I'm one of those people with a stressful job/school/eldercare, etc. and will happily watch trains go 'round and 'round.  

Of course, I also like interlocken (sp?) puzzles and simulated operations.  I'm also a lady "of a certain age" and so fit the "older" demographic.

That said, here's a little story: This summer I offered a simple train auction item which used my simple twice-round 3-spur floor layout.  A father and his 13-year old son signed up.  The son said he played with radio controled cars.

I had everyone learn how to run a trolley, a steam engine, and two diesels.  In doing so they progressed from transformers to radio control and command control.  I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun everyone had, especially the 13-year old.

TRRR

Brian K posted:

I WENT TO THE TRAIN SHOW AT THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDENS LAST YEAR. I SPOKE TO ONE OF THE MANAGERS THERE AND WAS TOLD THAT THEY GET BETWEEN 450,000 AND 500,000 VISITORS BETWEEN THANKSGIVING AND JANUARY. THERE WERE SO MANY PARENTS WITH THEIR KIDS AT THIS SHOW, I WAS AMAZED. LIONEL AND MTH SHOULD HAVE SIMILAR SHOWS AT VARIOUS VENUES AROUND THE USA AND EVEN THE WORLD. KIDS LOVE TRAINS AND SO DO THEIR DADS. IT TEACHES THEM SO MANY SKILLS THAT CAN BE USED IN LIFE. IF THE NYBG CAN GET THAT MANY PEOPLE WALKING THROUGH THIS LAYOUT, IMAGINE WHAT LIONE AND MTH COULD DO NATION WIDE?

Yes, but ARE THOSE KIDS BUYING anything (sorry, couldn't resist responding to this 'screaming' post)?

Just seeing kids at a show doesn't mean anything. Seeing them actually buying stuff (or having parents do so) more than once and building layouts once they get older, that means something. This reminds me of the guy who told me that women were in the hobby big time, because he had just seen a woman buying model train stuff for herself at a show.

I have had sales tables at many model train shows over the years and I can count the number of kids (and by that I mean anyone under the age of 20) actually buying stuff beyond the 'toy' value of something cool that looks like a train, on one hand. Now, I have seen a handful of 20-somethings who haven't yet found girls/cars who are into trains. But very few.

No, the people actually buying stuff to use, that's an aging market. I'll be 50 next year and at most model train events of any type, I'm usually the youngest person who shows up. By the time I'm a really old timer, I am very concerned that the hobby won't be around for my generation as it is for the elderly of today.

The shop at the New York Botanicical Gardens was swamped. They were selling out everything on the shelves. Of course every person was not buying but putting ads in magazines for the hobby is not going to bring new people in. It’s called marketing and by trying to sell more to the same group of people you are not going to increase your customer base. Ask Harley Davidson how that is working out.

maint postelayout.

How many kids today in the USA ride on trains or even see a passenger trains shoot by at a crossing gate? When I was growing up it was a common thing to see and some times we would even wait for the trains to run by.

 

 

 

My youngest son was my only hope to keep his interest in trains, he does still admire the layout.

But riding New Jersey passenger trains daily is eroding his interest very quickly.

Horrible, 

MNCW posted:

PJB posted:

 

...So what makes toy trains different?  I for one think a lot of it has to do with holding a person's intellectual interest. I love my locomotives and all the details of my passenger cars. I love to planning a layout and some of the building aspects too. But once it's built and up and  running, it's now static and offers nothing new at all - without further tweaking.  For anyone over 8 years old, after watching the train traverse the layout a few times, there's little intellectual satisfaction in watching a train go round and round and round day after day after year on the exact same route.  Like Groundhog Day.  I mean how many days in a row can I watch the same exact episode of a TV show?  

Well said. I agree with everything you said, but the last sentence. For myself (and maybe only myself),  if you have a stressful job, sometimes just that repetitive motion of watching the train go round and round or running the same point to point operation can be good therapy. Also, certain classic TV shows (the early MASH shows for one), I can watch over and over. 

Tom 

Tom,

I agree with everything you said.

And, I'll even say that on really long  days, I even enjoy watching my G train go in a tiny circle under the Christmas tree for a spell.  My point was about why children (with much less responsibility and stress) are less apt to stay with toy trains.

