The decline in the number of model railroaders?


I don't think the Internet has saved the hobby at all - all it's done is appeased the "here and now" needs of the modern homosapian and made it easier for people, already in the hobby, to get what they want. What it might have done is prolonged the hobbies existence. If that is the case then it gives those already in the hobby a little more time to get new people involved.
 
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Well, I guess that's it, it's all over, then! Have we decided then that the hobby is all but dead and the Fat Lady has already sung? Sounds as though that is the general verdict. Look, I would really like to help out you Mr. Chicken Littles. I am willing to pay you scant pennies on the dollar for your brass steam locomotives. Let me know what you have and send me photos of it and I may purchase for little or no money, your horde of worthless equipment. However, time is of the essence, as after all, the sky is falling!

What may be a hopeless morass of loss for some, can be a very inexpensive windfall for others. Let me help you out and make you happy to get out from under this burdensome hobby!
 
Mark, you've just stooped to ad hominem and straw man arguments. I think this 'conversation' is finished.
 
It was over long ago when you think about it. Some think the hobby IS in decline, others think it is NOT. Neither side was going to change it's view so the entire conversation ended up being pretty moot in the end.
 
Selector said:
Mark, you've just stooped to ad hominem and straw man arguments. I think this 'conversation' is finished.
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Actually, no, I haven't stooped to ad hominem and straw man arguments. My comment was an attempt at humor. However, it's also my opinion that it is crucial to have a sense of humor, to comprehend that! I am however, in full agreement with wombat457: Some think the hobby is in decline and others think it is not and that this conversation ended up being moot, pretty much the day it started, in December of last year.
 
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Gentlemen,

I don't think the argument is over -- I'm not sure there ever really was an argument. There have been some very interesting points (to me, at least) made along, the way, about the way the hobby of model railroading is going, and I've enjoyed reading and pondering on them all.

Thank you for the excellent discussion we've had!

Best regards to all!
Tom

p.s. My tag line was originally a take-off on "The Wizard of Oz"'s Scarecrow's lament... Later on, it occured to me to me that since my post-college offspring have moved back home, filling the space I had ear-marked for my model railroad... I don't currently have room for a train. Ha!
 
"... Mr. Chicken Littles..." = Ad Hominem. When you seek to denigrate or to demean people and fail to merely counter their arguments, you lose. Or, you seek to silence or to end the discussion.

"...I may purchase for little or no money, your horde of worthless equipment.." = Straw Man. If I can see it for what it is, and you can't, where is the humor?
 
Selector, I guess if others were to state that they did not care for my off handed comments and felt I was out of line making a joke about this thread, I would remove the comments. However, I still think you need to lighten-up! O.K., you don't get my sense of humor, so what else is new?
 
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I don't honestly know the disposition of this hobby, will it continue; or, will it die a slow death over time. Knowing the answer to this question is anybody guess. Personally, my opinion fairly well parrots Wombat's opinion. This is the second hobby I have been involved in that shows signs of eventual collapse and death; or, that might morph into something different to what it is today. The other hobby was R/C Airplanes. Right now, very few people actually build model airplanes and the hottest growing segment of the hobby is drone flying. Drones have far supplanted what the R/C Airplane Hobby ever was! What will happen with model railroading; or, whatever the hobby might change into, is beyond my knowledge; or, beyond my caring about. The direction I took in post 102 was an attempt at trying to find humor is a situation I find depressing. In the end, I feel this is a pretty depressing thread, whether there is good information in it; or, not.
 
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