Reverse Running
T
hese days it seems the
ultimate in the hobby
has become ever
more detail on our models.
We’ve become so detail-hun-
gry that manufacturers keep
adding those details to satisfy
us, to the point the typical
ready-to-run HO freight car
has gone from less than $10
in the 1990s to now 20 years
later pushing $35-$45.
I can remember when Kadee’s
more detailed HO freight cars priced in the $25 range seemed
very expensive. Now-a-days, a $25 HO ready-to-run (RTR)
freight car seems cheap!
Do we really need all this detail? If you’re building an operating
layout, especially a layout over 200 square feet in size, I would
argue this level of detail
is overkill.
When you’re building a larger layout, you need lots of cars –
often dozens of each kind of car, and hundreds of cars in total.
Let’s say we’re talking 200 cars in HO that you need, and let’s
say you can get them all as RTR models (that’s debatable if
you’re a prototype modeler, but we’ll go with it for now). If
you can get all the cars you need for $25, that’s still a cool five
grand! If you go fancy and pay closer to $40 per car, now you’re
talking eight grand.
Reverse Running: Stepping outside the box with a contrary view
by Joe Fugate
The case against more detailed cars
MRH-Aug 2014
