Quote from: the Bach-man on September 02, 2007, 11:43:38 AM
I know it's a hobby, but some folks have limited time, and for 7 to 10 dollars, it's worth the time savings in order to work on other things. I think both Ken's racks and our cars are a great value, and my point here is that whether the relatively small differential is worth it is an individual  decision.
Have fun!
the Bach-man

Interesting discussion. To throw another option in to the mix, one can also scratch-build the racks AND the flat car AND the load. This saves a bit of money but does require more time. However, as the Bach-man points out, this is a hobby, and if one measures the cost of an item (or materials) divided by the number of hours it takes to build it, one gets a truer sense of the item's value. For example, if you buy a Bachmann Forney at, let's say $100 (lucky you - you found a sale!), and it takes you five minutes to remove it from the box and put it on the layout, your cost per hour of quality hobby time to get that piece on the layout is $1200. If you buy that same Forney at $100 and then spend another $100 on detail parts, raw materials, a book on Forneys to give you some guidance, and so on, and then you spend 20 hours reworking the Forney into a different Forney - perhaps an 0-4-4T, which would really require shortening the boiler/smokebox and frame, for a start - your cost per hour of hobby enjoyment is $200/20 or $10 per hour to get that locomotive ready for the layout.
Along the way, you earn some new skills and a greater sense of accomplishment.
Those interesting in knowing more about building accurate Maine-two-foot equipment from scratch might want to look at the TwoFootProjects group, where we are going to start by building Bridgton & Saco River flatcar #41 in On30 and On2 using nothing fancier than Mt. Albert scale lumber, brass wire in various sizes, and commonly available detail parts. And yes, the basic flat car can be dressed up with a pulp rack if so desired. The class starts in the next week or two.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TwoFootProjects
- Trevor (list owner) in Toronto