Over the last several months I have read many threads that express concern about the demise of model railroading. I think in part because many of the modelers are “old white guys” and there does not appear to be many “yungsters” in the modeling hobby. Many of the traditional hobby shops we grew up with, loved and knew are closing their doors etc… I put it to you that the hobby is not dieing but rather changing. Yes like all things the old ways are changing,sometime painful, sometimes for the better, sometimes not for the better. I think the hobby is changing not dieing. But changing for the better. This eletronic forum is an example of the “better”. Would like to hear your thoughts.WHAT HAS GOTTEN BETTER. WHAT CAN THE MODEL RAILROADERS DO BETTER ? WHAT CAN WE DO TO ENCOURAGE THE NEXT GENERATION TO TAKE THE BANNER OF MODEL RAILROADING?
Here’s my stance on it. I don’t give a rat’s patootie if another generation takes up model railroading, I enjoy it NOW, in the present. Even if every manufacturer stopped making stuff right now, any one who truly wanted to be in the hobby would still be in it. Look at what the pioneering MRR’s did. Rail from flat wire set on end in wooden ties, larger stuff filled with crude gears and primitive motors. So what. They did magnificent work. Why do we really care if the youth, or other “new blood” takes up our hobby? Are we looking for validation for ourselves, or the hobby? From whom? Are we afraid we can’t pursue the hobby without commercialisation?
I"m not advocating a selfish point of view, it’s just that you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink. Any person capable of the attention span model railroading requires is capable of seeking the hobby out if they’re so inclined.
Lou
ps. I’ve got to go make parts, but I’m interested in where this goes fellas! I’ll be back at lunch.
Many will diasagree with you in that the hobby is NOT dying. Others will agree with you.
Many of us here had trains as kids and teens, and then life got in the way and returned to the hobby later in life.
Kids today are into trains, the THomas the Tank Engine kind…in wood and in push along and in electrics, or in the new lego {r} brand of “model trains”. SO youngsters today ARE interested, but most will probably take a hiatus for life and college and family, etc. until they become a “older white men” as you say {or just “older men”}.
Just remember this younger set will do everything online or in Apps for their smart phones, so the closing of LHS’s doesn’t really affect them. They may not ever set foot into a LHS anyway, even if it IS there. Manyof us “older white {and other} Men” shop online already too. WE can find exactly what we want, even if it is half way across the country. SO we, too contribute to the loss of LHS’s. Train shows are also dwindling, but most I have been to recently are really just places for people to get rid of their “junk” unless you go to the really BIG shows. I am not into junk!
We will know we have problems whenthe online e-tailers dwindle! THAT is when we will have to worry when “virtual reality LHS’s” die out!
WIll the hobby die out? Maybe. MAybe not. WE should enjoy it while we have it!
If you have younger children or grandkids, get them involved in trains like I said above and then maybe in 30 yrs, there will be a resurgeance of the hobby. By then I will either be dead and not care, OR so old I can’t see the pilot truck on a G scale loco!..dunno.
megh…
I guess we need to discuss this again…
I don’t particularly see it ‘ending’ but I do see that it could become a fringe hobby …one involving a lot more scratchbuilding maybe…besides…
how many people do you think would build one of these?
I vote with Javelina.
I have to say that addition of electronics has really made my experience much more enjoyable. I’m a borderline “old head” having been dabbling in N scale for about 35 years. Here’s what I see as getting better:
The models themselves. While you can argue that limited runs and pre-ordering is bad for the local hobby shop (hard to maintain a regular inventory), it’s been a boon to modelers. Now instead of getting the same old tired models and a virtual requirement that you have to kit bash everything, the manufacturers are able to profitably produce smaller runs of more specialized models. In N scale, this process has pretty much wiped out the brass segment, but it has given us much higher quality, better running, and more affordable models albeit at the expense of some detail.
The Electronics. DCC is so much easier to install than cab control, so much more fun to operate, and so versatile in what it can do, it more than makes up for the expense and time of installing decoders. Also, micro circuitry is available to make anything work, from an N scale car’s directional signal to flashing ditch lights on a locomotive. Simply amazing. And while I’m not a “soundy”, I have to imagine that sound equipped locomotives have a certain appeal to young kids and newbies alike.
Layout design concepts. Back in the day, you whipped out your 4x8 from the lumber yard, and nailed down your snap track and called it a day. Layout design has evolved to the point where some very creative and enjoyable plans can be built even in a small space.
Operations: Including the ability to more realistically operate your layout not only adds a dimension of “play value” to the time you put into construction, it also adds a very nice social aspect. I really enjoy having the guys over for an afternoon of bumping cars.
The Interwebs: Before we were all connected, if you needed information about a particular locale or a piece of
I do agree with you Lou.
I do ships, I do cars, I do figures, almost anything in miniature. I always hear the same song: “our hobby is dying”. These are “niches”, not mainstream…
Building models isn’t an easy thing. There’s a large gap between playing with a toy and building it. Trying to make a modelrailroader out of any kid appears sick to me. It’s not about spreading the gospel, it’s about enjoying a personnal interest. Sharing it with others and kids is a thing, imposing it is another. I would feel ashamed to see people do with trains what stubborn parents do with piano and sport. As Lou pointed out, if you do this to please people or gather their attention, you’re on a slipping slope.