And, while I too can watch Mash every single day, I don't think Mash would have been a hit or had a season 2 if the entire show consisted of one and only one episode and they simply re-ran that single episode every day. 

Railrunnin posted:

Can someone either post the article or perhaps email me the article. I do not want to "Subscribe or Register" to see the content. Thanks very much.

Paul

Railrunnin@gmail.com

Ditto, please.  My address in my profile,

Thanks

Brian K posted:

I WENT TO THE TRAIN SHOW AT THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDENS LAST YEAR. I SPOKE TO ONE OF THE MANAGERS THERE AND WAS TOLD THAT THEY GET BETWEEN 450,000 AND 500,000 VISITORS BETWEEN THANKSGIVING AND JANUARY. THERE WERE SO MANY PARENTS WITH THEIR KIDS AT THIS SHOW, I WAS AMAZED. LIONEL AND MTH SHOULD HAVE SIMILAR SHOWS AT VARIOUS VENUES AROUND THE USA AND EVEN THE WORLD. KIDS LOVE TRAINS AND SO DO THEIR DADS. IT TEACHES THEM SO MANY SKILLS THAT CAN BE USED IN LIFE. IF THE NYBG CAN GET THAT MANY PEOPLE WALKING THROUGH THIS LAYOUT, IMAGINE WHAT LIONE AND MTH COULD DO NATION WIDE?

Let's unpack that manager's comments a little to provide more granularity:

The Botanic Gardens exhibit, to a toy train enthusiast, would appear to be about the trains. But, to everyone else, this is an exhibit that is aimed at creating a grand rendition of NYC all through vines, tree branches, ferns, and other sorts of natural materials from the Botanical Gardens, creatively assembled for a spectacular walking tour of a model NYC.  The trains add to it, but they all run innand out of view on one track in a very ancillary and almost unnoticed way, given they are at your feet and most  of the marvel of this exhibit makes you look up (you walk under the bridge expanses), or at least above foot level.  

I went there for the trains and barely noticed them given the obvious focus and amazement is the spectacular modeling of buildings and bridges.  And, the vast majority of folks there are adults that are 50+ years old and they bring their children and grandchildren. So, not sure this exhibit qaulifies as any example of interest in the trains growing.

rrman posted:

Railrunnin posted:

Can someone either post the article or perhaps email me the article. I do not want to "Subscribe or Register" to see the content. Thanks very much.

Paul

Railrunnin@gmail.com

Ditto, please.  My address in my profile,

Thanks

??

It was completely reprinted in this thread. 

 My youngest son was my only hope to keep his interest in trains, he does still admire the layout.But riding New Jersey passenger trains daily is eroding his interest very quickly.

Horrible, 

NJ Transit will do that to anyone. Fortunately we’re in an area that still has a fair amount of railroad traffic. I still remember Metroliners screaming through New Brunswick, watching movements in Browns Yard on Bordentown Avenue and chased the Raritan River SWs all over. 

ITS CRAP LIKE THIS THAT KEEPS ME AWAKE AT NIGHT

my passion for toy trains and real ones has been lifelong and sometimes i get brought to tears by the insane costs or riducule from folk because i'm different

when my friends asked for ps4s or xboxes or whatever i was asking for a lionel csx AC6000CW and the TMCC Army 44 engine

when mom died my main support and roster maintainer and person who wanted to really see what resided behind my skull was gone

a teacher tried supporting me once and nearly lost his job

i've thought of giving up but knew if i did i would probably be even more in a bind

paigetrain posted:

ITS CRAP LIKE THIS THAT KEEPS ME AWAKE AT NIGHT

my passion for toy trains and real ones has been lifelong and sometimes i get brought to tears by the insane costs or riducule from folk because i'm different

when my friends asked for ps4s or xboxes or whatever i was asking for a lionel csx AC6000CW and the TMCC Army 44 engine

when mom died my main support and roster maintainer and person who wanted to really see what resided behind my skull was gone

a teacher tried supporting me once and nearly lost his job

i've thought of giving up but knew if i did i would probably be even more in a bind

Cody;

Sleep tight... I think you will find that, to paraphrase Mark Twain, the reports of model railroading’s demise are somewhat exaggerated  I am old enough to remember browsing through enormous record stores looking for the latest album. The CD supposedly put the nail in records coffin, but right now there is a pretty strong resurgence of vinyl (and many stores have stopped carrying CD’s). Recently, I got a few e-mails from Yamaha offering new turntables, on of which was WiFi (and cost about the same as a Legacy diesel). So I think model trains will always be around as you get older - maybe not exactly as they are now, but in some form.

