An Update on the State of the Model Train Industry

[James Regan]

3 hours ago, Galteemore said:

 

To be brutally honest, anyone who can afford to spend significant sums on what are essentially toys is, in global terms, rich beyond measure. In terms of Maslow’s pyramid, most of us are living quite far up on it….

 

I think you may be lost and confused… the 163 bus is up the road there.

[DJ Dangerous]

10 hours ago, Niles said:

In fairness, surely the tariff would still be charged regardless of courier? It's hardly the doing of Accurascale...

The idea was that by using a specific carrier (possibly Royal Mail?), there was a high probability of the item being delivered tax-free. Several months back, I think it was USPS, said that they didn’t have the manpower so were letting parcels under a certain value slip by without charging the taxes that the buyer is obliged to pay.

 

7 hours ago, Galteemore said:

To be brutally honest, anyone who can afford to spend significant sums on what are essentially toys is, in global terms, rich beyond measure. In terms of Maslow’s pyramid, most of us are living quite far up on it….

In fairness, that’s a bit of an odd generalisation. Perhaps customers are borrowing, eating into life savings, or selling off items from a previous hobby, to fund their habit. Just because people are spending does not dictate a surplus of disposable income.

[Galteemore]

22 minutes ago, DJ Dangerous said:

The idea was that by using a specific carrier (possibly Royal Mail?), there was a high probability of the item being delivered tax-free. Several months back, I think it was USPS, said that they didn’t have the manpower so were letting parcels under a certain value slip by without charging the taxes that the buyer is obliged to pay.

 

In fairness, that’s a bit of an odd generalisation. Perhaps customers are borrowing, eating into life savings, or selling off items from a previous hobby, to fund their habit. Just because people are spending does not dictate a surplus of disposable income.

It’s not really a generalisation DJ, but is based on empirical observations. Having spent parts of my working life in places where people literally cannot guarantee if they will eat tomorrow has rather changed my perspective on the relative luxury I live in. And yes, I have sold off previous stuff to fund my habit! The fact that I can allocate any assets at all to a mere hobby would be simply inconceivable in some of the places I have worked.

Edited Wednesday at 21:35 by Galteemore

[DJ Dangerous]

4 minutes ago, Galteemore said:

It’s not really a generalisation DJ, but is based on empirical observations. Having spent parts of my working life in places where people literally cannot guarantee if they will eat tomorrow has rather changed my perspective on the relative luxury I live in. And yes, I have sold off previous stuff to fund my habit! The fact that I can allocate any assets at all to a mere hobby would be simply inconceivable in some of the places I have worked in.

Apples and oranges.

Comparing extreme poverty to any standard of living, even living paycheck to paycheck, will make it appear “wealthy”.

Likewise, comparing somebody living paycheck to paycheck, to somebody with an electric Porsce, changes that dynamic.

Comparing the electric Porsche driver to Jeff Bezos changes it again.

So, I’d say yes, it comes across as a very broad generalisation.

[Galteemore]

I’m not going to quibble about incommensurables v relative values. Let’s just leave it there and attribute it all to me processing my guilt about having just made my largest ever single modelling purchase  

[DJ Dangerous]

7 minutes ago, Galteemore said:

I’m not going to quibble about incommensurables v relative values. Let’s just leave it there and attribute it all to me processing my guilt about having just made my largest ever single modelling purchase  

A 51% stake in Accurascale!

[Galteemore]

Just now, DJ Dangerous said:

A 51% stake in Accurascale!

Worsley works - you know me DJ - no RTR in sight! Given the topic thread title, it’s the creeping disappearance of suppliers like Allen that disturb me. In tens of trade barriers, I’d wanted an SSM PP but the Brexit effect put paid to that idea - amazingly I found one on UK eBay thanks to contacts on here. 

[skinner75]

On 19/5/2025 at 7:40 PM, Ironroad said:

Yes he did, but please read the CNN news extracts I posted earlier which explain what is in place for at least the next 85 days or so.

All shipments sent via commercial carriers will have a tariff of 30% applied.

All shipments sent via the post office with a value of $1 up to $800 will be subject to a 54% tariff, but with a option for the consignee to pay a flat tariff of $100.

