What is your age?


What is your age?

  • 5-15

    Votes: 3 1.4%

  • 15-25

    Votes: 28 13.1%

  • 25-35

    Votes: 36 16.8%

  • 35-55

    Votes: 82 38.3%

  • 55-75

    Votes: 64 29.9%

  • 75 and older

    Votes: 1 0.5%
  • Total voters
    214
  • Poll closed .
UP2CSX said:
Hmm...69-29 for the 55 and under crowd. Sounds like the hobby isn't just a bunch of old guys hanging around the basement after all. :)
Click to expand...

Well maybe old guys but young at heart. I haven't thought about it until now, so lets see, I model Penn Central and when my freights roll by I kind of get that flashback thought of when I was a little guy of how excited I would get when the train rolled by. Good old days for sure.
 
Seeing the tally so far, with just about 70% of those responding being over 35, I wonder how many honestly appreciate that the count is actually likely to be decidedly skewed toward the younger end? In my experience the majority of guys over 60 are not typically participants on Internet forums and are thus under represented. In the Hobby Demographics thread on this forum I had speculated that the under 30 crowd likely amounted to no more than 15% of hobbyists and based on what I see in the above poll, I think I'm probably pretty close to the actual mark for the hobby in general.

NYW&B
 
Last edited by a moderator:
My brain tells my body its 18, but my body tells the brain its 80. I'm 43 and pay for the play time the next morning. :)
 
Most guys that are in the hobby like NYW&B said that are older don't even own a computer & if they do they don't particapate(sp) in Forums. I've tried for many years(8) to get a lot of the guys my age to get on this forum & it never happens.
 
Maybe I'm the rare exception but I turn 64 in two months and I've been using computers for well over 25 years. I first got on the net back in the days of 9.6 kbs modems, FTP, and Mosaic as the only browser. I know there are a fair number of guys near my age (I know no one in the world is as as old as me :)) who are on this forum. I think it's kind of a stereotype that people over 55 just don't use computers. I teach a basic computer class at our local senior center and regularly have 25 students, many {gasp!} older than me. Just like some people will never adopt DCC, some will never see the advanteges of computers and the internet.
 
Just turned 67 and love not going in to the job every day. Jim, my first computer was a Radio Shack TRS80. The storage was an audio cassette recorder. Full blown memory was 64K!!!! Today, I can't begin to keep up with it. I can feel the memory gears slipping.

On 2012 - the Mayans must have been retailers. According to them, it all ends just before Christmas so they don't have to go through the after Christmas sales.
 
Jon NFL said:
On 2012 - the Mayans must have been retailers. According to them, it all ends just before Christmas so they don't have to go through the after Christmas sales.
Click to expand...
It wasn't just the Mayans. The ancient Egyptians also came up with the same exact date many years before and the Vikings came up with it thousands of years before them. Maybe they were all in the retail business.
 
Jon NFL said:
On 2012 - the Mayans must have been retailers. According to them, it all ends just before Christmas so they don't have to go through the after Christmas sales.
Click to expand...

Either that or they were cheap buggers who used it as an excuse not to buy anyone presents that year. ;)
 
UP2CSX said:
Maybe I'm the rare exception but I turn 64 in two months ~~Snip~~ I know there are a fair number of guys near my age (I know no one in the world is as as old as me :)) who are on this forum.
~~Snip~~ Just like some people will never adopt DCC, some will never see the advanteges of computers and the internet.
Click to expand...

LOL yet according to the poll there is one forum member who is past 64 and I'd not be surprised if he were converting to DCC. :D

Cheers
Willis
 
UP2CSX said:
Maybe I'm the rare exception but I turn 64 in two months and I've been using computers for well over 25 years...... I think it's kind of a stereotype that people over 55 just don't use computers......
Click to expand...
No Jim, you are not an exception, you just happen to be the one typing on this forum:D. The irony of the stereotype is that our generation and many before us are the ones that laid the foundation for personal computer development. The group of age 55+ made the giant leap in software allowing personal use to become "user friendly" and develop into what we have today, e.g. Bill Gates, Paul Allen.;)
 
jeffrey-wimberly said:
It wasn't just the Mayans. The ancient Egyptians also came up with the same exact date many years before and the Vikings came up with it thousands of years before them. Maybe they were all in the retail business.
Click to expand...

Jeffrey - maybe the Vikings told the Egyptians who told the Mayans who . . .

Yep, I'm one of those over 65, use a computer and run DCC - life is good :eek:)

Regards,
Jon
http://www.dollhousedesigns.com/ModelRR/ModelRR.html
 
Rex, interesting point. Bill Gates is 55 and Paul Allen is 58. Indeed, it was people in their 50's and early 60's who are responsible for the computers and software we use today.

Jon, my first computer was Altair, which I had to build from a kit. It had a gigantic 8k of RAM! :eek: The Trash 80 seemed like a supercomputer to me. :)

Caution: Thread Drift - How is it possible for any calendar to end? Once a repeating pattern has been set that can span one century, a calendar should be able to go on ad infinitum. In terms of the Mayan calendar predicting anything, seems like they missed the prediction that they were going to wiped out as a race. :rolleyes:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
UP2CSX said:
Caution: Thread DriftOnce a repeating pattern has been set that can span one century, a calendar should be able to go on ad infinitum. In terms of the Mayan calendar predicting anything, seems like they missed the prediction that they were going to be wiped out as a race. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Jim that's funny, kind of like a phsycic getting hit by a car. (didn't see it coming?)

I had a friend who had seven RR calendars from the 40's. He just rotated them each year since the calendar repeats itself in order.
 
Over the years, I have read many related threads on this subject (age and MR) and I have to believe one particular line of thought: The "have to have" Christmas present for boys has changed dramatically from a red wagon, bicycle, and an electric train to Transformers, video games, computer gadgets, etc. You have to believe that it is not until one gets older and in search of a hobby that they become familiar with model railroading. A closer look may give us a reason for this and tell us that those in their late 50's and older, saw working trains everyday and became fascinated with their sounds and power. Younger generations rarely see a train other than in the media or at a distance (exception to those with commuter trains nearby;))
Just thinking out loud!:eek:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
BTW: I'm 64, run DCC, have automated signals and traffic control by computer software. I also got my first "electric train" when I was around 8 y.o. and for Christmas (~1953). Ah, to smell all the ozone from the sparking. Umm, that was wonderful. :D
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Rex, that's the exact year my dad and uncle spent two weeks in top secret activities in the basement until me and my brother got to go down Christmas morning. They built a Lionel figure eight layout with two trains, a freight led by a 44 tonner and a Santa Fe passenger train with three "real" stainless steel cars with markers that lit up on the boat tailed observation car. It had an airport beacon that revolved, a water tank with bubbles that came up the water column, and a stockyard with an loading and unloading cattle car. I don't think I left the basement for three days. It was the greatest Christmas gift I ever got, or ever will get, in my life. It must have cost my dad a month's pay back then. Thanks, dad, wherever you are.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.



Back
Top