I hope that Youtube video posted by Trainroomgary, of a ??? car ??? zipping along a flimsy roller coaster like track was a Lionel tongue in cheek joke.  Must have been hard for those actor boys (what, no girls? that's discrimination)  to really go wow and high five each other.

rrman posted:

I hope that Youtube video posted by Trainroomgary, of a ??? car ??? zipping along a flimsy roller coaster like track was a Lionel tongue in cheek joke...

Sadly, the joke is on Lionel.

Y'know, the WSJ story is going on 3 years old and we're still here...

Rusty

I agree with others that the Botanical Gardens show is not really about the trains, it is about the conservatory being decorated as a winter wonderland with the theme being NYC buildings and such (the conservatory itself is quite a jewel, I was married at the Botanical Gardens several decades ago. I don't think the mobs of people there are there to see the trains per se; on the other hand, even if only a couple of kids or adults gets interested in trains from it, all good. 

I also tend to agree that toy trains are going to be around for a while, it could be in very different form, but it will be around. The market has faced its challenges, back when Lionel was on wobbly legs and then MPC took over, it didn't look 3 rail O would survive. Yet we saw after that period a lot of unexpected things, we saw Richard Kughn basically revitalize the brand, we saw MTH and Atlas enter the 3 rail market, along later on with Weaver and 3rd rail, we saw the invention of command control where 3 rail (to me) outstripped scale...and none of that was expected, dirges were being sung about 3 rail every year.

Yes, this surge was partly because of baby boomers getting nostalgic, but that was only part of it, and that part is waning as boomers get older. However, part of that surge was the scale modelling, it was because of the detailed products and the command control (and now radio control), and I think that part is going to be around.  Just based on my experience in the hobby, among the younger people in it, they tend to be attracted to the command control and the more scale elements, and it is what I would expect. Yes, smart phones and social media and the like pose a threat to this, but so did TV in its day, TV was often cited as one of the main reasons for the demise of Lionel in the 1960's for example....yet a lot of those kids who were 'ruined' by tv (you know, all those little serial killers dropping anvils on people's heads and all the other mayhem found in Bugs Bunny and the Road Runner!) came back into trains as adults,and not all of them had trains as a kid. I grew up well after the golden age of trains, by the time I became aware of things trains were either commuter rail or were struggling freight railroads with Amtrak kind of a curiousity, I never saw a steam engine in active service, never saw the great long distance trains, but still loved trains (actually, real trains hold an interesting parable to our story here, experts were predicting that long haul trucking and air shipping would wipe out the railroads, that they were more efficient, etc...and like with 3 rail O, real trains underwent a kind of revolution that the 'experts' didn't see coming). 

It is all great and good to rumble about young people being couch potatoes with no brains,texting and doing who knows what on their phones and tablets, how they don't appreciate 'real things' like trains, but what that leaves out is that young people always have a ton of other things they are interested in and a lot of cranky older people blaming them for the end of civilization..and I think going down the road some of those young people obsessed with phones and whatnot (the way young men were obsessed with the horsepower of a bored out 327 small block or whatnot once) are going to find the joys of trains. Will be a niche market, may be smaller than today, but it will be around, I am pretty sure.

ADCX Rob posted:

rrman posted:

I hope that Youtube video posted by Trainroomgary, of a ??? car ??? zipping along a flimsy roller coaster like track was a Lionel tongue in cheek joke...

Sadly, the joke is on Lionel.

 

Oh boy, we're doomed.   

rrman posted:

ADCX Rob posted:

rrman posted:

I hope that Youtube video posted by Trainroomgary, of a ??? car ??? zipping along a flimsy roller coaster like track was a Lionel tongue in cheek joke...