There’s two kind of hobbyists. The ones that discovered the hobby as kid or teenagers. And the ones that discovered it when they were adult. My club is made half-half of both kind. So, if half the modellers joined as adult, it’s quite normal to find a lot of grey hair. When I check my old MR issues from 1950-1960-1970, it feels like it was already an “old man” hobby. We are 50 years later and the hobby is still alive. As long as people will take interest in tweaking things with their own hands, any manual hobby will live.
If the hobby was truly dying, I suspect we wouldn’t get all these incredible models sold today that could put in shame most precedent production.
I remember a recent interview about this topic, the guy (forgot the name) was saying companies and magazine should try to aim for their real market: adults.
Anyway, I always had problem with these “child” things when I was a kid. It makes you feel as a diminutive person. I wanted to do the things adults did back then, trying to mimick the real world in miniature if it was the only possibility. Thomas, which I didn’t know, never attracted me to this hobby, it was the real trains. It’s the same for children, teenager and adult…
I remember those MR columns for teenagers. I never paid attention to them, wanti
Ahhhh, the ol’ “quarterly-demise-of-model-railroading” trick. You Kaos agents are all the same…
I got bored with computer games and simulations. When I pulled the trains out of their long slumber in the attic, I found that what I’d been missing was the “real” tactile element of the physical models. Sooner or later, many of us will tire of the virtual world, and hopefully venture into a hobby shop and pick up a model, any model, and just sit down and build something.
I’m always encouraged by the crowds at train shows. With luck, some of those kids will end up with a train under the tree in December. They will need that memory after they’ve burned out on killing aliens and monsters, and long for the simple pleasures of paint and plaster once again.
Well, I don’t think it’s dieing at all. It is changing and has been for about 20 years now.
Do I embrace all of the changes - yes and no. I certainly respect the rights and interests of others to enjoy the hobby as they see fit.
I like to buid things - I built my first craftsman freight car kit at age 13 (it looks good still and in on my layout now some 43 years later), my first simple loco kit at age 14. I think people either have the skills and interest to build or they don’t - we have more people than ever in this hobby who are NOT builders - that’s fine, but I seldom have much in common with them.
I do buy some of the “new”, high detail, “limited production” (more on this later) RTR products, but for me it is about completing a working layout with a specific set of goals, to a reasonable set of standards, in a reasonalbe time frame, not about “collecting” or out buying my fellow modelers.
I do think the prices of the “high” detail, RTR products have limited growth and/or activity - this was never a hobby for the poor - at this rate it will not be a hobby for the middle class soon.
Limited production - model railroad supplies have always been limited production or “batch production” by relatively small companies - Even Athearn, Walthers, Bachmann and Atlas are small companies by an measure outside this hobby.
Only now, with advances in tooling and manufacturing, each of those limited production runs can be more “detail specific” and more detailed. And today it is marketed differently because of this. But as we see, prices are climbing and availablity may have a negative effect on newcomers to the hobby.
This has alway been a hobby of different groups and interests, but now, with better communication (the net), the special interests can be more in touch with each other and actually be more “polarized” than in decades past. And this is likely to continue.
The gaps between the builders, the collectors and the “runners” will widen - not shrink
[quote user=“yougottawanta”]
"Over the last several months I have read many threads that express concern about the demise of model railroading. "
So you started another one.
Javelina for president.
I have my choo-choos. I dont need any more. I use DC. I dont care what you do. I dont care if they dont make it any more. If I have to I can make my own. I dont care about the latest thing in furnace filter trees. My layout is built, and scenicked I do what I like, my way. Choo choo.
Oh yes, the weekly debate by modelers who moan and groan over the demise of the hobby. Yes, I am a retired old “f”, but this hobby has been a part of my life since age 6 months. I have mentored several as they start the hobby, have worked with youth groups who want to model railroad, and on and on. Out of all those “groups” have come some really good modelers, some really dumb modelers, some average modelers. Some are still in it, some are not. When I look back on my busy life from school to present, I have noticed several “pastimes” I tried and dropped, several different interests that have come and gone, but the model railroading remains a focus in my life at age 74.
So for those of you who like to debate, speculate, or whatever, carry on. It is an easy hobby to do all that,. No building, no wiring, just whine and groan.
For me, the remaining years I have will be consumed with model railroading until they haul me out in the old pine box (or something else if my wife is feeling benevolent).
Bob
I wonder how many kids build models in general. I mean like model airplanes, cars, ships, or other assembly required items. Though I was active in sports, I had a strong interest in building things. We built Legos, models, pinewood derby cars, model rockets, even more advanced R/C cars. It was something to do while listening to the baseball game in the background or during a snowstorm in the winter. I say this because I wonder how the model industry does in general. Do kids build any models anymore?
Yes, they do. I know a couple of them: Two brothers - age 16 & 14 - and into planes. And they live in a household other than my own.
Tom
There is a lot of them that do…and some even build these things as well…
We have 2 LHS’s that specialize in models…and both are doing rather well…same as our LHS’s…
But t’is true…t’is the season of the kvetch…
Fellas, this is a desperately tired subject. It needs rest. Let us accommodate it.
[locked]
Crandell