Think about the age group that most makes up involvement in this hobby. Either retired or semi-retired folks, but thats ok. We have the largest generation of retiress either in retirement or close to it, so there will be growth until this generation obtains and buils to the limits of their abilities and dreams.
I’m just saying that younger families have other priorities therefore are less likely to spend too much on a hobby few share. Most are sticking to mainstream activities, Harleys, dirt bikes, etc… If you look back at most of the pioneers in the hobby you will see that they were not young, so I don’t measure by what age group is in the shop making purchases.
Unfortunately hobby shopd themselves are not helping matters any because they only carry the cheap (price and quality) items and they wonder why they don’t sell. People want to be able to go in and buy quality items. Period. So we end up having to purchase online and wait. So don’t measure by shop closings either, its their own doing either because of what they don’t carry or as around here people retire.
Seems to be doing fine. As previously pointed out by others, consider all the companies, large and small alike, producing so many products for the hobby today. Must be enough of us or they would not be in this business.
Turned my wife onto HO years ago and I am a life-long N-scaler. Oldest brother had both Lionel O and HO as a youth and now has a small Z set (space limitations). I started an older sister on HO perhaps 25 years ago which she still has today. Tried to buy an old Hershey deisel from her (for my wife) and she wouldn’t budge. Sadly, she was unable to interest her own children in the hobby as they prefered video games. I certainly hope there are new generations of model railroaders out there. Regardless, I will continue to support and enjoy the hobby, sharing it will others whenever possible. -Rob
I don’t think that the hobby is in decline, look at all the new manufacturers and models coming out, there are so many F7’s out there it is hard to choose which one is best?
The point “Railfan Alex” makes I think is very valid. Although I am 34, I notice that the people operating the layouts in exhibitions tend to be in their 50s & 60s and it tends to be a little bit of an seniors club, and any younger person is looked down on.
If we don’t want the hobby to be in decline we need to involve younger blood to keep it going! I let my 5-yr old daughter run my locomotives, it freaks me out but it gives my wagons a good work out and I find any problem wagons that tend to derail! I only let her run on the main line but she loves it! I had to laugh when she was running my Athearn Challenger and she said, “This is a real train Daddy!” my father would have laughed at that, he being a steam man!
Now I know this is a generalisation about clubs but it is the impression I have always had and still have today. I hear the whining about someone in the club at the LHS and I just can’t be bothered with it. There also tends to be a lot of looking down on people who can’t afford the top shelf products. I just run what I want, what I like, when I like.
The other thing that I notice is the price of the hobby, yes I know the detail and quality is really good but it does tend to scare off potential starters.
OK so at 36 I’m probably part of the “younger” generation too. While agree with ngartshore350 to some extent, I have a slightly different perspective.
I don’t think from a manufacturing point of view that the hobby is currently in decline -but when the current crop of seniors who are now the bulk of the market (and who have plenty of spending power) are no longer with us, then what? How many modellers do I see at shows my age - not many. Teenagers are rarer than hen’s teeth. Dads with young kids, sure -but are they going to stick with the hobby - most are unlikely to.
Most hobby clubs in the UK now don’t take juniors (under 18) - why? for a start its actualy illegal unless they register some or all of their membership as “child carers” and have their records checked by the authorities, or the junior has their parent or legal guardian with them at all times. (Any UK readers go check out the Child Protection Act 1995 then tell me I’m wrong[soapbox]). This sends the wrong message.
Until recently I was a member of a local club - I left, but that’s a whole different story - out of 40 members I was one of only three below 50.
The hobby has a secure base for 20 maybe 30 years but then what - where are the next generation? They are all playing on play stations - or if they
I put this question to a recently retired NMRA board member and he told me several surveys by the larger firms in the hobby all indicate the hobby is basically flat, or growing slightly. It is NOT, however, shrinking. There are as many young people entering the hobby as there are old checking out of the hobby from passing on, in other words. Recent trends seem to indicate there may be more young entering the hobby once again, which is good news.
