The future of the Hobby


Crawfy said:
Hi first post :D

Well im not convinced about the hobby dying out, there seems to a great majority of modelers across the globe. I dunno what the story was 60 years ago, how many manufactures, train shows, availability of products there were, but reading past articles dating back 20~ years there has been large advancements in the hobby. DCC for one, has been a huge progress, along with an ever increasing line of products available. It seem there is still a big enough (and growing) market for the products, so there are still a great many people out there enjoying model trains.

I'm 19 and have loved trains for along as i can remember, being introduced to model trains by my older cousin 10 years ago, i haven't looked back. Since then another younger cousin caught the bug off me and we've shared the hobby somewhat between us, helping each other with each others projects.

Go to a train show and yes, the majority of modelers are of the older generation, and I don't see that changing. But how many here have been introduced to the hobby at a later stage in there life (common excuse is kids), because apart from a few youngsters, it is taken more seriously by older, wiser people ;). When my generation is of that age, there will be just as many model railroaders as there is now, probably more. Just at the moment most of us younger blokes are too caught up in our partying, girl-hunting, rev-head, million mile-n-hour lifestyles to worry about the complexity of scale railroading operations.

But when im done going to the pub, partying, toying with lots of horsepower or blasting my way through WWII on my computer, i'll settle down and run my trains, cause that what i love doing!

Just my AUS$0.02 :p
(bout US$0.013 now :()
Click to expand...

Welcome!

I originally thought that there was no way that you are nineteen. No nineteen year old product of the U.S. education system can utilize proper English to construct a single paragraph, much less four. Then I realized that you're an Aussie! One more reason that the U.S. is a sinking cesspool. Maybe I can send my kids to school Down Under.

Again, welcome aboard. I look forward to your input.
 
Just saw that Gov. Strickland of Ohio wants to build/invest in passenger rail lines between Ohio's 3 major city's. If part of Obama's infrastructure stimulus is to invest in commuter/passenger lines in the U.S., we could see a rise in the interest of Train modeling because trains becomes a part of the American life again.
 
Hi all, I'm new here. I'm part of the younger crowd at 33 years old. I grew up with trains my whole life so this is nothing new. I am active with the ETE (European Train Enthusiasts) and my dad and I have a fairly extensive Marklin collection. I have a fair amount of North American proptotypes as well and I like to call myself an "equal opportunity enthusiast".

I do think the hobby is at a turning point especially with all the European manufacturers having recently experienced or experiencing financial troubles. The electronics and digital train control are an absolutely phenomenal development in the hobby with the downside being that of price for a new entrant in the hobby.

The creepiness factor also doesn't help especially when I see alot of the core members of our hobby carrying around an extra 60 pounds eating a 2lb bag of french fries and lathering mayonaisse on a sandwich. Believe me there are members in my club that look like that and although I love them to death I'm not sure I'd ever leave the house looking like that.

The requirement of instant gratification of today's society is certainly not a help either. I'm not a gamer even though I enjoy an occasional WWII game or two at friends house since it does provide somewhat of a learning experience with me being a history buff. Most of the games are pointless and I just don't really understand the fascination with them.

There are few hobbies with the benefits that Model Railroading has to offer in the lessons it teaches you about how electricity works, how power tools work which is necessary when building a layout, basic carpentry, etc...... Most importantly, model railroading forces you to think and use your imagination.

As we are all stewards of the hobby, all we can do is be polite and be couteous to those new entrants in the hobby and not run them off. There are so many ways this can be done, from adjusting a wheelset to offering help clean and service a locomotive, the list goes on and on. I for one, am doing my best to introduce trains to my 17 month old daughter and convey the magic that trains have for me.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Welcome aboard, Jet. I must say that, having belonged to several clubs and gone to a lot of train shows, there is a "creepiness" factor at work in the hobby. It's usually not talked about much but it's real. When I tell friends I have a layout, they look at me strange, kind of like "but you seem so normal otherwise". :) I don't know what we do about that but it isn't good for the image of the hobby.