Sadly, the joke is on Lionel.

 

Oh boy, we're doomed.   

Now available at an Ollie's Bargain Outlet near you.

I'm looking on the bright side: I'm in my early 30's. In a few years there's going to be a bunch of cheap stuff to buy as the market will be flooded. Win for me . Since I never consider getting back what I pay for a model train I don't care if my stuff is worthless. All the stuff will be. Then I can have more.

  We Boomers have distorted the demand for everything we have touched as we have passed through life.  Think back to the mad rush to build new grade schools then new high schools then expanding university capacity, etc. as our cohort grew up and moved through the various phases of life. 

  All of the "older" hobbies were around before we came along and they will be there after the last Boomer has shuffled off into the sunset.  All we have done is inflate the numbers of individuals participating in various hobbies - nothing more.  So will prices drop, will demand decline - sure - with fewer people what more could you expect. But will hobbies disappear - I think some will (remember the 19th century fascination with collecting bird's nests and the fancy cabinets that were built to display those collections - you can find the high end cabinetry in pricey antique furniture shops but the nests and the collectors are long gone) but I suspect most will not.

   As for the next great thing - I work in the medical field and geriatric medicine is seeing a real surge in activity and growth with respect to nurses/physicians specializing in that branch...and once we have passed that field too will see a decline in demand for services and practitioners.

  In short, the train hobby has been around a lot longer than any of us and I think it is quite likely that it will be around long after we are gone.

Lou1985 posted:

I'm looking on the bright side: I'm in my early 30's. In a few years there's going to be a bunch of cheap stuff to buy as the market will be flooded. Win for me . Since I never consider getting back what I pay for a model train I don't care if my stuff is worthless. All the stuff will be. Then I can have more.

GREAT... the young vultures are starting to circle   

Lou1985 posted:

I'm looking on the bright side: I'm in my early 30's. In a few years there's going to be a bunch of cheap stuff to buy as the market will be flooded. Win for me . Since I never consider getting back what I pay for a model train I don't care if my stuff is worthless. All the stuff will be. Then I can have more.

That's the spirit! Seriously, if demand drops off because boomers and the like are no longer in the hobby, it can mean those who end up liking train modelling will have a lot more ways to be able to afford it in my view and keep it going.  Speaking as the tail end of the baby boom, I can only hope that the trains I have end up with someone who loves to use them, if the decline in us boomers means others end up being able to enjoy them, it is a kind of nice legacy, would rather that then them sitting in storage waiting for them to be 'valuable', or worse *shrug*.  

Robert S. Butler posted:

But will hobbies disappear - I think some will (remember the 19th century fascination with collecting bird's nests and the fancy cabinets that were built to display those collections - you can find the high end cabinetry in pricey antique furniture shops but the nests and the collectors are long gone) but I suspect most will not.

Too true. For example, during and before WW2, many people collected stuff the Doughboys brought back from WW1. In fact, a lot of that stuff (especially field gear and weapons) got recycled into WW2, carried by the sons of those doughboys when they went to fight the Germans the second time in the 20th century.

Once WW2 was over, that interest plummeted. It was all about the aviation and German stuff after the war was over and stayed that way for generations. Now, it's more about the newer era stuff as reproductions made collecting Third Reich stuff a risky thing.

But WW1 stuff other than weapons and painted helmets haven't been all that big in the collecting world since then, even with the recent 100th anniversary of the Great War (which was met in the US with a collective, "Meh").

Beenie Babies, Disney VHS tapes and the like prove that markets can utterly collapse for some collectibles. I've heard that gun collecting is never a losing proposition, but there's no way to know if firearms will be completely outlawed at some point in the future. There's just no sure bets.

OK. All I know for certain about this subject is what has been happening in our own family:

Two brothers, who have visited my layout several times and stayed with it for hours , in the past :

One brother LOVES trains. He gets train stuff at Christmas, and on his birthdays (and every other time we visit him )...

The other brother, slightly older than trainboy, has moved to other thrills, like his remote-controlled Tyrannosaurus Rex (!!!!) which reacts to his voice, cowering away from him, or being aggressive at him (!!!!!!!!!)...No further trains as gifts for him.

