I have read in the WALL STREET JOURNAL that our hobby is Dead . No one is buying trains on ebay just trying to sell everything they own. I believe the hobby has become to expensive for younger kids who cant afford it and now want high tech games and drones ,not that there cheap but there cheaper than a train. What do some of you think
Replies sorted oldest to newest
Is the hobby dead?..... no
Since you mention EBay..... I don't know where you got the idea that nobody is buying Lionel trains there. Was that in the article?
Postwar stuff in top notch shape certainly does sell, and the prices seem high to me. Stuff that shows lots of playwear sells too, but at much lower prices. I see prices rising on early MPC locos.
I can agree that modern era rolling stock prices are very soft, and that stuff can be difficult to sell.
I see prices on locomotives from the period of interest to me (1970-1993) cycling up and down.
Can't comment on the newer stuff.
Can you still buy new stuff? Are there still manufactures making new items and printing catalogs? Then the hobby isn't dead. The used market may have just gotten it's ridiculous price bubble popped, and once sellers realize trains aren't an investment and lower their prices it'll pick up again. But the hobby isn't dead.
If nobody is buying trains on eBay, how do the sellers keep selling them? 
Yes, we all know that the media is right on everything including their condstant retractions.
So do sales on ebay determine whether or not we have a hobby?
I guess this hobby really is dead, just like it was in the last 42 threads with similar but different titles.
Who knows maybe I'm dead
I guess it's time for this week's installment of "the end of the hobby as we know it".
Not dead. Changing, but not dead. I doubt it will ever be dead but it must evolve and it will, I think, be quite different in the future.
NO
This hobby certainly won't die in our lifetimes. But buying patterns have changed -- and will continue to do so. In particular, fewer folks are chasing the next big thing every time a catalog is published. And we're all tired of the pre-order business model. But that ain't changing anytime soon -- except in Menardsville.
Even if no new trains arrived this year (and next year), the hobby would not die. We'd just focus more on layout construction and "tweaking" existing layouts with little projects as time and money allow.
David
This thread reminds me of a Yogi Berra response to whether he enjoyed going to a particular restaurant. His reply was, "No one goes there any more because it's too crowded".
No.
Rusty
It's only dead in the mind of a table holder reloading his car after a train show with over priced stuff he has been dragging to multiple shows.
I believe the new reality is the best value in train purchases is at the train shows. IMO, we are in a retail market glut.
When I stock the tables with reasonably priced stock it jumps off the table. In fact, overpriced items on other tables drive folks to me.
If you want to go into the train business to wind up with a million dollars you need to start with two million dollars.
Is this the same article from February 10, 2016 that was discussed on this thread: https://ogrforum.com/...obbyists-trundle-on ?
If the hobby were truly dead, this forum would not exist. And the O gauge sector of the hobby is just a small fraction of the whole hobby.
This hobby--the overall hobby of model railroading--is far from dead, and it's not even on life support. Don't worry about it; just enjoy it for the many benefits it offers.
For realistically the 100th time since I've been on this forum, no.
This just in, Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead....
NO - IT WILL
JOURNALISM is what is dead, not this hobby.
More fake news... 
mwb posted:This just in, Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead....
You're right!
Elvis confirmed that......he was in the adjacent stall. (I recognized his voice.)
No, it is not, and I am not "trundling on", whatever that is. I just roll more slowly. 
We've had numerous threads for years on this topic, and demographics, internet sales, foreign manufacture, lack of interest by younger generations, hobby publication issues, internet and social media distractions are always brought up. There is validity in all of those concerns, at least to some extent.
However, as to O Gauge, we still have a huge baby boom generation that is or has retired (or will in the next ten years or so), and a good number of them will be looking for a hobby, and will fondly remember the beloved trains that Mom gave away while they were in service or at school. We also have younger generations that may become interested in the technological aspects of the hobby. There will be other people that just enjoy creating something that is never finished, just to have something to tinker with whenever they want.
All companies will have to adjust their business plans to conditions if they want to survive. For instance, Menards has changed the playbook when it comes to rolling stock. A runner like me used to get runner quality stock from used sales of PW and MPC stuff that served my purposes well. Now I can buy new interesting stock for excellent prices, and if there's a problem, it is dealt with fairly quickly.
I do have one sad prediction, however. I think the day will come when, as in the 1970s, sharp-eyed refuse collectors will be able to dig pretty good train stock out of the wheely-bins, just because literally no one wants it. In that regard, history will repeat itself.
finbar posted:I have read in the WALL STREET JOURNAL that our hobby is Dead . No one is buying trains on ebay just trying to sell everything they own. I believe the hobby has become to expensive for younger kids who cant afford it and now want high tech games and drones ,not that there cheap but there cheaper than a train. What do some of you think
They can afford the high tech games and drones, but not trains? That speaks more to interest rather than affordability.
When I was a young'un back in the 1960's, I squirreled away part of my allowance for a month in order to afford the princely sum of $12.00 for a Mantua/Tyco 4-6-2 kit. The $27.00 R-T-R version was out of reach as were the $69.95 brass locomotives back then.
Then I kept squirreling away some more cash for the Cal-Scale and Kemtron detail parts I needed.
Frankly, if my stuff winds up in a dumpster because there's no one around to buy it, it still gave me the enjoyment and rewards of the hobby, and that's what's important.
Rusty
Change is the only constant.
