I Had A Thought

Some would say that we live in the best of times in terms of the technology and detail that is now available. It makes you wonder where we might be in the next say 5 or 10 years?

Rod

This is the golden age of O Scale, truly.

I think we live in the golden era of toy trains and I thank Mike Wolf for that. It took real competition in the early to mid 90's to get Lionel to move forward, and there's nothing like competition to move the bar. Dick Kughn gets a lot of credit for stepping up to the plate.

I suspect technology will improve but the customer base will decrease. There aren't a lot more kids from the 40's and 50's getting into the hobby and kids from later years are a lot more unlikely to have grown up with toy trains. So they don't have the "fond memories". I think model trains will survive, but the market will decrease.

Gerry

Yes, it is amazing that the toy/model electric train hobby has lasted for over a hundred years. Especially given that real trains are not as prevalent as they once were. And perhaps we are in the golden age of O scale model trains. But what I find even more amazing is that so many of those early trains are still running after a hundred years. Several recent Christmas videos were awesome displays of this.

Modern technology is nice, but sometimes you can't beat the simple pleasure of 80 to 100 year old cast iron and sheet metal still polishing the rail heads today. 

I do mostly scale these days (although I still dabble in prewar).  The train of my youth (late-60s) was an American Flyer Santa Fe Warbonnet freight set.  This was a third-hand train set that I got from my cousins when they outgrew it.  I remember building a huge (to me, at the time) layout, that was probably 6'x8' and scenicing the layout by painting it with airplane dope.  I had a lot fun with the train set for the 3 years (until we moved) that it was set up.  Taking the set out of storage 20 years ago, I was shocked by how beat up the trains were!  As a kid, I guess that the condition of the train didn't matter, just so it operated!

Jim

Rod Stewart posted:

Some would say that we live in the best of times in terms of the technology and detail that is now available. It makes you wonder where we might be in the next say 5 or 10 years?

Rod

I would say that even more realistic detail will be forthcoming.  Maybe engineers that move !   Passenger cars where the passenger in the cars disappear at station stops.  This possibilities are endless.  

The "O" gauge hobby is propped up by it's association with Christmas.

I bet that new operating technologies will be forthcoming as advances in electronics become available. Detailing has already reached a practical peak, and anymore details will make trains too fragile to handle.

My major concern is the high cost of o-gauge trains. Upcoming generations will not have the wealth of our generation because of runaway government spending and upcoming balance of trade adjustments. When the government clamps down on China, my forecast is that the cost of trains will go higher, especially those returning to the USA for manufacture.

I hope that Mike Wolf and other train companies have business plans that extend out into a new world economy.

handyandy posted:

Modern technology is nice, but sometimes you can't beat the simple pleasure of 80 to 100 year old cast iron and sheet metal still polishing the rail heads today. 

I totally agree.

Good topic.

I was born around 1960 and my parents bought me what was affordable and available at that time. So, I had a cheap FA Texas Special and a plastic steamer. 

When I got back into Lionel trains in 1994, I gradually got sucked into prewar Lionel. I always liked the look of the switchers, they had enough detail for me, they were made in the USA with the quality and craftsmanship of an old German watch with the "high technology" of their day. The quirky thermostatic tender bell that sounds like a bell that you would find on a counter of an old school business is not for everyone with today's high tech stuff that is available, but it works for me. 

Many of my locomotives are going on 78 years old this year. They will all easily make 100 years. Most could probably make 200 years except for the weak point of wiring/insulation.

I started another thread on repairing one of these locomotives and was surprised that some had not seen the craftsmanship of these locomotives, especially the guts. So, here is a picture of a heavily abused locomotive (abused before I picked it up) and before it was repaired, but some may find it interesting.

Tom

Booby Ogage hit the nail on the head about future trade agreements, etc.  That's all I will say on that subject, as i do not want to risk having this thread locked because of political views.  

Most times, more often than not, a post war locomotive picked up at a train meet will run as soon as you get it home.  Here again, I don't want to get into a discussion about post war vs new products, they are totally different animals to my mind.  When I re-entered the hobby in the mid '70s, MPC and post war was all that was available.  At the time buying post war at meets was expensive, for me.  Now with locomotive prices at and well over the thousand dollar mark, post war is a bargain.

The technology is simply amazing.  One day before long these trains will be internally powered, meaning goodbye to the third rail and track cleaning.  They will be so smart they won't run into one another, because of sensors.  

I often wonder what John Allen, Frank Ellison, Al Kalmbach and other pioneer model railroaders would think of today's technology?  

I believe that command control is the single greatest innovation in the history of this hobby.  The best part is that it allows people with absolutely none or even minimal experience to operate the layout.  No longer do you have to explain where the Blocks are, why they are there, how it works, etc.

Another "game changer" for me was sound.  When I first heard about it I wasn't all that excited.  When I experienced it for the first time I would never buy another engine without it.

M.T.H. Electric Trains RAISED THE BAR in "O" scale.  I'm thrilled that Mike Wolf has accomplished all he has because without MTH, I believe the others wouldn't have been inspired to reach the level they have.

I got into "O" scale BIG time because of MTH Electric Trains!  Their products are second-to-none.

Dan i often think similar thoughst and also wonder when our generation is not around anymore what will happen in this type of hobby. .

John C. posted:

 

I often wonder what John Allen, Frank Ellison, Al Kalmbach and other pioneer model railroaders would think of today's technology?  

 

 

 

I suspect the pioneers of model railroading would view all this technology the frosting on the cake...

...but not the cake itself.

Rusty

They will be so smart they won't run into one another, because of sensors.  

Reminds me of an old Mad Magazine piece on model trains.

Future generations of model railroaders are going to expect that trains will have advanced technology operating systems.