nse47 Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 Just had a little idea last night, what with the cost of new trains being so expensive would you consider renting one? The idea being you could either try before you buy to see if a particular type of loco performs as you wished or perhaps you want to run something different for a running session or have more loco's for an event. The way I visioned it is you would have to pay a deposit to cover insurance on the loco but then just postage for both ways and a small rental fee (approx £10 for a week perhaps) and if all returned fine you would get all your deposit back. I suspect this is just one of my mad brain waves that wouldn't actually work but just wanted to see if there was interest out there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Saunders Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 Not such a novel concept as the 12" to the foot ones have been available as such for many years now! However like all leases you must return it in the condition supplied or pay the dilapidation costs! Mark Saunders Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Colin_McLeod Posted November 3, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 3, 2015 I think the insurance company might rate the risk fairly high. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium kevinlms Posted November 3, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 3, 2015 Just had a little idea last night, what with the cost of new trains being so expensive would you consider renting one? The idea being you could either try before you buy to see if a particular type of loco performs as you wished or perhaps you want to run something different for a running session or have more loco's for an event. The way I visioned it is you would have to pay a deposit to cover insurance on the loco but then just postage for both ways and a small rental fee (approx £10 for a week perhaps) and if all returned fine you would get all your deposit back. I suspect this is just one of my mad brain waves that wouldn't actually work but just wanted to see if there was interest out there. Trouble is people will rent them for an exhibition & run it for the duration. Also the fact that some models are notorious for bits falling off, when taking them out of the box. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajaxjones Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 Perhaps more along the lines of a classic car club. You get one every month on rotation whether you like it or not Aka a Jordanian princes race tuned 308 Ferrari I had to suffer that did about 8mpg Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
34theletterbetweenB&D Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 Just had a little idea last night, what with the cost of new trains being so expensive would you consider renting one? The idea being you could either try before you buy to see if a particular type of loco performs as you wished or perhaps you want to run something different for a running session or have more loco's for an event... I have a feeling that some folk already do a version of this, distance selling regulations giving them the upper hand in this matter. No fee at all, so it's not even a rental, more of a pre-purchase trial approach ...Also the fact that some models are notorious for bits falling off,.... Returned with a note saying 'the gubbins with the wheels on fell out of it and couldn't be found, probably not securely attached as received' . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious NSE Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 Mark, theirs cost £2m a coach, and I'm gonna need a bigger baseboard though... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernard Lamb Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 There was a chap, the name escapes me, who lived just north of Langholm who used to rent a train to take him and his friends home from Carlisle. Lord Rosebury would hire a train each summer to take his entire household from Cheddington to Dalmeny. No doubt there are many others. Nothing new in the idea. Bernard Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poggy1165 Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 George Dow quoted the case of a man who missed the last train for Marylebone to Aylesbury and hired a special at a cost of 5 guineas. It was put together so quickly that the service train was shunted on the way and the guy got home before the train he should have been on. Something that could not be repeated now for any amount of money. Renting model trains strikes me as fraught with difficulty. Too many dodgy punters out there just for starters. I suppose it might just work among a circle of friends, but most close friends would not expect paying, except perhaps in labour or beer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nse47 Posted November 4, 2015 Author Share Posted November 4, 2015 Thanks for the response guys, as I suspected the idea is potentially good but in practical terms not so good. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombatofludham Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 Thanks for the response guys, as I suspected the idea is potentially good but in practical terms not so good. It might work if there were a number of modellers in an area but no club, so you could visit people face to face so as to avoid being ripped off by postal trolls. It would also help if you, or someone you know, is built like a proverbial brick khazi in case anyone tries it on, but it would be a lot of work. I do wonder though if it might be of interest to local retailers who may be struggling to compete against box-shifters and who might be able to afford insurance, bouncers/enforcers, etc. After all Boots used to provide a library service at one time so the idea of private lending libraries isn't so far fetched. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horsetan Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 Perhaps more along the lines of a classic car club. You get one every month on rotation whether you like it or not Aka a Jordanian princes race tuned 308 Ferrari I had to suffer that did about 8mpg Oh how the other half live.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pacific231G Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 George Dow quoted the case of a man who missed the last train for Marylebone to Aylesbury and hired a special at a cost of 5 guineas. It was put together so quickly that the service train was shunted on the way and the guy got home before the train he should have been on. Something that could not be repeated now for any amount of money. Any amount of money? Private specials seem to have been not uncommon. My dad had a copy of a late pre-war (1939 I think) GWR Timetable and that included the rates for hiring a special train which AFAIR consisted of the actual hire per mile, which wasn't cheap, plus a first class ticket for everyone travelling on it. I don't remember how much notice they required but I doubt if they could have put it on quite as quickly as Moriarty did in The Final Problem to try to catch up with Sherlock Holmes who had got away from him on the Boat Train at Victoria. That story was published in The Strand Magazine in 1893 and I assume Conan Doyle had done his research There is a company that organises private trains http://www.trainhire.co.uk but I doubt you could ring them up and ask for a train in the next ten minutes! