Every time I mention to John Q. Public that I have a model RR, I get the same response. They don’t say it out loud (usually), but you can hear it in what they say and see it in their eyes. “Awwww, he plays with toy trains.”
Now I’m 41 years old. This might have been OK when I was like 7 or something, but clearly the idea of a miniture, realistic, representation of the world around us is not what the average person thinks about when they think of our hobby. I work hard on my RR to make it look like the real world. Many of you do too.
So, the question is, are we that much of a minority that our aspect of the hobby goes that unnoticed, or are we just a large, but quiet bunch? Does anyone have any idea of how many realistic type model RRer’s there are out there, either by scale, or as a whole? (roughly)
I realize that the govt. probably has not paid someone 16 bazillion dollars to do a study on this, but I’m just wondering, are we just like 1% or what?
NOTE: This is not meant to offend anyone who enjoys the “toy” aspect of the hobby. There’s nothing wrong with that at all. It’s just that this is like comparing a custom car builder with a restoration perfectionist. They both do awesome work, and both of them work on cars, but thats where the similarity ends.
I believe that there are a lot more folks who enjoy trains than we think. I never knew anyone in my neighborhood had an interest until about 4 years ago, when I discovered the fellow across the street was into “O” gauge and had a layout in his basement. Then a lady who I didn’t know, but lived down the street, passed away. Turns out she had an “O” gauge layout in her attic. I was asked to help put some type of value to her collection for estate purposes. Then a fellow who lived a few doors down from passed away. Turns out he had an “HO” collection by German manufacturers. I also found out the neighbor who lives behind me is also into model railroading. I’ve lived here for about 35 years and thought I was the only one interested. The sad part is, even though we all have or had different areas of interest, we could have enjoyed going to train shows together or something, but who knew.
I bought 3 Lionel sets for my great nieces and nephews last year. It turns out their Dad’s are kind of interested now that they each have a train under the tree. One has even been to a hobby shop already. Although he is mumbling about sticker shock.
So look around, I’ll bet you find more interested folks than you think.
Personally, I don’t really care what people think about MRRing or my involvement in the hobby.
Sure, you’re going to run into those that “roll their eyes” and think that you’re a dweeb for “playing with trains”. However, I find more folks who think it’s pretty cool - even though they themselves are not involved with the hobby. Even those who are blase about model trains in general still tend to ooo and ahh and smile when they see train running around a Christmas tree.
Tom, above, makes a good point. A lot of times we are such lone wolves in this hobby of ours that we are often surprised to find out that others around us are either involved in the hobby in some way or curiously interested in knowing more but just don’t know who to contact or talk to about it.
The best education is the one that you learn and can pass along to others around you. Their perception of the hobby is what you make it to be. Some people are going to understand; others aren’t. Their loss…
A pretty reasonable figure for the number of people into some form of model modeling and with more than just a vague passing fancy for toy or model trains, would be around 300,000 (this is more than the total monthly sales of all the model railroading publications combined).
If we further refine this so that we include only those with some sort of actual layout, regardless of size or level of completion and who operate “scale models” (i.e. eliminating tinplaters and armchair folks), I’d bet that the figure is not much more than 125,000.
So, yes, we are a pretty small group relative to the country’s total population…let’s realistically say about 00.1%.
Agreed, all. We could spend hours online at our computers like some folks do…oh, wait…well…you know, we could spend hours and bucks in back street shops where some folk would dare not be seen…aaah, shoooot… okay, okay,…we could wear funny lights and visors while taking tiny sharp tools to plastic thingies like some dweebs do…oh, never mind.
I’ll just do what I know makes me happy. To aitch with those who feel they are better than I am. If they mean in terms of saving money, yup, they have it all over me, and more power to them. I hope their restored Corvettes and gilt-framed Dutch Masters originals give them every bit as much comfort when they draw their last breaths as do whatever happens to be turning my crank when my time comes. Then, we’ll all be even.
It just goes to show that there are a lot more closet model railroaders out there than people think. I’ve been in the hobby since I was 4 years old (1964), I joined this forum in 2004 but didn’t start making noise until this year.
I found out the other day that 2 people I deal with professionally for over 5 years were model railroaders, one N and the other O gage. The topic only came up because one mentioned to the other something about DCC as I was walking in. So there may be more model railroaders than one would guess.