I went from weekly purchases to 3 or 4 purchases a year. WHY? I seem to have more than I need. I'd like a few other things....but don't NEED them. And with a 46 Ford and 66 Mustang wanting things....I've slowed the buying.....but will never dump my trains!!!
WSJ= fake news
This hobby is by no means dead. Just ask my wife how many boxes come in during the year.
Miketg
Every member of this forum will be laid to rest before model railroading is. I spend the same each year as I have for the past 15 or so but I am buying more and more things without motors due to poor quality control in the PRC. I am improving my scenery skills and get satisfaction from that in proportion to the frustration of dealing with warranty issues (formerly problems).
Was there more to this theory then just eBay sales? I don't know about others, but I almost never buy trains on eBay, so maybe the whole "model railroading is dead " thing is my fault.
This thread should be dead!
finbar posted:I have read in the WALL STREET JOURNAL that our hobby is Dead . No one is buying trains on ebay just trying to sell everything they own. I believe the hobby has become to expensive for younger kids who cant afford it and now want high tech games and drones ,not that there cheap but there cheaper than a train. What do some of you think
Here we go should get a lot of reprocess:
WALL STREET JOURNAL=Fake News?
A lot of the people who write this stuff are just stating their Views on what they believe (they may not have any hobbies).
I buy mostly used items and I see that there is a demand for prewar and the trains that I purchase.
Wonder if the demand for the printed version of the WALL STREET JOURNAL is still there or do, people get that information on the internet?
I have been selling and buying on Ebay for 19 years now, & it is still going strong. I have over 4,000 feedbacks so I can't be doing too badly. You can't judge Ebay in the summer, it is always slow in July & August.
Allan Miller posted:This hobby--the overall hobby of model railroading--is far from dead, and it's not even on life support.
Maybe, but it is living in a retirement home.
Little kids who love Thomas have their parents buy train stuff. It drops off soon after and doesn't pick up until way later in life. If you go to a train show, most of the money being spent is clearly by folks in their retirement years.
I'm 47 years old and I'm almost always the youngest person at a show or club gathering when I walk into a room. I've often have had people mistake me for someone looking for my father due to my age.
That said, there's a lot of stuff being bought and sold and the hobby has certainly shifted from what we used to know. It's far from dead, but only a fool would think it's still living in the 'golden' years when it was easy to find someone into model trains or find a good hobby shop.
I have a pal who's into ham radio, and he declares the same things people are typing here, even though that hobby appears to have declined substantially with the advent of the internet.
Unfortunately the term "Fake News" now simply means news that does not agree with one's preconceived notions. Off all the sources of news WSJ does not fall into the category of fake news, however this old article that was discussed to death last year doesn't take into account several other factors regarding this hobby.
We do not see accurate portrayal of real railroads in the news so it would be reasonable to assume that anything that discusses the hobby in mainstream media will not be accurate as well. Fake news intentionally tries to mislead the reader. In the case of this article it is simply inaccurate. There is a huge difference between the two.
GG1 4877 posted:Unfortunately the term "Fake News" now simply means news that does not agree with one's preconceived notions. Off all the sources of news WSJ does not fall into the category of fake news, however this old article that was discussed to death last year doesn't take into account several other factors regarding this hobby.
I think of it in the perspective of a publication like WSJ. If a industry is in some manner of decline (and let's be honest with each other by saying it clearly is in some manner of decline from the past when far more folks were into model trains), then they'd see it as an overall 'dying' of said industry. This is the same publication which correctly called the end of the "bubble" in several industries in the past.
But dead? Nah.
If this Hobby is dead, then Stout Auctions must be filing for bankruptcy. Hmm... I couldn't tell that from last weekend auctions... Even the 4th round of the James Seacrest collection.
You mean those are cadavers parking their cars close to York buildings so l can't get a decent space? This posting is just a rock thrown into a pond to see if it would get ripples.
Prices are hitting lows in the Northwest. At our monthly train club meeting, 20+ folks, the auction saw most cars costing $40+ new went for $5 NIB for those few who bid on them. Many just didn't get any bids at all. Folks out here seem to have hundreds and hundreds of cars and locomotives and just ran out of room for more, or have all the road names they ever wanted.
And older Lionel items, like crossing gates with controller ... $2 ....
I think the hobby like many other businesses that relied on storefronts is changing. I used to have at least 10 stores within 30 minutes of me, now there are 3. There used to be multiple train shows in North Jersey every weekend beginning early September, now there are few. There used to be limited forms of entertainment back in the 60's, now we have virtual everything on a screen on demand. The hobby is undergoing a change; the see it , build it, operate mentality is morphing into something else. I have no idea what that will look like but I don't think the hobby will die just yet.
finbar posted:I have read in the WALL STREET JOURNAL that our hobby is Dead . No one is buying trains on ebay just trying to sell everything they own. I believe the hobby has become to expensive for younger kids who cant afford it and now want high tech games and drones ,not that there cheap but there cheaper than a train. What do some of you think
I would like to see the article......
Rusty Traque posted:Frankly, if my stuff winds up in a dumpster because there's no one around to buy it, it still gave me the enjoyment and rewards of the hobby, and that's what's important.
Rusty
colorado hirailer posted:You mean those are cadavers parking their cars close to York buildings so l can't get a decent space?.
Some might be.....
Access to this requires an OGR Forum Supporting Membership