So if IRM/AS are offering their US customers a choice between having orders shipped by mail or courier a simple rule of thumb can be applied to minimise the tariff being paid by US customers.

It makes no sense to send an order with a value of $334 or less via the mail, because the minimum tariff such a order would be subject to would be $100, whereas the maximum tariff sent via courier (@30%) would be $100.

And It makes no sense to send an order valued between $335 and $800 via a courier because it would incur a tariff of between $101 & $240. Whereas sending that same order via the mail incurs a maximum tariff of $100. 

So the simple rule of thumb is to send all orders valued between $335 and $800 via the mail and all others via courier. 

 

 

 

 

Looks like the Orange One has done away with the below $800 thing:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c939q47xlleo

[DJ Dangerous]

4 hours ago, skinner75 said:

 

Looks like the Orange One has done away with the below $800 thing:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c939q47xlleo

No surprises there, he is very very unstable.

19 hours ago, Galteemore said:

Worsley works - you know me DJ - no RTR in sight! Given the topic thread title, it’s the creeping disappearance of suppliers like Allen that disturb me. In tens of trade barriers, I’d wanted an SSM PP but the Brexit effect put paid to that idea - amazingly I found one on UK eBay thanks to contacts on here. 

AccuraKits?

[Mayner]

1 hour ago, DJ Dangerous said:

No surprises there, he is very very unstable.

AccuraKits?

Ironically several years ago I was required to pay Duty, Taxes and Customs processing charges on a number of Accuracraft large scale locos imported from the United States. (NZ charges duty on model/toy trains.

https://www.accucraft.com/legacy/index.htm Even used these locos averaged between $17000-$2500Usd Duty & Taxes worked out at 20% plus flat Customs & Bio Security fee of approx. $100.

At the time I wanted and could afford these locos, buying them in from the States even paying customs charges was the only realistic way of acquiring them.

I guess US model railroaders are faced with the same dilemma, as far as I know Kadee is one of the sole remaining US manufatcurers, major players like Athearn, Atlas, Walthers production is Chinese based.

Trump thrives on conflict and attention, and currently US President yields too much power and influence to ignore.

Accurakits, The future of the Model Railway Hobby in the UK and Ireland?

Like Galteemore the demise of the kit/component manufacturer over the past 30 or so years and increasing shift to RTR bothers me because I am more a modeller than a collector. Though the increasing availability of Irish kits and more recently rtr models diverted me from (scratch)building the models I set out to build 40 odd years ago. I admire Alan's determination and fortitude in building a fleet of BCDR locos and stock in a relatively short time frame. Most of my kit built models are in display cases while my collection of IRM & MM models (apart from a few locos) remain stashed away in their boxes.

I am not a complete Luddite RTR has its place particularly in getting a layout up and running quickly, been there done that in N and Large Scale, but its not may main interest.

Edited Thursday at 18:55 by Mayner

[Mol_PMB]

I agree, I enjoy scratchbuilding, kitbuilding/bashing, and modifying RTR. While I can appreciate the satisfaction of buying a nice model RTR, I don't really feel it's mine until I've made it my own by modifying/detailing/repainting/weathering it in some way. Of course that destroys the nominal value and one could claim that I ruin everything I buy! But I don't buy it to show it off, or to sell it again, I buy it to entertain myself while I make something unique.

I also really enjoy researching the prototype, and making models of things that other people don't have and probably never will have if they wait for an RTR version.

[Rob R]

1 hour ago, Mayner said:

 

I guess US model railroaders are faced with the same dilemma, as far as I know Kadee is one of the sole remaining US manufatcurers, major players like Athearn, Atlas, Walthers production is Chinese based.

All the more reason to move to S scale.

https://americanmodels.com/

[Ironroad]

19 hours ago, skinner75 said:

 

Looks like the Orange One has done away with the below $800 thing:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c939q47xlleo

Yes as may have been expected and the effective date is Aug 29. As to how this will play out in practise remains to be seen

In the  meantime however as outlined in my post on May 19,  the current position is:

"All shipments sent via commercial carriers will have a tariff of 30% applied.

