Does anybody what the top five or ten countries where model railroading is the most popular based on the percentage of the population in the hobby. If you do, could you please site your source?
Thanks
UK is popular.
Source = my opinion 
It is hard to come by actual figures, but when I do a count on membership figures in model railroad clubs registered in the two big associations we have in Germany, I end up to the tune of a little over 4 million members, out of a population of 82 million. That makes it 5 %. Applying that figure to the US, it would mean 14 million model railroaders - how happy the Kalmbach folks would be to have that circulation figure!
Model railroading has its own TV show, a bi-monthly 30 minute affair, dealing exclusively with the “Little Trains”. Model railroading is still the # 1 hobby in Germany, despite all attempts of the industry to price itself out of the market.
I guess that Holland and Belgium sport equally high figures.
In Japan, model railroading seems to enjoy a growing popularity. I just read an article about more and more younger folks being attracted to the hobby. Usually, it is their mothers who get them started with trains …
Hey Sir Madog,
Are people who live in Hamburg known as “Hamburgers”?
Mark 
There was an accounting in an MR editorial a while back indicating that, per capita, Japan led the way in the numbers. Perhaps this is not overly surprising since when I visited the Japanese a while back I found that those folks seem to dive in head first into any hobby they happen to get into and adult hobbies were very common. There are even locations over there that will rent you running time on their large commercial layouts using your own trains from home, or will even rent you the trains to run!
According to the MR piece, the Europeans came next. However, I recall that their figures for hobbyists in the individual countries were decidedly smaller than Ulrich has suggested. Obviously different source material and, of course, what actually classifies one as a model railroader in the minds of those conducting the survey.
CNJ831
There is no reliable data on this, especially in the United States. Ulrich’s information on Germany is likely the best info to be had on any country.
Sheldon
Here it is in black on white, the data on MR in Germany:
It shows what Ulrich says but in the figure of 5 million people in the Hobby!
And even though the figures are MUCH smaller in other countries we can make a rough calculation of, let´s say 2% in the industrial countries. That gives us about 20 000 000 interested or active in model railroading (low estimate), That is why the industry actually survives [:)]
Certainly interesting reading, but I would point out that as far as I can see no justification, basis for, or method of deriving the “estimated 5 million” model railroaders, is offered. At least I didn’t find reference to same. In contrast, other statistics presented in the report seem to involve a survey(s) of just a few thousand hobbyists.
I would hope that, presented in the way that it is, that the figure presented of 5 million is more than just opinion. I’ll try to locate and properly cite the MR editorial on this topic, but I will say right up front that the MR figure was but a very small fraction of what’s claimed in the PDF offered here.
CNJ831
Don´t forget that almost all data is based on statistical surveys, and in some cases based on a test group of maybe as little as 500 people!
Everytime someone asks how big or widespread this hobby is, there is almost always a response of “we´re almost alone” and all of that …
If you just look at the number of printed copys of MR that is being sold every month (maybe120 000?), AND don´t forget the OTHER model train magazines!
I think a number of maybe 2 000 000 persons is interested or active in model trains in the US, based on that if there maybe is 400 000 magazines sold every month on model railroading of some sort in the US, the total number of active hobbyists could be about 5 times the number of magazine readers.
That gives a rough figure of 1%, wich gives a gender based 2% figure, as there is a male dominance in the hobby.
In fact, Graffen, no more than a combined 200,000 copies of model railroading magazines are sold in the U.S. monthly (with e-zine subs only about a tenth of that) and there is nothing to indicate that more than perhaps 100,000 hobbyists are on-line here in the States. Even generously extrapolating from such numbers wouldn’t suggest there to be more than say half a million individuals pursuing the hobby here in even the most basic fashion,. And a decided percentage of these are simply armchair people, not actual modelers in any sense. Very few of us pursue the hobby in absolute isolation. We all buy books, magazines, or go on-line sooner or later, all of which can be documented in some manner. So large extrapolation of figures are not supported.
That’s why I have to question a number like 5 million in a country with a dramatically smaller population than the U.S. and in the face of drastically contradictory figures offered by the publishers of the world largest model railroading magazine. With a figure of 5 million German model railroaders, it might be reasonable to expect that at least something like 500,000 would be subscribers, or at least readers, of the German model railroading magazines. Is this in fact found to be the case? Perhaps Ulrich can offer these figures.
CNJ831
I suspect its most popular in my garage in Mesa Az.
If I would compare it with another “declining” model hobby: RC Airplanes.
I have been active in RC Airplane modelling for almost 30 years now and at the Forums and clubs during the last 10 years it has been the same arguments as in the model railroading community; that the number of active hobbyists are declining to a degree that the manufacturers and dealers are slowly vanishing.
As an example: The biggest (and only…) National society for Model airplanes had less than 6000 members out of a population of 9 000 000. A bit less than 0.1 %!