One in this house, plus a slight-to-moderately interested spouse.
Plenty more, judging by the people that I meet in LHS on my travels and the crowds at train shows and well-publicised club open houses.
My own modeling interests are sufficiently contrarian that I don’t really care about numbers, or demographics. As long as I can do my own thing, I’m a happy camper. If all the other people on this forum are equally happy, then we are all truly blessed. On the other hand, people who are overly concerned about what ‘others’ are doing, and whether those ‘others’ conform to some overly-restrictive definition of ‘model railroader,’ need to get a life.
Lately I’ve been “outing” myself as a model railroader. I get mixed reactions.
Over the summer I was taking a day trip to San Diego with one friend of mine to watch a baseball game and en route we passed over the local UP yard. He was fascinated witht he way the large intermodal cranes looked and I told him I do railroad models and have a version of that crane. He said, “Cool.”
Lately another friend asked me what I was up to and I told him I’m building a model railroad. He gave me a look as if I’d gone looney and asked me if I put on an engineer’s cap and overalls or something.
I also told yet another friend about my hobby and he could relate in some way (he’s a comic book geek himself), he also works on research for film documentaries and told me the director of the documentary he’s working on is a train buff.
So I don’t know, I don’t let it bother me, but I tread delicately when it comes to telling people what my hobby is. Yes there’s a “playing with toys” stigma, let’s not doubt that. If I have to explain myself I’ll talk about creating a miniature version of reality, and learning about various disciplines from carpentry to electronics to craftmaking to geology to history, etc. Maybe I’ll let them control a train or two, who knows?
OK, I admit it….I am somewhat reluctant to discuss my model RR hobby in certain circles. I’ve attempted in the recent past but have gotten some disconcerting reactions. Among close friends, it’s mostly positive, with a little friendly ribbing, but this is OK because I banter back and forth all the time with these people. Outside this circle it’s a little different. If I say “I’m into model railroading,” I get an “Oh really…that’s nice,” and then the subject seems to change. When I’ve approached the subject from a historic perspective of railroading in general I get a much more positive response. I know I shouldn’t feel this way but I’m kind of halfway between caring and not caring what others think. Maybe because I’ve been active in the hobby for only over a year now. One thing for sure, it doesn’t curb my enthusiasm one iota - and thank goodness for this forum.
Actually, there are only two of any real significance in the area of scale modeling: MR and RMC. All the others have just about minimum-survival-level circulation figures (under 10,000 readers)…and several of these have just recently dropped from the scene.
I think one major result of this question and when you admit you are a “train guy” is to not feel guilt or worry about a reaction from them, My thought is what do these people do for recreation or a hobby, you can bet that 99,8% of the people you meet have no outside interests, hobbies, crafts, etc,etc, but they are always ready for a comment on anyone that does. Just ask some of your relatives and friends or strangers what they do for a hobby( shopping and buying crap does not qualify as a hobby) . Me?? I usually do not bring up model railroading in a conversation, I, as well, do not bring up what was the last book you read either. keep on trainin’-----
There are several mags just for N scale, though I admit I don’t know their circulation. I just figured that if theres 10 mags to choose from on the rack, somebody HAS to be making money, right? Somebody is selling these things, or they’d quit making them (as you pointed out that several have).
But there’s Nscale magazine, N Scale Railroading, Model Railroader, Railroad Model Craftsman, Shortline Gazette, and a host of others.
They aren’t doing it for free. Someone is buying this stuff, so how come no one has heard of it outside of a small group? Thats my point.
Just go to any Model Railroad show or flea market and look around. We all come out of the Basement,attic, or some of us come out of the closet for it. Here in NE Indiana, NW Ohio and Southern Michigan there are a bunch of us nuts! Kevin
I don’t care what other people thnk. We’re no worse than ones whose hobby is playing with toy airplanes, even if they are rather large and radio controlled, or toy cars, which can also be rather large and radio controlled.
Last I read, N Scale magazine only had around 11,000 readers and that figure was steadily shrinking. I don’t have figures for either N Scale Railroading or NG&SLG (they should be available in their January 2007 issues, would someone care to check and report back?) but I don’t expect they have a much greater circulation than NSR, especially the latter, which is really a niche magazine.