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Sheep Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 It might work if there were a number of modellers in an area but no club, so you could visit people face to face so as to avoid being ripped off by postal trolls. It would also help if you, or someone you know, is built like a proverbial brick khazi in case anyone tries it on, but it would be a lot of work. I do wonder though if it might be of interest to local retailers who may be struggling to compete against box-shifters and who might be able to afford insurance, bouncers/enforcers, etc. After all Boots used to provide a library service at one time so the idea of private lending libraries isn't so far fetched. My local model shop lends me items and informal credit 'pay me next time you're in' terms. I've borrowed locos, stock and a dynamis this year alone. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
34theletterbetweenB&D Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 Thanks for the response guys, as I suspected the idea is potentially good but in practical terms not so good. Keep up the creative thinking. A bright spark I know who has started and successfully sold three separate businesses, reckons he has a thousand crap concepts for every one that stands some chance, and then each of those has a one in ten chance of success; with factors like timing, investment money, skills availability, appropriate resources ready to go, all having a major influence on what flies and what doesn't. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nse47 Posted November 4, 2015 Author Share Posted November 4, 2015 Keep up the creative thinking. A bright spark I know who has started and successfully sold three separate businesses, reckons he has a thousand crap concepts for every one that stands some chance, and then each of those has a one in ten chance of success; with factors like timing, investment money, skills availability, appropriate resources ready to go, all having a major influence on what flies and what doesn't. Thanks for the positive encouragement - The other idea I'm working on might have some more legs. I'm working on putting a photo book together with the help of other modellers all around London's Transport but in model form so I have sections on all the different types of Buses, Trollybuses, Trams, Tubes and Trains...it's going to take a lot of work but I have 5 contributors so far and will be looking for more so hoping something good will come of it. Hopefully it will end up a book full of scenic colour photos showing the history of the Capitals Transport but in model form. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
class"66" Posted November 4, 2015 Share Posted November 4, 2015 Ive rented out few of my Bachmann 37s, to frends with exhibition layouts. Works quite well with no problems,this way it gives all my locos good run. And I have a lot of people wanting weathering jobs,or wanting to buy the loco out right.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nse47 Posted November 5, 2015 Author Share Posted November 5, 2015 Ive rented out few of my Bachmann 37s, to frends with exhibition layouts. Works quite well with no problems,this way it gives all my locos good run. And I have a lot of people wanting weathering jobs,or wanting to buy the loco out right.. Nice collection of 37's there!! If you lived nearer then I would certainly rent one, I guess that's the main downside...the postage! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium kevinlms Posted November 5, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 5, 2015 Ive rented out few of my Bachmann 37s, to frends with exhibition layouts. Works quite well with no problems,this way it gives all my locos good run. And I have a lot of people wanting weathering jobs,or wanting to buy the loco out right.. All those locos & only one plain blue! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 Maybe it's not such a far-fetched idea after all... http://www.dailycandy.com/everywhere/article/148281/Pleygos-Lego-Rental-Service Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted November 10, 2015 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 10, 2015 Thanks for the positive encouragement - The other idea I'm working on might have some more legs. I'm working on putting a photo book together with the help of other modellers all around London's Transport but in model form so I have sections on all the different types of Buses, Trollybuses, Trams, Tubes and Trains...it's going to take a lot of work but I have 5 contributors so far and will be looking for more so hoping something good will come of it. Hopefully it will end up a book full of scenic colour photos showing the history of the Capitals Transport but in model form. Our club has a London Transport themed layout if you are interested. Club meeting is Wednesday nights so I will ask one of the members concerned with the layout for some photos. If you are interested please PM me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamperman36 Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 The rental idea may work better on club or exhibition level, I used to loan some of my stock to the club when it used to take out the OO roundy, roundy layout even if I couldn't make it. I've also loaned stock from othe layouts at exhibitions. As mentioned the biggest problem is the transport is the problem. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Endacott Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 The club keeps borrowing my stock for use on their layouts. I hadn't thought of charging them rent, but now that you have suggested it... Geoff Endacott Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamperman36 Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 I never charge for loaning my stock , just made sure It was covered by insurance. When my stock was at a show with me I had my own insurance however if it wasn't with me or my layout my insurance didn't cover it, therefore if the club borrowed my stock the clubs insurance would cover it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJS1977 Posted November 11, 2015 Share Posted November 11, 2015 George Dow quoted the case of a man who missed the last train for Marylebone to Aylesbury and hired a special at a cost of 5 guineas. It was put together so quickly that the service train was shunted on the way and the guy got home before the train he should have been on. Something that could not be repeated now for any amount of money. That incident was the inspiration for "Stepney's Special" in WVA's "Stepney the Bluebell Engine". Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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