Missed Opportunities

I could see the FOMO trap early on.
I have three strategies:

• never buy more than one of each loco prototype;
• never buy duplicate road numbers of rolling stock;
• never buy at list price.

I've missed a few things along the way but that hasn't stopped my acquiring over 400 items including 35 locos.
Manufacturers are assisting by reducing the range of era 1 &2 releases. My 3 rail base further limits any random spending.

If Brexit/covid/exchange rates had not intervened, I would have picked up a couple of 'missing links' from places like Contikits.
Its weird, I was just looking at a marklin set with a Bavarian D XII loco. I already have this prototype, but could use another.
It turns out that M have changed the internals since the first incarnation and the general opinion is that the most recent version is useless. So, missing out isn't always a bad thing...

Never yet missed out on anything this time around: in my youth I never did obtain a Trix Pepp A2 which was produced in small and erratically timed quantity. However, when I started purchasing Bach's new blue riband range from 1999, the approach of my youth - ambling into a couple of model shops a week or three after the items arrived - quickly proved flawed: the new good RTR OO had evaporated from the shelves, like the dew off the grass.

However the 'firstest with the latest' tendencies of many RTR OO purchasers came to the rescue back then; the items I had missed reappeared s/h very quickly in good condition for significantly less than new price. I will always be happy to wait for what was then typically two thirds of original retail price; and happily this has continued to present day. Just wait, and sooner or later the price is right. My thanks to those 'got to have the latest' folk that supply the discount I want...

I am a bit here with Adrian and as usual 34c because I dislike buying list price, I do not buy duplicate numbers although I find Bachmann ones easy to change, indeed after father passed I found I had a couple dozen duplicate numbers mainly of 9F, B1, O4 etc so of the 24 odd duplicates I sold my Austerities as they were knackered and a DCC version had appeared so I re-equipped.
Some models seem hard to find such as the Black 5, I bought one last weekend at Exeter show but it had a duff motor, I thought this was likely as the price was a bit too cheap, I only wanted a working chassis as it was an LMS one so we can get caught.
Where I depart from Adrian regards multiple locos of a single type, on small production locos then yes but on Black 5, 9F, B1 etc where there were hundreds that lasted nearly to the end then I have 4 or more but again these are a very well known types and hence they are known good performers.

kristopher1805 said:

...Where I depart from Adrian regards multiple locos of a single type, on small production locos then yes but on Black 5, 9F, B1 etc where there were hundreds that lasted nearly to the end then I have 4 or more ...

Click to expand...

This is very much dependent on what the purchaser wants from their model railway.

I too have at least 3 examples of all 14 steam locomotive classes that were the core traction in the last half dozen years of BR steam in the KX inner suburban area. That's because you could easily see two locos of any of these classes at any time, and also enables a range of within class variations and clean to filthy appearance to be operating. (The most numerous are the N2 and N7 tank locos, because these could easily be seen half a dozen of each at my main location which had a total of over 20 of only these two classes allocated. It wouldn't look right if the inadequate shed space wasn't rammed with 0-6-2T's outside of the morning and evening rush periods...

The other 30-some steam loco classes that did appear in the area are typically represented by single models, unless I find them really irresistibly attractive, when I might stretch to a couple.

This thread has been very re-assuring as coming back into the hobby after a short break, I did miss out on quite a few Continental locos that I would have ordered from MSL but are only around now on normal channels at near RRP. I have quite a few pre-orders back in now with MSL and the lead times allow me time to save up, plus if lucky, there have been a few items in their sale section which I have snapped up. Sticking with MSL also allows my little bit of loyalty discount to pay for the postage too...

I see Hornby will be doing their 2022 range release video this morning; I have a small bet with myself there will be at least 5 'new' locos/train packs in re-liveries at ~30% more than the previous incarnation. I have also had all 4 of their Bulleid Kitchen / Diner cars on pre-order since announcement and am fully expecting an email from my dealer to advise of a price increase from the PO price of £45 to ~£55-58