At the risk of starting another “THe hobby is on it’s deathbed” thread… I just wanted to share something really positive for the hobby that happened yesterday at the open house I was a part of.
The weather was cold, rainy and snowy yesterday. With how the weather was, I wasn’t expecting anyone to show up. Well, we ended up with 12 groups of two or more who braved the weather to see the layout-with a lot of kids to. Two in fact actually showed enough interest in them, they asked to run some trains. Anyone who hasn’t see the Mid Mon Valley Model railroad Club layout- we have a huge yard that takes up a whole room by itself… so we let the kids run a couple locomotives in the yard UNDER MEMBER SUPERVISION OF COURSE! The one was flying through the yard, but the second one-a girl at that GASP- was running it at a prototypically correct speed and showing care in how she ran. Later that same day, we had people from about 45 mins away braving the sleet to see it. This group had a 14 year old guy show interest in joining the club. The young kids are out there, we just need to nurture the interest.
Glad to hear that your open house is doing well and that you are getting the word out about our hobby. You guys are to be commended for taking your time to advertise our hobby and show how it can be an enjoyable pursuit.
Jimmy, we had a similar experience at one of our holiday season open house dates last Sunday. Our club in the New Orleans area is the Crescent City Model Railroad Club. We had torrential rains with some street flooding in the area and the Saints were playing in town too. I expected a small tunout for the day, but was pleaseantly surprised that we ended up with a total of 71 adults and a couple of dozen children come through the door to see the Crescent Lines running for the public. It seems bad weather usually helps our turnouts.
On a side note My wife and I will be visiting Pittsburgh for the New Years weekend and do hope to come by and visit your club on either Saturday or Sunday for a little while. I look forward to seeing your clubs layout.
Pretty good showing Saturday at the (pretty much dead) Cranberry Mall to see the Clarion club’s open house. They had some different layouts set up compared to previous years. Weather looked a lot worse than it was.
We have two open door events per year. I bring in special equipment just for the kids: Harry Potter train, military train and of course Thomas. I keep an eye at the door and will put on what is likely to catch attention, depending who walks in. The “older” kids get to see the big boy… And of course, the kids have a chance to hold the throttle.
The club is about 30 or so miles south of Pittsburgh in the Mon Valley. 159 main street New Eagle PA. 12-5. Depending on how you get out of Pittsburgh, route 51 to the West Elizabeth Exit might be the best bet. You’ll pass Norfolk Southern’s “Shire Oaks” yard as well. Looking forward to the potential visit Ken.
After co-running a huge train show in the mid-Atlantic for 31 years I can attest that the hobby is not dying…only changing. From what was once the art of building almost everything and imbibing the wonderful and exciting steam loco operations, the hobby has seemed to morph into the electronics/operation modes coupling with instant gratification and being able to purchase almost anything ready to run and including built-up structures.
The great layouts of the past and now well ensconced into model railroad folklore and legond were mostly of steam powered models with just about everything hand built. Each year we grow further away from steam locos as the main theme for our layouts even though there are still a handful of historic era modelers. Diesel modeling and today’s DCC everythings are the wave of the future and inevitably so. I can understand fully why some of us older dinosaurs think the hobby is dying…not so!
The death knell of the hobby is really only the death knell of the local hobby shop. The hobby historicaly has grown every decade but the game has changed alot over time. It started with hobbiest who built or had built something and gradually changed to kits and then came rtr, now this was back over 100 years ago, but has been reborn with new improvements many times. When I got back in the hobby about 30 years ago, to get what I wanted was brass or self done improvements. I bought from the local hobby store, then mail order became very popular but alot of buisness remained at the local store. Big change came with the internet, both for manufacturing and buying. Now this may seem a mixed up mess of train developement and sales but that is because that has been what changed everything to what we have today. The real killer of the local hobby shop is not the internet , “though that hasn’t helped” but the fact that if I want info, I come to the net, not hang out at the local shop to learn things. Lets face it, the local shops will all die if they don’t change and some have like M.B. Klien (first shopped with them when they were just a store). People just don’t relize how many people are in this hobby because it is so fractured, no just by scale, but era, prototype, realisem, power etc, etc and etc. And them we have armchair types and they are all over the place too, some becoming modelers, others not. I mean of all you just watching this thread, how many of you model the 1930’s in the west with everthing as detailed as possible and almost nothing that dosen’t have individual grabs, radio controled DC but moving to battery and photo relistic scenery to the best of my ability, heck how many of you use grownd throws vs powered turnout control, that split alone might split the group in half.
