bringing in new people to the hobby

[overall]

I would like to state an opinion that I have formed after 40 years as a railfan and toy train enthuisist; Train lovers are born with the love of trains in them. There is nothing anyone can do to make a new hobbyist. We can encourage and help those who are born with the love of trains already by showing our layouts and answering questions for them. We can foster an environment where their love of trains can grow and expand.But as far as implanting the love of trains, I don't think it can be done.

Let me use myself as an example. My sainted mother wanted me to take an interest in music. She forced me to take guitar lessons and join the church choir. I absolutely hated every minute of it. I was the worst guitar player in the history of the instrument. The only song I tried to play well was "City of New Orleans". I gave as little effort to this enterprise as I could get away with. Most of the time in chior, I was thinking about trains instead of listening to the director. I didn't know a "d" note from a "c" and cared even less.
Finally, my sainted mother gave up on her ungrateful, inept son who calluosly crushed her dream of his being a musician. I did not love music. I listened to '70's rock, Alice Copper and Kiss were my favorites along with Boston and Journey. But the only instruments I wanted to play were the radio and the phonograph. I had no love for music and trying to implant one was useless.

So it is with our trying to implant our love of trains in other people. There are some who feel as called by a train whistle as we do. To them, we need to give all the help we can .There are many who cannot and will not ever love trains and we should not get worried or upset about it. The train market will go through ups and downs. Those of us who really love it should just persevere and not be discouraged during the down times.

George

[3railguy]

My parents put me through piano lessons for three years with hopes I'd grow up to be a concert pianoist. I hated every minute of it and can only remember how to play chopsticks. I was into HO trains too. My piano teacher knew I was into trains so she had me set up her dad's Lionel. A postwar Lionel 1656 bell ringing switcher set with a 145 gateman. I was in heaven after I got it running. Ironically, I grew up to be a postwar Lionel train collector instead of a concert pianoist.

[dougdagrump]

You can't "bring new people to the hobby you can introduce them to the hobby in hopes that it will take root. Last Christmas we sent a Bachmann G gauge set to our niece for their family. We can happily report that based on feedback from other family members it has been a roaring success, they don't know who likes it more the 3 and 4 year olds or their father. It's a start ! [:D]

[Anonymous]

CORRECT! Fans are BORN, not MADE. I tried once to introduce trains to a good friend of mine about 3 years ago. My thought was that if he liked trains as much as I, we could build a really wonderful layout.

His "passion" soon wore off when we went to the train store one too many times to find something we needed only to find that it was not there, was not even manufactured yet, but was in CTT and OGR and on many on-line sites. The items had been on people's sites so long they were coming up in the GOOGLE searches!!

He thew his hands up in the air and said, "You're a more patient man than I Gungadin!" To a point I suppose. By even my patience gets tried in our hobby. So much so now days that I will never, EVER try to bring someone into the hobby.

I think I can sum things up perfectly by quoting my four year old son on one of Daddy's "train hunts" as we call it. "Why don't we just call it a day?"

[brianel027]

I wholeheartedly disagree gang. Sure, I suppose some will have a predisposition to be more interested in the hobby. And others who may have a train may find other things or interests have more appeal. But it's still no reason to not try.

I often joke I have trains in my blood... I had my first set before I was a week old. But had I not had that set, would I still be as interested? Would there be an interest at all? Hmmmm?

A friend of mine bought his son a video game. In all fairness, most folks today don't see train sets at stores, but they do see the video games. Anyways, his son loves the excitement and the entertainment of the video games. He has since seen my trains and he likes those too. But I think unfortunately the video games are his first love. Had the kid gotten a train set first, who knows?

On the guy who couldn't find the train items he wanted... well some are more cut out for the hobby than others I suppose. That's true of anything... some guys are more cut out to play basketball over football, right?!

We live in a day and age where we've become accustomed to this "pre-packaged, pre-portioned, ready-in-an-instant when you need it" consumerism. The train hobby ironically has in recent years started to accomodate these folks with pre-assembled buildings, pre-painted people, etc. But this is a hobby about fun and doing things yourself. Geez, if I was waiting for Lionel and K-Line to make some locos and cars that run on 027 track in modern road names, I'd STILL be waiting!! I've solved my problem by doing it myself. And even when I was working, I refused to let limited funds prevent me from being in the hobby... I've learned to appreciate less-as-more and have accepted the limitations of 027 track, less-than-scale and convention control (as if there aren't limitations / problems with every other track, scale and system!!).

Sorry, but I have seen the excited looks and smiles on far too many children's faces when they have seen my train display to know that there isn't an interest and fascination with trains. Or to simply write off kids as being born with a train interest or not.

Remember, you can't love or enjoy what you don't even know exists... kids will not ask for toys they don't know are made... and parents will not buy toys they can't easily find at the store and can afford to buy. These are the more important issues and questions to be asked.

[FJ and G]

I agree with your opinions that people are born, not made to like trains. I didn't read this post--REALLY!--and just put a post up stating the same thing. Talk about a coincidence!

Dave Vergun

[dougdagrump]

With so much "Thomas The Tank Engine" out there maybe there will be fresh faces in the very near future.[8D]

[overall]

I did not mean to say that we should not try to bring new people into the hobby. As a matter of fact, I belong to a museum that will be hosting a "Day out with Thomas" event in the fall. In years past, we have had something like 25,000 visitors show up. If only one half of one per cent become hobbyists, that's still 125 people added to the hobby. If our sister organizations do about the same, the number begins to add up pretty fast. I think it is well worth the effort to host one of these events. I often wonder who I've met after it's over. Maybe the next D W Brosnan or maybe the one who finds a way to build high speed rail systems here in America. Twenty years from now, I think we will read articles in train magazines written by former Thomas the Tank Engine kids.No folks I didn't mean to say "don't try" my point was don't get so depressed that more people don't seem to be entering our hobby. I beleive that the love of trains comes from the heart and that no amount of marketing, no matter how proffesional, or well done, can put it there.

I beleive that there will always be trains. There will always be boys and men who love them for reasons that are not clear, even to the train lovers themselves. Such is the way things are.

George

[MikeSanta]

The point is to EXPOSE people, especially kids to the hobby. It used to be that the stores had Christmas train layouts and you couldn't find a neighborhood where there wasn't at least a few kids with trains. Nowadays most kids haven't even heard of toy trains. So we have to expose them to trains. Also, we need to have the womenfolk exposed to the scenery side of the hobby. Finally, the manufacturers have to have starter sets of CONTEMPORARY trains. Why do they have Pennsylvania steam sets aimed at kids whose PARENTS weren't born when the Pennsy went under?

[3railguy]

I think overalls point is, the kid's market for trains today isn't what it was in the 50's. This is not Lionel's fault. Kids just aren't interested in trains like they were back then. However, I've seen several threads on forums blaming Lionel for not promoting to kids like they should. They also blame collectors for not promoting to kids.

I have on occasion seen dads who love trains impose trains on their kids. The kids get trains as gifts when they really want a Mongoose mountain bike, a CD player, and CD's. I don't think that is right. CD players are no more a luxury than trains. A good Mongoose mountain bike is good healthy exercise. Much more important than trains.