The current economic situation, both here and in Europe, is not helping matters any, especially since products in the pipeline tend to have all the bells and whistles and a new Walthers F unit with DCC and sound is now approaching $300. I know I'm not in the market to spend that kind of money and I hope the manufacturers have enough margin to lower the price and move product before they end up in Chapter 11. I still believe in the long term future of the hobby but it's going to be a rough ride in the near term.
 
I can assure you that there are tons of younger folks in the hobby, especially in the 18-25 age group. The problem is, most of us can't break away from our schedules to go to shows, and rarely have the $$$ to go to hobby shops. Plus, the younger generations tend to buy more online, hence the absence in the actual stores. I can buy through a dealer online and save at least 40% on detail parts.

I am currently a full time college student, and just got back into the hobby a couple months ago. Through high school I never had the time, and even now I do not have the opportunity to build a full size layout (hence why I mainly build locomotives/freight cars). Time, money, and plenty of room are the limitations of this hobby, and I suspect that is why most modelers at shows or at the hobby store are all older.

I have only been to one train show in my life, and most of the guys there were surprised at how young I was. The icing on the cake was telling them I build locomotives from the SCL/ACL, they apparently couldn't believe what they were hearing. I just know I am the youngest member of the ACL/SAL/SCL historical society by a long shot.

Now if I could just get the live in girlfriend to be a bit more interested in the hobby I would have it made...
 
UP2CSX said:
Welcome aboard, Jet. I must say that, having belonged to several clubs and gone to a lot of train shows, there is a "creepiness" factor at work in the hobby. It's usually not talked about much but it's real. When I tell friends I have a layout, they look at me strange, kind of like "but you seem so normal otherwise". :) I don't know what we do about that but it isn't good for the image of the hobby.
Click to expand...

Jet and Jim are right. I'm a closet model railroader due to the creepiness factor. Very few people outside of my family and our Free-mo group know that I do this.
 
UP2CSX said:
I must say that, having belonged to several clubs and gone to a lot of train shows, there is a "creepiness" factor at work in the hobby. It's usually not talked about much but it's real. When I tell friends I have a layout, they look at me strange, kind of like "but you seem so normal otherwise". :) I don't know what we do about that but it isn't good for the image of the hobby.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, this perception has been significantly exaggerated by Hollywood for quite a while now, so your friend's reaction on this isn't very surprising.

There was nothing odd or creepy about being a model railroader in the 1940's or 50's, when many famous individuals were well known as being model railroaders too. However, as the hobby moved ever further from the mainstream during the 1970's and 80's the depiction of hobbyists on TV and in the movies progressively transitioned from typically being the kindly old grandpa-type figure eventually to being the guy generally suspected by the viewer to be the maniacal killer, or the megalomaniac with an eye on taking over the world! Of course, on the brighter side, there was Gomez Adams...who was only just metally disturbed.

Honestly, I can't think of a film or TV show I've seen in the past 15-20 years that has portrayed us otherwise. Guess it kinda illustrates just how fickle general acceptance can be...and just imagine, model railroading was ranked as America's second most popular hobby back around 1955!

NYW&B
 
Last edited by a moderator:
The future is now

Although I thought they were neat, you could not have gotten me into a model railroad shop with a court order as a kid. It just did not grab me, and sports, fishing, friends all kept me occupied.

Now I have my own kids and they have brought me into it. The "Thomas the Tank Engine" shows got my boys started, and it snowballed. Now I think when my boys move on I may do another layout of my own. It was a lot of fun building this.

This is not exactly "realistic operation" but it is "small hand compatable". They are having a ball with it. They also like Youtube. So now you can check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbDJDfI7wVE
 
I don't disagree with your idea that media depiction hasn't helped much but I don't know if it's a chicken or egg thing. I joined my first club as a young man in 1965 and most of the guys were pretty normal. Either they were younger like me or family men who, in many cases, had gotten into the hobby by setting up trainsets for their sons. Some kind of transition stated in the mid-70's, with less regular married guys and more single, morbidly obese loners. A lot of these guys had borderline personalities and loved to rivet count every model you ever bought to the club. It got to the point I always made sure I had a prototype picture in my hand for anything I kitbashed. A few of these guys were downright scary and I was carrying a gun. :eek:. I don't know if the media started to portray what had become real or just made the stereotype worse. Whatever the case, I think all of us who are honest can say that the hardcore crowd at a train show is significantly different than a cross section of the general population of the same age and sex.
 