We, their aunt and uncle, have adjusted to their wants and interests. We have been giving them toys that fly and move via remote-control, all of which fly around inside the house...

... in the yard, and occasionally are short-lived due to bashing into trees and the sides of houses in the neighborhood. We don't care. We keep the toys coming (!)

What's next? More remotely controlled flying and wiggling paraphernalia and more trains (that's' for sure!)

Our nephews and niece do not have to mimic our interests. All we wish for is that they have fun - in their own ways - and that we get to watch them be happy.

UncleFrankM

P.S. This Christmas, we have our eyes on remote-controlled drones with cameras, so the kids can annoy (or thrill?) the neighbors, in addition to themselves.

P.P.S. I'm not about saving a hobby. My interest is solely in seeing these children happy, where they have placed interest themselves. Numerous visits by them to our layout have yielded one interested-party in trains; yet, three very interesting children have grown and had fun. I don't ask for, nor do I expect, more from our hobby, my friends.

Moonson,

What great photos and what a wonderful relationship with your grandchildren! 

I can imagine a happy world where a voice controlled T-Rex interacts with a streamlined train.  At least, that's what would happen in my house given those interests.

Tomlinson Run Railroad

I think we can agree that there will always be railroads and trains - passenger, commuter, transit and freight. People will see them, ride on them and some will find them interesting. They may then encounter a model railroad through an older relative, a magazine, an advertisement, on line, or at a hobby store. And that will be the impetus for their decision to investigate, buy and enjoy model trains. And another generation of model railroaders will be born, some will build a layout, and the hobby will go on. Their greatest interests are likely to be in prototypes that do not yet exist, rather than the Hudsons and F-3s of our youth. The world changes, but real and model trains are likely to continue.

MELGAR

Lou1985 posted:

I'm looking on the bright side: I'm in my early 30's. In a few years there's going to be a bunch of cheap stuff to buy as the market will be flooded. Win for me . Since I never consider getting back what I pay for a model train I don't care if my stuff is worthless. All the stuff will be. Then I can have more.

You are in a great position. Even people who are 50 and younger are going to see the glut on the secondary market. Have fun.

After reading Frank's post, as Toad of Toad Hall said, "I have a new mania."

It's remote controlled dinosaurs; trains are history!

Just kidding.

Since I'm a lawyer, I can say this. I need to get a remote controlled dinosaur that eats the lawyer sitting on the toilet as shown in Jurassic Park.

Here is the lawyer:

Now where's that dinosaur?

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Since I'm a lawyer, I can say this. I need to get a remote controlled dinosaur that eats the lawyer sitting on the toilet as shown in Jurassic Park.

Here is the lawyer:

Now where's that dinosaur?

A dinosaur would never eat a lawyer due to professional curtesy  

Last weekend was the Science Museum of Virginia annual train show......lots of advertising.....9 layouts (2 HO, 1 N, 5 O, 1 Lego).......over 10,000 people over 3 days....the hobby will definitely shrink, but it will survive....the internet gives us the ability to collaborate over thousands of miles. No one will be a solitary hobbiest unless they choose to be.....

Here are some pics from the show......

Lou1985 posted:

I'm looking on the bright side: I'm in my early 30's. In a few years there's going to be a bunch of cheap stuff to buy as the market will be flooded. Win for me . Since I never consider getting back what I pay for a model train I don't care if my stuff is worthless. All the stuff will be. Then I can have more.

I actually think this sentiment exemplifies part of why people in our general age group (30s - 40s) and younger aren't avid toy train people.  

Basically, I've posted here about how surprising it is to me that almost none of this stuff - even NIB and a few weeks after purchase - holds it's value.  The crotchety crowd usually respond with the snide remarks like "why would you think this is an investment." Well, I never thought of it as an investment. 

But, it was surprising to me based on life experiences of things purchased purely for enjoyment.  For instance, I have a collection of vintage comic books and it's value has increased exponentially over the years.  I have vintage signed baseballs and baseball cards and they too have appreciated. I have a collection of Havana cigars and they too have appreciated. I have a nice collection of bourbons and, you guessed it, they too have appreciated.  As one more example, I have all my old video game cartridges from the 1980s and 1990s and they are now skyrocketing in value.  I didn't buy any of these as an investment. Only for personal enjoyment.  But every last one of them has appreciated in value.   

