My dad and grandfather worked for railroads. I was a young kid during WWII, when steam trains ran constantly hauling coal to steel mills. I lived less than a block from a RR station for a time. Oddly, I never rode a passenger train until my teens, but many others my age used them to commute, to schools and work. None of that applies to many of the kids today, who rarely see a train at a crossing and may never have ridden one. People are interested in what they are familiar with....no familiarity=no interest. The real railroads have merged and shrunk and are much less visible, the famous old names have disappeared.
Here’s a speculation on the subject. I believe people model for two reasons: fascination with miniatures and/or modeling from experiences. Model railroaders of all persuasions try to re-recreate in some form what they have experienced and appreciated. Another inspiration is knowledge of railroad and industrial history. So, for many there is a passion for the old Pennsy, or NYC, Santa Fe, and so on. These railroads had motive power instantly distinguishable one from another. They pulled trains comprised of different kinds of cars with cabooses!, that, inefficient as it was, were switched along the way, at division points, and at terminals. Alternatively there were short lines running on weed-grown trackage that attract a different modeling approach and are easy to model in a confined space. To appreciate this era an interest in and useful knowledge of history seems necessary. How many of the younger set have even been taught history in K-12 or college (I’m sure many of you have seen the witless responses given to basic historical questions in TV interviews)? Tourist trains, while fun, or not sufficient, let alone static displays of deteriorated equipment. How inspiring are long intermodal trains pulled by graceless motive power differentiated between one or the other builder and among the four major railroads by paint scheme? Or bulk carriers of coal or oil? These trains do not get switched between or at terminals eliminating for many the fun of operation.
Note the ages quoted for most people in the hobby: 40 to 60. These people are old enough to either have experienced directly, or through older relatives, the sort of railroading that inspires modeling,. Younger people see a railroad scene that is, frankly, boring, and may not know or appreciate the history of railroading in older times. I conclude that model railroading may be destined to fade away.
colorado hirailer posted:Oddly, I never rode a passenger train until my teens, but many others my age used them to commute, to schools and work. None of that applies to many of the kids today, who rarely see a train at a crossing and may never have ridden one.
Heck, most middle-aged (and many older than that) people I know have never ridden a train other than in a amusement park.
Growing up, Amtrak pulled out of my hometown in Florida in the early 70s. they tried coming back in the 90s, but a hurricane destroyed that route and only now are they talking about maybe coming back. So riding Amtrak was never an option for me as during the short time it was running and I still lived there, it'd come through about 1AM.
Where I live now, the Empire Builder comes in Seattle which isn't that far away, there are several Cascades trains and the Coast Starlight going through the nearby depot, about 12 miles from my front door. But even then, I've only rode it a few times just for fun.
My wife and I and another couple did a sightseeing trip to the Northeast in September and took the NE Corridor from Penn Station to DC, the Capitol Limited to Chicago, the Empire Builder to Seattle, then the Cascades to the local depot. We don't know of anyone else who's done anything like this. People we told about the trip all thought it was cool, but none would have done it themselves.
People don't ride the train unless it's affordable or convenient to do so. So many rode back in the day because they had no other options (bad roads, couldn't afford a car, nowhere to park in a big city if they had driven, etc). Today, long hauls are cheaper and faster to fly there, the same reason RR passenger traffic took such a beating in the postwar years...
"People we told about the trip all thought it was cool, but none would have done it themselves."
That is sad. At least to me. Why wouldn't someone want to travel where the journey is part of the fun?
I thought I heard somewhere that passenger traffic on trains was up a little?
Hi Folks,
IMHO, the best way to sustain, or possibly grow the hobby, is through women who do the Christmas village displays with Dept. 56 and Lemax type products. Back in the golden age of the toy train in the 1950s, most people/families had only a seasonal layout, perhaps under the tree, that was set up for only a month or so, not year-round. I don't think it will ever get any better than that -- selling a few products to many people, not many products to only a few hobbyists.
I'll say it again, O27 handcars have tremendous potential for bring people into the hobby, like what I wrote previously about riding the coat-tails of the Disney 'Frozen' theme. Carrera did what slot car industry people thought was impossible with Mario Kart and Pixar 'Cars' products with O scale slot cars in stores like WalMart. Hobbyists like those on this forum weren't the purchasers these items (for the most part), but parents with kids did buy.
Something to ponder -- an O scale slot car's MSRP is about $17, an O27 handcar about $60+. So price is an issue for the non-hobbyists. Carrera now even has Mario in an RC hovercraft/drone product. Why not put Mario and Luigi on a handcar? Pay for the license, bite the bullet, and get some life back into O27 for the general public.
Take care, Joe.
Hudson J1e posted:That is sad. At least to me. Why wouldn't someone want to travel where the journey is part of the fun?
People don't do this, for various reasons. Most can't get that much time off from work, train travel costs way more than flying and doesn't really go too many places people wanna go.
Simple as that.
Cruise ships take longer, but they always go where people want to go, and there's WAY more to do onboard than on a train...
To anyone that thinks this hobby is dying...I am living proof its not! (Ba-dum Tss)
It's a little late, but I captured a compilation of the show on my YT channel.
While I appreciate all the anecdotal stories and photos from events and clubs, but focused gatherings of like-minded people do NOT prove the state of the hobby either way.
"Look at this event, the hobby is alive and well!"
Yeah, for the people at the event, but did you manage to get everyone in the hobby locally to attend? If so, that only proves the hobby is alive and well for those people, not in general. You can fill a hall with people into a like-minded hobby if you promote it good enough, and it only proves you found some people into the same thing. It doesn't prove that there are others anywhere outside the hall at the same time!
I think the pulse of the hobby can be gauged by looking at the number of new hobby shops that open up with trains as the main focus. It is only a guess, but I bet it is very few...if any. We have heard of quite a few train stores closing as owners age, retire, or cannot make a go of it anymore. Yet I have not heard of new stores with younger business adventurers looking to fill that newly opened void. Be honest, would you invest in a ownership right now to start a new business in trains? I think that it would be a risky investment. Even some of the hobby and craft box stores that once stocked O-gauge trains have cut back in my experience to almost nothing. Their profit margin on that stuff was not great enough to keep it in stock. Without the hands on, or at least eyes on, experience, I do not see younger folks taking to the hobby. Most of us baby boomers got interested in trains from gifts given to us from our parents. Back then it was the thing to do to give to your child (especially sons I would suppose). Sort of "keeping up with the (Casey) Joneses". Many households had one. That does not happen today. I think train set sales had a brief splurge with the Harry Potter train set and the Polar Express set. Young parents who never had an interest in trains before took to them. But for the most part (not all of course), that interest quickly wained.
The hobby right now is not dying because we keep it alive...very alive now that we have many ways to buy trains. Manufacturers are making trains based on our demand which often means scale, lots of features, and high costs. Those characteristics are not what teased many of us into the hobby in the first place. We are in a heyday, that is for sure. But my personal opinion is that it will flame out and remain as embers once the baby boomers die off. Fifteen to twenty five years down the road will be interesting.
Rick
Ranger Rick posted:I have not heard of new stores with younger business adventurers looking to fill that newly opened void. Be honest, would you invest in a ownership right now to start a new business in trains?
I do know of two. Tacoma Trains in WA state was recently bought out by a guy in his 40s. The other, I heard of second hand was bought by a guy in his 30s...
Lee, that is encouraging.
Rick