Jim you are right on the money. In my 20 years of model Railroading I feel the media has always promoted the hobby in a positive light. Train shows near me were are promoted showing both family and diehard model railroaders having a good time.. Its the clubs the tend to show these creepy sides. But in fairness this is true with most clubs be it a train or car club.you will always have a few creepy people join. I think that clubs gives some people a place to go to if they feel that society has turned a blind eye on them. this is great but "societys rules" still take place when everyday people come in contact with them at the club. For Example I took my Girlfriend to my clubs open house a few months back, I had to tell my Girl that some of the "creepy guys" may look as if they had never seen a woman before. Now I made her aware of these types but feel sorry for the moms that bring her 2 kids in to see some trains and now has to deal with this...they tend to do this to every new person that walks in so but the reality is that it is not polite and infact projects a negitive image for the club. who would let their kid join a club after seeing some of these types. To be honest some of these people would make me afraid to let my kid join if he was to attend solo. At our club we have about 10 or so kids (14-18)that are members most are normal that come down with dad every week. we even have a few that like to help on maitance nights. I dont think that the hobby will die but like everything today. if you cant take it right out of the box and set it on the table ready to go most people wont even look at it. And we all know this hobby is not ready to run.

just my.02
Trent
 
lmackattack said:
...Its the clubs the tend to show these creepy sides. But in fairness this is true with most clubs be it a train or car club.you will always have a few creepy people join. I think that clubs gives some people a place to go to if they feel that society has turned a blind eye on them.
Click to expand...

I personally think that this is overstated somewhat. I've been in clubs since I got married, and I've never encountered anyone that had a "creepiness" factor. Part of it is that the clubs I've been a member of, all had membership requirements that would weed these kind of folks out. Most times it was as simple as requiring NMRA membership! Rest of the time it was taken care of by the probationary period.

lmackattack said:
And we all know this hobby is not ready to run.

just my.02
Trent
Click to expand...

I know of many people who wish it was a RTR hobby. I got blasted once on another forum because I stated that out of almost 400 cars I owned only 1 RTR car.

One said he didn't believe it, because while I was building he'd be at his club running his 20 car RTR train. I invited him to come to our club and run one of my 50 car trains. He'd only been in the hobby about 10 years and didn't know I've been in the hobby for 46 years and had been building cars since I was 8, and locos since I was 18.

People currently don't believe that there are alternatives to the ways they have seen things done in the few years they've been in the hobby. Example; How many times have we seen people pronounce the death of the Athearn BB kits, despite the announcements from Athearn to the contrary? Athean has always been a "batch" manufacturer, and still is. Just because an engine or car isn't currently availible, doesn't mean it won't be again.

I believe that the hobby is changing and will evolve more, but I do not believe that it is dying. It definitely is changing, and many of us long time hobbiests have seen monumental changes. I've always been an "industry" watcher, and still am. I don't know what is going to be more fun, building my last layout over the next few years, or watching the hobby change.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
hey guys well I was taking a look at the topic and I was reading what all of you had to say and well I can totally agree that we do live in a fast pace world now and the attention span of kids today are well very short due to video games and distractions. I just turned 20 years on the 29th of january and I took up this hobby when i was 15 and I now am able to go full force into it because I can pay for the trains and materials to make my layout. I wanted to say that before this hobby I was into RC Cars but I have always trashed them and broke them and I got tired of throwing away my money also with racing dirt bikes you don't get to relax as much as you would like to and when I started model railroading it gave me an escape from the fast pace world and also have the freedom to create a world as you see it.
 