One interesting dynamic all the surveys show is most modelers are male and they get interested in the hobby from about age 8 - 18. During the college and young married years, most drop out of the hobby or go dormant while getting a career established and while raising a young family.
As more finances and more free time becomes available with the career established and the kids getting to school age, many start to re-enter the hobby. So it’s not unusual to see many in their late 30s - early 40s return to the hobby.
The ones whose kids have left home and who are approaching retirement or who are retired have the most free time and resources, so they’re the ones who tend to travel to the National Conventions. If you only judge by the conventions, you figure the hobby is graying badly. Not so, according to this NMRA ex-board member, based on industry studies shared with the NMRA.
So this laid the whole issue to rest for me, and this is about as authoritative of a source as we’re likely to get, short of Kalmbach sharing some insider stats with us, which they may not want to do if they consider that info proprietary.
So the “official word” is the hobby is not shriking, has perhaps been flat for a while, but appears to be on an upswing again. [swg]
Joe,I kinda find that a hard pill to take…I been to several train shows and the majority of what I see is old gray and white beards mingle in with 40 somethings…I notice this as a part time train show dealer as well and during the club’s open houses…There is a serious lack of young smiling faces in the hobby.
When I was coming up through the years there was indeed more young folk interested in trains but,that doesn’t surprise me any seeing Lionel was in the Windows of major department stores during the Christmas shopping season and I dare say there was more interaction with railroad men such as tower operators,switch tenders,crossing watchmen friendly local crews etc.Today most of that is gone and the new generation of railroaders seem to alienate their selves from railfans young or old.
I agree the hobby isn’t dying by any means but,I don’t see that many young smiling faces like the days of old either.
Now on the other hand commercial slot car racing is 99% adults in the 30-70 year old age bracket.What does this have to do with model railroading? Slot cars is a “dying hobby” according to many but,todays slot cars are fancier and highly detail much like our locomotives and freight cars so,we see even a small hobby can have great models.
Well, my eighteen month old can’t get enough of his Thomas the Tank Engine wooden railroad. As soon as dinner’s over, he grabs me by the forefinger and drags me into the playroom, goes back for his booster chair, and proceeds to seat himself so that he can get a fine view of the proceedings, as soon as Daddy starts pushing the trains around.
So I think he may be a net capture for the hobby, at least.
This kind of mirrors my own experience - had trains as a kid, got interested in it as a hobby in my early 20’s, had kids and while I didn’t drop out, I didn’t do much (or buy much, mostly
My thinking is “Not”, based on the number of train shows and the numbers of young adults and kids attending. They are the next generation of MR’s and we need to encourage them on the club level. If your local group doesn’t have some younger members, why not start some “craft apprentices”, teaching the what and the why of model railroading, operations, maintenance, scenery, etc. and comparing it to the prototype. jc5729 John Colley, Port Townsend, WA
Instead of one big Convention serving 1000 miles in radius once a year they should plan 12 conventions; one per month within 100 miles radius of each other. That way many more people can attend.
These 12 conventions can be in the same general territory once covered by the big 1000 mile convention.
Im 14 about to be 15 and I am much more of a railfan than a modeler. Mostly because I dont have the airbrush or the pin vise kits yet, but its coming. I do however, have a pretty large amount of models for someone with pretty much no income. And I like my stuff to look just like things going down the track. I dont have anyone in my High School but one Senior (which I pal around with) who is heavily interested in model railroading (or trains in general). I model the WC, as my main road, and SOO as the interchange road. I have 2 of the hockey stick SD60s made by Athearn, both of which ive shot in real life. Thats what really makes me enjoy the hobby more, buying the engines Ive seen (or some ive been in) and making them look just like the real thing. I need to install all of my WC units with the all weather windows, which should be a fun project. I just added an Atlas WC GP40 # 3007 to my roster on Friday, so Ive been oogling the detail for a few minutes seeing the small details that make me smile. Anyway, I do think the younger people are not with us as much, but there are plenty out there (Many into Microsoft Train Simulator) who are my age and younger.