It’s nice to read of model railroad open house experiences where young kids are involved. Trains are an integral part of our economy (and culture). As long as there is a need to move large quantities of materials and products throughout the country, there will be a need for railroads. The style of engine may change; it’s fuel and motive power may evolve but it will still perform the same function. We can help our hobby, when someone asks " do we play with trains", by replying that many creative useful skills are involved- skills that would help young people in finding meaningful work as adults- from the technical ones like knowledge about control systems (electronics) to more generalized ones such as inventory control (rolling stock management), problem solving (switching and train consist), not to mention fundamental creativity. As a retired educator, I have conversations with young people from time to time when I return to the classroom - not just about the hobby if model railroading itself, but what it means in terms of skills development that can be learned.
The hobby is alive and well to me and I would encourage fellow modelers to speak to its larger benefits to young people when they can- that is one way to promote ithe for the future.
As I have mention several times in the past my oldest grandson’s generation of modelers is into DCC/Sound,minute detail and have a great knowledge of the prototype both freight car and locomotive and has built layouts to match. Some NS modelers allows the 765 track time because that is sticking to the prototype.
The era of generic “blue box” modeling is slowly fading into the history books.
If you are referring to “blue box” as older Athearn cars, they ain’t fading. There are several dealers here who do a land office business selling and re-selling these. I have seen many attendees at shows with lists of “blue box” cars they are hunting…some for long periods of time. Check out the many vidoes of layouts on You Tube…there is no end for these cars. I’m certaily not a fan of these “Blue box” cars nor am I a fan of anything plastic, but I do appreciate a good value. In my shop decades back I’d offer these at full retail of $1.98 ea. 10 years ago, they fetch around $3.00 at shows. Today, I’ve seen these sell at $10 ea. depending on what it is. Not bad appreciation for a simple plastic car whereas most counterparts are barely holding their price and many not so lucky.
Thanks…a new term. I have never heard generic models referred to as “blue box”, but I get the jest. I’d agree that more accurate models are entering the scene.
Then there is the Hi-rail group…always happy with their new NYC Hudsons painted up in Sante Fe War bonnet schemes. Sometimes I wonder which group has more fun…Hi-rail or scale??
Howard,That’s a interesting question. I can recall when HO was pretty laid back and one couldn’t wait the next steam engine from United,PFM,Tenshodo,Sunset or Balboa or diesels from Alco Models,Hallmark or Trains Inc.
I dunno…Maybe the hobby grew up and left some of us behind? I still use the basics I was taught back in the day.[:O]
And I’m not above using a BB GP7 or GP35 to switch cars on my ISL.[:O]
At the risk of changing this thread, I have found the hobby to be about limitless imagination which works quite well for me. I have been to layouts where the adhesion to prototype operations and equipment were so severe that an order was needed to five finger a box car. This was not enjoyable for me, but it was for others and that is fine. There is much in this hobby for everyone and their tastes.
I have known many Hi-railers and I have build several Hi-rail/scale layouts for others. What always amazed me is how much fun they had by just running trains sitting on a stoll with both hands on the ZW throttle handles.
I was once a serious WM modeler even though my scenery and towns were mythical, but based on West Virginia. During open house sessions, I just got tired of the comments about this or that not being accurate. So I junked the seriousness of Appalachian modeling and went back to what I grew up with as a kid in north Jersey plus anything I like to see operate on the rails. I have found this quite a bit more enjoyable, but I’d never critisize the proto folks as they are most likely having just as much fun doing things their way.
Currently my loco roster is made up equipment from Erie, NYC, PRR, LV, DL&W, Reading, and other roads I witnessed…all steam. There are a few 1st generation diesels I run for my younger visitors, but they do nothing for me. Being a retired industrial designer (and pilot) I do appreciate their magnifigance in art, form, and function, but “form follows function” is quite a bit more apparent in steam locomotives.
This is actually why I do two railroads- My protolanced Wheeling and Lake Erie, and my entirely freelanced AVDC railway. The AVDC lets me model whatever I want without being held accountable for what I run, and how.
The W&LE though, different story. I plan to model it a
If the hobby is dying, it must be the slowest death ever. I’ve been hearing this lament almost from the day I got back into it in the late 1970s. All I know is that the products we have available to us today are so much better and diversified than what was available four decades ago. The manufacturers would not keep coming out with new products if their customer base kept shrinking. While it may be true that the average age of the modeler keeps increasing indicating there aren’t as many young people involved in the hobby, my trips to the LHS tell me that there are plenty of modelers younger than me. If we ever do reach a point where demand for products dwindles and manufacturers start dropping like flies, the hobby might end up returning to it’s roots where a few dedicated modelers resort to scratchbuilding what is no longer available commercially. I think that day is a long way off. I have no doubt the hobby is going to outlive me.