Now, compare purchase prices.  I bought comic books for 0.25 from the newstand that are now selling for amounts up to $30,000.  I bought newstand copies for $1 that now routinely sell for $1,000-3,000.  I have $75 into bottles of Pappy Van Winkle from a few years back that I see selling today for several thousand dollars.  In comparison, I have $1,500 -$2,000 into a single Vision locomotive that can't be sold for even that initial purchase price & despite being NIB.  So, toy trains are a much bigger outlay and do nothing in most cases but drop in value.  

The fact is, most folks have limited funds to spend on entertainment, and when spending $1,000 or more on something for entertainment, things that go up in value are often going to be more appealing than things that depreciate. 

I work with many millennials. Intelligent, interested in everything and willing to spend money.  But they see the intelligence of putting money into things that appreciate in value. Especially when the things are expensive. 

Different point:  Many news sources report that younger people are less apt to buy houses, preferring apartment life. With limited excess space, O Gauge is a real PITA.  

Aging Hobbyists Trundle On

I for one am happy in my trundling... 

PJB posted:

Lou1985 posted:

I'm looking on the bright side: I'm in my early 30's. In a few years there's going to be a bunch of cheap stuff to buy as the market will be flooded. Win for me . Since I never consider getting back what I pay for a model train I don't care if my stuff is worthless. All the stuff will be. Then I can have more.

I actually think this sentiment exemplifies part of why people in our general age group (30s - 40s) and younger aren't avid toy train people.  

Basically, I've posted here about how surprising it is to me that almost none of this stuff - even NIB and a few weeks after purchase - holds it's value.  The crotchety crowd usually respond with the snide remarks like "why would you think this is an investment." Well, I never thought of it as an investment. 

But, it was surprising to me based on life experiences of things purchased purely for enjoyment.  For instance, I have a collection of vintage comic books and it's value has increased exponentially over the years.  I have vintage signed baseballs and baseball cards and they too have appreciated. I have a collection of Havana cigars and they too have appreciated. I have a nice collection of bourbons and, you guessed it, they too have appreciated.  As one more example, I have all my old video game cartridges from the 1980s and 1990s and they are now skyrocketing in value.  I didn't buy any of these as an investment. Only for personal enjoyment.  But every last one of them has appreciated in value.   

Now, compare purchase prices.  I bought comic books for 0.25 from the newstand that are now selling for amounts up to $30,000.  I bought newstand copies for $1 that now routinely sell for $1,000-3,000.  I have $75 into bottles of Pappy Van Winkle from a few years back that I see selling today for several thousand dollars.  In comparison, I have $1,500 -$2,000 into a single Vision locomotive that can't be sold for even that initial purchase price & despite being NIB.  So, toy trains are a much bigger outlay and do nothing in most cases but drop in value.  

The fact is, most folks have limited funds to spend on entertainment, and when spending $1,000 or more on something for entertainment, things that go up in value are often going to be more appealing than things that depreciate. 

I work with many millennials. Intelligent, interested in everything and willing to spend money.  But they see the intelligence of putting money into things that appreciate in value. Especially when the things are expensive. 

Different point:  Many news sources report that younger people are less apt to buy houses, preferring apartment life. With limited excess space, O Gauge is a real PITA.  

The problem is  you are comparing apples to pears. For example, 1980's video games are not a good example, for years those games were selling for a quarter apiece, it is only recently that they have become nostalgia items and collectible, and that is the key, collectibility. At one point post war Lionel trains went crazy, when people decided they were an 'it thing'...at one point beanie babies and the like were skyrocketing in value, then crashed to earth. Havana Cigars are rare because of the US economic embargo (far as I know, they are still illegal in the US); rare wines are expensive, too.

On the other hand, most things lose value when they are used. Buy that state of the art computer today, and even if it still works, it is worth a tiny fraction of what it sold for. Buy a new car, and it depreciates rapidly (the rare exception is exotics that can appreciate from the price you bought it, but they are outliers) Woman I know bought an Audi R8 several years ago (like 3), had maybe 25k miles on it, it was bought for 125k, currently it is worth 40k. Buy that latest gen OLED tv that today costs several thousand, in a couple of years it is worth a couple of hundred.....even with comic books, you have to hit the right ones, not all comic books go up in price, they generally have to be in mint shape and desirable/scarce to become valuable,you buy the typical comic book and then go to sell it (just random), likely you wouldn't even get face value on it.

