> folk are always concerned it’ll die out.
Not if my 4yo has anything to say about it. Upgrade path from Brio (wooden) to electric trains.
Enthusiasts struggle to keep model railway industry on track
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Re: Enthusiasts struggle to keep model railway industry on track
#12I wonder if train simulators have filled this gap in younger populations that would have stepped into the hobby.
Re: Enthusiasts struggle to keep model railway industry on track
#13Even 40 years ago many opted for N scale because of space constraints. Clubs were almost always HO scale focused, since they had cheap or free accomodation often in semi abandoned rail hangars etc. As for age, it is not just the cost, but also the alienation of the young from messy analog physical dexterity, long low stimulus attention and slow progress in favor of high stimulus instant digital gratification.
Great attitude. Hope it keeps your hobby going.
Re: Enthusiasts struggle to keep model railway industry on track
#14Funny to see this now. A couple days ago I was on vacation in San Diego and visited the San Diego Model Railroad Museum in Balboa Park and a lot of the traffic flowing through my head about it are all points addressed in the above article: "Almost everyone working here is quite old" "The amount of space this takes up is incredible, I wonder how people get into this hobby, I've never lived anywhere where I'd have enou…
> "The amount of space this takes up is incredible, I wonder how people get into this hobby, I've never lived anywhere where I'd have enough space to set up a model railway long term"
So much "millenials killing X" discourse is just "property prices killing X" in disguise.
Re: Enthusiasts struggle to keep model railway industry on track
#15I still have the Marklin HO model train from my youth. 40 years later it still works and kids love it (when we take it out).
One winter we mixed it with Lego from the Harry Potter series and pretended the train was the one going to Hogwarts.
Toys that still work 40 years later are amazing.
Younger parents who didn't play with model trains are also in awe. For those who have enough room it's really a nice thing to do to play together with your kid(s).
It s not crazy pricey either if you don't go wild.
Re: Enthusiasts struggle to keep model railway industry on track
#16> folk are always concerned it’ll die out. Not if my 4yo has anything to say about it. Upgrade path from Brio (wooden) to electric trains.
Kids are funny. I’ve seen multiple go through being completely obsessed up to about 5 to losing interest and never looking at a model train again. I think there’s something about that young age that makes them particularly interested, but the likelihood of a long time mode train enthusiast seems to be quite low.
Re: Enthusiasts struggle to keep model railway industry on track
#17Model trains require a large amount of dedicated indoor space. With millennials and zoomers frozen out of the housing market I expect a large proportion of them simply don't have the room.
Re: Enthusiasts struggle to keep model railway industry on track
#18How about real trains you can ride on?
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/historic-bay-area-mode...
There's another one in the hills above Palo Alto that's open to the public once a year. Now I can't find it online. Anyone? It's not Roaring Camp.
This was a real train on private land, with a machine shop and a crew of volunteers. It had a loop of several miles.
Re: Enthusiasts struggle to keep model railway industry on track
#19Model trains require a large amount of dedicated indoor space. With millennials and zoomers frozen out of the housing market I expect a large proportion of them simply don't have the room.
I’d be curious how mobility plays into that as well. The YouTubers I see often seem to be well settled in their large-enough-for-the-hobby houses. If you end up moving often, or just _feel_ like you might have to, it’s more difficult to invest time and money into it.
Re: Enthusiasts struggle to keep model railway industry on track
#20Model trains require a large amount of dedicated indoor space. With millennials and zoomers frozen out of the housing market I expect a large proportion of them simply don't have the room.
They mentioned the 'T' scale which I recently came across.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNje4KTLZT4
It is 1:450 scale and half the size of the Z scale.
When describing starter sets, the track area is dimensioned in mm. https://www.tgauge.us/product/452/20/lner-125-hst-train-set
> The 120mm loop included in this starter set will cover an area of 253mm x 372mm (10" x 14 3/4").