Before I go on I want to say I am not trying to resurrect the discussion about the age of model railroaders…Now, that said, I drove over to Grand Rapids to attend my first National Train Show and I was very pleasantly surprised. I thought there were some interesting products, met some great people and also bought some much needed supplies. But what really pleased me was the crowd - there were kids in strollers, families, grandparents with grandkids, men and women of all ages carrying sacks, purchasing products and asking questions. If this represents the future of the hobby, maybe we are in good stead afterall.
Thanks for the post.
I have thought for years one of the biggest problems with our hobby is the curmudgeon factor–LOL.
Richard
I wasn’t there, but the pictures sure looked like young guys to me.
Last Sunday I went to K-10 Model Trains open house. There was a wait time of about a hour to run a train? I was shocked to see so many 15 year old’s and under waiting to run trains! [8D]
Ken: What’d you do? Run over that kid’s dog?
Mike
Mike, I guess I should have picked a different picture. [:-^]
Little better.
Ken
Ken,
Great pics! I’m starting to get the K-10 concept a little more now just seeing these. Kind of like hobby shops that have a slot car – but way better because a layout is 1,000% better than a slot track[:D]
Could this be the answer to the decline of the LHS? Makes sense to me. You can demonstrate stuff to people who may never otherwise see it except on a screen or (less and less) page. People without layouts or who want to run longer trains than their layouts will accommodate can come. Plenty of test track for the customer who brings in something that won’t run (that saves a LOT of time on repairs and costs the consumer less, a win-win). And people can see what’s possible to do themselves by sizing up what they can see.
Neat place. I need to schedule a stop next time I’m through the area.
No, he took the kids steamer away and gave him a diesel.
No, he took the kids steamer away and gave him a diesel…
…with a MRC decoder!
Actually,Ken. I like that picture. The young man looks a lot like my son when he was that age(and not having a very good day…).
Mike (Still in Denver,CO)
Mike 1, funny you said that. My engineer had just ran my Big Boy past his train and he was holding.
Here is my engineer. His name is Stever and his uncle has been bring him to K-10 for awhile. Very polite young man and loves my PCM Big Boy. So I hired him to be the engineer. I all so hate chasing it, layout is 61 feet X 80 feet with lots of duck under’s unless you take the stairs.
Middle Mike, how did you guess I had some MRC Decoders? Well, in my case when i bought the MRC F 7’s last month I knew what I was buying. Both engines where speed matched perfectly! In other words they did not move! [(-D]
Now, when I bought my first 2 Athearn Big Boys [banghead] I was not as nearly as understanding! [soapbox]
Ken
What is the “Curmudgeon Factor”? Is it how quickly you become one? Or, is it the fact that a person can make comments like the one above, not knowing that they are already a Curmudgeon?
Now THAT’S a nice pic, Ken. [tup] Thanks for your willingness to hire such a young newbie engineer to run your Big Boy. And thanks for posting the pic, too! [:D]
Tom
For me it has been the person who is “my way or the highway.” This is fun hobby with a little bit of everything for almost everyone- running trains, learning about real trains, building models, learing about electrical and electronics, but most of all (for me at least) at the end of the day it is about being a grown up playing with trains. It is good to see the national train show and the K-10 open house is bringing in new folks of all ages. At my next club meeting I am going to bring up doing a youth focused open house. [Y]
I think intentionally bringing youth into the hobby is a great idea! Good luck with your efforts!