A few days ago, there was a thread that had a chicken little doom and gloom prediction about model railraoding. While I disagree with it. I do have something that I would like to share about and let you all chew it over and think aobut.
I read an interesting statistic some time ago. Where I glomed onto it has long since faded away into the neirther reagons of my swiss cheese brain. But we can safely assume that it was a model railroading magazine. What I remember is this.
1/2 of all model railroads that are ever built are 32 square feet or less (So we are looking at something like 4X8s and 4X6s and shelf layouts)
2/3s of the remainder fall between 32 and 100 square feet. with average being about 64 square feet. (So we are looking at 4X8 with an added branch up to spare bedroom size)
Only the remaining 1/6 of model railroads that are ever built are the often showcased and prenially desired for “Basement Empire” be it wheather they are actually in a basement, or other places like garages, attics, or even their own special building.
I do not remember if this covered club layouts as well or just home layouts. But I think that even if we include club layouts these numbers would still be pretty accurate.
As for model railroading being a declining hobby. I think the jury is still out. While model railroading since the start of the worlds greatest hobby campaign has in my opinion taken direct aim at the baby boomer generation as they have not only the money, but the time to take up this hobby and pursue it as well. Many of my freinds who live in metroplitan areas and can do things like go to GATS shows tell me that a large majority of the people in attendance are people in their 30s and they are with their excited and enthusiastic kids.
So are we in a decline? Maybe we are. But I also know history has a tendency to repeat itself. I have read that the 1960s was a very tough time to be in model railroading as it seemed that Athearn,
I’m sorry James, but in my opinion the hobby is slowly but surely becoming extinct with each passing year. I’m willing to bet that fifty years from now there will be very few model railroaders left in the world - especially after WW III, ten years or so of being bashed by hurricanes, earth quakes, giant tidle waves, volcanos, the green house effect, famine, drought, civil unrest, etc, etc. But, a person has to just keep on smiling don’t they…
Alls fine in Mass[:)] I will be in MR all my life!! I like RTR stuff. But can understand that some people might like building it. The reason i do scenery is to make it more realistic and is FUN i hate track laying and wiring (i can do it fine but is just annoying when you have to ix stupid little things!! I like runing trains the best. I have no clue how MR will be in 10 years buti still will be here that is for sure![:D] Tim
Ain’t gonna happen, dude. While you’re worrying about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, a comet about 3 miles in diameter will hit the earth and destroy about 95% of all species.
How about those power-hungry things on our countertops that, of all things, change the way our sliced bread looks in the morning? Of the two, toasters and toy trains, which is the more useful? My vote goes to trains.
I don’t see why it would fade out, though I think it will be very different. Probably all computerized eventually. You may not have to use your brain or any skills at all. As for the world’s greatest hobby campaign, I think that they are trying to attract people no matter who they are and that doesn’t necesarily mean it’s a good thing. This is a hobby for people who love model and real trains, and not just some fad for people to jump on. And as long as there are those of us aroun d to appreciate railroading in the future, the hobby will survive in both the real and model forms. We might consider this to be the world’s greatest hobby, but that doesn’t mean it’s for everybody.
The future I don’t worry about to much, I try on keep my mind on what is new to the hobby and keeping people involved. My big nitch is building kits, and rebuilds of old loco’s and making them run just as good as the high dollar ones. Sure the hobby is fading somewhat, but it will always be here for some time. I like building and doing the scenery, laying track, doing electrical, building kits, this is the thing thats fading away and everything coming RTR.
An interersting set of statistics, especially when one considers that only 2-3% of all layouts are more than roughly ten feet square (less than the size of a small spare bedroom). It makes one wonder why, month after month, the magazines offer us basement filling empires that have no relation whatever to what the typical modeler is attempting to accomplish.
50 years from now I WILL be the oldest model railroader alive at 109.
And I will be laughing at all the youngsters on the forums or what ever it is, asking the same basic questions and still trying to keep their track clean as they will STILL have not used metal polish!
What ever you say Andre. The bottom line is that our time is just about over no matter how you slice it. The era of Soylent Green is just around the corner…
You know if all we do is keep preaching doom and gloom to each other, yes we will disapeer.
I took my paper shack to work today and showed everybody, they where all amazed at how good it looked. They like to see what I’m working on. Show your stuff to people, get them interested. The railroads are stronger now than they have been in years, I think model railroading will follow the interest.
Every weekend I can look down by the station and there are plenty of people railfanning.
Let people start with rtr. Soon they will want to weather their rolling stock, then the buildings, then they will need something they can’t get ready made and maybe kitbash a structure gaining confidence at each new thing tried. It’s the power of posative thinking and we have to feed it!
What ever happened to MODEL RAILROADING IS FUN!!! ???
The future of Model Railroading? WHO CARES? I began making cardstock models and had fun. then bought plastic models, then graduated to brass, then lost rump in business and am back to wages and cheapest plastic i can find that works.
IT IS STILL AS MUCH FUN!
My neighbors’ childrena nd my grandchildren LOVE the trains and have their own. And I am 53 years older than my OLDEST grandchild. and SHE loves her trains and mine.
If the sky is falling then the R/C buffs in the neighborhood forgot to fuel their planes!
What’s boring is that you posted this exact same thing a day or two ago, basically word for word. Are you gloom and doom guys so desparate that you keep posting until somebody takes the bait?
i think that MRRing is safe for now… it is still going strong… all hobbies have down times though if you look at statistics for any hobby they fluctuate greatly.
Not necessarily so, Andre. I was approached via e-mail by one of MR’s editors about five or six years back asking if I’d be interested in having my layout in the magazine. At the time I felt my pike wasn’t close enough to being finished and fully detailed to my satisfaction, so I turned him down. Since that time the layout has been torn down and a new one started. Guess I probably missed my chance.