Bart Busse said:
…Hoping things are still there when I am…
Actually, I’m hoping I’m still here as long as things are!
I am still in the getting things to start my RR phase and in the past 2.5 years since I started I have bought all my track and most of my rolling stock from sales where they were a getting out and I think that barring fires, tornados and such there will always be used tracks and equipment. Some of the things I want most I may have to buy new but right now it getting the layout built before buying 100’s of cars and locos. And I try to support the hobby by buying from advertisers in Garden Railways, and telling them where I found out about them
I need to quit checking out the used market. I had way too much stuff already, and then I bid on, and, oh and, well that’s nice too, and… (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif)
Bart Busse said:
True of course. I’m a year away from any kind of purchase and year one will be a loop on my patio. Hoping things do not go downhill in that year of research and drafting a long term plan. When I get organized enough to post some photos and ideas for my space you may all think I’m better off with Z scale!
Bart
" Rooster " said:
Lets say if we sit here on the internet and debate it all day long by the time were done debating it we might all be dead anyway and you can’t purchase and play with model trains if your dead?
Most people over 45yrs old (like Bart Salmons) can’t see Z scale anyway
It’s not just on GR, I’ve noticed the same"thinning" in MR and the Gazette. It just shows how much retraction happened in the hobby since the recession.
" Rooster " said:
Bart Busse said:
True of course. I’m a year away from any kind of purchase and year one will be a loop on my patio. Hoping things do not go downhill in that year of research and drafting a long term plan. When I get organized enough to post some photos and ideas for my space you may all think I’m better off with Z scale!
Bart
" Rooster " said:
Lets say if we sit here on the internet and debate it all day long by the time were done debating it we might all be dead anyway and you can’t purchase and play with model trains if your dead?
Most people over 45yrs old (like Bart Salmons) can’t see Z scale anyway
Heck, N is a challenge. My club asked me to scratch-build an N scale trestle, and my eyes weren’t right for days…
On the future of Model Railroading let me offer some thoughts. I entered this hobby in the early Fifties in the same way, as I believe many others here may have, the Christmas train set under the tree, Lionel and Marks. It was one of the few things my father and I did together, being as he spent 30 years in the US Army, he was gone most of the time coming home for holidays until I was 11 and when retired from the service he worked a lot to support his family. And with an exception for a brief period of slot car racing in the early to mid 60s, and a tour of duty with the USN from 1969 to 1975, I stayed in the hobby turning to HO scale until the old eye sight pushed me into Large Scale about 10 years ago. I tried to get my 2 boys (now in their 30s) into the hobby when they were young in the late 80s in the same way, with LGB and Kalamazoo under the Christmas tree but the competition from video games, Ninja Turtles, Ghost Busters, Star Wars and other toys more interesting to them and trendy with their friends took its toll on that idea. When I was a boy we didn’t have all the amazing toys that were available to my children then and even more amazing toys available to the children of today. I believe we used our imigination more, I still remember putting my Winky Dink plastic screen cover over our Emerson black and white TV screen and using a crayon to fill in the scene so Winky could accomplish his goal. Sure we had some great toys back in the day but they still left room for our creativity, Erector sets anyone? Many of my friends were model railroaders so we shared ideas and helped each other on our layouts, like all here, and if not working on our trains we were always building things like car, ship, and plane models, and outside we built amazing roadways and villages in dirt piles, tree houses, and down hill racers from wood and shopping cart wheels. What attracted me to this hobby was the creativity and the complexity of the mechanical assemblies of the powerful locomotives and the rolling stock, and the ability to create my own world, in a little space. This attraction appears to be missing in the hearts and minds of most of the younger generation with the true to life video games, robots, social media involvements, internet activities, etc. I also believe children now are forced to grow up faster than we were. Another detraction to this hobby for some young people is there seems to be a stigamatism associated with our hobby perpetuated by many non believers and even in a current TV show’s character, Sheldon, of the “Big Bang Theory”, that those who enjoy model railroading are “nerdy”. I for one do not consider myself “nerdy” in any way but I do enjoy the hell out of making train models and planning and building a layout. I throughly believe the hobby will survive because I believe there are some young people out there who actually enjoy creating things, using their imagination and more importantly making things with their hands.
Yeah I’m nerdy like Neil Young and Rod Stewart, rock n roll railroadin’ … we’re in it for the girls!
Yeah, haven’t you heard? Nerds are in demand nowadays.
Greg
It’s a curse! (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)For a loner…
John Caughey said:
Yeah I’m nerdy like Neil Young and Rod Stewart, rock n roll railroadin’ … we’re in it for the girls!
No way in HELL would I compare myself to those two!
I’m more like Mongo. “Something about where choo-choo go”
Chris
Joe Augustine said:
… What attracted me to this hobby was the creativity and the complexity…I believe there are some young people out there who actually enjoy creating things, using their imagination and more importantly making things with their hands.
Joe, I hope this is true. Nothing would make me happier than seeing my children making things with their hands in a complex task requiring creativity and imagination…except maybe two or three of Rod Stewart’s ex-wives.
I think this weekend I’ll teach my kids how to build something; they owe me some railroad work to pay for their fancy phones anyway. I know I have some things they could work on.
Thanks sincerely for this reminder.
In the hobby of Model Railroading; the “Hobby” is NEVER FINISHED. A good hobby grows with you, the hobbiest. If you start a railroad, whether it is indoors or out; it should NEVER be finished. Just like a real railroad; you will always be making changes, or improvements. Adding a siding or spur line, which can add to the enjoyment.A new industry, or a passing track. You might even abandon a siding or two.
Operation, can become a part of the interest, no-matter what size your railroad may be. You might even want to build a car or three, or modify a locomotive, or car to make them more what you want them to look like.
You might even allow yourself to make a friend or two, and invite them over to share in OPERATING the railroad…there are all sorts of ways to keep the railroad hobby, growing with you.
NO, a model railroad should NEVER be finished…if you want MODEL RAILROADING to be your VALUED, and enjoyed hobby.
Fred Mills