What you are talking about is buying for collectibility, most people buy for usability. So you bought those bottles of bourbon for 75 bucks, that are now worth a lot more, did you buy them to drink it, or did you buy it speculating it would go up? Most leisure items are not bought to be collectible (well, okay, there are people buying postwar who still think it is going to be worth more than they paid for it, then complain ad infinitum), they are built to be used, which runs contra to collecting it. You buy a car, you generally buy it to drive it, unless you are a collector, and cars in general are not even great investments as classic cars (put it this way, lot of those cars you see at auction going for mega bucks often took more than that to bring them to that kind of shape).  Reminds me hearing about people buying certain cars with the idea they were going to appreciate and not driving them (since use is a no no with collecting), then were disappointed when they didn't 'take off', and sold them without even driving them. 

There will always be more trains around than we can buy,trains are here to stay  

The majority of investors put their money in stocks, bonds, real estate, and commodities.  Why? Because they are readily traded, fairly easy to liquidate and have a reasonable investment return.  The only way to find out if your Beanie babies or comic books are worth the millions you see in the price guide is to sell them.  Even the SOLD values on Ebay are of no consequence to you, if no bids or buys your item.  

There is a reason that professional investment companies don't invest in comic books, Pappy Van Winkle, cigars, cars, or sports memorabilia.   Mainly because they want to make money on a consistent basis.

Hi Guys,

Reading this is sort of like Chicken Little and the Sky is Falling! Is it me or are not Newspapers such as the Wallstreet Journal aka WSJ on the “ENDANGERED LIST”? I’m in my 50’s and I do not know of anyone under 50 years old who reads a Newspaper in the paper form! 😂.

Newspapers what’s left Of them are going the way of the DODO BIRD aka Extinct. Model Trains are like newspapers as they have gone Digital in order to survive.

Maybe the author of the WSJ should do an article on the average age of their newspaper readers? 50-90+years old and shrinking circulation of daily newspapers ??😂. Remember the newspaper deliverey boy? That was me in 1975. This article should be renamed ; “ THE KETTLE SHOULDNT CALL THE POT BLACK”. 😆  Definition =  something you say that means people should not criticize someone else for a fault that they have themselves.

Seacoast, You really hate the newspapers. I would much rather read the printed newspaper. You miss a lot reading it on line.

eddie g posted:

Seacoast, You really hate the newspapers. I would much rather read the printed newspaper. You miss a lot reading it on line.

Hi Eddie,

I don’t hate newspapers I was just making the comparison. Newspapers are on the decline and the newspaper article on the decline of trains. The author of the article fails to see himself in regards to the decline of the newspaper business. Something you say that means people should not criticize someone else for a fault that they have themselves.

Seacoast posted:

eddie g posted:

Seacoast, You really hate the newspapers. I would much rather read the printed newspaper. You miss a lot reading it on line.

Hi Eddie,

I don’t hate newspapers I was just making the comparison. Newspapers are on the decline and the newspaper article on the decline of trains. The author of the article fails to see himself in regards to the decline of the newspaper business. Something you say that means people should not criticize someone else for a fault that they have themselves.

But reporting a news story isn't criticism. It's not in the Op/Ed page. It's just reporting on something that exists. You're shooting the messenger.

Seacoast posted:

eddie g posted:

Seacoast, You really hate the newspapers. I would much rather read the printed newspaper. You miss a lot reading it on line.

Hi Eddie,

I don’t hate newspapers I was just making the comparison. Newspapers are on the decline and the newspaper article on the decline of trains. The author of the article fails to see himself in regards to the decline of the newspaper business. Something you say that means people should not criticize someone else for a fault that they have themselves.

You do realize, of course, that while the printed format might be on the decline, the new business itself - which is the employer of this author and that also makes all news articles available on-line - is alive and well and part of modern civilization ... don't you?