A Different Perspective

^^^ Well said, Tom!!!!!

Awesome!  I agree!

Dave

Maybe the best feel good post of the year!!!

Great post Tom! In the list of thank yous I would like to add a shout out to manufacturers for making a wide variety of traditional sized equipment at reasonable prices for those of us who enjoy that aspect of the hobby.  Its a great time to an O gauge railroader!

Way to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brent

Tom Densel posted:

...Thank You...OGR staff and Rich Melvin for providing this forum and making the O Gauge world a better place!...

Tom, I genuinely appreciate the kudos, but to thank just me is to leave out a whole lot of other people who are also responsible for the success of this forum.

A forum is only as good as its members. We have managed to attract a great crowd of people here who enjoy the hobby and enjoy talking about it in a civilized manner. For that I have to thank YOU - each and every member of this forum - for making this the biggest end best place on the internet to talk about O gauge trains!

I totally understand your perspective.  I got back into the hobby 41 years ago at age 29 and was concerned if I would be able to find items I would like to have.  Now, when I look around at my layout (16 x 40) and my collection of trains (way more than I ever could have dreamed back then) and the way they run so smooth and sound just like the real trains, I sometimes feel I am living in a dream.  A very good dream!

In 70 years, I do not think there has ever been a better time to be enjoying O gauge trains.

Thank you for starting this thread.

Happy railroading,

Don

Tom -  I love the positive spirit of your commentary!!  Right on!!  We O gaugers have A LOT to be grateful for.   30 years ago I didn't even have a layout ... only dreams of one .... and those dreams didn't include all the wonderful equipment, scenery, and fine folks in the hobby that is my reality today.  

Great hobby! Great forum!

Thank you Tom!

Ditto to all the above.  this FORUM is the greatest resource ever bar none! 

Tom,

   I agree 100%, I love this hobby and the changes down thru the years have been fantastic, instead of dreaming as I did as a boy, of running my O gauge trains via remote control, the dream has come true, and I have more than one kind of remote control to operate my trains from.  IMO there is really no big down side to our hobby, just advancements, that I wish my Father & Grandfather could have lived to see, and run with me.  20 years is a good start for you in our hobby, wait till you see the advancements at your 50 year mark!

PCRR/Dave

Advancements like the DCS & Legacy systems, along with new transformers are fantastic, however I am still a Tin Plate kind guy, so I get the best of the entire hobby.

I totally agree with all of your 'Thank Yous'. I got back in the hobby about 5 years ago and I am still amazed at the product selection, control systems and everything else available in O gauge. I have not had many quality issues, almost everything I have purchased has been very nice with few problame. Finding the OGR forums was another great treat, I would not be nearly as far along or learned as much as I have without the help of the forums and the people participating here. 

I'll drink to that!  Oh wait ...I don't drink anymore.

     Hoppy

These last years are really the Golden Age of Model Railroading. If youngsters thought the late 50's Lionel had a vast assortment of products to dream about, todays items would seem completely unbelievable to them from G to Z. Plus, we wake up and see modeling by Neville and others across the oceans on the OGR Forum where years back you didn't even know the guy two blocks away was a model railroader. Always something to learn here via the many craftsmen sharing their builds with us. Too bad some have chosen to leave, so many continuing posts here that we all look forward to each day. Including that Drummer/Model Railroader. (Or is it the other way around?)

Ranger Rick posted:

Maybe the best feel good post of the year!!!

 

Yes, nice to see. Now, back to the election.

An excellent positive post - well said!  Sometimes on here all we do is moan. Good to see  a balancing thread!!

Add Tom to the list of others like LeapinLarry Alex M., Marty F.  and I'm sure there are others I'm not thinking of off hand.

IMO, these guys focus on what this hobby is really all about.

There's plenty of other places to find "crap" in everyday life.

Why ruin one of the activities that's supposed to be a break from it?

BobbyD posted:

These last years are really the Golden Age of Model Railroading. If youngsters thought the late 50's Lionel had a vast assortment of products to dream about, todays items would seem completely unbelievable to them from G to Z. Plus, we wake up and see modeling by Neville and others across the oceans on the OGR Forum where years back you didn't even know the guy two blocks away was a model railroader. Always something to learn here via the many craftsmen sharing their builds with us. Too bad some have chosen to leave, so many continuing posts here that we all look forward to each day. Including that Drummer/Model Railroader. (Or is it the other way around?)

And just so you know BobbyD....quite a few of those folks that left for certain reasons are right back here enjoying the OGR Forum.  They may have been gone for a while but have come back realizing that they have many friends here and fantastic threads like this one....

Thanks to all of you that approach this hobby in a positive way and enjoy it for what it is to you personally!!

All the Best,

Alan

I view 'thankfulness' as not simply a fleeting moment in time, but rather as an attitude of life. So my hope is that people will remember this thread and truly consider it.

I personally think Lionel has gone to great lengths to accommodate the new scale oriented hobbyist, given how small the production runs are.  Same goes for MTH. There's another thread here where Scott Mann has been quite honest and forthcoming about how difficult it can be to bring new product to market. But it's not just Sunset/3rd Rail because all the companies have said the same, even in other scales like HO and N, where the risk factor is greatly diminished because of the larger market and greater sales potential.

This is NOT an easy business to be engaged in. Otherwise we'd see more manufacturers and more retailers, not continually fewer. And despite the unhappiness of some with available product and new tooling, everyone knows that there has NEVER been so much variety of 3-rail product that there is today. YES, there is much to be thankful for. In that sense, I can see why some would call this "the golden age," even though the postwar years are called the same.

Yet Tom's original post hints at this change. In years gone by, there were far more people buying trains, BUT they weren't buying as many trains. Today, it's fewer people buying more trains. Still, it's all good... different but still good. Either way, a reason for gratitude.

If you have your health, a good marriage (if you're married), a place to live, food to eat... you have plenty there to be thankful for. The train hobby is just icing on the cake to those other things.