All shipments sent via the post office with a value of $1 up to $800 will be subject to a 54% tariff, but with a option for the consignee to pay a flat tariff of $100."

Accordingly AS offered customers the option of using a courier or the mail. It would seem that this was forgotten in the case that James Regan is complaining about and cost him.

Not good.

[BosKonay]

3 hours ago, Ironroad said:

Yes as may have been expected and the effective date is Aug 29. As to how this will play out in practise remains to be seen

In the  meantime however as outlined in my post on May 19,  the current position is:

"All shipments sent via commercial carriers will have a tariff of 30% applied.

All shipments sent via the post office with a value of $1 up to $800 will be subject to a 54% tariff, but with a option for the consignee to pay a flat tariff of $100."

Accordingly AS offered customers the option of using a courier or the mail. It would seem that this was forgotten in the case that James Regan is complaining about and cost him.

Not good.

Not forgotten just not possible. Also Royal Mail will only accept parcels up to 2kg for usps and the dimensional or volumetric weight is also a factor. Our large locos for example are all ‘more than’ 2kg from a shipping point of view. 

[DJ Dangerous]

17 hours ago, Mayner said:

Accurakits, The future of the Model Railway Hobby in the UK and Ireland?

With the direction that RTR pricing is currently heading, I suspect that many middle-aged buyers are likely to be pushed out of the hobby to an extent, only to return in twenty or thirty years time, when retired, going the kit / scratch route.

[James Regan]

4 hours ago, Ironroad said:

Accordingly AS offered customers the option of using a courier or the mail. It would seem that this was forgotten in the case that James Regan is complaining about and cost him.

They explained offline that they tried to ship by mail but it wasn’t accepted. For me that was a test order. Unfortunately, it means a up to 40% (30% tariff plus 10% fed ex fee) surcharge on most accurascale models which are purchased retail from outside the US. For a plastic model the prices no longer make sense for me. Though I like to support Accurascale/IRM it will impact my order volume. Perhaps they should have a US distributor as Hornby do. Then the imports would be taxed at wholesale prices.  

[DJ Dangerous]

11 minutes ago, James Regan said:

They explained offline that they tried to ship by mail but it wasn’t accepted. For me that was a test order. Unfortunately, it means a up to 40% (30% tariff plus 10% fed ex fee) surcharge on most accurascale models which are purchased retail from outside the US. For a plastic model the prices no longer make sense for me. Though I like to support Accurascale/IRM it will impact my order volume. Perhaps they should have a US distributor as Hornby do. Then the imports would be taxed at wholesale prices.  

It’s been that way down here for many years, now.

The only ways to mitigate the handling fee / surcharge have been to avoid DHL at all costs, as they charge triple what other carriers charge, and to combine orders where possible.

I understand that this isn’t always possible, but @MOGUL managed to combine / group three of my orders for shipping together early this year, so I only had to pay one handling fee.

[Ironroad]

1 hour ago, BosKonay said:

Not forgotten just not possible. Also Royal Mail will only accept parcels up to 2kg for usps and the dimensional or volumetric weight is also a factor. Our large locos for example are all ‘more than’ 2kg from a shipping point of view. 

That raises another question. Parcelforce was established by the Royal Mail to handle larger parcels and while operating like a courier company they use the US postal service for delivery in the US.  They apparently only hand over to the USPS in the states. But having handed over they cannot collect any tariff that may be due and so presumably this becomes the responsibility of the USPS and accordingly the option of paying a maximum tariff of $100 would apply. Perhaps clarification should be sought from Parceforce on this. 

[Ironroad]

50 minutes ago, James Regan said:

They explained offline that they tried to ship by mail but it wasn’t accepted. For me that was a test order. Unfortunately, it means a up to 40% (30% tariff plus 10% fed ex fee) surcharge on most accurascale models which are purchased retail from outside the US. For a plastic model the prices no longer make sense for me. Though I like to support Accurascale/IRM it will impact my order volume. Perhaps they should have a US distributor as Hornby do. Then the imports would be taxed at wholesale prices.  

Likewise, this will dictate more limited and selective purchasing. It's a fine line on Maslow’s pyramid