Post by andrewtoplis on Jun 19, 2024 14:17:53 GMT
Hello all,
A fellow model engineer at work showed me an old Bonds catalogue from 1938 as it turns out our office is exactly opposite the old shop on the Euston Road! The catalogue was interesting for many reasons, but it includes prices for the various items, so I spent a bit of time comparing with current prices using the Bank of England’s online calculator to work out the prices in June 2024 terms.
The Bonds 3 ½” gauge Royal Scot has a full list of castings but these not all are available today, so I’ve used a few simple examples:
• A set of drawings in 1938 was 20s (£1), which is the equivalent of £56.23 in 2024 money. The same drawings online are £36 today.
• Driving wheel castings were 1s/6d each or £4.50 in 2024 money, online these are now £28.51 each.
• Front cylinder cover was 9d or £2.25 in 2024 money, online now at £6.70
• Smokebox door and ring 6s is £10.12 in 2024 money, online now at £30.63 (using LBSC’s Doris as Royal Scot no longer available)
Bonds also did a surprisingly large range of finished parts, fittings (even finished cylinders and boilers!):
• Tender handpump was £27 in 2024 money, online from a different supplier at £54 today
• Pressure gauge then £21.37 in 2024 money, now £40.56
• 3 cock water gauge then £44.98 now £116.40
They also sold Lathes, and here it gets more difficult as equipment level varies:
• A Drummond 4in screw-cutting lathe (with foot-motor) at £15/15s/0d or £885.64 in 2024 money,
• A Milnes Model R (3¾” centre height) was £33/0/0 in 1938, plus £5/0/0 for a ½ HP motor, this is £2,136.78 in 2024 money.
• A Warco WM240B belt drive is around £1,496.07 online (on offer) today
• A Myford Super 7 with cabinet but not gearbox is £6,276 online today
They even sold fully constructed locos in 3 ¼” gauge with an LMS Princess at £150/0/0 or £8,434.65 in 2024 money, comparing with £7,995 for a Kingscale Britannia (this isn’t a fair comparison though, as presumably Bonds built to order rather than larger batch production).
However, to make this really meaningful we need to think about average wages, which adds another level of complication. UK average wage is around £28,000 today, but this figure is not directly available for 1938. Instead I can find average weekly earnings for men over 21 in manufacturing and other industries as £3 9s (£3.45), multiplied by 50 weeks makes £172.50 per year, which in 2024 money is £9,699.85, so just over a third of the current figure.
Applying this logic to costs, we can see castings are roughly three times higher today (or a lot more depending upon supplier), so feel the same or slightly more in comparison to average wages, whilst fittings are roughly double, so are cheaper in comparison. Lathes get interesting as at the cheaper end the Drummond would equate to around £2,650, so we can see that today’s import machinery does offer a cheaper route in here, although interestingly Bonds had an ‘own-brand’ machine that would be cheaper still. If we assume a Myford is the modern-day equivalent of the Milnes then these are broadly the same price in proportion to earnings despite feeling expensive today compared to historical prices
I would be interested in people’s views on this, I’m not sure what conclusions to draw but it was an interesting hour or so spent pulling all of these together.
A fellow model engineer at work showed me an old Bonds catalogue from 1938 as it turns out our office is exactly opposite the old shop on the Euston Road! The catalogue was interesting for many reasons, but it includes prices for the various items, so I spent a bit of time comparing with current prices using the Bank of England’s online calculator to work out the prices in June 2024 terms.
The Bonds 3 ½” gauge Royal Scot has a full list of castings but these not all are available today, so I’ve used a few simple examples:
• A set of drawings in 1938 was 20s (£1), which is the equivalent of £56.23 in 2024 money. The same drawings online are £36 today.
• Driving wheel castings were 1s/6d each or £4.50 in 2024 money, online these are now £28.51 each.
• Front cylinder cover was 9d or £2.25 in 2024 money, online now at £6.70
• Smokebox door and ring 6s is £10.12 in 2024 money, online now at £30.63 (using LBSC’s Doris as Royal Scot no longer available)
Bonds also did a surprisingly large range of finished parts, fittings (even finished cylinders and boilers!):
• Tender handpump was £27 in 2024 money, online from a different supplier at £54 today
• Pressure gauge then £21.37 in 2024 money, now £40.56
• 3 cock water gauge then £44.98 now £116.40
They also sold Lathes, and here it gets more difficult as equipment level varies:
• A Drummond 4in screw-cutting lathe (with foot-motor) at £15/15s/0d or £885.64 in 2024 money,
• A Milnes Model R (3¾” centre height) was £33/0/0 in 1938, plus £5/0/0 for a ½ HP motor, this is £2,136.78 in 2024 money.
• A Warco WM240B belt drive is around £1,496.07 online (on offer) today
• A Myford Super 7 with cabinet but not gearbox is £6,276 online today
They even sold fully constructed locos in 3 ¼” gauge with an LMS Princess at £150/0/0 or £8,434.65 in 2024 money, comparing with £7,995 for a Kingscale Britannia (this isn’t a fair comparison though, as presumably Bonds built to order rather than larger batch production).
However, to make this really meaningful we need to think about average wages, which adds another level of complication. UK average wage is around £28,000 today, but this figure is not directly available for 1938. Instead I can find average weekly earnings for men over 21 in manufacturing and other industries as £3 9s (£3.45), multiplied by 50 weeks makes £172.50 per year, which in 2024 money is £9,699.85, so just over a third of the current figure.
Applying this logic to costs, we can see castings are roughly three times higher today (or a lot more depending upon supplier), so feel the same or slightly more in comparison to average wages, whilst fittings are roughly double, so are cheaper in comparison. Lathes get interesting as at the cheaper end the Drummond would equate to around £2,650, so we can see that today’s import machinery does offer a cheaper route in here, although interestingly Bonds had an ‘own-brand’ machine that would be cheaper still. If we assume a Myford is the modern-day equivalent of the Milnes then these are broadly the same price in proportion to earnings despite feeling expensive today compared to historical prices
I would be interested in people’s views on this, I’m not sure what conclusions to draw but it was an interesting hour or so spent pulling all of these together.
