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The price of model railways has been a hot topic recently and, after finding an old 1985 Hornby price list, I wondered whether the hobby really has become prohibitively expensive, especially for youngsters.
According to Statistica, the average weekly pocket money for UK children aged 8-15 in 2022 was £4.99 (having dropped from a high of £7.55 immediately prior to the Covid-19 pandemic). Therefore, it would now take a young enthusiast 38 weeks to save up for a Hornby LMS ‘Princess Coronation’ which, at the time of writing, was available from Rails of Sheffield for £189.95.