But a survey made by the dealers showed a figure that more than 200 000 people would be involved in the hobby, that is almost 4.5%!
As a result, my model airplane club made a small survey and we used my neighborhood; of the 50 households I asked (at the town meeting) almost 1/3 (16) had (or had been) owners of model airplanes!
And of the 16 positive, 6 of them were still active. But I had only seen ONE of them at our club! That makes a unrecorded percentage of 83%!
To put that in railroading numbers would say that there should be 3 000 000 model railroaders in the US…
Liechtenstein, a small constitutional monarchy situated between Switzerland and Austria, where it is mandatory for every naturally-born citizen over the age of twelve to train for the military. So upon a person’s twelfth birthday, they are taken to local military Amory whereupon they engage in the pastime of model railroading. Some, of course are a bit reluctant at first, but in time most come to enjoy the hobby and in fact often go to great extremes in its pursuit. Usually while drinking Liechtenstein Brauhaus beer and eating strudel. And of course, yodeling. There’s always lots of yodeling. Some people believe it keeps the goats from eating the static grass. It is estimated that nearly 97.8% of the population of Liechtenstein is either actively engaged in the hobby, or else has retired with honors from a lifetime of service to the hobby. In fact, Liechtenstein in world-renowned for its openness and tolerance of Model Railroaders, and the only real drawback to engaging in the hobby is the unusual scarcity of Lichen. Apart from that, Liechtenstein is considered by many to be the “Model Railroading Paradise on Earth”. Strange, perhaps. But true.
John
?
What should this have to do with the question? Or is it some reaction against the big interest in model railroading we obviously see here in the old world…
Generally we don´t hide our model railroad interest here as opposed to what I´ve seen in the states.
And maybe just that is enough to erradicate the “geek-stamp” that seems to be a big no-go in the US!?!
Even at my wife´s work there is model railroads as one of the priests is modelling in H0, and has some of his collection at work. It has lead to that people talks about them and the interest spreads.
Liechtenstein, a small constitutional monarchy situated between Switzerland and Austria, where it is mandatory for every naturally-born citizen over the age of twelve to train for the military. So upon a person’s twelfth birthday, they are taken to local military Amory whereupon they engage in the pastime of model railroading. Some, of course are a bit reluctant at first, but in time most come to enjoy the hobby and in fact often go to great extremes in its pursuit. Usually while drinking Liechtenstein Brauhaus beer and eating strudel. And of course, yodeling. There’s always lots of yodeling. Some people believe it keeps the goats from eating the static grass. It is estimated that nearly 97.8% of the population of Liechtenstein is either actively engaged in the hobby, or else has retired with honors from a lifetime of service to the hobby. In fact, Liechtenstein in world-renowned for its openness and tolerance of Model Railroaders, and the only real drawback to engaging in the hobby is the unusual scarcity of Lichen. Apart from that, Liechtenstein is considered by many to be the “Model Railroading Paradise on Earth”. Strange, perhaps. But true.
John
A remarkable achievement considering that Liechtenstein has a population of around 35,000 and only 9.5 km of rail line (and that’s operated by the Austrian Federal Railways). I actually went through Liechtenstein on an Inter-City train about 25 years ago. We didn’t stop, but it seemed to me that the entire population of Liechtenstein was out taking pictures of our train.
Let us all lift our steins and toast Liectenstein.
Andre
I wouldn’t be so quick to discount the very high participation numbers in Europe. I recently spent a month just outside the city of Sion, Switzerland, with a population of about 28,000. It is a couple of hours east of Geneva. In Sion there were two full service hobby shops with extensive MR inventories. We’d be lucky to have two shops like that in NA with cities of ten times the size!
David
Hi,
great question, one that I also asked some time back. I took a look at the amount of items for sale on E-bay. Not sure if one can use e-bay as a way of measuring the interest in a hobby,
The German speaking ebay which includes Austria and Switzerland has over 165,000 items for sale, while the English speaking ebay has over 123,000 items for sale. Here is a link to the start of the German ebay: http://modellbau.shop.ebay.de/Modelleisenbahn-Spur-H0-/9053/i.html?_catref=1
Frank
This only means that more Germans than Americans are willing to get rid of their trrains.
The NMRA has only about 20,000 members. If there really are as many modelers as some claim, we need to get a few more to join the NMRA and have a voice of some kind.
Of those 20,000 there are 4,000 in the Mid Atlantic and Northeast. That does fit with other population stats here in the US.
So what percentage of modelers are NMRA members? Maybe we should poll this forum?
I belong to the NMRA.
Sheldon
According to Wikipedia, as of 2007, Model Railroader Magazine had 160,000+ paid subscriptions. I realize that this doesn’t include general magazine sales, but even if you tripled that number, it would still mark a low percentage of the general population. I’d also imagine that MR is the biggest seller of magazines for Kalmbach publishing.