MRH $500 Contest - 5
Qty Description
Cost each Total
2 60”x40” x 3/16” Foamcore sheet (white)
$20.00 $40.00
1 30”x40” 2.5mm matte board (white)
$5.00 $5.00
3 (PECO) Code 83 flextrack
$5.57 $16.71
1 (PECO) Code 83 LH #5 turnout
$27.25 $27.25
1 PECO SL14 pins
$2.87 $2.87
1 Rail Joiners
$4.60 $4.60
1 Caboose Ind N scale 218S ground throw
$3.25 $3.25
1 Analog DC Controller (MRC Railpower 1300)
$40.00 $40.00
1 Walthers “Buds Trucking” bkgnd structure
$35.00 $35.00
1 Fine rock ballast
$10.00 $10.00
1 Woodland scenics mixed turf
$6.30 $6.30
1 Heki “pull-apart” foliage matting
$15.00 $15.00
2 DC Power cable
$1.00 $2.00
1 2-light 50W Halogen lighting kit
$15.00 $15.00
2 20W Phillips MR12 Halogen “brillantline” bulbs
$8.00 $16.00
2 “Fiddly Bits” spraypaint (1x Matte Black + 1x Lt Blue)
$6.95 $13.90
1 Atlas GP38 CB&Q (DCC ready)
$80.33 $80.33
1 Altas Wide-vision caboose
$24.00 $24.00
1 40' Red Caboose tankcar kit
$17.27 $17.27
1 40' Red Caboose flatcar kit
$13.57 $13.57
1 Athearn 40' HiCube Burlington boxcar
$13.56 $13.56
1 LBF MILW boxcar
$13.27 $13.27
Total Cost
$414.86
Minus Trains
$161.99
Layout Only
$252.87
The Parts list/Budget is as follows:
Table 1: The “Chicago Fork” levered eBay to come in under the tar-
get $500 limit. I purchased all layout benchwork, trackage, lighting,
paint, and wiring items new from local stores. However, the rolling
stock and locomotive came from eBay. This saved money and also
provided items not available locally. For the contest, I set prices by
summing the 3-highest and 3-lowest price auctions for each item,
and averaged the result. The $85 remaining from the budget actu-
ally forms a “Misc/consumables” fund to accommodate variances in
eBay auction prices, minor tool upgrades, extra X-acto blades, etc.
MRH-Sep 2013
