Sure it makes sense in my life and others as well, it also brings us full circle to the current companion thread and an earlier thread from some months back, at least to me. We have arrived at the point where young kids ( whoops children) are interested in trains as toddlers and will play with Brio and Thomas until about first grade. They then lack a bridge to model railroading by the expense of O toy starter sets and the light weight “quality” of the department store HO sets. Amatuer astronomy is in the same boat. Department / Toy store telescopes are JUNK and a decent starter scope is in the $250 - $300 range minimum. These same discussions, who is going to replace us / how do we attract youngsters, are takeing place in astronomy web discussion groups across the Internet.
I don’t believe there are any definitive answers except to keep spreading the word and showing others how much fun we have.
Nice to see Lego mentioned here. Guess where I got my Lionel F3’s… at an internetstore specialized on Lego. It seems to fit,legopeople are same size as 0gauge.
and probably my layout will be crowded by them.
But I will never get used to all bumps and bubbles on any train like on a legotrain and a decent steamangine is out of the question…
No,talking about playvalue and value for money, the Harry Potter trainset made by Marklin! It sold so well that people pay more for a second hand set then the new one…
Great musings. My top concern is price. I just don’t have the …what is the term, discretionary income to spend like other hobbyists. But that’s part of the fun…looking for bargains. Trying to use something inexpensive or refurbished…
I am very concerned about price and quality, IMO two sides of the same coin. Play value? PTAA_AAH!! I am an adult and I DO NOT PLAY. My trains are not just toys—they’re models. My late mother (God rest her soul) never understood the difference between a model and a toy. To Mom if something was a small version of a real thing it was a toy. To prevent my mother from giving my trains away when I had to store them in her attic I put a sign on the box telling her not to give this box away because it is worth about$1500.00. That was something she understood. She still gave my Marx windup set to the nice little children next store because “you’re not going to play with them any more”. OO-OOOHH!! Too many guys try to hide their interest in trains by saying it’s “for the (ahem) kids, heh heh heh”. I don’t much care to try to work with guys who are ashamed of their trains. If I want to play there are lots of cheaper activities that are just as much or more fun than thousands of dollars worth of trains. Odd-d