY HIP to know about that!
Most of us purchased LGB from a thru-the-door retailer....and that retailer usually charged the LGB MSRP or MORE for the item. An LGB starter set was over $400 at most shops I saw it at. And...you didn't get a transformer with it! (Don't forget sales tax!)
LGB was never an inexpensive train, and I know because I was shopping for LGB twenty years ago, and I remember some of the prices at MAJOR Toy retailers 25 years ago.
One piece of 1000 Track was sometimes over $6.00 USF at American Toy Chains, like the famous Karl's Toys back then. Let's figure in the buying power of the dollar back then vs. today, and guess what? The track cost more money back then! Wages were lower back then, but that's because the dollar had more buying power. That $6.00 was A LOT of money for 1 G scale piece of track! (Minimum wage was under $4.00 /hr).
Get this--A brand New LGB non-sound Mogul COST MORE MONEY BACK THEN than it does today! You can get a brand-new Marklin-LGB DCC-ready Mogul RIGHT NOW at ALL the major Internet retailers for about $600 or LESS.
In 1987, an LGB non-DCC ready, NON-SOUND Mogul would cost you $700 at even a "bargain" train store (and take a look above at my argument about how the dollar was worth MORE back then, so you were actually paying a HUGE SUM for that mogul!). Plus don't forget adding Uncle Sam's take....(tax).
Again, now the Internet has great low shipping prices nowadays, and no tax if out of state.
Wolfgang never invented LGB to be cheap. He wanted it to be the highest quality toy train. LGB in that regard is a success. There are flaws, mistakes, and maybe some blunders..what could anyone expect when the Factory is lost and the budget at Marklin is tight (let's also realize the hobby budget in everyone's family is MUCH TIGHTER). But the people that make the trains are human.
LGB can be one of the most price worthy investments in this day and age. It will run longer and always re-sell higher than your wiz-bang $1000 Blu Ray system or $3000 HD LCD TV "investment" --which you might get about $100 for (or less) ---for both pieces--five years later.
By the way, THREE of the local train stores in California carry lots of LGB again...two of them have quite a bit of stock after about 1.5 years ago saying they "didn't think they would ever order LGB" again. And now the track, the starter sets and some consignment used sets are there...and I am buying the stuff from them, happy as a lark....the prices are very reasonable. The Stainz starter set is about $400...not bad, its a high-tech version of the one you would get
back in 1987 ....but this time, with a quality transformer.
