Seems to be very slow around here. Its my first summer on this board. Does that have something to do with it, vacations, etc …
Yep! Things in the world of toy trains and model railroading (aside from the garden railroading segment) customarily tend to slow down in the summer months. It will pick up again in September and reach its high point around the end of the year.
Alan,
I will have to respectfully disagree with your summer theory.
I too have wondered why in the last month or so this forum has REALLY slowed down. I do remember reading a fairly recent comment from one of the regulars here that they (the regulars) do email each other alot and discuss things, versus communicating thru this forum.
It seems there are a dozen or less regulars any more on this forum and that’s about it. maybe they’ve taken things elsewhere or are truly just staying in touch with each other thru other means.
I hope I’m all wet on this as I do enjoy the more technical aspects of this forum.
- walt
[b]
[/b]
You don’t suppose it had something to do with having to re-register to use this forum, do you?
Where are all the posters?
Perhaps you should check allposters.com
I’m here everyday. I just do more reading than I do posting. [:)]
Stan.
[#ditto]
Probably. There has been a big drop-off in postings to this site. I don’t see that same drop across town, so to speak!
I still believe you’ll see things pick up as fall approaches, as is usually the case. I doubt that having to register for the new forum format has much to do with it, since that was a very simple process that only took a few minutes for most folks.
And I believe that if you follow the various forums closely, you’ll see that most all of them have significantly reduced “traffic” during the summer months, including the aforementioned “across town” forum. Things livened up there in the past couple of days, but primarily because of the announcement of the new Lionel catalog and, more importantly, TMCC-2. Since that’s primarily an operator-oriented forum, it stands to reason that there would be a lot of discussion of TMCC-2/Legacy there (although “debate” may be a better term for it than “discussion.”)
I havent looked at or run my trains in months. Definately a fall/winter hobby for me. Heck I’d go broke if I was in the hobby year round. Summer is the time for outdoor activities. When the weather turns bad I take refuge in my basement and play trains.
I still peak at the forum now and then. Come October and November the forum starts to take off again. Probably peaks after Christmas and New Years. Everyone breaks out the trains for the holidays and new interest is sparked.
Thats my two cents anyway.
Allan is right dead solid perfect on this one. History shows model train folks here find other things to do in nice weather and will return en masse when days grow shorter and colder. I haven’t visited my basement layout in months, but I live down there with my laptop during winter. I even stop looking for trains on eBay during this part of the season, and would rather play golf on a Sunday morning than go to a train show at DuPage.
I spend much more time between Nov. 15 and March 15 on forums than I do at this time of year. Compounding things here may be the fact that a lot of folks haven’t re-upped yet. My guess is my habits aren’t unique.
I still check in and read through the posts, but the “train time” is now being used to enjoy other family oriented hobbies and family activities. Then there are the house and yard projects crying out to get done before fall and winter weather sets in again.
I have a smaller layout design I can’t want to setup and work with, as well as bench work I would like to build, but for me these are winter projects when I know the outside stuff is buttoned up.
Enjoy,
Birds
[#ditto]
- Clint
Fewer people working on their “star counts”?[:)] Joe
[#ditto]
Me too. But I have been on the forum for several years, and it does slow down during the Summer.
Toy trains are in competition with many other activities at this time of the year including vacations, family gatherings and other seasonal events.
As Allan mentioned, things will surely pick up come September and into fall. I’ve also been following the TMCC11 discussion on the other station and quite frankly, need a break.
I’ve just completed re-photographing my layout and plan to send in some pictures to CTT.
Steve Tapper
Northern Central High Railers
I’ve posted here on most days but not a lot as I’m busy at work and working on a layout article for a RR magazine that I’ll be mailing in this week.
Some folks in toy trains gear up each fall for the Christmas layout, then go into spring and summer hibernation! 
The garden RR folks, who are mostly from out West, do things backwards.
OK, I concede, my opinion was all wet!
- walt
Walt;
Don’t sell your idea short. While I believe that Allan’s idea is the overwhelming reason, your idea may also be a factor. With regard to the “other forum”, I’ve noticed recently that some of the old hands haven’t been as active as in the past but newcomers have filled in their place.
Poppyl
Howdy from KC. I guess I am one of those who throttle down internet use during the summer. It got so hot here these last few weeks that I did stay inside after high noon. I did work on a few buildings for my layout and ran the trains a couple of times. I am trying to keep cool and taking some fishing trips to cool trout streams to scratch the fishing itch.