Just to add some fuel to the fire we have this announcement:

According to the German newspaper Stuttgarter Zeitung, the world's oldest model railway company, Märklin, faces insolvency as the banks are reported to have stopped credit on 31st January. The report by Carola Fox and Judith Weber says that the company, owned by Kingsbridge & Goldman Sachs, is deeply in crisis. The Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg and the district savings bank in Göppingen have been negotiating about whether credits should be further extended. The employees are owed their wages for January. Understandably the banks are refusing to comment, as their customer's business is confidential, but it is believed that Märklin has accumulated debts of 50 million Euros including a 20 million Euro loss last year. Elsewhere in the financial press, it is reported that the banks see no more possibility of restructuring the company.

Taken from MRE Mag this morning. North American modellers may say 'big deal', but when you think that Marklin also owns LGB this is a big issue for the Garden railway enthusiasts.

edit: Marklin have now filed for bankruptcy protection.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks for that update, Andrew. Märklin has been in trouble for the last year and it seems that they have finally come to the end of the road. Part of it was the Goldman Sachs crisis that made them pull all their financing and German banks have been as reluctant as American banks to lend to anyone, let alone an enterprise obviously in trouble. Märklin has always been a high end manufacturer and their aquisition of LGB placed them even more firmly in that category. Unfortunately, this is exactly the market you don't want to be in right now. In a normal market, I'd hope that a better capitalized company could take them over but this is far from a normal market. I'm afraid liquidation is going to be the only answer. Pretty sad for a company tha made it through every economic crisis and war for the last 140 years.
 
Not very surprising. I'm sort of seeing the same thing up here. A few people may make it very interesting for a newby by being nitpickers/rivet counters or just plain miserable and the rest have to work a little more at the public image.

Marklin was run into the ground by sticking to a more or less regional market--hence the need, as even their own press release had it, to bring a change to their 'cult' status. This only complicates the european market as the product lines tended towards that side of the coin. There is apparently a lot more pain coming down the pike yet. Oh BTW, where there is trouble, opportunities arise--

I've noticed more kids around here getting into some aspects of it---and if some is due to RTR then---
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I'm 41 years old and have only been into the hobby for about 3 years. Recently I took my son (almost 8 years old) to the same train show that got us started. It's an annual event for us now. Although he enjoys looking at the layouts more than shopping and trading with dad, I hope to keep him interested. I know that most of the guys running the layout are older than me, but more than a couple of them had sons with them. It is tough to get kids to build something from the ground up when they mostly look for instant gratification of video scenes and just a few buttons to push and all the wiring is done for you.
My son is getting to an age where he can help more in the actual building of the layout and we're starting a tiny table top N scale to get him to learn the fun of actually creating your own fun and learning patience pays great rewards!
Thank you all for a great read. I've really enjoyed it.
 
Larry, what's your beef with NMRA?

Brett, keep up the good work. Anything you can do to keep your son interested in something he can do with his own hands and do with you will pay big dividents as he becomes a teenager...and discovers...girls! :eek:
 
Jim,LOL where do I begin :D a few years ago they (NMRA)had a show here in Wa state great my club was all set to go one small catch,to be part of the show you had to belong to the NMRA ?? :rolleyes:At the same show the powers to be of the NMRA were having a meeting on the swap floor all well and good till they the "POWERS TO BE" began slaming each other and some other ppl right there on the swap floor in front of the public mind you KIDS were there need I say more.Go back to the conventiuon they held here in Seattle,Wa I was helping my club set up I had switching layout hooked up to the main layout then one of the "NMRA powers to be" came by and not knowing who the owner was or were he was said" What is this piece of **** doing here :eek:needless to say I was on him like in a nano second:rolleyes:

Then of coruse we there IT's our way your the highway Guess what pal they walk around like there **** does not stink I live life by my own rules and my terms in everything I do. I run what I want and do what I want alot of them take there so called JOB way to seriously so what if my road is 1/64 of an inch to big god man get a life its a HOBBY oh wait I'm an N scaler so they really don't care anyway :D:D:D:cool::rolleyes: Jim, can you feel the loveeeeeeeeeeee LOL:D
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.



Back
Top