Yahoo Finance ‘I spent £20,000 on model trains – and they will fund my retirement’
Endless bread making, dismantling motorcycle engines on the kitchen table or smoking fish in the cupboard under the stairs: at some point in their lives, it seems all people develop a hobby.
For Stephen Marsh, 33, his passion has always been for trains. The Yorkshireman, who works on the railways as a train planner himself, has already spent more than £20,000 on his collection of model rolling stock and landscapes. He now owns more than 100 model locomotives, having started collecting with his first Hornby products some 20 years ago.
But Mr Marsh’s train sets are more than just his pastime: they are his pension, too.
The hobby is expensive, as even the most basic starter sets cost hundreds of pounds. But well looked after collections, especially those that contain limited-edition models, are typically able to hold their value well, and in some cases increase it substantially.
The secondhand market is now thriving, fuelled by a boom in sales from newly-keen lockdown enthusiasts – and investors are cashing in. Hornby reported a profit for the first time in close to a decade last year, after its sales shot up by almost a third during the pandemic.
The pastime has also benefited from a healthy dose of positive PR, with celebrities such as Rod Stewart publicly showing off his beloved model network. It was so expansive that it required seven shipping containers to relocate it to Essex from California.
An explosion in crafting and hobby television programmes, including shows like The Great Model Railway Challenge, first shown in 2018, and Hornby: A Model World – a “behind the scenes” look at the model producer, which aired in October – has also helped to draw in new aficionados, said Mark Holder, of auction house Hansons, who also owns his own model train shop.
“Stores like ours were forced to close our doors during the pandemic, but the business we lost was more than made up for by customers online – people stuck at home with time on their hands and often money still coming in from furlough pay,” he said.
“It can be a smart investment, especially if you are able to get your hands on a limited-edition model. These can almost double in value within 12 months of the particular model going out of production.”
Such collectors’ items often come with gold-plated embellishments and tack, as well as certificates which list the model’s issue number and prove their authenticity.
Mr Marsh said his investment strategy was to target limited-edition models of famous trains that are today housed in the National Railway Museum.
One of his most prized models is a limited production of the Mallard, which still holds the world record for the fastest steam train, clocking 126 miles per hour on the East Coast main line near Grantham in 1938.
“The main thing is the enjoyment of having them and building up more and more, but I will keep the most precious ones in their boxes in dry storage, and aim to keep them until my retirement to unlock a bit of money,” he said.
In some cases the true value of railway sets gathering dust in garages and attics across the country will be far higher than many people realise, Mr Holder added. “Unless you are in the know, it can be extremely difficult to assess the value,” he said.
Even toy trains from recent decades unearthed in lofts may in fact be much sought-after collectibles commanding prices into hundreds or even thousands of pounds, according to Kevin Pratt of finance website Forbes Advisor.
The family of a 72-year-old pensioner from Cheshire who died last year had a £100,000 windfall after auctioning off his treasured collection of 300 locomotives, achieving far in excess of the estimated £70,000 pre-sale value.
The wife of another collector, a former Hull City Council worker who also died last year, made £20,000 selling off her late husband’s 130-strong Hornby collection.
The most valuable – but not vanishingly rare – train sets that could be sitting unused in hobby rooms include Märklin 0-gauge locomotives, worth £850, and Bachmann Spectrum G-gauge engines, which can sell for £700 apiece. Thomas the Tank Engine clockwork trains produced by Hornby in 1983 are also very popular, commanding prices of around £500 when sold in their original packaging, according to Forbes Advisor.
Almost any Thomas the Tank Engine pieces from the 1960s, or celebratory pieces from the much-loved children’s show 60th anniversary in 2005, with original packaging, are likely to increase in value. Britain, Germany and America are ranked as the best markets in which to buy and sell.
